I’m Not Lazy…

…I’m On Energy Saving Mode!

Today was the day that I dusted off my old friend the slow cooker and returned it to its’ pride of place on the kitchen countertop. This is an act that I try to delay as much as possible, as it means that I have finally accepted that it’s winter and, having been born during a heatwave, I am a sun baby and hate the cold with a passion.

What is rather strange is that no sooner have I released my slow cooker from the depths of the kitchen cupboard that I realise, once again, how much I actually love it. For all intents and purposes, the slow cooker is the lazy girl’s (or boy’s) live-in chef and pretty much releases us from kitchen duty for the evening.

So what’s for dinner tonight? Well, there’s an apple leftover from last week’s Apple Crisp Baked Apples Recipe, a butternut squash – because I can’t resist buying butternut squash when it’s in season, but didn’t really have any plans on what to cook with it – an onion and some garlic festering away in the fridge drawer. So I gathered this menagerie of leftovers, chopped it all up, threw it in the slow cooker, and hey presto, dinner magic at its’ finest!

Yes, my share of the hard work was undeniably lacking, whilst my lovable slow cooker worked and slogged all day to make a truly delicious meal for my return that evening. So apologies friends, this week’s recipe is rather short and doesn’t require much else other than a hard working slow cooker, a knife, a garlic press and a blender.

This leads me to tell you about my latest find – this revolutionary (and I mean revolutionary) Garlic Press. It’s perfect for lazy cooks like me because it has an extra large capacity chamber, so you can crush up to 4 cloves of garlic at one time. The crushing chamber is also removable so no more trying to poke out garlic remnants from a hard to reach grid before throwing it in the dishwasher – because no one has time for that!

Here is a list of equipment I used to make my Slow Cooker Butternut Squash & Apple Soup, some of which are available from my online store:

Slow Cooker
Silicone Spoon
Paring Knife
Slicing Knife
Apple Corer
Garlic Press
Blender