What am I loving right now? Our slow cooker, for one thing. Saturday afternoon I spent an hour or so chop chop chopping away at a stack o’ vegetables. Some went into the pot immediately as chili, which simmered away while I was out for the evening. The rest went into the cooker on Sunday morning, for ratatouille which cooked while The Intended and I were out for the day. Very handy to get a whole bunch of meals without having to turn on the stove in this heat.
A couple of weeks ago SmittenKitchen asked folks to expound on their food phobias and cooking woes. Me, I’d have to go with meat, of any kind. Which may be surprising, given my carnivorous proclivities, but when it comes to cooking steak or pork chops or the like, I stick with very simple methods i.e. season (maybe) and toss into the iron skillet. I’d like to broaden my horizons and try something a little more complicated, but I’m going to try and squeeze it in before the end of the summer. After that it’s back to school, with the attendant bite into my free time.
Lastly, while I’m on a food kick, I should point out that Jessa Crispin of Bookslut, has started The Kitchen Library at The Smart Set, a series of posts that is a ‘consideration of cooking’ guides. Good stuff.
The slow cooker is a miraculous and simply fabulous invention. Everyone should have one.
Dont limit your use of it to Weekends. I have found that if I get a whole bunch of stuff ready in the evenings then in the morning I just throw it all in and walk away, dinner is served when I return (you know previous to at home work).
I really like doing tomato based cooking in it as well. With any meats. Like Chicken Cacciatore, Sausage or Beef – it’s very versatile and since I love Tacos and Tostadas it all works with that an on rice, with noodles, etc. Simple stuff.
Soups and stews are great in it too!
Anyway – enjoy it and get a book if you need it for further ideas