{"id":1964,"date":"2009-03-07T13:12:35","date_gmt":"2009-03-07T11:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.breigh.com\/wordpress\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2010-05-26T20:41:26","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T18:41:26","slug":"slow-cooking-in-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/archives\/1964","title":{"rendered":"Slow Cooking in the Netherlands!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

I have a new lady power tool!\u00a0 That\u2019s what I call kitchen appliances because my excitement over a new blender or crock pot is pretty much equal to the joy my husband shows for a new saw or drill.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a slow cooker and I looooooove it!\u00a0 It\u2019s the best thing that has ever happened to my kitchen (except maybe the dishwasher).\u00a0\u00a0 They are not at all common here in the Netherlands and it requires you doing a bit of super sleuthing to track one down.\u00a0 I found my 6.5L Kenwood here<\/a>,\u00a0 where I got it pretty quickly after ordering it, only about 2 days.\u00a0 It was recommended to me by a friend as she had gotten the same one and loved it.<\/p>\n

For ages I\u2019ve seen women on my expat women\u2019s lists talking about their crock pots and how great it is, but I never got one because a crock pot requires crock pot recipes which requires cooking skill, which I did NOT have.\u00a0 I can make things but I\u2019m not the best cook\u2026 or at least I never used to be!<\/p>\n

\"Stew\"<\/a>
\nThis week I made STEW<\/a>, and it was delicious!! Voted best so far by Hubby.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since getting it, I\u2019ve used it at least 2-3 times a week and I love it to the ends of the earth and back.\u00a0\u00a0 What I love most about it is that I can get UP AND AT \u2018EM early and get dinner ready when I still have energy.\u00a0 Towards the end of the day I tend to have that feeling where I just can\u2019t be arsed to cook and look for the easiest thing we have.\u00a0\u00a0 Now, I can start the day by preparing something nice and later on when I\u2019m keen to just kick back and chill out, dinner is ready!<\/p>\n

\"Draadjesvlees\"<\/a>
\nMy new favorite thing is Draadjesvlees<\/a> or \u2018Butter Braised Beef\u2019 in English. <\/strong><\/p>\n

At the moment I am making a recipe given to me by a Canadian friend who makes this regularly for her family.\u00a0 I made it a few weeks ago and Xander gave it a \u201cYUM \u2013 you can make this again!\u201d rating.\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s the recipe if you want to give it a go:<\/p>\n

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with Ham<\/strong>
\n6 cups raw potatoes cut into small cubes
\n1 medium onion minced
\n1 tsp salt
\n1\/2 lb cooked ham cubed ( I have added more)
\n4 TBSP butter
\n4 TBSP flour
\n1tsp salt
\n2 cups milk
\n1 1\/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
\n1. Layer potatoes, onion, 1 tsp salt and ham in slow cooker
\n2. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour and 1tsp salt. Cook until bubbly. Gradually add milk. Cook until smooth and thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour over potato-ham mixture, stirring lightly.
\n3. Cover. Cook on Low 6-7 hours, or High 3-4 hours.<\/p>\n

I like this one because it\u2019s quick and easy, unlike the stew which took about an hour of prep before going in the pot (so worth it though).\u00a0 It\u2019s rich and definitely not a diet food, but it\u2019s tasty!<\/p>\n

The only down side to owning one of these fabulous cookers in the Netherlands is storage space.\u00a0\u00a0 Kitchens here are small and cupboard and counter space is sparse.\u00a0 It was a concern of mine when I ordered it, but I figured I\u2019d sort it out once I got it.\u00a0\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been an issue for me though because it\u2019s been in the same spot since we got it.\u00a0 It gets used so often I just never bother putting it away.<\/p>\n

Another issue is finding the cuts of meats required, as a lot of the recipes (of which there are MANY) are from Americans.\u00a0\u00a0 Finding roast beefs, hams, etc here in the Netherlands can be difficult.\u00a0\u00a0 Firstly, it\u2019s hard to find the meats in the same sizes as back home and also when you do, you pay dearly for it.\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully there are a lot of recipes that don\u2019t require big hunks of meat though!<\/p>\n

So if you are like I was and were considering getting a slow cooker but weren\u2019t sure what you would do with it, if it would be worth the money or if it REALLY makes things as good as everyone says.\u00a0 Take it from me, just do it!\u00a0 It opens up a whole new world for you, cooking-wise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a new lady power tool!\u00a0 That\u2019s what I call kitchen appliances because my excitement over a new blender or crock pot is pretty much equal to the joy my husband shows for a new saw or drill. It\u2019s a slow cooker and I looooooove it!\u00a0 It\u2019s the best thing that has ever happened …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[188,87,189,299,296],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-life-in-nl","tag-cooking","tag-food","tag-kitchen","tag-recipes","tag-slow-cooker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1966,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions\/1966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}