My Favorite Time-Saving Appliances

Last week, I wanted to make lamb stew in my slow cooker, but I was late getting started. So I put a couple of inches of water in the slow cooker and turned it on, to get the heat going. Meanwhile, I heated more water in my electric hot pot.

Next I seasoned, dredged and floured the lamb and browned it in olive oil in a skillet. When the lamb was nicely golden, I transferred the pieces to the slow cooker. I added some of the now-boiling water from the hot pot into the skillet, scraping up all the tasty browned bits, and poured that into the slow cooker. Finally, I added more boiling water from the hot pot to cover the meat. Once I had the meat simmering, I could take my time prepping the veggies.

By preheating the slow cooker and using hot water to cover the meat instead of waiting for the slow cooker to come up to temperature, I probably shaved an hour of cooking time and dinner was ready on schedule.

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