Healthy Slow Cooker Meals: Save Time and Increase Flavor

Whole Health Requires a Variety of Foods

Healthy living means making healthy choices for nutrition. In today’s busy world, it can be challenging to eat healthy. Who has time?

Healthy meals from a slow cooker provide a simple and effective way in today’s busy world to eat healthy with a small time investment. A slow cooker is a great way to cook meals while shopping, at work, spending time with the kids or any other activity throughout the day. Slow cooker meals are a great way to combine lots of different foods for a great tasting meal.

Vegetarian Stew

A quick and simple Crockpot meal combines eggplant, chickpeas and mushrooms into a delicious, hearty stew.

Peel an eggplant and brush the cut side with oil. Roast until tender in the oven. Then cut the eggplant into cubes and place them in the slow cooker. While the eggplant is roasting in the oven, chop some mushrooms, combine with chopped onion and lightly sautee them in a pan. Add this mixture to the slow cooker as well.

Add soaked chickpeas to the cooker, cover with water and add garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Program the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. The chickpeas should be tender.

Start the cooking process in the morning and by dinnertime, a delicious stew will be ready to serve. At the end of a busy day, it will be like having someone else cook the meal. Add a salad and some whole grain bread and enjoy this wonderful, simple meal.

Gumbo For the Seafood Lover

Looking for ideas for slow cooker meals containing seafood? How about gumbo? Seafood contains heart healthy omegas. Incorporating seafood in the diet at least 3 times per week is recommended for heart health.

Cook some turkey bacon in a skillet until crisp. Transfer to a slow cooker. Sautee some garlic with onion, celery, and some cubed green pepper in a small amount of the oil. Cook until tender and then add the mixture to the slow cooker. Add some chicken broth, diced tomato, along with some salt and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 2 hours and then add a pound of raw, shelled shrimp, fresh crabmeat and about 2 cups of okra cut into small slices.

Cook for 1 hour longer. Leave the lid on the cooker the entire time since the steam is a large part of cooking this dish. Enjoy with a green salad and wheat rolls for a seafood delight.

Slow Cooker Basics

Crockpot slow cooking takes time so be prepared to let the cooker do its work throughout the day. It has its benefits in the freedom to do other things while the meal is cooking. Make plans ahead of time for healthy ingredients to have on hand. Using this method works great for stews, soups, and pasta sauces. Experiment with your stovetop recipes and covert them to work with your Crockpot. Just remember, it needs time and liquid to tenderize the meat, beans, or vegetables so utilize this method on your busiest of days!

References

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-recipe-seafood-gumbo-10000000614076/

https://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/eggplant_chickpea_stew.html