Slow and Steady – Not a Crock
Did I mention that I cook?
Oh yes, if in the right mood, I can dance in the kitchen like I’ve had a bottle of red wine AND no one is watching.
Admittedly, I’m not much on a lot of gadgets. You can either cook a palatable pot roast or you can’t. No carving knife that can cut through a nail, tin can, radiator hose and a tomato is going to save your bacon if you don’t have basic know-how and experience. That said, there’s certainly a time and place for certain culinary gear.
For me, one of those things is a slow cooker – known in wider circles, thanks to Rival, as the Crock Pot.
A common misconception (usually among those that don’t venture into the kitchen) is that each day I make a full-course breakfast, pack ecpicurean brown bag lunches, sprinkle in superior snacks and then wrap up they day with a gourmet, four-course meal.
Sure.
The reality is I need sleep, have a full-time job (Food TV Network hasn’t called yet!), a slugglish metabolism requiring me to sweat it out at the gym on a regular basis, like to have fun at my own parties, am commonly sometimes occasionally hung over, sometimes just want a real meal without the hassle or have otherwise, engaging (or non-so-engaging) commitments. A crock pot allows me to combine a mishmash of ingredients into a pot, play it loosey-goosey with the temperature and time and still turn out a delectable main course or one pot meal. It also accomodates my frequent ADHD behavior that inspires me to maximize productivity and multitask to the nth degree.
Imagine. Laundry is churning in both the washer and dryer. The dishwasher is swishing. You’re burning DVDs while answering e-mail, paying bills online, petting the cat and making a pot of coffee – and something is brewing in the crock pot. That’s EIGHT things at once! Or maybe nine if you count the washer and dryer thing separately. Seems fair, reasonable. I guess only seven if you lump e-mails and bill paying together…but that doesn’t seem right. I mean, it’s two separate things on my to-do list,
I digress. Back to the crock pot.
Arriving home to find the crock pot simmering away gives the impression that someone was home all day making you a great dinner that is ready and waiting. In reality, this just means – with minimal preparation – I can avoid another evening of eating a sandwich or Lean Cuisine.
Clearly, the crock pot was created in another lifetime. While looking through a cookbooks that came with one of the original avocado green or vibrant orange models (circa 1970s), here are some suggestions for how one could fill their day since the crock pot is doing the cooking:
- Turn Wednesday into “lens day” – photography? Golf? Tennis? Whatever it’s a good day for, it’s also good for a recipe in this book.
- Thursday could be a “hers” day – Maybe you’re invited to a luncheon or club meeting. For two or three cents your crock pot will fix dinner while you’re gone all afternoon.
Crock pot - cooks all day while you're away
Ha!
These days Wednesday usually is back-to-back meeting day that includes two deadlines, a much-needed review of the project that was belittled to pieces during last week’s staff meeting and (hopefully) lunch if the vending machine will accept the crumpled dollar I found in my makeup case with old tissues and melted lipstick. Thursday has me leaving the house with damp hair, minimal no makeup and half-heartedly battling more office politics combined with a (near) overdose of corporate egos.
Regardless, I may leave my crock pot on all night (the manual states that it’s perfectly safe with it’s low wattage). Some days are “friends” days and I’ll need to be pals with Stella Artois.
