Slow Carb Cooking

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

It’s hard to keep straight all the diets that are out there, along with what is in and what is out as far as following a balanced lifestyle. In the last few years I have known more than a few people who have gone on a low carb diet and had a lot of success with it. The slow cooker happens to be a great tool when following this type of diet since it does such a good job of cooking protein items such as meats and beans.

But what if, on the other hand, your diet necessitates that you eat lots of carbohydrates? That is the position I am in right now, because I have been training to run in the New York City marathon this fall. This will be my first ever marathon and is actually three years in the making. Even though I ran the nine qualifying races three years ago, I have not been able to participate in the full marathon due to various injuries and have had to postpone until this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the year I run it. So I have been following the advice of my sports medicine doctor and am sticking to a more moderate training schedule.

As a part of my training, I also have had to change my eating habits a bit. This has involved really paying close attention to my diet and increasing my intake of the complex carbohydrates that provide slow burning fuel. While I am never too fond of watching what I eat (which is part of the reason I started running in the first place!), I may be the only person to actually gain weight while training to run the 26 miles. After a long run, I have been known to consume an entire pizza in one sitting— okay it was thin crust, but still. . . .

When I am really craving a good meal of carbohydrates, one of my favorite sources is always pasta. The recommended meal the night before a marathon, or any big race, is a big dish of spaghetti. There are numerous pasta dishes that start off with the sauce being made in the slow cooker and CDKitchen features many of them. To really make a healthy meal you can use whole wheat pasta, which provides extra fiber and a nutty taste. Because of its unique firmer texture, pasta made from whole wheat turns out well when cooked for longer periods of time.

Another great source of complex carbs is brown rice. Because of its long cooking time, brown rice takes some advance planning if you want to incorporate it into a meal. But with the slow cooker, you can put the rice on early and forget about it until you are ready to eat. The slow cooker also does a fabulous job of making any type of hot breakfast cereal such as oatmeal or cream of wheat. You can start it at night and wake up to a rib-sticking breakfast that will sustain you with lots of energy for all kinds of vigorous activity. Along with some dried fruit, it’s just the thing to motivate me on a chilly fall morning!

So as I continue on my quest to complete the marathon, I will be using the slow cooker to help provide the extra nutrition and complex carbohydrates that I need this fall.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 5 cups water
• 2 cups brown rice
• 2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)

Serves/Makes: 4

• 1 pound frozen chicken tenders, thawed
• 1 packet lemon herb sauce mix
• 2 small summer squash or zucchini, halved, and sliced 1/4
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced 1/2" thick
• 1/4 cup water
• salt, to taste
• freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 3 cups hot cooked pasta (raddiatore, spirals, etc.)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream