I loved reading all your comments..like many of you said, I love Jamie Olivers books and am absolutely addicted to cookery books and always have a good rumage round the 2nd hand shops to see what I can find.
Mary Berry's, Favourite Recipes..is very good for your basic every day meals, but I must admit I have been using so many recipes from Good Food magazine and Delicious magazine which I get every month..and I cant wait for the next issue to come out and see what I can try out on my 3 boys at home lol, so much better than getting a packet meal out of the freezer.

Ohhhh that sounds really nice, I'm definately going to try the Ham, I have so wanted to cook some myself as the shop bought ones are gross and watery lol I remember my Mum always cooking her own ham and it was gorgeous, I've been looking for good ham for years now lol wheyyyy maybe my search is over lol
ty karaokesteve, will let you know

That's a really good idea, i'm going to try that lol.
I'd love to have a go at preserving, I wanted to try caramalized onions, anyone got any ideas?, oh and also for chutney..never made any before but I would love to try some.
All ideas and recipes very gratefully accepted.
Suejay x

Hi Everyone,
I made this the other night and it was gorgeous so I thought i'd share it with you.
Braised Beef with Red Onions & Wild Mushrooms.
1.5kg braising steak, thickly sliced
500g red onions, thinly sliced
15g porcini mushrooms
3 tbsp olive oil
cornflour/water
425ml port
250g chestnut mushrooms
250g closed cup mushrooms
splash of mushroom ketchup
Cut the beef into thick slices, season well on both sides and fry in 2 tbsp of olive oil (you'll need to do this in batches) then put in your slow cooker. Pour 600ml of boiling water over the dried porcini mushrooms and leave to soak for 30 mins, then drain and reserve the liquid.
When you have fried all the meat add the last tbsp of olive oil to the pan and fry the onions gently until just starting to colour, then add them to the meat in the slow cooker.
Add the port, mushroom liquid, porcini mushrooms, closed cup mushrooms (sliced) and a good glug of mushroom ketchup (if you have some) and season.
Cook on a med heat for about 3-4 hours but check to see how the meat is cooking, then add the chestnut mushrooms and thicken with cornflour mixed with a little water, and cook for about 15-20 more mins.
Serve with a jacket potato and savoy cabbage mixed with butter and black pepper mmmmmmm very tasty lol.

Hiya caze, Hope your chicken is going ok lol. I put mine in last thing at night and left it on low until the morning and it was cooked perfectly.....

Hiya Everyone, I had to write and tell you I tried the Roast Chicken in my slow cooker, that Snowlight told us about and OMG was it lovely, I was amazed the skin came out crispy too, the chicken was cooked perfectly and it was so easy, bang it in , cook overnight and bob's your uncle ..perfect roast chicken lol.
I'll have to try the Pot Roast next.
Suejay

Wow, I've got so many good ideas and recipes from reading all your posts, I have a slow cooker and use it a lot for curries, chilli's etc, but never realised you could cook a chicken in them, thanks for that Snowlight and everyone else for the great ideas, and paulsroom it's good to know a man can handle a slow cooker to lol Suejay