I know I am not going to shock those who know me when I say that the slow cooker/crock pot is one of my favorite appliances in the kitchen next to the dishwasher. Well, not literally having the crock pot next to the dishwasher, but I think you get my point.
Does this sound familiar? Get up in the morning, brew coffee, make lunches, let the dog out, shower, get ready for work, let the dog back in. Take the dog to doggy day care (or kids to daycare), work all day, pick up dog (kids), stop at the grocery store for dinner supplies, get home around 6:30 pm, open the fridge and start grabbing whatever you can and need to whip up a reasonably healthy dinner. Hopefully what you are preparing takes less than an hour - start to plate so you have time to sit down like a real family and actually taste the food. Let's assume you did take the time to taste the food, now it's 8:00 pm-ish and it's time to clear the dishes (this is where my most favorite appliance comes in) and wash all the pots and pans you used to create the wonderful meal you and your family most graciously enjoyed. It's about 9 pm now, let the dog out (or get kids ready and off to bed), get out of your monkey suit and finally relax and/or tie up any other loose ends that you have been procrastinating or need to wrap up before tomorrow.
When you map it all out like that, it's amazing that we continue to do this routine weeknight after weeknight. Although the crock pot isn't the solution for every weeknight meal, it can certainly offer you some respite once or twice a week. It's a one pot, throw in all your ingredients in the morning, set the timer and get home and eat concept that is of course perfect for beef and pork roasts - the standard crock pot fare. In an effort to maximize the benefit this appliance offers, I've found a few other ideas to stretch this concept further.
Country style ribs
Pork Tenderloin
Chili
Non-cream based soups (I've tried cream based and it didn't go well - could be just me)
If anybody has any other great crock-pot ideas, please let me know!
I love the fact that I can cut out all the "cooking time" as it cooks safely on it's own during the day and reduce the clean up in half because there's only one pot to hand wash. Not to mention, there are generally leftovers that you can pack for your own lunch the next day.
Ah, life's simple pleasures...
