Slow Cook Gooey Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

So, this is one I tried last week, but haven't had the time to post! 

I was a little skeptical. Having never used my slow cooker for anything other than stews and soups, I was unsure about the idea of cooking a cake/pudding/dessert type dish in it. 

Turns out, it is a fabulous idea! It was delicious, moist, and as promised Gooey. And for this pregnant lady who LOVES chocolate...it completely hit the spot. The only reason it hasn't been cooked again is time and a lack of slow cookers. I used to think having more than 1 cooker that slow cooks a meal was crazy....I now understand why people not only WANT, but NEED more than one in their kitchen!!

Slow Cooked Gooey Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

1 Cup Self Raising Flour

1/3 cup caster sugar

2 tbs cocoa

1/2 cup milk

2 tbs butter melted

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

sauce 

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cups boiling water

lightly grease and preheat slow cooker

Combine flour, cocoa and sugar in a bowl. Add milk, butter and vanilla essence and stir to combine. Add nuts and choc chips and mix.

Pour into slow cooker and spread evenly.

In a separate heatproof container, combine boiling water, cocoa and sugar and until dissolved and completely combined. Very carefully pour slowly and evenly over the top of the cake mix in the slow cooker. Cake mix will likely rise as you add liquid, just continue to add slowly.

Cook on high for 2-3 hours. Then turn off and leave in cooker with lid on until ready to serve. 

Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Once again, this recipe was tweaked from a recipe at Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families.

This recipe is NOT healthy, but it is DELICIOUS! 

And honestly, we all deserve to live a little once in a while!!

Slow Cook Sweet and Sour Pork

So, after a crazy hectic week of accidents, miserable toddlers and organising and running the worst garage sale in history (thanks ever so much RAIN!) it was finally time to pull out the slow cooker again. 

A spur of the moment decision saw me throwing pork into the microwave to defrost while i searched for a good recipe the whole family would enjoy. I don't like cooking frozen meat in the slow cooker, although I have been assured it is fine to do, I feel more comfortable, and find its a much better flavour if I brown meat first.

Jumping onto my favourite Facebook group Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families, I searched the Pork section and stopped as soon as i saw Sweet and Sour Pork. This is one of Muddled Hubby's favourites. Could I slow cook it? Could I cook it from scratch, having never tried before? Only one way to find out! 

On checking the recipe I was short on the amount of meat, and didn't have the vegetables recommended, but that didn't stop me! I used mushrooms to fill out the meat portion of the meal, and just what vegetables I had in the fridge. Having never attempted this before from scratch, I stuck to the basic sauce recipe.

So, without further ado, here it is!

Sweet and Sour Pork

500 grams pork (I used diced heart smart pork)

10-12 mushrooms

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1 tin corn

1 tin unsweetened pineapple pieces, or crushed pineapple, with the juice.

3 tbs brown sugar

1 tsp crushed ginger

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/4 cup white vinegar

3 tbs Soy Sauce

200 grams raw cashews

1 tbs corn flour

2-3 tsp herbs for flavour (I used garlic and herb salt & mixed herbs)

Turn slow cooker on high to preheat.

In a bag mix corn flour and dry herbs and coat pork pieces. Use a small amount of oil (olive oil for us, but you could also use Sesame Oil) to brown meat lightly. 

Put meat and veg in pan, add vegetables and then corn, pineapple, sugar, ginger, garlic, vinegar and soy sauce and stir to combine. 

Cook on high for 1-2 hours, and then on low for a further 4-5 hours. I put cashews in in the last hour of cooking and left the lid off to reduce liquid and let sauce thicken a little.

Serve with rice.

Easy and delicious!! 

If you have Facebook, head over and like my Page.

Also, if you love a good slow cooker meal, check out the Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families group. So many good recipes in there worth trying!! 

Please note: no one is paying or asking me to promote this group or any of the recipes. These are just my own experiences of what I have found to be a valuable resource for our family, that I thought I would share. Over coming weeks you will also get to see recipes from Taste.com and the Bikini Cookbook range that I tweak to suit our family.

My Slow Cooker Challenge

So, those that know me well know I was never keen on cooking. 

In fact, once upon a time I CHOSE, yep I CHOSE to do the washing up over cooking dinner every night. 

How times change......

Apparently becoming a Mum, a wife and now being the stay at home person, was enough to inspire me. Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking! I love cooking dinners, breakfasts, I love baking and cooking sweets...I love my kitchen!

I am completely self taught. My Mum used to love cooking. It was her major passion, but her kitchen was HER kitchen! I rarely got to get in there and so I never really learnt the ins and outs of how to cook. Now I have my own passion for cooking, I kind of understand where she was coming from....maybe I get my need to control freak obsessive compulsiveness from her!

But, it turns out, I am not too bad at it, if I do say so myself! I rarely follow a recipe too closely, I usually tweak it depending on my personal tastes, what I have in the cupboard, or what I think I will just taste better! So far I think I may have had 1 or 2 failures, but thats it. The rest have turned out just fine and tasty!

So, to the slow cooker challenge. 

I have had my slow cooker for a couple of years now, but I have never really experimented with it. I tend to stick to 6 or so recipes I know work well and taste good. Family favourites. 

Well NO MORE!!!

Time to branch out and with the help of a Facebook page, Taste, and several other internet sources, I am embarking on a new journey, a new tastes journey!

Also, I'm looking for recipes with left overs, to freeze so I don't have to cook when Mr Squishy arrives! As any new mum knows, being prepared when a little one comes in and turns your lives upside down is VERY important. Given the fact we know I will be having a c-section, and that there is a longer recovery time, preparation is essential.

Until yesterday, I had never used my slow cooker for desserts. Then I may a To Die For Gooey Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding! Now, I know I will continue to use it for more desserts! 

I'm branching out! Experimenting. Having fun.

So each week, thanks to several friends and fans asking, I will bring you my favourite recipes, the ones that turn out tasty! Maybe, for a laugh, I'll also share the ones that crash and burn! 

This will be handy (I hope) and just in time for winter, when casseroles, soups and roasts are sooooo good! Loads of Winter Warmers, that are family friendly and most importantly, QUICK AND EASY!!