I love the taste of Kalamata olives and sun dried tomatoes so this dish was always going to be a favorite.  Cooking the Osso Bucco in the crock pot ensures that the veal is tender and tasty.

If you don't like olives you can leave them out but maybe give them a try and you might be surprised at the wonderful taste it gives this dish.  This is another crock pot meal ideal for Pot Luck parties.

Osso Bucco with olives

Coat meat in the flour and heat the oil in a large heavy pan and brown the meat for a few minutes each side.  Transfer to the crock pot.  Add onion and garlic to the pan cook for 1 minute then add the carrot and celery and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, puree, red wine and stock.  Stir thoroughly until blended well and pour over the meat in the crock pot.

Cook on low for approximately 6 hours.  Add the sun dried tomatoes and olives in the last hour.  Stir in the lemon juice and thicken the gravy if needed before serving.  Serve with mashed potato or polenta.

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Crock Pots or slow cookers are great for busy people.  Ive had a Monier crock pot since the 70s and I used all the time then.  It was put away and got moved around the kitchen cupboards for many years but my lime green crock pot has made a revival for the following reasons:

My vintage crock pot

• Slow cooking is simple, healthy and a time saver.

• Crock pots and slow cookers are great for busy families and especially for new mothers,  just add all the ingredients in the morning, turn it on, and leave the cooking to happen while you get on with your day.

• There are many easy crock pot and slow cooker recipes including soups, stews and desserts.

• Slow cookers use a small amount of electricity so its a money saver too.

• They come in several sizes from small crock pots that cook enough food for one or two people to medium sized pots are often best for families of four or five, and the largest pots can serve ten people or more.

• Very little clean up required. Now that's a bonus.

An electric crock pot or slow cooker usually consists of a removable porcelain bowl which sits inside an outer container that has electric heating elements and some control buttons and switches.  My vintage one has only two settings, low and high, but the more modern have digital programming and automatic settings. Mine is round but they also come in oval which is good for cooking whole meats like chicken.

A crock pot or slow cooker is one of the most convenient appliances in a kitchen.  If you don't have one then you are spending too much time in the kitchen.  Have a look at the great range of crock pot slow cookers and accessories like books and liners at AMAZON.   I am hoping I get a new oval crock pot for Christmas ( hint, hint, family) or at least a new slow cooker cook book.

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Crock pot dinners have slowly gained popularity with a lot of families in the United States and across the world. Not only is it a great way to help a lot of families save money for meals, it also makes anyone's cooking experience fun and easy. The crock pot was first introduced as an electrical Dutch oven and it has come a long way since then.  Crock pot dinners cook in 4 - 8 hours and can stay heated for hours, depending on the model and cooking settings, without needing a lot of attention.

One of the advantages of the crock pot is that it is very efficient when it comes to the use of energy. You can guarantee that cooking for a crowd can be done cheaply and you wont heat your kitchen up either in summer.  All you need to do is to load it with all the raw ingredients of your crock pot dinner, set and forget. This allows you to save a lot of money and to eat healthier food than buying out.

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I have a goal for 2009 and that is to lose some weight, but eating healthy and low-fat can be very difficult nowadays. We don't have time to cook and don't even have time to go to a good restaurant. The result of this is eating fast foods or snacks and putting on weight. The more unhealthy food we eat, the less good health we have and I have to watch my cholesterol as well these days. But it is possible to eat cook and eat healthy without spending lots of time by using low fat crock pot recipes in our crock pot slow cooker.

This year I am going to think about my health, and try cooking healthy and low-fat food with my crock pot.

A lot of crock pot recipes use canned food and other prepared mixes, but there are diet crock pot
recipes, that have low sodium and low fat ingredients that will make your food taste better with healthy choices. Use low fat crock pot recipes that have fresh ingredients where possible.  Also, trim skin and fat from all the meats you use for cooking, and try using fresh, instead of canned vegetables (when in season) for a healthy recipe alternative.

A few examples of low fat crock pot recipes that you can try:

Pork Roast with Vegetables
This a slow cooking recipe, which takes about 25-30 minutes to prepare. Includes boneless pork roast, vegetable oil, peeled sweet potatoes, acorn squash, apple butter, horseradish, corn and spices. The dish is cooked in the crock pot for about 7 to 9 hours until the pork and vegetables are tender and it tastes delicious.

Beef Stew in Crock Pot
Another diet crock pot recipe that has only five ingredients and only 20 minutes of preparation time is this one and you have a great low-fat and healthy dish ready to cook. Includes beef, potatoes, tomatoes,  peppers and onions, spices and salt. Cook on low in the crock pot for about 7-8 hours. Thicken with a little flour if needed.

Tender Chicken with Apples
One more of the low fat crock pot recipes that is prepared in 20-25 minutes and cooked about 7 hours on low. Combine orange juice, garlic, onion, chicken breasts, sliced apples, spices.

I will be posting some more low fat crock pot recipes in more detail in the next few weeks. These healthy recipes will help you stay in shape, and cooking with the low fat and diet crock pot recipes will save you time in the kitchen without sacrificing a healthy dinner.

For great recipes RIGHT NOW then buy a great COOKBOOK at AMAZON by Judith Finlayson called The Healthy Slow Cooker.

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Many people say that it's best to cook in a crock pot during the winter months and they are probably right because most people use their slow cookers only for soups and stews.  A roast is also considered to be a winter dish but these meals are a convenience to those of us who work and like to come home to a cooked meal.

Well the crock pot slow cooker is your friend in summer as well.  You can cook breakfasts and still have your roasts and the advantages are that your kitchen wont get hot from the oven and you can still walk away from the cooking and come back to a lovely cooked crock pot meal.

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You may know about how good crock pots are for convenience for making easy meals but did you know you can now get a Crock-Pot Lunch Food Warmer to heat up those left overs you made the night before.  If you work in a busy office or cant get access to a microwave then this is something you are going to like to hear about.

This little warmer is 20 ounce capacity and the base comes out to easily clean even in the dishwasher.  Just plug it in when you get to work and your lunch will be hot when you need to eat it.  It is well sealed so no one else can smell your food warming up and you can set it up right at your desk.  It even has a travel lid to help you carry it.  Great for your own cooked leftovers, soup, oatmeal or stews or store bought meals as well.

Another use for this little Crock-Pot Lunch Food Warmer is for dips.  You can set it up at home, at work and at parties.  It is slightly bigger than the 16 ounce Little Dipper so you get a dual use for this great little appliance.  I am sure you can think of other uses but I know that I have the solution now for lunch time sorted out and will be taking my little Crock Pot Lunch Warmer as much as I can in place of those boring sandwiches.

This little unit comes in 4 colors, black, red, blue and pink.  I like the simple black color as I can see it being a versatile color but then that's a matter of taste isn't it.  Go and check them out and see if you can use them too for your next work lunch.

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