10 Guilt Free Blender Tips

Best Tips for Slow-Cooker Meals & Casseroles


Instead of heavy, calorie-rich dishes topped with fatty cheese and crumbs, we turned to the slow cooker for
Hearty but wholesome casseroles. While not every successful casserole follows the Exact hard-and-fast rules, there
Are a few general guidelines to keep in mind. Here's what you should know.
Prepare Your Slow Cooker
Most slow cookers have a hotter side (typically the rear side, opposite the side with the controls) which can
Cause dense casseroles like baked ziti to burnoff. To solve this problem we lined the slow-cooker insert with an
For recipes that we wanted to lift out of this insert intact, we lined the slow cooker
Using a foil collar, then lined it completely with foil.
The Way to Make a Slow Cooker Foil Collar
Fold sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil until you have a six-layered foil rectangle which measures roughly 16
inches long by 4 inches wide. (Based on the width of the foil, you will need either two or three sheets of
foil.) Then press the collar to the back side of this slow-cooker insert; the meals will help hold the collar in
place during cooking.
How to Make a Slow Cooker Foil Liner
Line the slow-cooker insert with a foil collar, then fit two large sheets of heavy-duty foil in the slow cooker,
Perpendicular to one another, with the additional foil hanging over the edges.
Edges can be used as handles to pull the food from the slow cooker fully intact and transfer it to a platter for
serving.

In the moist environment of a slow cooker, there is no opportunity to drive off moisture as there is in an oven,
So excess moisture in the kind of liquid or sauce that has leached out of vegetables can cause havoc when it
comes to casseroles that need cohesiveness. Along with controlling the amount and thickness of our sauces
And fillings, in certain cases we also found it important to precook vegetables in order to drive out moisture.
EVERYONE'S FAVORITE
Spaghetti with Meatballs Florentine
This healthy twist on classic spaghetti and meatballs features tender, lean meatballs made ultraflavorful with a
Mixture of spinach, garlic, and Parmesan and a strong marinara.
Don't Overcook Slow-Cooker Casseroles
Our casseroles have comparatively short cooking times; differently, we ended up with mushy pasta, bland
You'll find a range of cooking times for casseroles; be sure to follow our advice
On the times and settings for vibrant flavors and properly cooked casseroles.
Pasta: Raw or Cooked?
When creating slow-cooker casseroles with pasta, how you handle the pasta makes a huge difference in the
Success of this dish. For baked ziti, raw or partially cooked pasta did not work, but toasting it with oil at the
Microwave did, and it prevented the pasta from becoming bloated.
Percent power, and stirring it occasionally, gently toasted the pasta; notice that only a percentage will look toasted
and blistered.
Use Cheese Smartly
Many healthy casserole recipes wouldn't be complete without some cheese to enhance taste. Low-fat Alternatives
Like light cheddar gave our fillings the richness we desired but became waxy when used as toppings, so we
Folded the cheese in the filling instead. For a cheesy finish we often chose to use a full-fat cheese (with the
Exclusion of mozzarella where part-skim worked fine), or a hard cheese like Parmesan or Asiago, or a soft
Cheese naturally low in fat such as queso fresco or feta.a