Thursday, August 4, 2011

Things Thursday - Slow Cooker

Today's favorite thing is a 3-in-1 slow cooker. This is what I have and use often... it has a 2 quart, 4 quart, and 6 quart bowl so you can adjust depending on what you're cooking. We originally got it a few years ago when I was getting ready to have weight loss surgery - we knew that our cooking volume would slow down a bit because I couldn't eat much... so we needed an option that would allow us to adjust depending on if we were cooking for ourselves or for company.

Now with the kids, I could see us using it the same depending on if I'm making a dessert, side dish, or main dish. I really like using this cooking method because the meat tends to end up more tender with the low and slow cooking method - which is easier on James as he's learning to eat table food. Tyler is getting there quickly too - so I love to do my spaghetti sauces and things in here just to get all of our meat nice and soft for them to chew.

Throwing dinner in the crock pot while the boys are watching their morning Baby Einstein after breakfast makes the day so easy... it's one big chore taken care of and out of the way... which means I can do something else during nap time - like blog! If you want to help me out... I'd love to hear about your favorite slow cooker recipes! I'm not a fan of BBQ - so keep those to a minimum, but if your recipe is "to die for" go ahead and leave it for the benefit of everyone else reading. 

I love sharing recipes... so let me know what the favorites are in your family!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Kim!
    I have read your blog often, but never commented...It has been so wonderful watching (from internet land) how God is working in your life! So exciting (and I am sure exhausting!)

    Anyway, I use my crockpot often...
    I have a few "go to" recipes...
    They are both with chicken breasts...
    The first, I lightly brown chicken in a little butter on each side, then remove the chicken breasts and add chopped onion and garlic to the butter that I just cooked the chicken in, and saute until translucent. I pop the chicken, and the garlic-onion mixture into my crockpot, and put a can of chicken broth, a can of cream of mushroom and a can of cream of chicken soup...I cook on low most of the day, and then serve the chicken over rice or mashed potatoes.
    The second, I just drop frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot with my favorite salsa, and cook on low...serve over wagon wheel pasta with shredded mexican cheese...SO EASY.
    Happy Cooking!
    Kimberly Sheppard
    Hoover, Alabama

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  2. Crock pots make me happy. In fact, after I read your post about the crock pot cookbook the other day, I totally ran to the kitchen and threw a bunch of stuff in mine. It was very timely. :)

    One of my favorite recipes (which I can't do anymore b/c of food allergies) used to be to throw two chicken breasts in the crock pot with a can of cream of chicken soup, a can of chicken broth, some salt/pepper/paprika, and frozen peas. It's like the inside of a chicken pot pie.

    One of my other favorites is similar to Kimberly's salsa recipe, only I use a roast. It's great with rice.

    Wish I was rockin' the crock pot today - this reminds me that I need to figure out a plan for dinner tonight. :-p

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  3. Crock pots are such a blessing! Now that the kids are more involved in outside activities (thus so is Mom!) I use mine a lot.
    Chilli - I throw in the ground beef (it's lean so I don't even brown it first), add 4 cans of drained, rinsed beans - garbanzo, red, white, black; add a can of tomato sauce and can of water; toss in a bunch of spices: onion, garlic, oregano; basil; salt; pepper; whatever you desire; Cook on low for 8 hours or so. I do stir the meat up once in awhile so that I know it cooks thoroughly. And we serve it over rice, with cheese or crackers or chips on top.

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