Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 slowcooker: a review

After reading the 365 days of crockpotting blog, I did some research about what kind of crockpot/slow cooker I wanted. I read reviews of a number of different crockpots and slow cookers and I took into consideration my life style ( a couple with no kids who hosts a lot of dinner parties) and decided on the Hamilton Beach 3-in-in slowcooker. The problem is I have a 5 quart slow cooker that works just fine that I got about 2 years ago when one I inherited from my mom had started to leak. So there was pretty much no way I could talk Aaron in to letting me get a new $60 appliance when mine is fully functioning. I looked on line at Target.com, Macy's.com and Amazon.com, the cheapest I found it was $45, but then I had to pay shipping (which would be at least $15 if not more).

I went to the local AC "home" store on my break the other day. (Home is used loosely because it technically sells stuff like pillows, but you only have one option. And it sells things like over priced sofas and ovens, but again there is no selection, just one to pick from.) And there it was in all it's glory: the Hamilton Beach 3-in-1 slowcooker! I'm not going to lie, I knew it was there. I have known since around Christmas, but it was still $60, until today. Today it was $30. I think I can justify a $30 purchase. So I brought it home and it was all mine.
It has 3 different pots in 3 pretty colors: pumpkin orange, soft custard yellow and sage green. There are 2, 4 & 6 crocks to put in it. There are buttons you push to indicate what crock is in it and it also has a high, low and warming setting. The 2 quart bowl will be perfect for heating up a chocolate or cheese dip. The 4 quart will be perfect for a dinner just for Aaron and I and maybe one other person. And the 6 quart is perfect to roast a chicken in then make chicken soup when it is done cooking.

There was PLENTY of room in the crock for the whole chicken. I didn't even have to try to squish the wings down. I looked it on high for 3.5 hours and the meat was tender and just fell off the bone. When I added the noodles, I had it set to warm for about 20 minutes and the egg noodles were perfect and didn't become mushy. It was nice. I am so looking forward to making more things with the slowcooker. I'll keep you posted.

I want to mention that the large crock does not plop down all the way in to the heating thingy. It was engineered this way, so looking at it the first time was weird. But everything turned out fine.

triple squash soup

Remember the butternut squash from earlier pictures? Well, I finally got around to doing something with it only after I received another type of squash in my weekly veggie box. This time it was an acorn squash. I started thinking and after the couple days of snow storms (yes it is still snowing here in Alaska), I thought it would be nice to have some warm soup and some bread.

First I had to roast the squash. This is easy, if you haven't done this before, give it a try. It's super easy and is very tasty. This stuff tastes good straight out of the oven.

Cut your squash or squashes? [I have no idea what the plural of squash is...Maybe squash is plural, like moose. Huh, uh, anyway...] Cut your gourds in half length-wise. Scoop out the seeds and gooey stuff. (You can save the seeds if you want to plant some or clean them and roast them too for a crunchy snack) Spray the insides with oil--I used canola in a Misto--and add some sea salt (Get one of these...they are awesome!) Now, place the squash skin side up on a baking sheet that has sides--as they cook, they will render some liquid. Take some cloves of garlic and some thyme and shove them in the scooped out part. As they roast, they will take on the flavors of what ever you put in there. Put them in a 375 degree oven for about an hour or until they are soft and can be removed from the skin easily. After they are cooled scoop out all the flesh. I did all this the night before I made soup.

The day of the soup, I put the squash bits in the blender with some water (feel free to use chicken stock or vegetable stock) to make a puree--add those roasted garlic cloves to the mix if you want. Now, I bet you are wondering where the other squash comes from. Enters a can of pumpkin puree. I would have roasted a pumpkin if I had one. I didn't. A can of pumpkin puree is just as good. DO NOT USE PUMPKIN PIE FILLING. It's not the same, trust me on this one.
Add the pumpkin and squash puree in to a large stock pot. Add 2 cups of water to make it more like soup and less like paste. Heat this up on Medium heat. Add Salt, corriander, cumin, garlic powder and pepper. Add Sriracha if you want to add some heat--I did, I knew Erin was going to come over. Now, add a pint of heavy cream to give your soup a velvety creaminess. (You can omit this if you are watching your weight)


I served this with grilled garlic bread. It was nice and warm and filling. Aaron ate 2 bowls and I'm not even sure if he knew this was good for him.

Easy peasy Pumpkin soup

I didn't get pictures. I'm sorry. But this went so quickly, I didn't have a chance. But this was SO EASY!. It only takes about 10-15 minutes and people will think you slaved over the stove for hours.

1 large can of pumpkin (not a can of pumpkin pie mix)
1 carton of chicken stock or Vegetable stock
1 pint heavy cream
garlic salt (2 tablespoons)
curry powder (1-2 tablespoons more if you want it hotter)
red pepper flake (optional--just to add heat, Erin would love this)

In a heavy saucepan, pour chicken stock and add all of the pumpkin. Heat this until it is almost boiling. Don't let it boil. It will just burn pumpkin to your pan. Turn down to low heat and add the garlic salt and curry powder. Add the heavy cream and let it simmer for a few minutes. This can be served with small noodles or rice.

You can do this in your crock pot if you want as long as you don't add the cream until you are ready to serve--just add everything else to the pot. Put it on low heat for 1-2 hours. Add the cream right before serving.