Monday, July 7, 2008

Slow Cookin' Away

I am starting to embrace my slow cooker. Believe it or not, we received it as a wedding gift, so it's going on 3 years old, and I only opened it up maybe a month ago. I guess I did not embrace the ways of the crockpot or realize what a timesaver it can be. But I am starting to mend my ways, people! I am currently trying out a new chicken taco soup recipe in it, and time will tell if it is delish or not. My track record for new recipes is still pretty good, but I've had some turn out badly lately. (I'm looking at you, Caramelized Banana Rice...you looked so yummy on paper, didn't you?? But no. Alas, no. Great goodness gracious me, no.)

However, the aforementioned taco soup recipe has over 900 pretty favorable reviews, so I'm guessing it must be somewhat tasty. It serves 8, so my plan is to freeze half of it for a day when I don't feel like cooking (those days are becoming more and more common as I get bigger and bigger). I find that many of the recipes I try yield a lot more than we can ever eat, so my plan of attack is to try freezing half for later. I mean, you can only eat so much [enter type of main dish here] before a) it goes bad or b) you let it go bad because you're so sick of it. And trust me, I try to force it on Braden every chance I get, and it still goes bad! :)

So now that my slow cooker is merrily doin' its thang, I'm trying to find a recipe that only calls for 7-8oz of tomato sauce. Let me tell you, recipes that call for less than a normal can of whatever are really annoying!! I'm thinking particularly of the ones that call for one tablespoon of tomato paste. I always end up throwing out the rest of the tomato paste a month later.

Anyway, now that I've semi waxed poetic on the subject of slow cookers, I make an end.

7 comments:

Carolyn said...

Slow cookers are da bomb. In fact, if you're a meat eater...which you are, they are even better. It's so awesome to throw some stuff in the crock pot and forget about it and then come home hours later to a piping hot meal. It's especially awesome to come home from church and have dinner totally ready.

I have an amazing Taco Soup recipe for the slow cooker. Just add some cheese, chips and sour cream on top and oooooh boy. Yummy!

Ker said...

I agrizzle.

As for your recipe, I think Dan mentioned it...please do share!

Carolyn said...

expect an email!

Gina said...

Ah, the joys of tomato paste. You know, my grandmother used to buy it in a metal tube so that when things called for 1 Tbsp. of the stuff, she just squeezed it out like toothpaste. I can't find it ANYWHERE. Every one I ask about tomato paste in a tube look at me like I'm crazy or something. I'm not crazy! I've seen it with my own eyes!!

Gina

Gina said...

It DOES exist! Take a look:

http://www.pennmac.com/items/113

Gina

Ker said...

That's awesome, Gina! I never thought of that. That's very handy.

EveLeaf said...

Another idea is freezing it in ice cube trays, then just putting the cubes in a ziploc in the freezer until you need it later. I do this with tomato sauce/paste, lemon juice and oh, about a million other things.