Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Why does my crock pot hate me?

So as one of the many ways to save money here in la casa del Ramey, I've vowed to start cooking more. I know. I'm hilarious! But, it's worth a try. Especially since I'm still gluten free and feeling better as a result.

Today I decided I'd start the new cooking regime now that there is food in the fridge. (Hey, it only took a week after the storm, that's not too bad!) So I decided I'd make chicken, broccoli, rice and cheese in the crock pot. Now seriously, it was that easy. Put all of those ingredients, some water, some seasonings, cream of chicken soup and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours. Sounds easy. Perfect for putting together when I get home from school and ready for Joe when he gets home from work, now that he works until 5 instead of 8:30. Um, yeah, not so much. In 3.5 hours, the rice wasn't cooked. So, I let it cook a little longer and then I went ahead and made more rice in the microwave. The results? Blah. the food had no flavor. I'm so disappointed! I really wanted to like it. I need to tweak it somehow. How, I don't know. If you have suggestions, let me know. An empty crock pot will be waiting by...

3 comments:

Katie said...

I have an easy recipe that turns out well 99.9% of the time:

Get a package of bone-in shoulder blade pork chops. Add two cans of Old Fashioned Campbell's vegetable soup, and one can of water. Season with some pepper. Cook on low for about 6 hours.

Good luck! I'd love to become a complete crock-pot chef, too.

Chip Easterling said...

Actually, I can send you a few ideas. I had to wrestle with the whole "flavor" thing in my crockpot too when I started using it. Now... it is a PhD student's (me) best friend. CDKitchen.com has a few good recipes, but you may have to be selective. More later...

Amy said...

Kate, that sounds really good. I might have to try that within the next week. I was trying to think what I could use instead of chicken noodle soup with pork chops. Did I mention Joe doesn't like soup-y dishes. Grr.

Thanks for the location Chip! I'll definitely have to look at CDKitchen. I tend to be selective these days, but that's part of the fun.

Any other ideas I'm all ears. The crockpot has sat unused since this post b/c someone (we won't mention names) is anti-soup and is afraid that no matter WHAT I cook it will become soup.