I love slow cookers. I love them so much I’ve even worn out one. On another I melted the lid one day — DON’T put them in the oven. Immediately I was on the net ordering a new lid. The knob fell off and I just go get the pliers and turn the setting with those. That’s the large one I have. Bruce, ashamed of my pliers being a cooking tool, got me a new, smaller one recently. Oh — it is nice. I love it. Pliers-free.
The last few years I worked I used it more and more. I was sooo tired when I got home from work, I wasn’t exactly brimming with supper ideas. To solve that problem I just put meat on in the morning and was greeted in the afternoon with the aroma of something delicious. I could actually think of vegetables to add with pork chops or chicken or beef roast. That didn’t take a rocket scientist.
At first I used a cookbook. One I’ve used, and still like is Fix It and Forget It: Feasting with Your Slow Cooker. Instead of having one recipe, it puts recipes in a category. Want beef stew? Take your pick of several variations. I like that. Any cook can tell you, recipes depend on what ingredients you may, or may not, have on the shelf. New recipes evolve that way all the time. It tells you quantities and gives you ideas. The names of the ladies/people submitting the recipes are included. I recognize the surnames of many Mennonites and the communities they’re from. Named Yoder, and come from Newton, KS? Yep. Mennonites cook simple delicious food. Plus they’d never mention some strange exotic ingredient that you didn’t have anyway, and couldn’t even buy in Small Town, America.
Am I Queen of the Crock Pot? Nope. A mere princess. My friend, Connie from Nebraska, is the Queen. She used a slow cooker before it was vogue. She could make my mouth water just describing the savory creation. Now, it’s energy-saving and all that. Back then she was just a practical woman who knew how to feed her family. She was ahead of her time, I’d say.
