Minestrone. Slow cooked, on a budget.

This is a "feed the family plus leftovers" recipe :)

Ingredients
4 full rashers middle bacon, rind removed if tough, sliced into 1cm strips.
1 large leek, large dice

3 crushed cloves or 3 teaspoons jar Garlic
3 big Bay leaves
2 medium carrots large diced
1 hefty or 2 delicate ribs Celery halved and sliced
2/3 cup DRIED great northern beans
2/3 cup DRIED borlotti beans
1 bottle passata
Chicken or vegetable stock, approx 3L
1/4 head savoy cabbage
1 400g tin tomatoes
Dried mixed herbs

Balsamic Vinegar (trust me!)
Fresh basil and parsley to serve

Method:

Preheat slowcooker.
Rinse your beans, set aside.
Fry off bacon until fat renders. Add leek, then garlic. Once leek is soft and starting to colour, deglaze pan with balsamic and scrape into slow cooker. Add beans, bay leaves, carrot, celery and passata. Add stock til almost full. Set SC to auto, cover and leave overnight/all day. Add cabbage and herbs to taste 1hr before serving.

Right before serving, check for seasoning and use pink himalayan salt, fresh pepper and balsamic vinegar to get the flavour balance right. I can pretty much guarantee 1T of vinegar will be the minimum you need.

Ladle into prewarmed bowls and add a good handful of basil and parsley. Serve with plain warmed crusty bread if you wish.

Mulled wine the lazy way.

So I like mulled wine, but it's taken a while to find a convenient method and recipe that suits both of us. Fiddly isn't his thing and too simple isn't mine. So, all you slow cooker fans... Lazy mulled wine.

I may have forgotten to take a pic
as it was cooking. Oops!

1.5 L Aldi 'soft red' cask wine aka Aldi Red goon.
150ml (a good splodge) Aldi Tawny Port.
1 blood orange, halved and crushed
1 decent juicy lemon, quartered. We use grandpas Meyers.

2 whole cloves

1 stick cinnamon

1/2 a star anise

100g brown sugar
250ml hot water

Chuck it all in, put on auto. Leave for a few hours. 

Mix brown sugar into hot water. Add to slow cooker.
Check the flavour and remove spices if necessary or add more if you want to. Leave another 20 mins after a good stir.
Enjoy!

PS: I've recently discovered where Aldi Port comes from. No wonder it's good, shame I can't share who makes it, but it's good!