Things I Love Thursday: The Slow Cooker

A couple of Christmases ago, B got me a slow cooker for Christmas. Now, before you go giving him hell for giving me a kitchen appliance, I have to point out that I asked for it--along with a dutch over, a tortilla warmer, and a grill pan. I'm that kinda girl. I love to cook and I love stuff for my kitchen.

Up until that point, my only real interaction with the slow cooker had been keeping queso, meatballs, and mini wienies warm for parties or work. But, I knew there was this whole world of slow cooker meals out there and I wanted to try it out. So, I asked for a digital with an automatic shutoff/warming setting.

I started out with basics--roast, tortilla soup, etc. I bought a couple of cookbooks. And I only used it on weekends/days we were home. B asked that we not use when we are not home. Now, being the person who had done the research, I knew hundreds if not thousands of people cook dinner in the slow cookers every day while they are away at work. But, B was concerned about a fire hazard, especially with the munchkins in the house, so I did as he asked. Because of this, however, the slow cooker didn't get a whole lot of use because a lot of weekends our plans were up in the air, so it was hard to plan to use it.

I did use it on occasion when I was off work to make some new favorites like meatloaf in the slow cooker (sooo good). And I used it the one month I decided to try Once a Month Cooking--it was great for cooking large amount of shredded BBQ chicken and shredded Mexican chicken to freeze.

Then, about a year ago, I was given the opportunity at work to work from home one day a week. In January of this year, I began doing it on a regular basis and realized this would be a great way to get more use out of the slow cooker. I could just take a little break sometime in the morning, prep the food and throw it in, and dinner at 6:00! Since then, I've been searching out new recipes to try. If you check out my cooking blog, you'll see some of my most recent dinners.

Now, I'm certainly not the first person to "discover" the slow cooker. But, it's new to me and I really do just love it.

The meat that you get is so tender. I even got B to eat ribs--twice--because the meat just fell off the bones. I love that mine is big--8 quarts--so I can usually get dinner and lefovers out of one recipe.

It's really good for more than just meals. I wanted some shredded whole chicken not long ago, so I threw in a whole chicken I bought on sale overnight, took it out the next morning and let it sit in the fridge all day, and that night, I had plenty of shredded chicken for a dinner with mashed potatoes, sandwiches for lunch, and some to freeze that I later used in a pot pie. I saved the broth for other uses and the bones to make stock. How awesome is that?

I can't find a link to my exact slow cooker. But, it's Cooks brand and 8 quarts. It can be a little big sometimes, but I just have to make sure I plan for the leftovers.

I can't wait to try and share more recipes!
Happy Thursday!


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