Multicooker Road Test: New Wave 5 in 1

With the money I received from relatives for my birthday I decided to purchase a multicooker. My main reason for buying one is that I love to cook slow cooked meals over winter and my current slow cooker does not have a timer. It is also a little overzealous so I could not leave it on all day whilst at work as it would overcook the food.

The other thing that appealed to me about a multicooker was the inclusion of a pressure cook function. I have never used one before and was fascinated at the possibilities and practicalities for a full time working mum of football-playing-eat-like-a-horse teenage boys.

So I did a bit of research and read heaps of reviews and decided on the New Wave 5 in 1 Multicooker which I ordered from Kitchenware Direct. It cost about $140 delivered (in 3 days) and just so you know, this post is not sponsored. I mainly want to let you know that so far I am extremely happy with my choice. These are the 5 functions that my multicooker performs:

1. Searing

You can brown your meat in the dish before slow or pressure cooking. Very handy for adding cooked onions and garlic to your dish - extra flavour without the added washing up.

2. Slow Cooking

These are a couple of dishes I have made using the slow cook function.

I came home to this pork and pineapple curry tonight which was such a treat. I marinated the pork overnight and put it in the cooker with the vegetables at 8am this morning before I left for work. I had the timer set to come on at 10am for six hours. The cooker then automatically switches to 'warm' function so it was absolutely perfect when I got home. I only had to boil some rice, but a lot of people put that in too.

You can see how clear and easy the functions are selected. The red time is the preset time and the green time is how long you want it to cook for. There is no low or high setting like most slow cookers and I find the timing to be in between. Most dishes you would cook on low for eight hours or high for four hours, and I find six hours is perfect in this cooker.

This is not a great photo but it shows a mild sausage curry I made for the boys. I boiled the sausages first to remove fat and skins, then put the pasta in with the curry and sausages. I then put it on slow cook for three hours. Perfect!

3. Pressure Cooking

I am so impressed with the pressure cook function and have used this the most. Anything that I would normally fry I am now cooking in my multicooker, and it is so much easier to clean. I did steak the other night cooked in gravy which took 8 minutes and was perfectly moist and tender.Getting the timing right is the key to pressure cooking and I use the recipes provided and a fantastic Multicooker Facebook group if I am unsure. It is suggested to use the high pressure for meats and low pressure for vegetables

This bolognese sauce took 15 minutes on high pressure. Next time I will add the spaghetti at the same time.

The yummy beef casserole took 30 minutes on high pressure. I browned the meat (chuck steak) using the searing function in the photo above.

4. Soup

This is one of my beautiful home grown pumpkins.

Chopped up with some onion, garlic, chicken stock and bacon.

Two hours later, perfect pumpkin soup. I have also made this on the low pressure function which halved the cooking time.

5. Steaming

How perfect are these steamed vegetables? You just put some water in the bottom of the cooker and place the steam basket on the rack...and ten minutes later you have perfect vegies.

The cooker is quite big (6 litre capacity), and the insert is made of a very easy to clean non stick metal. You can buy stainless steel inserts separately if you want to. The steam basket and rack are shown below, together with the spoon which also came with the package.

So, if you have been contemplating getting a multi cooker I can thoroughly recommend the practicality and functionality of the New Wave 5 in 1. They also have a 6 in 1 cooker that has deep frying but I thought that would just get rather messy...and I don't deep fry anything anyway.

Simple Living Sunday 35

Gee Monday's roll around so quickly don't they? We went over our usage for the internet this weekend so were unable to use it - when they slow the satellite speed down it is non existent. It has still been a weird week of weather with frosts and two days of gale force winds - my greenhouse ended up in the gully and I had a lot of cleaning up to do around the yard.

Another pest problem...something has been eating this pumpkin. I would guess at possums or bandicoots.

So, I have now moved them upstairs to keep an eye on them. I cover them each night due to frost and dew, and am hoping they will ripen soon so I can store them downstairs, away from hungry critters.

I opened up the frost-bitten corn to give to the chooks and it did not form very well...only half a cob. Better luck with that next time.

Another loss is the cape gooseberry. This is a shot of an unripened berry...they go yellow when ripe.

But the frost has attacked it and the berries did not drop so I never got to see what they taste like.

The cauliflower is coming back and getting leafy again now that the caterpillars are under control.

This spark of colour is from a bougainvillea forgotten in a pot underneath the gum trees.

My husband loves nothing better than lighting a fire, so he did a lot of burning off with the long grass from the pumpkin patch.

This is my new toy - my birthday present from money given to me by my dad and sister. It is a 5 in 1 multicooker which has a pressure cook and slow cook function.

I made this beef stew in 30 mins using the pressure cooker so I can see huge benefits in terms of time.

You can also brown the meat in the pan, which saves on dishes too. The other functions are steaming and soup making so I can see I will get adventurous during my holidays next week.

I have even prepped another meal for the week. I have boiled the sausages to remove fat and taken the skins off. I will pop this in the pressure cooker with some water when I get home from work...easy, peasy dinner.

What did you get up to this weekend?

A-Z Simple Living: K = Kitchen

When I am not out in the garden or at work, I find I spend a lot more time now in my kitchen. So many of the hobbies and interests I now have, centre around this vital hub of our home. Now, my kitchen is certainly not something to write home to Mum about. It is a kitchen we fashioned when we had to relocate it upstairs due to the flooding. It just was not practical to maintain our large kitchen and dining area downstairs...as much as I loved that open space. Fridges and the like are difficult to move upstairs in the rain, and when we all move up there in a flood, we need a kitchen anyway.

My downstairs kitchen

One day, I dream of having a chef's kitchen, equipped with modern appliances, massive benchtops, a kitchen island...and every surface gleaming. Oh, and one of those fancy hanging pot things on the ceiling. Now, who wouldn't want to cook in a kitchen like that?

In actuality, all you really need from your kitchen is a space you feel comfortable in. A space where you know where everything is, and where there is a little order in amongst the chaos. I find that I have to work to keep it organised and I set myself some boundaries of always going to bed with the kitchen tidy, and always trying to leave it the same way when I go to work the next morning. It does not always go that way, but most days I hit the mark, and it makes me feel so peaceful knowing it is done, and I love walking into it when it is tidy and clean.

So, want to see my kitchen? These are some random shots:

It is one long room, leading off from the glass doors to the upstairs verandah. We have a small living area at the other end.

This is the sink side, with our dining table against the wall, You will note I have two pantries, and could really do with some overhead cupboards one day.

I try and keep my shelves as organised as possible, by using smaller shelves, baskets and boxes.

I need to get more containers for loose items. Most of my dry stuff ends up in glass cannisters on the top of the pantry...to make more room inside.

The cupboards are steel fronted work benches suited for a man-cave toolshed, but they are waterproof and portable, which was a big consideration downstairs.

I have recently moved the clutter of ornaments out of the inlaid shelves, and replaced them with more useful items, such as my spices and glasses etc. And doesn't everyone have a few seedlings on their kitchen sink?

I would love to see these red pots hanging from the ceiling one day, but for now they live in a huge pull-out drawer.

The other side of my kitchen where all the work happens. I like to leave my breadmaker on the bench as it is used every couple of days (when I am in breadmaking mode). The 'window' opens right out and adds heaps of light to the room, but I pulled it down to take this photo.

And there is still plenty of space for food preparation. If I need to spread out I use the dining table also.

So. it's a little bit rustic, but it does the job and I have plans to add more cupboards...and a glass window :)

Do you like your kitchen? Or is it just a place to work...and then run away from?