Ode to my Slow Cooker

I’m going on week 3 of using pretty much nothing but my slow cooker for dinners, and so far I am in love! Yesterday I did groceries and arranged my meals for the week.

Since my husband was home yesterday, I took advantage and did everything I needed to do get everything prepared.  So during the week I just grab one of these the morning before, pop it into the refrigerator to thaw and in the morning I take it out, put it in my slow cooker and forget about it until dinner.  I may need to shred some meat, or thicken some sauce and cook the sides but the main meal is done and I did all the work to prepare it in a few hours one day.

I’ve been searching Pinterest for recipes and will pin them to my Crock Pot board.  Of course, whatever I cook has to be baby approved.  The sites I’ve been using the most are the following:

• Family Fresh Meals: I’ve made their Cheesy Chicken & Rice, Crockpot Irish Stew, Crockpot Lasagna Soup, Sweet Sesame Chicken and Thai Peanut Chicken.  Out of all of these, the Cheesy Chicken and Rice was the family favorite.  I loved all of them, but my favorites were the Irish Stew and the Lasagna Soup.
• Weelicious: This site has been a life saver for me since the baby started solids.  I made 95% of the baby’s meals when he started solids, and this site helped me figure out how to make things interesting for him.
• Homemaking on the Homestead: My husband hates Southwestern food.  He’ll eat it begrudgingly, but it’s not something he actively seeks out.  I, on the other hand, love it.  I made their Mexican Chicken  twice this past week because it was quick, easy, and with minimal clean up, and he didn’t complain as much as he normally does, so that must mean he likes it.  It is very good.  Put it in taco shells (hard or soft) with some shredded lettuce, cheese, and a little sour cream and hot sauce and it is total YUM!  You could even have this on it’s own over some rice if you wanted, but I thought I taco night was needed.

I’ll also use Taste of Home and All Recipes to find some new recipes.  I also recently just found Six Sisters Stuff and am cooking their BBQ Spareribs this week and also found Living Locust and her Coke Beef Brisket Sliders will be on my table tonight.

Anything that makes my life simpler and gives me more time with my child is a plus, and making freezer meals or crockpot meals are definitely it right now.