Crock Pot slow cooker

I love cooking with a crock pot. it "set and forget it" type of cooking. My favorite thing to make in my crock pot is tortilla soup. It makes my apartment smell delicious.

 

I absolutely love my Crockpot. It is one of my best kitchen tools. I have made everything from snacks to dessert in it. My favorite thing to make in it is mashed potatoes. They come out soo perfectly.

 

These do provide the perfect back drop for the start it and forget it food! I know I left a BBQ on all night which let me have some great tasting pulled pork the next day.

 

The plastic lids on those eventually will crack so just be aware. You can use a metal pan lid if you wish. I have also had the switch go on those but nothing lasts forever. I actually am using one made by Proctor Silex right now and I love it. The lid is Pyrex, not a plastic that cracks.

 

Yes, I too was a late bloomer when it comes to the crochet. I love dropping a pot roast with some potatoes and carrots. Then, like magic i have a meal when I get home. Its like a chef came while I was out and prepared my meal. AWESOME

 

I love my crockpot too! I have made many things in it from chicken and rice dishes to homemade spaghetti sauce. There are so many things you can make in a crockpot and it usually tastes so much better in it. Homemade chili in it is my family's favorite

 

I am intrigued by the idea of making mashed potatoes in the crock pot, too! Has anyone else done this? How did you do it?

 

I am really interested in trying the mashed potatoes in the crock pot. I haven't done this before, but I can only imagine that it would be fantastic. I have a great recipe for a slow cooker lasagna that I have been dying to try, but haven't found the time to do that yet either. I'll post the recipe here as soon as I pull out the recipe card from the box. There are a bunch of great slow cooker recipes in there.

 

Yep, I just cut the potatoes into quartered pieces, add a bit of water, butter, and pepper. Let it cook for a few hours on low or hi if I need them finished faster. Then when the potatoes are soft mash them up with the potato masher and add a bit of milk to make them fluffy. I don't even peel them, just wash them down to get rid of any dirt.

 

CrockPot makes amazing slow cookers! My food always comes out perfect! There are so many different things you can cook in the crockpot, there are even cakes you can make in them.

This is the perfect kitchen tool for my busy life style. It allows me to still prepare home cooked meals while working 50+ hours a week, along with freelance writing.

 

We love our crock pot, too. I think our favorite meal is a well seasoned roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. We also make soups, stews and chili in it. We use ours all year round. In the winter, it makes such wonderful comfort foods. It is also really nice to use in the summer to avoid using the oven.

 

My first few crockpots had glass lids and the first time I had one with a plastic one, the handle piece on it broke within a couple months, so I had to switch to a metal one. It worked, but didn't have quite the same kind of seal, so was a bit annoying. I'd much rather have a glass lid to start with.

 

I love my Crock-Pot. I make beans and rice in mine. Also chili that you like to simmer for hours and add a few more things to the pot as you think of them. -

 

I second the crock pot slow cooker - I have had mine for nearly 12-months and I don't know how I lived without it. Working from home makes it challenging to stick to a schedule and I often find myself doing house chores, cooking, seeing to the kids etc when i really should be working. This has a knock on effect because it means I end up staying up late to finish my work. My crock pot slow cooker takes a little pressure off because I prepare the evening meal in the morning when the kids are dressing/having breakfast and it then cooks all day ready for tea time. Me and the 3 kids LOVE one pot meals (stew, curry, chili, moussaka, pasta bake) and I do it all in the crock pot slow cooker.

 

I have an older crock pot, which I use every now and then and it still works fine. It was a good investment. As someone mentioned, no burning, it just cooks the food and you are done. Great invention.

 

Have you tried the croc pot liners? I think renyold's makes them. Not only does it do all the work in cooking your food the liner takes care of the clean up. Sometimes they leak a little but all I ever have to do is wipe it out. NEVER have to scrub

 

I found that it wasn't really worth the bother usually. They're kinda finicky and I had more issues than not. Plus, they add an extra cost that I don't really need. So long as I soak my crockpot with water as soon as I empty it, it's not too bad to clean out usually.

 

I recently tried it to cook the beef I wanted to use in a Pepper Steak recipe. The meat was the kind that doesn't take well to quick cooking as it becomes tough as leather. I didn't want the peppers and onions overly cooked so I thought I'd try it separately. Once the meat was ready - and it was VERY tender - I simply stir-fried the veggies until nearly done and added the meat with it's gravy. A little cornstarch in water to thicken and we had a very tasty dish. I definitely find a slow cooker to be invaluable when dealing with cheaper cuts of meat. And let's be honest, at today's prices they're not all that cheap!