31 days of slow cooking- planning has started!

When the clock struck midnight on New Year's Day 2014 I decided I was going to sort myself out. I'm sick of moping around doing nothing and watching each day go by. One of my goals this year is to beat this depression that I've dealt with since my teens. It's very much a constant battle and I'm fed up of being numbed by pills. Over the last couple of months I have discovered a love of cooking. I enjoy planning meals, looking for something that's different, things we would not normally have. As we still live on a tight budget , I'll take an expensive looking meal and cut the price down by almost half! It annoys Gareth no end, he is very much a recipe follower, the instructions on the back are there for a reason he says.... I say no! I'm always looking for ways to keeps the pennies in our bank and still have the little luxuries on the side. I mean who actually makes a cake following exact recipes now? We all do it, we have a basic recipe guideline and then after laying out our ingredients we chuck in our own amounts and hope for the best... Or is that just me :)

One of the best things I own is my slow cooker. My mother in law brought it for us last year when our hob decided to break. Up until then I had only assumed it was good for stews or casseroles and had now idea at the sheer amount of things I could actually make with it! As it's getting closer to my monthly shopping planning, I decided this could work in my favour. I love cooking but admittedly I'm terrible at it. The slow cooker removes the possibility of me burning the food I lovingly thought out and planned for my family, the only risky part is I may possibly over spice something. I sense a few "mum it's burning my mouth" phrases coming up :) The other fantastic thing is, with my May food shop consisting on mainly slow cooked meals or treats, I may actually get some decorating and gardening done as I'm not stuck to the oven... Bonus! 

As always I'm not able to get online every day of the week so I plan to have at least one or two days a week where I post several posts at once. I'll try to mix them up abit so it's not all full of food :) I'm in the planning stage now and would love to hear of any fantastic slow cooker recipes you may have. If I can fit them in I'll make them and give you a mention :) 

Wish me luck!! :)