Ok well maybe I really don’t eat meat but 2-3times a week but with Fall here and the weather getting cooler I do find that my love affair with my crock-pot grows stronger everyday. It makes some nice warm homecooked meals!
So now that I have shared just how easy it is to make good old fashioned butter so many wanted to know a bit more about how I use my crock-pot aka “slow cooker”. After I had made the decision to switch the family over to the “whole food” cooking idea one of my first purchases was my beloved crock-pot. The best $25 bucks I have ever spent! (Ok well my standing mixer runs a close second ;-) So much so I am getting ready to move up from the 5 Quart to the 7 Quart so I can stuff even more in that darn thing at one time!
Favorite reasons for using a slow cooker:
~The ability to make enough for two or three meals at one time. The freezer is a busy families best friend. Use it!
~I can start it in the morning before we head out and can come home and have dinner completely done!
~I can freeze the broth from several of the meals and use it within other meals throughout the week. Not only saving money but knowing exactly what is in my stock.
So you have the crock pot and now you are trying to figure out what to do with the darn thing? I bought several books when I first picked mine up…and while I have made several really great recipes their is one thing I found I had to do to really make the recipe work. You have to plan it out ahead of time. My best advice is to buy some really good freezer bags and take one weekend day to “prepare your meals” for the week ahead. Meaning take the ingredients and throw them all into a freezer bag/gladware/tupperware/glassware together and throw it in the freezer. Each night when you go to bed take the next night’s dinner out and throw it from the freezer into the fridge to thaw overnight. Before you walk out the door to work or hitting the road with the kids dump the bag in the slow cooker the next morning! Poof a preservative free, very yummy dinner when you come home. Not all recipes work as easy. We have a layered Mexican burrito shell dinner recipe that requires putting it all together in the crockpot (I normally do this the night before and stick it in the fridge).
But the easiest recipes involved just a hunk of meat (like a pork roast, pot roast, whole chickens, turkey breast etc…) a bag of small potatoes, a bag of carrots and some celery and of course seasoning like thyme, basil, pressed garlic etc… I will admit though, when I make pot roast I pull everything out once it is cooked and throw a can of Cream of Mushroom soup into broth and make a yummy gravy. Then I make hot-shot sandwiches by putting the roast beef on bread and smothering (yes smothering it all) in the gravy. How bad is that? But oh it is a piece of heaven after a long day.
To freeze the broth from the stewing meats I freeze it in 2 cup servings. I pour it into small gladware containers and then make broth ice cubes and pop them out and stick them all in one freezer bag. My favorite recipe using the broth cubes would have to be Rachel Ray’s Goulash recipe. The recipe is super simple and makes enough for two meal as well most days!
Do you have a favorite slow cooker recipe? Feel free to share it below!! We all love a good slow cooker recipe! :-)
