Happy Friday! K is down with yet another fever and general malaise, and she’s missed a couple of days of school this week. The prospect of trick-or-treating is looking a little dubious, much to her chagrin. I’m feeling some wooziness myself, though I’m fighting it with all my might.
When we picked up K’s costume elements last week, I spotted a Crock Pot for a good price, and remembered several friends telling me how much it can save time and money. My mom never used a slow cooker (though she went through a passionate pressure cooker phase), so I’ve been curious…
Of course, it’s still sitting in its box, awaiting the perfect comfort food recipe. And right about now, with all these flu-like symptoms zipping around, comfort food sounds wonderful. I’ve been Googling “best crock pot recipes” and Adobo chicken seems to be a thing when it comes to slow cookin’. I don’t know…I’m in the mood for something vegetarian, though I’ve got nothing against poultry. Anyone have any recommendations?
Must go make some more lemon-honey tea for K and me. Have a restful and healthy weekend, all!
Floodings, colds, oh my!
It’s been a rough week so far
Time for extra sleep
If you discover something delicious, please share!! I have never had any luck with the dump and go thing–maybe soup would be good.
I’m seeing some good info in the comments section here – I’m excited to try them out! Soup is definitely on the list for Crock Pot experimentation – thanks, Greta!
My major recommendation: if your chosen recipe includes onions (or other alliums — leeks, garlic, shallots etc), sauté them in oil before adding to the crockpot. DO NOT THROW THEM IN RAW, even if the recipe tells you to. You’ll end up with a dish that tastes metallic and funky.
Sage advice, Hashi! I remember a friend telling me something similar, or how the onions tasted odd when she cooked them in the slow cooker. You have a lovely blog there, and you are amazingly prolific!!
Ooh… French onion soup? Black bean chili? Veggie curry? I hope the slow cooker wards off illness!
Oh, French onion soup sounds delish. As does curry!!! I’ve succumbed to the germs and haven’t been able to cook much this weekend, but I have high hopes for next week. Thanks, Morgan!
Try cholent, it’s the ultimate crockpot food. Not traditionally vegetarian but just leave out the meat. And make sure you put an egg in to slow-cook along with the cholent, it absorbs the flavors through the shell and is delicious.
I had to look up cholent, and it looks AMAZING! I love the idea of slow cooking a whole egg in its shell. This is a must-try! Thank you, E!
Love your crock pot inspiration drawing – the veggies look good enough to eat! We always enjoyed using our crock pot to make beans – like black beans seasoned with chilis. Yum. Hope you are feeling better.
It was fun painting all the veggies – I’ve been going through a major watercolor painting phase these days. I just want to paint all day! Beans do seem like popular crock pot fare. I think you need to soak them first or something, right? Thanks, Noelle!
Hi ! This is the time of year I start to use mine a lot and I’ve gotten more adventurous with mine over the years, I’m pretty much vegetarian so here goes….Aubergine Parmigana, just layer up your chopped tomatoes, aubergines garlic onion herbs and mozzarella, I tend to cook this from morning on a medium heat. I also like to make a vegetable Thai green curry using green thai paste/ coconut milk/ vegetables, things with lentils are also nice. If you do fancy some kind of meat our family favourite is a smoked gammon joint covered in (cheap!) coca cola ( Cook on low all day). A great cheap comfort dish we also like is to to layer some foil in your slow cooker ( much easier to clean after) then chop up new potatoes and mix with either chorizo and cheese or pepperoni mmmmm making me hungry just thinking about it! This year when we went camping I took our slow cooker much to everyone’s amusement ( I also take a halogen oven lol!) and we ate fantastically well we even did sweet corn and hotdogs in it!! Pinterest has some fantastic recipes for inspiration, hope this has given you some ideas sorry it was a long post!!!!
Wow, so much goodness here Shelli, thank you! I’m fascinated by the coca cola dish…does it taste like coke or does it just impart sweetness? And I’ve taken a rice cooker on our yurt camping trips, so I’m right with ya!! Thanks for all the inspiration :-).
I LOVE the crock pot! Put in some broth and throw in carrots and potatoes. Delicious! Once they’ve cooked down you could throw in the softer veggies an hour before eating. Have fun and hope you all feel better soon. Being sick is no fun!
Oh, that sounds totally easy and doable. I need super easy recipes since I’m entering that foggy zone of sickness. Thank you, Em!
Hope you all get well soon! I’ve never tried a crockpot yet, but am fascinated by all success stories…
I’ve heard great things about crock pot dishes, but like anything I probably need to go through a period of trial and error before I hit upon some tried-n-true recipes. I hope to be able to update on my Crock Pot experimentations, Nienke :-)!
I hope you are well again and hainvg a nice Halloweekend. I have not had much crockpot experience. The adobo chicken sounds ok. I have to get back into checking your blog regularly, now that you are back! Yay!
I think I’m back – it seems like life is constantly throwing curve balls at me, so I’m not declaring an official comeback yet! 😉 Halloween looked like it might get canceled, but K powered through. She was a very, very happy camper!
I hope K is feeling much better by now, and was able to enjoy the Halloween festivities last night. And may her ailment not take up residence with you!:( Perhaps some slow-cooking comfort food will be just the ticket to good health!
Poor K is even worse! We’ve been trying to get lots of extra rest 🙂 Thanks Lucinda!
Indian dishes are great for the slow cooker– there’s a great cookbook (I think it is called Indian Slow Cooker) you should look for at the library. I tend to avoid chicken– it gets too dry– but I do make teriyaki chicken with thighs. Catherine Newman’s adobo carnitas are my winter slow-cooker standby. So good, and can be used as a kind of condiment all week.
http://benandbirdy.blogspot.com/2013/02/adobo-carnitas.html
I love Indian food, yum. Thanks so much for the link and the tip about the chicken, Kitty! K would be all over the teriyaki chicken. All these suggestions are fantastic!!
We went a bit overboard – we have 4, yep 4, slow cookers. A single serve for rice porridge when I’m lunching on my own (rice and stock popped on in the morning, delightfully done by lunch), a double size which we usually do mid day light soups like chicken leek and corn or cream of mushroom with loads of mushrooms added, a 3 person size for dinnertime curries and spag bog sauce and a ginormous one for everything from slow roasts to oxtail stew. Its amazing being able to prep and throw it all in, let it simmer through the day while you are busy and them come back to this hot meal. Best bit is if you don’t finish, chuck straight in the fridge at night and back in the slow cooker the next day to reheat.
Now YOU are the person to consult for slow cookers, Grace! I love that you have every size to fit your needs and I didn’t even think of rice porridge – how is it different from using a rice cooker I wonder? Thank you for all the inspiration!
I find rice porrige easier in the slow cooker than the rice cooker as my rice cooker bubbles over if I put too much water in. Actually, my mom’s trick is to put day old rice in any old pot, top up with water, whack on the lid, bring to a boil on the stove for 10 minutes and leave for another 15. Works a treat 🙂 but if I’m lazy and not looking for instant food gratification, the slow cooker works a treat. If I have day old rice, I chuck that in the slow cooker and top up with chicken broth and leave on low heat for a few hours. If I don’t have ready made rice then I put raw washed rice in with water, a bit of salt and oil to soak over night. Any water that hasn’t been soaked up the next day gets drained then follow the same chicken stock routine. What I’ve found is that each slow cooker has a different “low” so the first couple of times is a trial and error – and its why I’m so vague on cooking times. Anyway, just remember that short grain rice needs a more water than a long grain ones.
Oh this is excellent, Gracie! It also sounds like the perfect dish for these less than healthy days I’m having. I’m doing this over the weekend for sure. Thank you!!