crockpot weather
It's crockpot weather! It's been cold and rainy now for days and everything outside has an overtone of gray over the brilliant fall colors that are developing in our woods. The upside for me is that it's great crockpot weather.
I love to cook with the crockpot. Easy peasy in the morning (or the night before if I plan) and then when I'd get home from work there's the smell of real food cooking and minimum effort to get to a sit down family meal. Yesterday I was home with the smell; all day I felt like things were cozy & homey.
I've got all kinds of crockpot cookbooks, most from garage sales and many years old. I like those old school recipes with real ingredients. Take meat, add cream of something soup, dried spices and maybe noodles, and maybe cheese. Those things I have in my cupboards. Nowadays, a recipe calls for all these expensive and exotic ingredients: coconut milk, sundried organic artichokes in thyme oil.... Give me old school.
So yesterday's concoction turned out great. I found a pork loin in the freezer the day before so I had thawed that out. I sliced a red onion that I found in the fridge that wasn't in too bad of shape, and put it in the bottom of the crockpot. I seared the meat, put it on top of the onion and then dumped a can of cranberry sauce on top. Added a little allspice and sage and, voila - dinner was cooking. Even our pseudo-vegetarian child loved it!
With our newly reduced economic state, I'm really trying to use up things I have on hand and also to make "planned leftovers" as the "cheap mom hints online" suggests. I think I'll make wrap of some sort with the leftover pork, or a stirfry.
And I'm already planning on my next crockpot day. Maybe it will be "clean out the refrigerator soup" supplemented with some of the many pounds of beans I discovered in the back of the cupboard......
I love to cook with the crockpot. Easy peasy in the morning (or the night before if I plan) and then when I'd get home from work there's the smell of real food cooking and minimum effort to get to a sit down family meal. Yesterday I was home with the smell; all day I felt like things were cozy & homey.
I've got all kinds of crockpot cookbooks, most from garage sales and many years old. I like those old school recipes with real ingredients. Take meat, add cream of something soup, dried spices and maybe noodles, and maybe cheese. Those things I have in my cupboards. Nowadays, a recipe calls for all these expensive and exotic ingredients: coconut milk, sundried organic artichokes in thyme oil.... Give me old school.
So yesterday's concoction turned out great. I found a pork loin in the freezer the day before so I had thawed that out. I sliced a red onion that I found in the fridge that wasn't in too bad of shape, and put it in the bottom of the crockpot. I seared the meat, put it on top of the onion and then dumped a can of cranberry sauce on top. Added a little allspice and sage and, voila - dinner was cooking. Even our pseudo-vegetarian child loved it!
With our newly reduced economic state, I'm really trying to use up things I have on hand and also to make "planned leftovers" as the "cheap mom hints online" suggests. I think I'll make wrap of some sort with the leftover pork, or a stirfry.
And I'm already planning on my next crockpot day. Maybe it will be "clean out the refrigerator soup" supplemented with some of the many pounds of beans I discovered in the back of the cupboard......
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