The Glorious Crockpot

I've never used a crockpot much; in fact, the only reason I have one is that I gave a then-top-of-the-line ceramic one to my mom for Christmas one year. Immediately upon opening it, she said, "I'll never use that." I said it was fine; I would take it and get her something else. That was at least ten years ago, and I think I've used it less than ten times. This may not make sense to those of you who don't like to cook, but to me it makes everything too easy. I enjoy the stages of putting it all together and tending to it. But today I really discovered the joy of the crockpot.

I had the day free -- sort of; I was grading papers and finishing a sewing project -- but tonight was the last meeting of my sewing class. I wasn't hungry enough to eat dinner before I went to class, but I wanted something healthy and warm waiting for me when I got home. So I threw some boneless, skinless chicken breast; baby carrots; potatoes; onion; bell and serrano peppers; and a dash of watered down barbeque sauce in and cooked it on high for about two hours. I turned it down to low for another two-to-three hours and set it to warm just before I left the house. When I walked in the door, the aroma was amazing; it smelled as if I had been cooking all day. I hadn't been, but the crockpot had. Immediate, delicious, and healthy -- how could dinner be better?

I'm thinking about using the crockpot more. It's a great way to get lots of vegetables into my diet, and I'm trying really hard to do well on Weight Watchers. My introductory sewing class ended tonight but the intermediate class starts in two weeks. If I can think of some interesting flavors to combine, I could get used to this.