The irony of summer is that you have the most beautiful fruits and veggies available at your farmers market, but it’s just too hot to think about cooking. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against salads or raw food, but sometimes you need to eat something warm even if it’s 100 degrees.
One way to beat the heat is to pull out your slow cooker. It’s not just for the winter. In fact, it has even more benefits now. It doesn’t heat up the house like the stove or oven does, giving your a/c a fair shot at cooling your home. If you have a grill with a burner you can even sauté veggies ahead of time outside the night before – hopefully it’s cooled down a bit by then.
I wanted to remind you of a few summer-friendly recipes. The Beyond Easy Herbed Beets are great chilled on a salad or even as the main ingredient in a chilled borscht. They are in season and you can cook the greens in the slow cooker too. Cauliflower is also a great side dish as a mashed potato substitute.
The slow cooker is the perfect summer oven substitute. Bake up a batch of Pumpkin Gingerbread Loaf or Black Bean Brownies. Experiment with flavors in the loaf using the general dry to wet proportions. I’m planning on posting a few new ones as summer progresses. I have bananas begging to become banana bread of some sort, so that will probably be the first one I post.
I also posted a Beyond Easy Vegan BBQ Tofu Pizza Topping over at Busy Vegan. All you need is a premade crust (or an English muffin in a pinch) to get dinner on the table. It’s the laziest meal of all and you can cook it on your grill!
shaheen says
June 10, 2011 at 3:10 pmI don’t use my slow cooker enough, usually only during winter. But with your suggestions – especially the pumpkin gingerbread load and black bean brownies – I am tempted to dig it out. Thanks for sharing and encouraging.
Lori says
June 11, 2011 at 1:47 pmI just made some baked beans in my slow cooker. It was very easy. I also cooked dry chickpeas in it overnight a couple of weeks ago. I need to use it for more things! 🙂
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide says
June 11, 2011 at 3:47 pmGreat roundup. I love the grill and cold dishes in the summer too!
thefrugalgrower says
June 13, 2011 at 10:31 pmI’ve never thought to use a slow cooker in the summer. I’ve always thought of it as a fall/winter thing, but it makes a lot of sense. I’m going to to try to use it twice a week. I think it will help a lot, since my husband is vegan, and my son can’t have wheat or dairy it is not uncommon for me to make three different dinners in one night. I’m doing it right now, actually. So, if I can get a meal out of the way early in the day, that would be so awesome. Thanks for sharing the recipes. I’ll be checking in from time to time. 🙂