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Thermal Cooker Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

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I’ve been messing around with noodles in the thermal cooker and I haven’t had awesome luck. If you keep them in the thermal cooker for the entire cooking time, they get swollen and mushy. If you add them for the last 30 minutes of cooking time, they get soft but also kind of gluey because the liquid is no longer actually boiling. Putting noodles to cook in hot but not boiling water is apparently a no-go.

Since I knew I was doing a spaghetti sauce recipe today, I thought I’d give noodles another try. The trick here is to cook the sauce as listed below. When there are maybe twenty minutes left until dinner, bring water to boil in the small inner pot. Add your noodles and boil for a minute or two. Then insert the small inner pot into the cooker with your spaghetti sauce that’s already been cooking for hours. Seal the cooker and let the noodles cook for the amount of time the package directions specifies.

So, for my whole wheat spaghetti noodles, I let them cook for 14 total minutes, including the time they were boiling on the stove and the time they were sealed in the thermal cooker. The package said “Boil 12 minutes.”

Then, what’s the point of using the thermal cooker to cook noodles this way. For one thing, you save a little energy by not having to boil the noodles the whole time. It’s also a convenient way to take dinner on the go. As you’re leaving the house for baseball, put the noodles in and then dish them up on the field.

Now for the sauce. This is an amazing sauce that can be modified a hundred different ways. The basic recipe was taught to me by my Peruvian aunt who was living in Montreal. She taught me how to cook this, while speaking French and with no exact measurements. She just tossed things in the pot and I tried to write down approximate amounts.

I’ve been making this sauce for nearly twenty years now and it’s a little different every time. So, make it your own.

Thermal Cooker Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

1 medium onion, diced
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP parsley
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 28oz can diced or pureed tomatoes
1 14oz can tomato sauce
1 8oz can tomato paste
1 24oz jar marinara sauce
1 tsp liquid beef bouillon or one bouillon cube
2 tsp sugar
Fresh grated parmesan (optional)

Heat oil in skillet and toss in onions. Stir the onions for about 5 minutes until they are translucent and begin to turn golden. Add ground beef or turkey and stir and break into small pieces until most of the pink is gone. Drain most of the fat. Then add garlic and spices and stir for 30 seconds. Dump in tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, marinara, and bullion. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Stir in sugar. Place in the thermal cooker and seal. Let cook for 1-4 hours until you’re ready to eat. Serve over noodles or vegetables and top with parmesan cheese.

Thermal Cooker Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
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Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 lb. ground beef or turkey
  • 1 TBSP minced garlic
  • 1 TBSP parsley
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 28oz can diced or pureed tomatoes
  • 1 14oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 8oz can tomato paste
  • 1 24oz jar marinara sauce
  • 1 tsp liquid beef bouillon or one bouillon cube
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • Fresh grated parmesan (optional)

Instructions

Heat oil in skillet and toss in onions.

Stir the onions for about 5 minutes until they are translucent and begin to turn golden.

Add ground beef or turkey and stir and break into small pieces until most of the pink is gone.

Drain most of the fat.

Then add garlic and spices and stir for 30 seconds.

Dump in tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, marinara, and bullion.

Bring to a boil for 3 minutes.

Stir in sugar.

Place in the thermal cooker and seal.

Let cook for 1-4 hours until you’re ready to eat.

Serve over noodles or vegetables and top with parmesan cheese.

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http://thermalcookerrecipes.com/thermal-cooker-spaghetti-meat-sauce/

Thermalcookerrecipes.com provides recipes as a resource and educational tool only, and makes no food safety guarantees. We are not liable for any failure to meet food safety standards that may arise in your thermal cooking. We make every effort to ensure that our recipes meet established food safety standards. But all thermal cookers are not created equal, and there are many variables at play resulting in the temperatures reached and maintained in your thermal cooker. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your specific brand and model of thermal cooker, even if that means tailoring our recipes.

If you are in doubt, please consult the FDA page on foodborne illness for safe cooking temperatures and other safety tips. And use a food thermometer to ensure that your food has been cooked and stored at a safe temperature.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means, we may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase something from a link we post. Don’t worry, it costs you nothing. Thank you for supporting our website!

Hamburger Volcanoes – Thermal Cooker Style – 10 Minutes to Prep

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This recipe is cheating.

The entire meal takes a maximum of 10 minutes to prep and then it’s hot and ready for your family when you want it, fresh from the thermal cooker.

Even calling it a “recipe” feels like a bit of a stretch. It has so few ingredients and does use a prepared mix for the sauce. C’est la vie during soccer season, mes amies.

My family asks for this over and over again. Who am I to deny them? No one. That’s who.

It’s fast, easy, cheap, hot, and yummy. And thusly I comply with their demands.

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This is another rice recipe so you prepare the rice by boiling water with a little salt, adding the rice and boiling it for a few minutes. Then you insert it into the thermal cooker. Detailed instructions to guide you through this incredibly detailed process can be found here.

The topping for the rice is made by browning some ground beef or turkey in the main pot. You then drain the meat and set it aside. Prepare a few packets of brown gravy mix in the pot. When is starts to boil, add the meat back in and boil for 3-5 minutes.

Then stick it in the pot. Nest the boiling rice inside. Put a lid on it. And seal.

Easy, peasy.

This will be done and ready to eat as soon as the rice is cooked through, about 2 hours, but it should stay good for up to 8. Of course check the temperature to make sure your particular has kept it hot enough for food safety.

This afternoon I made this as I helped my kids with their homework. Then I forgot about it until we got home from soccer at 7 pm. Score.

As a side note, we call these “volcanoes” because my mom used to make this meal with mashed potatoes. We’d form the potatoes into mountainous shapes and then fill the hole in the top with the meat and gravy “lava.” It’s not nearly as volcanic-looking with rice, but the principle’s the same and the name stuck.

Hamburger Volcanos – Thermal Cooker Style
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Ingredients

  • 3/4 Cup Bulk Brown Gravy Mix (or use packets and follow directions)
  • 4 Cups Water
  • 1-2 lbs ground beef or turkey

Instructions

Brown meat in large thermal cooker pot.

Drain and set aside.

Prepare brown gravy mix in large thermal cooker pot according to package directions.

When gravy begins to boil, add prepared meat.

Boil for 3-5 minutes.

Place large thermal cooker pot in thermal cooker unit, cover with lid, and seal.

Wait 2-8 hours and enjoy over rice.

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http://thermalcookerrecipes.com/hamburger-volcanoes-thermal-cooker-style-10-minutes-prep/

Thermalcookerrecipes.com provides recipes as a resource and educational tool only, and makes no food safety guarantees. We are not liable for any failure to meet food safety standards that may arise in your thermal cooking. We make every effort to ensure that our recipes meet established food safety standards. But all thermal cookers are not created equal, and there are many variables at play resulting in the temperatures reached and maintained in your thermal cooker. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your specific brand and model of thermal cooker, even if that means tailoring our recipes.

If you are in doubt, please consult the FDA page on foodborne illness for safe cooking temperatures and other safety tips. And use a food thermometer to ensure that your food has been cooked and stored at a safe temperature.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means, we may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase something from a link we post. Don’t worry, it costs you nothing. Thank you for supporting our website!

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Simple Slow-Cooked Swiss Steak

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Swiss steak is a family favorite I’ve been enjoying since I was a little girl. It’s a comforting, filling meal, very easy to make and super delicious. It makes me think of Sunday dinners with my mom. It makes my mouth happy.

I’ve made it several times in the slow cooker for my family but my husband commented that this version in the thermal cooker was his favorite yet.

We decided the difference was that the vegetables don’t get nearly as mushy in the thermal cooker. They aren’t crisp by any means but they also aren’t pulverized.

I chose to make mashed potatoes this time for maximum comfort food. I got them PIPING hot and put them in the smaller nesting pot where they stayed nice and warm for the 6 ½ hours I had the meat cooking in the Saratoga Jacks.

However, this recipe is also really nice with rice or noodles.

I got home from an all-afternoon doctor’s appointment with my daughter, set the table, and when my husband walked in from work five minutes later, we ate. No stress.

Swiss Steak Quick Instructions

To make this meal, you dredge serving-sized pieces of steak in flour with a little salt and pepper. Then you brown them in oil in your thermal cooker pot, pour off excess fat and cover them with canned tomatoes and chopped vegetables. Boil the whole thing for at least three minutes, lid and seal it, and let it cook.

Simple Slow-Cooked Swiss Steak
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Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. round steak
  • 4 Tbsp flour
  • 2 tsp. Salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 3 Tbsp oil
  • 2 (16 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 large onion (sliced)
  • 2 stalk celery (sliced thinly)
  • 1 Tbsp. bottled steak sauce

Instructions

Cut steak into serving-sized pieces.

Coat with flour, salt & pepper. (I put them all in a plastic bag and shake them around.)

Brown beef in oil in single layer batches in large thermal cooker pot.

Pour off excess fat. Add all browned beef back into pot.

Add tomatoes, onion, celery & steak sauce to pot, being sure to cover all beef pieces.

Boil for at least three minutes.

Cover and seal your thermal cooker. Allow to cooker for 5-7 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes, noodles or rice.

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http://thermalcookerrecipes.com/simple-slow-cooked-swiss-steak/

 

swiss-steak-pin

Thermalcookerrecipes.com provides recipes as a resource and educational tool only, and makes no food safety guarantees. We are not liable for any failure to meet food safety standards that may arise in your thermal cooking. We make every effort to ensure that our recipes meet established food safety standards. But all thermal cookers are not created equal, and there are many variables at play resulting in the temperatures reached and maintained in your thermal cooker. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for your specific brand and model of thermal cooker, even if that means tailoring our recipes.

 

If you are in doubt, please consult the FDA page on foodborne illness for safe cooking temperatures and other safety tips. And use a food thermometer to ensure that your food has been cooked and stored at a safe temperature.

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/buystoreservesafefood/ucm255180.htm

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means, we may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase something from a link we post. Don’t worry, it costs you nothing. Thank you for supporting our website!