Wednesday 29 July 2009

Confessions of a Reluctant Crock-Potter

You're all going to think I'm a nutter, but I have a confession to make. A confession prompted by a comment I received yesterday along the lines of 'don't you just love your crock pot'.

The simple answer is Yes.

The more complicated response is: I do.....now. I have finally hit on some recipes that I really love when done in the crockpot. Tasty, flavourful and satisfying meals that only need rice or mashed potatoes to go with them. To be honest, for the first 6 or 7 years of our marriage I shoved my big ol' pot into the back of the cupboard, thinking that if a crockpot meal was meat and a tin of undiluted tomato soup then I could well do without it, no matter how tender the meat. I even thought it a bit of a dinosaur and wondered why anyone would think a young chick like me would want such a thing for a wedding present.

It turns out that long ago fore-thinking wedding guest was right on the money. As I've aged and wisened up a little I've discovered there is far more to crockpotting than I thought. Indeed, with the availability of the internet in my own home I've discovered quite a vast world of wonderful recipes that would otherwise have passed me by. Now that I've figured out crockpot meals can be quite yummy after all, I am more inclined to get mine out of its spot in the front of the cupboard. Yep. It got moved up in my kitchen world to the front pozzie.

Now that I've also joined those in the world with the title of 'working mum' I'm a lot more inclined to get up 15 minutes earlier to get dinner into my now-precious pot so I can come home and put my feet up for a little bit longer.

My lunch today was leftovers of yesterday's recipe, which I'd made on Saturday. I cooked and mashed a potato this morning to go with it. Mmmmm...now there's a good winter lunch!

6 comments:

Crunchie's Mum said...

I love my slow cooker/crock pot, its great for the nights I get home late. What more could you ask for - hot food ready to serve, a home smelling of yummy aromas and hardly any dishes to wash up! I'm about to make a curry in mine for tonight - yum.

Chookie said...

OK, I want to see the recipes! Just as long as they don't involve me using any other pots and pans. If I had time to fry my meat and onions, I wouldn't be using a crock-pot! Mine is my Mum's, and it really is a CP, not a slow cooker. It also takes longer than a working day to cook anything in it, but it's good if you set things up the evening before.

Angela said...

Yes, I love mine too - but for a while I had to store it, as we kept having power outages while I was at work, and I'd get home to an uncooked meal. Now the power is fixed, and I am planning on lots more recipes done that way.
Have you tried cooking a ham in Coca Cola in it?? [must be REAL coke, NOT sugar free]It sounds weird, but tastes delicious.

Crunchie's Mum said...

I ignore the bit in the recipe which says fry the onion and meat first. I just bung it all in and it works. Frying first creates more dishes and takes more time so I simply don't bother.

Lynda

Tracy said...

I do fry my meat first, just to brown, because I like the flavour better.

I have had ham cooked with coke and I didn't really like it. Coke is something I avoid at all costs after some reactions I had many years ago.

Left-Handed Housewife said...

Strangely enough, the Man was given a crockpot at work (it was some odd employee appreciation deal) and for awhile I too had it stuffed in the back of the cabinet. But as you've found, there are really a lot of wonderful, innovative crockpot recipes out there, and I don't think I've had more tender meat than meat cooked in the 'pot. I tend to use mine most on winter Sundays--it's nice to start something before church and then have the rest of the day to read and putter, knowing that dinner is cooking itself.

frances