Summer Slow Cooker Recipes

As it heats up outside, the last thing we want to be doing is heating up the inside of the house more with cooking a meal.  So it's time to get the slow cooker out again!  There are two ways to save heating up the kitchen, set the slow cooker to cook at the time of day that will least add to the heat in your kitchen, and cook when you are not in the kitchen.  At this time of the year, I tend to do a bit of cooking ahead of a meal, by turning the slow cooker on to cook overnight, and then pop the roast chook in the fridge for using later.  I also make sure the slow cooker is on when I am not planning to be in the kitchen because I am going out or working in another part of the house or garden.

The heat that comes off the slow cooker is nothing like the heat the comes of the oven or the stove, this is another reason I tend to use my slow cooker all year round. My slow cooker rarely gets put away!

Here are some of my favourite summer slow cooker recipes:

Slow Cooker Macaroni Cheese
Macaroni Cheese goes great with bbq meats and salads - so it makes a great summer dish - and it is easily able to handle feeding more people should you end up with more people at the table than you'd expected.

Crock Pot Meatloaf
Cook overnight and pop in the fridge for later.  Can be whipped up into a main meal with some new spuds, peas and a salad.  It is also fab in a bap or bread roll with a couple of slices of beetroot, lettuce and mayo!  A great summer standby recipe!  Keep it in mind for your next pot luck dinner!

Orange Chicken | Easy Chicken Crock Pot Recipe
This chicken cooked and cooled in the fridge tastes amazing cold.  Serve with salad as a main meal or rip the meat up and use as sandwich filling - yummo!  My family love marmalade, so I never have to wait long to get another 'almost empty' jar so I can make this recipe.  At the moment the jar in the pantry is ginger marmalade - so that will be an interesting twist!

Happy summer slow cooking everyone!

Previous Post: Slow Cooker Irish Stew | Slow Cooker Lamb | Slow Cooker Lamb Casserole

Find more slow cooker recipes for Kiwis (and other cooks who use metric measurements) here at... Slow Cooker Recipes NZ - and check this out - the easiest way to see all my Slow Cooker Recipes!