I have had a crock pot in the past, but never used it much and finally got rid of it. However, I keep hearing from friends about how much they like their crock pots, so I decided to put a few questions out there:
If you have a crock pot, how do you like it?
What do you make in it?
Any favorite recipes?
Any favorite crock pot recipe sites?
Please use the comments to tell me about your experiences. Based on your answers, I will decide about buying one for the kitchen in the Pecan House, and I'll let you know if I do. Thank you for your help!
8 comments:
I actually do have a couple of things I use a crockpot for:
1. make your mashed potatoes for a big dinner (T'giving!) early in the day, put them in the crock pot on "keep warm" setting...over, cleaned up, and waiting for the rest of the meal.
2. chili...I always set my chili to cook in the crock pot
3. need a roast to take to a luncheon at work? Eye roast is frozen hard as a rock in the freezer a 7:00 pm the night before? Put it in the crock pot with onion and about 1/4 c. A1 Sauce and 1 c. chicken broth. Put on low and cook overnight. It will be ready to haul to work with you the next morning; usually slices beautifully!
4. meatballs...we only eat them if they are cook in the sauce; brown on a tray in your oven, then move to the crock pot w/sauce and let them cook for 4 hours on low.
As you can see, it's the receipe in particular for me...it's the fact that it takes care of itself and the "end" time can be "if-y." My kind of appliance.
I do have a crockpot and a recipe somewhere for an awesome bbq pulled pork - I'll try to find it. My problem with the crockpot is that most recipes require all-day cooking, which results in the house smelling stinkin' good all day, which makes me ravenous by noon. I think crockpots are better suited for people who work outside the home.
Yep...I've had about 4 or 5 of them. One was a wedding present (uh, some almost 37 years ago) so you can see how long of a span that was.
I go in cycles. I like to do some WW recipes in the pot, then, of course, Ree's Chili Con Queso Revved UP! I use it as much for warming and serving dips as everything else combined. TONS of good recipe books now compared to back in the "olden days".
Hey....just found this on FB:
http://momadvice.com/blog/2010/05/perfectly-pulled-pork-sandwiches-with-root-beer-floats
Looks scrumptious!
1) M did not believe me when I wanted one...said I would never use it. We use it ALL the time! Especially in the fall on Sundays. But I think it would be great in the summer too so you do not have to battle kitchen heat.
2) Our bible
We recently did meatless "beef" stroganoff that was delicious!
Soups are also great!
We once had a crock pot and it along with all else went up in flames in the bush fire. I thanked God on bended knees I was rid of the cumbersome thing that mainly took up kitchen space and served no really useful purpose. My perspicatious daughter used to call it the salmonella incubator. Meats of any kind need to be slowly thawed in the refrigerator before use to guard against salmonella.
The Prof, who is a gadget junkie had bought the darned thing and made crunchy granola in it that would break your teeth. He also made apricot chicken, a recipe gleaned from his then secretary who was doing a cooking course. The children refused to eat it and curse it to this day some thirty years later.
You may have gleaned from this that I am not going to get another one.
Meat balls take less than an hour to simmer. You brown them in a saucepan and add your desired sauce and simmer. A much smaller pot to wash up. While they are simmering, crank out some home made spaghetti and toss a salad and you have a reasonably quick and nourishing meal lovingly prepared, Making spaghetti is quicker than boiling up the hard shop bought variety. By the time the pot of water comes to the boil, the spaghetti is ready, goes straight into the boiling , lightly salted water and is ready as it rises to the surface, about 2-3 minutes.
Hope I have not offended anyone but you need for and against to make up your mind.
I have 4 crockpots! I use them all the time. I have three regular sized ones and a 5 quart one. They are wonderful to throw something in and you have dinner right there in about 8 hours. I use mine at Thanksgiving and Christmas when cooking for the family. I even make macaroni and cheese in one of them at Christmas, green beans in one. They are great for baked beans and for keeping stuff warm, too. I could not make it without my crockpots! I think slow cookers are wonderful.
I've only ever used my crock pot aka slow cooker in the U.K twice. First tiem to make vegetarian chilli beans and very recently to make 'apple butter'. I think it is one of those kitchen equipments that will only come out in the winter.
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