The Lazy Chef's Guide to Crock Pot Cooking

From BuyCostumes.com

I am the laziest cook on the planet. (Or at least a serious contender.) I love the idea of cooking with a crock pot because you can throw stuff in, go away, come back later and eat stuff. Simple.

Back in the 70s, there was a craze for crock pot cooking. (Presumably because it gave people more time to do macrame?)

Photo credit: Henna

Anyway, my mother got one, and for awhile we had stew for dinner quite frequently. Then, for some reason, the crock pot gradually made its way to the pantry, to a shelf easily within reach. Then to a shelf a bit higher up and harder to get at. The last I saw it was on the top shelf beyond the grasp of all but the tallest of brothers. Maybe it kept going up through the ceiling and ended up in deep storage in the back of a closet.

All I know is, the craze for crock pot cooking came and went faster than a streaker at a track meet. Loads of people have one -- in the back of their deepest cupboard.

I can see why it would be popular in theory... let the dang thing cook while you're at work, come home to dish it out and eat. If it came with a butler to serve and a maid to wash, it would be invaluable.

I think the reason people stopped using crock pots was because what you could make with them seemed extremely limited. (Unless you're one of those Ultra Creative people, a Martha Stewart type, the sort who create complicated recipes that involve putting in layers of wire frames so that you could cook one dish on the bottom, another on a middle layer, and a dessert on top. I used to see those recipes in magazines. The finished pictures always looked incredibly polished. Me, if I tried that, all layers would fall down onto the bottom layer, and I'd end up with pineapple upside-down meatloaf.)

I started using a crock pot because I want to eat healthy without doing a lot of work. So I've been using the throw-veggies-in system, which sadly results in P.D.B. food. (Pretty Damn Bland.) Healthy, mind you, but still. Yawn city.

That's where the cookbook came in. (Yes, I'm promoting a cookbook. Shamelessly.)

Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, by Robin Robertson

Brief tangent: Pasta Queen also wrote a post about Crock Pot cooking. (I was a bit miffed that she decided to use her psychic powers to read my mind and 'steal' the subject I was planning to write up, but I've decided it's wise not to be miffed at someone with such clearly superior psychic powers.) She mentioned a blog, A Year of Crockpotting, that has recipes online.

However, I've decided that this book is better because a) it's vegetarian b) the recipes are tasty as well as healthy and c) I bought it before I looked at the YoC blog.

I think mostly I love it because it's all vegetarian. I love the idea of trying to cook more vegetarian stuff. Even though I'm not really a true vegetarian, it seems sensible to eat less meat if you can. More economical, plus less saturated fat, plus the chance to feel smug about doing your bit to help global warming.

Smug and healthy? Who can resist a combo like that?

Take the crock out of crock pot cooking

Three things I learned from this book:

1 - Take five minutes to saute the onions first. Makes a huge difference in taste. (Or, if you're planning to contest my laziest chef title, roast onions in the oven for 20 minutes while you're sitting at the kitchen table with your feet up reading a good book. With this onion roasting recipe, you don't even have to peel the onion. It doesn't get any lazier than that. Then use the roasted onions in the crock pot.)

2 - Use vegetable stock. Either make your own or buy some. Easy enough to make your own.

3 - Bay leaves. Soup. Combine the two.
Yes, I knew theoretically that you could use herbs like bay leaves to flavor your cooking. But I'd forgotten. The book recommended using bay leaves, so I tried it. Then I read a bit further and added some fresh herbs, tomatoes, mushrooms... pretty soon, I was thinking Hey, this soup's starting to look like the ones you see in cookbook photos! Plus, it has some taste. Excellent.

Next lesson: how to make stuffing in the crock pot. I'm going to work my way through this book; methinks it will be a fun journey. Not sure about the recipe for making cheesecake in the crock pot, but it might be tasty.

Here are some sample recipes from the cookbook.

What do you think? Am I deluding myself? Is the 'crock' in crock pot justified? Or is it useful?

Should I go dig up that macrame project that I never finished in 7th grade?

photo credit: David Sifry

What the hell do I do with all this Squash?

[By Merry]

I've been thinking. We need more recipes thrown onto the blog once in awhile. That stuffed peppers one has been really getting a lot of attention. (I'll have to go back and check -- did Crabby advocate stuffing in some illegal herbage into those peppers or is there some other reason it's so incredibly popular?)

It occurred to me that another post might be welcome if it were centered around recipes for... wait for it...

SQUASH!

Zukes are cute? Who knew!

Anybody who's got a garden and been foolish enough to plant one little wimpy-looking squash plant is now up to their uvula in squash plants. (Oh come now. That's a perfectly decent word. Honest.It's not the poor word's fault that it looks funny.)

Sneak Your Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night was celebrated a couple of weeks ago. (Note: the womanagement at Cranky Fitness wish to stress that they in no way encourage the Zucchini sneaking methods listed at Allrecipes.com -- but only because we don't want anyone to complain about us. They do sound fun.)

If you missed that, you might be in the mood for some ideas. I mean, these guys are healthy, they can be served in a tasty and tasteful manner, but even so... after a few back-to-back meals of these vegetables, you'll come to fully appreciate why they're named Squash.

Peasant women perform the annual Stomping of the Squash.
Coincidentally, peasant women rarely spend large amounts of cash on therapy.

- Cook squash with tomatoes, freeze for later on. Come November, it's dark out and rainy and you forgot to got to the store, serve this with some pasta and you'll feel virtuous.

Squash sauteed with tomatoes and basil; seasoned with garlic and rosemary; and finished with balsamic vinegar

- Make squash fritters with beer. I read somewhere -- can't remember the cook book -- that you should let the beer stay out until it goes flat for best results. Of course, this presumes you live in a household where you have beer around and more importantly where you can leave a half-empty can of beer out to go stale without someone drinking it or throwing it away (or both, hopefully in that order). There are various recipes out there for this; it makes a tasty treat. Not as healthy as some recipes, but it beats the hell out of deep fried twinkies. Really, doesn't taste bad.

- squash-with-basil soup. Can be served cold, which makes it nice on hot days. We still have a few of those left, don't we?

- squash cake. The nice thing about this type of thing is that you can grate the zucchini, freeze it for a couple months, and then whip up a healthy-but-the-kid's-eat-it-anyway cake. (I always feel more motivated to bake on cold Saturday mornings when the weather is horrible outside. Which it will be in a couple of months, I have a feeling.)

Anyone for the last piece?

- stuffed zucchinis! Why should peppers have all the fun? Hell, you can scoop out the squashy insides and use the shells for salad bowls or Mai Tai drink holders.

Carrots, celery, crumbled veggie burgers, squash, and spices in a baked butternut squash shell

- save them for a month or so and make... Carved Zucchinis!

Why should the pumpkins have all the fun?

And the fun doesn't stop there!

Start a new tradition: Hannukah Squash! They make highly original gifts.
Give Aunt Marge a gift she'll talk about for years.

Or not talk at all for years...

(Incidentally, I do love the word "Hannukah." I swear you can spell it several different ways and they're all correct. The people who thought up "obsolescence" and "chrysanthemum" should take note.)


What do you do with excess vegetables? Got any good squash recipes/gift ideas?