My Kitchen Must Haves: The Crock Pot

When I was registering for wedding gifts, I registered for a crock pot. My mom used one sometimes for chili and roasts while I was growing up. I thought I would probably do the same thing if we received one as a wedding gift. At the time, I didn't know that the crock pot would become one of my favorite kitchen appliances. Less than two years after the wedding, I now have four different sizes of crock pots and lots of different recipes for each one. During the fall and winter I use at least one of them, at least once a week. In the spring and summer I don't use them as often, but I do still use them.
There are just so many different things that you can cook in a crock pot. You can cook one dish meals, main dishes, side dishes, and even desserts. I've tried many recipes of different kind in mine and we've liked all of them, with very few exceptions. We especially like to cook meat in the crock pot because it makes it so tender. Roasted vegetables from the crock pot are also delicious.

The thing I like most about the crock pot is how easy it is to use. On days that I know I am going to be really busy, I try to get up and throw together something in the crock pot in the morning. A lot of recipes say to cook for eight to ten hours on high or four to five on low. I like to put everything together right after my husband has left for work in the morning. If I start on it as soon as he leaves, it's generally ready to eat about ore to two hours after he gets home. Then I can spend all day while he's at work doing whatever I need to get done and I don't have to worry about what I'm going to cook for dinner. We get a meal that tastes like I spent a lot more time on it.

On days that I know I'm really going to be short on time, I like to just put a prepackaged crock pot meal on in the morning. There are several frozen meals for the crock pot, along with roast and vegetable kits from the meat counter. Most of these are great by themselves, especially if you use the extra seasoning packet, if one is included. What we usually do is just cook some bread or dinner rolls or something to go with it and we have a complete meal. Sometimes I toss a salad too, if the dish doesn't have as many vegetables.

Another great thing about using the crock pot is that the meat gets so tender. You can use a cheaper cut of meat and still get an excellent meal. We never use the most expensive cuts of meat in the crock pot, but most of the time they turn out just as good as when we cook the more expensive meat some other way.

Cooking meat and vegetables together is a good way of making sure you get the vegetables you need, too. If the veggies are mixed in, a lot of kids are more likely to just eat them, instead of picking them all eat. Also, if they are cooked in the same juices as everything else, they have a different flavor than what you are used to. Sometimes even picky kids like them cooked this way.

There are many different things you can cook in a crock pot. If you have one but don't use it, I encourage you to look up a few recipes for it. Most recipes are quick and easy to make. You can't beat that.