The great Althanas recipe book.

[Lye]

A crock pot is a wee different. The warming of the crock pot is on all sides, not just the bottom. Plus its insulated to keep more heat in instead of dissipating. That just means more of a uniform cook. Its entirely possible to get the same effect on a stove, but you may end up with build up on the bottom or uneven cooking - especially with thicker sauces or a dense collection of meats/veggies/solids.

I believe the original crock pot was a hole dug in the ground. Using the embers from the fire they'd fill the hole then set the pot on top. Then, they'd fill the sides with more embers and let the stuff cook throughout the day as the embers died down. Very similar to the first BBQ which was meat cooking over embers and nearby dried woods.

As for the meat, there is a crock pot recipe out there for meat & potatoes. You set the veggies in the bottom with a light broth and put the roast on top. Rub it with whatever you like and let the sucker sit for X many hours. The steam and heat will cook it to the point of falling apart while keeping that savory meat flavor.

I use my crock pot for shredded beef (machaca). Usually two chuck roasts, a can of diced tomatoes, a diced onion, a diced green pepper, mexican spices, and fill the rest with water until it covers the meat. About 6-8 hours, you pull it out and shred it. Stick it back in for about an hour or two and you have a pot full of shredded meat. It usually lasts us a week of various leftover dishes. Steak n eggs, huevos rancheros, burritos, tacos, soups, stews, salad proteins, or on top of a burger/hot dog.

I've also simmered a vegan ramen broth in a crock pot for 16 hours with home made noodles. Came out super tasty.

[Skie and Avery]

My favorite meal to make really big and then portion out for leftovers:

Cheesy mashed potatoes - in your biggest pot boil about 6 good sized russet potatoes, all diced. When they're tender enough to crush with a fork, drain off the water and add 1 brick of cream cheese, 1 small container of sour cream, salt, pepper, paprika, basil, and about a cup of cheddar cheese. Adjust the spices as you add them, taste often. You can add bacon you've chopped up here and you're good orrrrr....

In a skillet chop, heat up some oil and add sliced bell peppers, onion, and chopped smoked sausage. Once it's mostly cooked through, add a few splashes of soy sauce (or Worcestershire) and saute it up. Plate yourself a heap of the potatoes and top them with the sausage and peppers.



In a pinch, I like chicken thighs tossed with lemon pepper baked and served with rice. Cook your rice in chicken broth and add a little butter and your favorite spices.

[Skie and Avery]

Also good crock pot: boneless skinless chicken and cover it with a big jar of salsa. Let it cook through and it makes super moist, tender, shredded salsa chicken. You can portion out the shredded chicken as an easy mix in for lots of recipes, from hamburger helper to tacos and quesadillas.

[Philomel]

I am collecting/ inventing a range of vegan meals as I go on to develop my diet more.

My best ones so far:

Tired Stew
Get all your tired vegetables. Carrots, parsnips and potatoes work really well, but I like sweet potato too. Pop these in all together with onion that has been fried in coconut oil, and leave it to stew for ages. Add in some veg stock on the way. Add some veg sausage for extra stuffing.

Mushroom and nut Wellington
Most store bought puff pastry is vegan. Get some, flatten it out as much as you can. Get some onion, mushroom (closed cap and chestnut), garlic, and potato if you want, and lightly fry these together, pototo last. Then nuts - pecans, walnuts and cashews are best. Cook these with the veg/fungi in a small bit of water and red wine, and add in some soya milk or cream if you have some. Once they are softened, mix the filling with a small tub of coconut cream cheese, and then pop it in the middle of the wellington, right in the centre in a long thin rectangle. Cut into the wellington sides, starting at the top of the pile of filling in a downward slope. Then cut the opposite side the same, but opposite way around. Cut slits going all the way down, then you need to fold these over the filling in sort of a plait formation. (one side, then the other works, just make sure each fold overlaps the last). Wash over with soya milk or soya butter, then pop in the oven for about 2 hours, 200 degrees C.

Vegan cheesecake
Ginger or normal digestive biscuits, bashed up and mixed with soya butter/vegetable butter for the base. Take two pots of coconut cream cheese, with some coconut cream and icing sugar for sweetening. Mix in some 'zooshed' strawberries or other fruit if you like. Leave to chill for 3 or 4 hours.

Note: 'zoosh' is a (obviously) technical term meaning use a food blender/food processor. It comes from the noise it makes. 'Zoosher' and 'zooshing' are derivitives of this word.

[Luned]

Otto and I actually keep track of our favorite recipes in this Google doc, lots of vegetarian/vegan options, if anyone's interested: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

We forgot our favorite things that we'd made one too many times and wanted to be more organized, keeping the doc works really well for that. Plus we can add notes when we change things up, so we remember for next time.