My Crock-Pot

(Note: the terms “slow cooker” and “crock-pot” are interchangeable and here mean the same thing.  Crock-Pot is the original trademarked name for slow cookers)

My kitchen would not be complete without my Crock-Pot.  Growing up my mom often utilized her slow cooker to get dinner on the table and I was trained early on how to cook in the crock pot.  I remember making beef stew in the crock pot for a Girl Scout badge task when I was in about fifth grade.

It should come as no surprise that as I grew up and had my own home, a crock-pot became a necessary appliance.  When we moved into our apartment in Pasadena seven years ago, a six quart slow cooker arrived at my door, a housewarming gift from my mom-in-law.  This beauty still works just as good as the day I opened it and I have give it quite the workout.

I started with meats, soups, stews, sauces and beans.  Then when I found Stephanie at A Year of Slow Cooking I got a little more creative and tried her Crème Brule recipe (yeah, it was pretty good!) and yogurt (ok, but I’ve gotten my method perfected now).  On occasion I still look for creative recipes but most of the time my slow cooker is just my workhorse for batch cooking items destined for the freezer.  It cooks while I go about my day.  No minding things on the stove.  It’s great!

So, if you’ve not tried a slow cooker, you should!  If you’ve wanted to start batch cooking, the crock-pot is a great place to start.  Fill it up, let it cook, eat some and freeze the rest.  It doesn’t get any easier than that!  If you enjoy slow-cooking, what is your favorite thing to cook in the crock-pot?

Easy Broccoli & Rice Casserole

Wonder of wonders, I am still picking broccoli out of our garden.  Usually the heat of early July will end our broccoli crops but not this year.  We’ve just recent gotten tastes of summer heat.  So, we are still enjoying broccoli.  Some has made it to the freezer but a lot of it is getting used fresh.  Here is an easy, one dish dinner.  I put chicken in this recipe, but it can easily be omitted for a great vegetarian dish.  Since it was about ninety-five degrees the day that I made this, I made it in the microwave.  It can also be cooked in the oven or slow-cooker.  Drop me a line if you’re interested in other cooking methods.

Broccoli & Rice One Dish Dinner

Ingredients

2 cups Brown Rice, uncooked

4 1/2 cups Water

3 cups Broccoli, florets or chopped

1 medium Onion, chopped

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 cup cubed Cheddar Cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded or chopped Chicken (cooked)



Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe casserole dish with a lid.


2. Cover and microwave for 15 minutes.   Remove from microwave and stir.  Repeat.


3. At this point the rice should have absorbed most of the water and it should be soft most of the way through.  If not, cook longer at 5 minute intervals.  If it has reached the point of near softness put the lid back on the dish and let it sit for 20 minutes.  The steam in the dish should continue to cook the rice the rest of the way.  If, at any point, it looks like your rice is absorbing too much of the liquid and the casserole looks dry, stir in additional water as necessary in ¼ cup increments.

It was a crazy day in the kitchen, so I didn't get any "after" pictures, but your final dish should be moist and cheesy.  Enjoy!  Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

A Clean House

I try really hard to leave the house clean when we leave for a trip.  When we return home it seems that we always hit the ground running.  If I can leave the house clean, hopefully in our dash back to the our routines, we won't trip on anything.  There was extra motivation for getting the house clean before this trip as we were entertaining for lunch on Sunday before we left.  This boiled down to a Saturday night blitz clean.  In a flurry of vacuuming, sweeping, wiping, dusting and stashing, HandyMan and I whipped our house into a pretty presentable abode.  Then we left town. That was the only way that the house was going to stay that neat for a week.  But I have to admit, coming home to that clean house is totally worth it!  Here are some more ideas for How to Keep Your Home Clean All Week Long.

Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week.

This has been a wonderful week of family time away, time with friends and mentors, rekindling relationships from our life in Southern California. It was a week of firsts for GBaby: first trip to the beach and first swim in a pool.  We also had a surprise visit from GBaby's Aunt Krissy that was wonderful.

It has been a beautiful week with a great change of pace, and it will be nice to be home :).