We About The Love of ... Crockpots

Let me paint a picture for you; it's 7:45 p.m. The sun has set and it's getting cold outside. You just pull into the driveway and you got your two little ones bouncing around your knees, asking what's for dinner. Your arms of full of items from the store, your work bag, and their backpacks. You manage to grasp your keys and get the front door unlocked. And as soon as you do, the warm comforting smell of dinner wafts from the kitchen and ensnares your senses. Your kids rush to the kitchen table and you waltz into the kitchen, silently thanking the savior of tonight's dinner: the crockpot.

This little device has become the savior of many days and nights, especially busy families and/or single people (like me!). The beauty of a crockpot is being able to just turn it on in the morning (or overnight), and let it do all the cooking for you. Then, after a few hours, you have a delicious meal waiting for you. I personally have two crockpots, but my parents had a total of eight at one time in the house.

But what exactly CAN you make in a crockpot? Most people immediately think of stews and soups, roasting and slow cooking meals. But depending on what type of settings your crockpot has, you would be surprised what you can make. I've made breakfast, lunch, dinner and, yes, even desserts in a crockpot. Almost any cuisine you can imagine can be made in the crockpot too; American, Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean, you name it, you can throw it in the pot.

Cooking in a crockpot is probably one of the easiest cooking methods available to us to utilize (at least once a week I have my crockpot going), but there are still some things you need to know about using a crockpot:

1. Make sure you have enough liquid in the pot. That may seem like a very basic idea, but sometimes, people forget to add enough liquid to the pot. Think about it; if you throw a piece of dry meat into a pot, what's it going to pull on for moisture for the next 6-8 hours? You'll end up burning the crockpot (not to mention your food!). So just double-check to make sure that there is something in the pot.

2. You have to do some prep work still. Yes, you can throw everything whole into a big enough crockpot, but there is no guarantee that it will all cook down in time. You may want to break down the larger items down. Large pieces of vegetables, such as celery, carrots, potatoes, etc. are better if cut down and cooked versus throwing it all into the pot whole. When it comes to meat, keep in mind that the meat will have the consistency of a pulled dish (think pulled pork or pulled chicken - almost stringy and thin). So if that's not what you are going for, avoid using your crockpot.

3. Don't overcrowd the pot. Yes, this is the other extreme; you might have too much in the pot. I've done it before, where I have put too much into the pot and it didn't cook the way that I was hoping it would. Put in enough that the food cooks thoroughly.

4. Take into account how long the food needs to cook. The purpose of a crockpot is to cook everything into a slow roast. That means that you won't necessarily have dinner ready in a couple of hours. But on the other hand, is the dish you are making supposed to cook for seven hours? Because if the goal is to have dinner done by seven, you may need to take that into consideration when you are preparing the dish. Nothing is worse than cooking something that you realize needs to cook eight hours, and dinner is in two hours. Make sure to read how long your meal will cook for.

Crockpots come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I think the best size to have, especially starting off, is the standard 6 quarts crockpot. And with the variety comes the variety of prices. But don't worry; when it comes to this piece of kitchen equipment, you don't have to break the bank. I've seen them as low as $25 and, trust me, they are worth the investment.

I can't tell you how many days have passed by that I have come home from a long day of work, school and everything else, and arrived home to find dinner waiting to comfort me. Now, sometimes, depending on what I make, I may need to just make some rice, but I'd rather spend 10-15 minutes making rice, than perhaps another hour or two trying to prepare dinner.

This is a piece of equipment that I highly recommend for those who are new to cooking, or who are super busy all the time. It's a time saver and an energy saver. Trust me, it's worth having in the kitchen.

We about the love of crockpots doing all the work for you (or at least 75% of the work).