This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I'm a big fan of slow cookers, but I don't like a lot of the recipes I see for them. So many of them contain packaged and processed ingredients that may make a fast dinner, but not necessarily a healthy one.
Which is why I'm excited about the launch today of a new site called Slow Cooker from Scratch.
It is written by Utah cook/food blogger Kalyn Denny and is "dedicated to sharing recipes from Kalyn's Kitchen and other fantastic food blogs who use the slow cooker to make tasty "from-scratch" meals."
Denny, has already found a successful second career (she used to be an elementary school teacher) writing Kalyn's Kitchen. The website offers delicious recipes for home cooks, especially those following the low-carb South Beach diet.
On the new site, Denny will introduce one of her own slow cooker recipes or a worthy offering from another blog every day. As with Kalyn's Kitchen there will be photos, descriptions and a link to find the recipe on the original site.
But Denny is picky about the recipes she features.
"The intent of this site is to collect and promote "real food" recipes using the slow cooker. In particular, I don't accept recipes that include canned soup, dry soup mix, packaged seasoning mixes, dessert mixes, or other highly processed and artificially flavored ingredients," she wrote.
Denny said she prefers recipes that usehomemade stock, beans cooked from scratch, and fresh vegetables, but she understands time constraints so she's not opposed to using real-food convenience products like canned beans, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, canned broth, canned vegetables, frozen vegetables, salsa, sun-dried tomatoes, or dried fruit.
I'm looking forward to seeing the daily recipes. Click here to sign up for the email or RSS feed.