Tuesday night is archery night in this house. From 6-9 we are stuck in a cold building watching our kids try to shoot a target. Yes, it is as exciting as it sounds.
Luckily, we live just a few minutes from the cold building, so we don't have to leave too early, but the 6pm starting time leaves us with three choices: 1) eat dinner way early 2) eat dinner way late 3) pick up Taco Bell on the way and eat it between shots.
Most people opt for #3, but we end up with number 2. The problem is, we get home at 9:15, so if I have to run home and make dinner, we don't eat until 10pm.
Enter - crockpot. I grew up in a crockpot family. My mom was a working mom and always called the crockpot into action on extra busy days. Our crockpot was one of our first kitchen purchases. Let me tell ya... I love me some crockpot.
Have a favorite recipe you want to convert to a crock pot recipe? A Crock Cook has some tips that can help.If you are looking for new recipes, there are plenty out there:
About.com Southern Food Crockpot and Slow Cooker Recipes Index
Allrecipes.com Slow Cooker Main Dishes
Crockpot Slow Cooker Recipes @ CDKitchen
Looking for healthier recipes?
Fatfree.com crockpot recipes
Recipezaar.com Crock Pot and Vegetarian 376 Recipes
This Mama Cooks - on a diet listing of Weight Watchers crockpot recipe site
Frugal Veggie Mama Crock Pot
What about ethnic recipes?
How to use Slow cookers for Indian Cuisine?
Chef2Chef Mexican Recipe Archive
ChineseFoodDIY Crock Pot Recipes
This might be a good time to mention How to Tell if a Recipe is Worth Cooking With Five Easy Questions. I found this link on Cheap Healthy Good and it has already saved me from two "it sounds kind of good" disasters.
He also has a series called How to Modify a Recipe that could come in very handy -
Part 1: Basics
Part 2: The Six Rules
Part 3: Granola Before and After
Some of my favorite crockpot recipes:
Slow Cooker Mexican chicken
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of salsa (your choice of heat)
Toss in the breasts, smother with the jar of salsa, turn on and leave.
Shred it at the end of the day for taco salad, on top of rice, etc.
Serving size : 1/2 cup
Crock Pot Baked Potatoes
Potatoes -- use 6-12 of them
Foil
Prick pots with fork. Wrap them in foil. Fill Crock-Pot with 6 to 12 potatoes. Cover. Go away. Cook on Low 8 to 10 hours (High: 2 1/2 to 4 hours]. Come back. Don't you dare add water!
Crockpot Beans
Rinse beans, pick out any small rocks. Don't bother soaking.
Put two cups of beans and five cups of water in crockpot. Cook on low all day. (Soybeans and chickpeas need to be cooked on high).
To make refried beans, cook with onions and garlic. Puree when soft and season with either packets of taco seasoning mix or chili powder and cumin, to taste.
Tip: Freeze them in 2-cup portions in zipper-type freezer bags or semi-disposable storage containers. One bag/container equals 1 can of beans.
This past weekend this recipe came to the rescue when we had house guests. I put the beans in early and we spent the day at the pool. Came home, pureed them and had dinner on the table in minutes!
(Photo courtesy of keagans_mom at flickr. She is right. Her kids are clever!)
2 comments:
Hi there! Just wanted to thank you for linking to my articles... And glad to hear I saved you from one of those "it sounds kind of good" recipes--I know EXACTLY what you mean.
Best,
Daniel Koontz
Casual Kitchen
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