Crock Pots

Where would we be without these kitchen tools we’ve grown so accustomed to using? One of my favorites is the humble crock pot.

In our kitchen you can find all sorts of modern kitchen gadgets. For instance we have a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer, Cuisinart food processor, Cuisinart griddle-grill-Panini press, Oster blender, Oster bread maker, VillaWare waffle iron, and of course, the Mr. Coffee coffee maker. I’m telling you, kitchen life would be hell without these modern day advances in technology, especially without the latter. Okay, so maybe it’ll be hell to everyone who has to deal with me. Anyway, this is about the works and wonders of the Rival crock pot we have, and which is currently under use making dinner as it has been since last night. I’m a believer in slow cooked meals, but don’t always want to, well, slave away in the kitchen all day while I should be at work, and so I employ the ease of a crock pot for those times.

So what’s for dinner? Pozole, a chicken and hominy stew of sorts. However, with my complete and utter lack of faith in most cookbooks, and the fact that my Mexican cookbook does not have a recipe for this, I decided to, in usual Cory-fashion, make one up. I chopped up a couple stalks of celery, a yellow onion, a few cloves of garlic and added a can of diced tomatoes (fresh taste like regurgitated mush here in the winter) jalapeños, a couple spoonfuls of garlic chili sauce (it’s Asian, but whatever) some cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt and stirred it together with a couple cans of hominy before adding about a pound and a half of frozen chicken breasts and thighs. I poured a can of chicken stock on top, put the lid on it and set it on low. I’m sure I could have done it all this morning, but judging from the obvious equilibrium issues I’m having right now, there would have also been an emergency room visit, in which case, no dinner, and that would be sad.

And so, since my grocery shopping included finding stuff to add on top of the soup, including avocados and red cabbage, I seem to have forgotten the limes and cilantro and radishes. Oy. Looks like a quick trip to the grocery store before heading home tonight will be in order. At least I know exactly what I need this time. However, that is no guarantee I’ll actually remember to do so, even if I make a list on my phone and set a reminder. That reminds me, I better go shred the chicken now so it has plenty of time to soak in all those amazing flavors. And yes, the house smells amazing.

Crock Pots

Do you ever get so busy doing everyday errands and forget all about dinner? Okay, so since I’ve been unemployed I haven’t, but while working I ran into this dilemma all the time. Those nights usually relied on fast food.

Having a little foresight will help, especially on days you know that you have more things scheduled than are physically possible to accomplish in one day (like me, today for instance, and yet here I am blogging) will help you throw something together quickly in the beginning of the day and forget about it until that night when it is time for supper. A few minutes of prep work while downing your morning coffee is usually all it will take to whip up a fantastic meal that will be ready on your terms. And for those of you who don’t like leaving appliances plugged in while you are out of the house, let me ask if you also unplug your refrigerator before going grocery shopping and picking up the kids from soccer practice? No? Same concept.

There are many dishes that take to slow cooking. For instance, chili is a classic example. Dump everything into the pot, turn it low, and give it a quick stir before serving. Others will take a few minutes prep after they are done cooking, like pulled pork will need to be pulled, but if it is anything like my pulled pork, it has to cook for 32 hours, pulled, then cooked for 2 hours more. I’m difficult like that.

The best part about slow cooking is that flavors usually get better the longer it cooks, so if you know the next day is going to be hectic, even the morning, throw it all in the crock pot the night before. Of course, this probably means you will be having dreams of the wonderful Moroccan dish, Chicken Tagine with Chickpeas and Apricots. But isn’t that a small price to pay for convenience?