Crockpottery
So, earlier this year, when LOST was airing its final season (and let’s not talk about that last episode, OK?), I was faced with a challenge. How can my husband and I commute home from work (and get back in town around 6 or 6:30), eat a home-cooked meal and watch LOST episodes live, rather than on the DVR?
I invented what became known as “Crockpot Tuesday,” making use of the 3-quart crockpot (or slow cooker if that’s what you know) I got a couple of years ago for $10 at Wal-mart on Black Friday. I was inspired by A Year of Slow Cooking, a blogger I saw on Rachel Ray’s talk show who took on a food challenge to eat all crockpot, all the time for 365 days. Surely, if she could do it for that long, we could make it work for the last dozen or so episodes of LOST!
And we did! I’ve discovered that the crockpot is a very forgiving cooking medium. Give it a little meat, some veggies, a bit of liquid and seasoning, let it go on low for 8 hours, and you’re in business. Just make some rice or pasta, and you have dinner in less time than it takes to figure out what The Island really was.
I’ve come up with deliciousness like this — Crockpot chicken, rice and veggie soup. The great thing is that I don’t have a recipe for this as much as I have a method that can be altered to your liking and needs.
I seasoned chicken breast w/ garlic powder and a greek seasoning blend, added to the crock pot, then dumped lots of veggies on top (zucchini, squash, carrots, onions, green beans…I think that’s it). I added a few cups of water and 4 beef bullion cubes and cooked in all on low overnight (so 7 or 8 hours). Then, when we got home, we steamed some basmati rice and warmed up the crockpot goodness to make the soup.
I honestly feel like I’m getting away with something when I cook with my crockpot! Really, that’s all the effort it takes to make something edible (and usually tasty) quickly for dinner? And it’s almost always super inexpensive because I’m using staple ingredients I already have!
Do you slow cook? What’s your favorite crockpot recipe?
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Tags: A Year of Slow Cooking, basmati, chicken, crockpot, LOST, Rachel Ray, recipe, rice, slow cooker, soup, zucchini
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