We were gifted a crock-pot for christmas this year from my mom. She wasn't sure we'd want it so it wasn't wrapped. We have had a couple of crock-pots in the past but never used them and just gave them away. This was at a point in our lives that we generally had more time on our hands to actually cook a meal on the stove. I made a soup or two in one, but I wasn't impressed and I do a mean soup on the stove anyway. Now with both of us working and having Ivy, we are either too forgetful to pull stuff out in the morning to thaw, too tired or busy to actually cook when we get home or just plain lazy or indecisive. Cooking takes planning. Does it ever!
I wasn't really sure what to make and I hadn't dug around on the internet yet to find any recipes. So my mom suggested pot roast. Okay. Grocery trip later and I had a roast, onions, carrots, red pepper and potatoes (we had the potatoes on hand already). About 5 days go by and we finally decide to do the crock-pot pot roast. I had to call my mom to actually get the dynamics of the whole thing. Here I am, 30 years old, growing up with a mom who religiously used a crock-pot, and I don't know what to do. There's no shame in that. It's just... strange to not know how to do this. I grew up in the kitchen for crying out loud.
The next morning, we have everything ready to go. Prepped the veggies the night before so all we had to do was throw it all together and go. Tried to put the frozen roast in the pot and it wouldn't fit. So I had to quick defrost in the microwave. Once everything was in order, we left for work. Upon arrival, the house smelled gooooooooooood. I was really excited about this!
Ryan made some rice in our new rice cooker. Perfect rice every time! The roast however, turned out mediocre. I forgot to season the darn thing before putting it in the pot. Simple fix though. It was pretty good.
Our following grocery trip, we got another roast. We are determined to get it right. We also got a pre-seasoned pork shoulder that was meant (and we made) for the crock pot. It was labeled as BBQ but smelled and tasted more tex-mex taco-y to me. So we slathered it with BBQ sauce and went on our merry way.
I'm foreseeing a lot of crock-pot use. At least once a week. Speaking of... it's a MENU PLAN MONDAY!!!
Monday: Leftover crock-pot BBQ pork. Er... we need some BBQ sauce STAT!
Tuesday: Possible round of more leftovers.
Wednesday: Skillet grilled chicken and rice of some sort
Thursday: Roast chicken and potatoes (crock-pot? or oven?)
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Steak and baked potatoes
Sunday: Fried chicken and macaroni and cheese
I am so LOVING your icon! ha ha! That is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteAmmie, thanks! I was feeling particularly snarky/witty one day and wanted an awesome food icon to go with my food posts. ;)
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