Dinner Time Saver

I used to have a serious love hate relationship with cooking once my kids were born.  I love to cook.  I like to be (somewhat) adventurous and try new things.  I like to think I am good at cooking.  But once the kids came along, cooking became much more of a chore.  Now instead of just cooking, I am trying to keep a couple of munchkins happy and out of trouble while I cook.

One thing that really bothered me was dealing with meat.  I freeze pretty much all the meat I buy because I usually stock up on it when it goes on sale.  This is great, except that when you want to use it, it's frozen rock solid.  And I've tried it enough times to know that leaving it in the refrigerator over night doesn't thaw it out completely.  You might say, "Leave it in there 2 nights."  Seriously, I am so busy, I don't even have time to think that far ahead.

I have a lot of recipes that call for cooked meat, like soups and casseroles, that require additional cooking after the meat has been prepared and added.  I struggled to find the time to defrost the meat in the microwave, cook it, add it to the dish, and then cook the dish!

So I take a little help from my crock pot.  The night before, I pull whatever meat I need for the next day out of the freezer.  If it will fit in the crock pot frozen, I put it in just like that.  Otherwise I defrost it enough to manipulate it so that it fits.  Then I add a little water to it plus whatever flavor boosters strike my fancy.  Then the next day, I let the meat cock in the crock pot on low all day while I do other things and it's ready for me at dinner when I need it.  Saves me a ton of time!  Who needs to babysit food when it will cook itself.

Obviously this cooking technique isn't ideally suited for all dishes.  I usually use it, like I said, for dishes that require the meat to be cooked ahead of time and then added, like a soup or casserole.

Just in case you are interested, here's what I usually add to my crock pot for different meats:

Ground Beef - a little water, pepper, minced onion (the stuff you find in the spice aisle.  It's just minced onion that has been dehydrated), and garlic (I buy the minced garlic in a jar that you find in the produce section.  No chopping garlic and no extra garlic cloves with nothing to use them for).

Chicken - If you want the most juicy, flavorful chicken you have ever tasted, chicken so good you could eat it straight from the crock pot, try this - Add 2 Tbsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. sugar, garlic, minced onion, and, if you are feeling adventurous and have it on hand, pesto to your crock pot.  Then add 4 cups HOT water to the crock pot and stir.  Add in meat.

Roast - a little water and a packet of dried onion soup mix

Hope I have inspired you to try something new and to get some use out of those crock pots you have sitting around!

Sincerely,
The-M-O-M