Slow Cookin' Up A Storm

I have been going crazy with my slow cooker these past few days (fourth day in a row with a slow cooker dinner tonight) since I came across a site called "A Year of Slow Cooking."

This is tonight's "fried chicken" dinner, just getting started. It's so easy - dredged in a seasoning blend, then drizzled with 1/4 cup of melted butter, then just let it do it's thing. I wasn't sure how well it would work in a crock pot, and I'll have to let you know after tonight. But I can say it looks delicious ... not something I normally say about raw chicken legs. In fact I don't usually eat dark meat, but the legs were less than $5/bag, and they are HUGE. Must be mutant chickens or something. (Sadly, probably just an over-abundance of growth hormones.)

Anyway, last night we had a roast made with a jar of pepperoncini peppers - not something I normally eat, but the roast was good. We shredded the meat and put it on a bun with mozzarella cheese. The six year old complained about the heat, and the two year old cried ... a lot. I gave them their sandwiches before tasting the meat. OOPS. Won't do that again. But the rest of us liked it. The night before that we had loose meat sandwiches. This is something I remember from growing up in rural Nebraska. The flavor of this recipe wasn't quite what I remember though, so if any of my Nebraska friends can give me the "real" recipe, I would be eternally grateful. This was good, just not what I remember. The night before that, we had what she called "Lazy Chicken" - which amounts to pouring a jar of spaghetti sauce over a few chicken breasts, then serving over spaghetti. Very good, and a no-brainer. Took a whole 45 seconds to prepare. Gotta love that.

So, now I'm going to see how many days in a row I can make crock pot meals. There really is no effort involved. And with my "chief cook and bottle washer" (ie. 18 year old daughter) gone for practically the whole month, this will be right up my alley. The bonus is that there are also less pots and pans to wash :)

I love these recipes, and can't recommend that site highly enough. I'm saving up for her two cookbooks, because everything we've tried so far we have loved. I'm looking forward to trying the cheesecake recipe for Valentines day, and the minestrone recipe for Saturday (which is always soup night following a hard day of skiing for most of the troop. I always try to do that in a crock pot anyway, so it's ready when they get here. They always walk in starving to death.) What can I say, I'm hooked.