Beef Stew

My crock pot was one of our best wedding presents, although at the time, this young bride had no idea what an incredible gift she had received. I had no experience with them, my full time working mother had survived feeding her family through the 1970's (when they were all the rage) and 80's because she had, firstly an automatic oven, and then also a microwave. My mother never had one of the lovely orange crock pots that adorned the kitchen counters of most home in the 70's!

My affection for my crock pot was born of the frustration of not being able to make a tender, richly flavored beef casserole with the basic ingredients I'd been taught to cook with... So when I discovered the crockpot beef stew recipe in the instruction manual produced the type of flavor, taste and texture - from cheaper cuts of meat - that I was looking for, a friendship began!

Beef Stew

To learn how this new toy worked, I just stuck with the recipes in the instruction manual to start off with, adding a touch of this and touch of that only after I tried the recipe verbatim the first time. At first, I would only cook with the crockpot when I was at home to watch it, as I wasn't comfortable having it going for 8-10 hours without supervision. However, it did not take me long to trust that it was not going to do anything to the meal but tenderly bubble away and make it perfectly through the day. In those days, I could not have afforded to ruin dinner, our food budget was stretched so tight - it was imperative every recipe was a success!

I loved that I could stretch a small quantity of a cheaper cut of beef so far. I learned to cook red kidney beans and chick peas and freeze them in the right size containers to be added to a crock pot recipe. I worked out how to add root vegetables and have them cook with the meal to make one pot meals. The more I learned, the further I stretched the dollar, but also, the more nutritional value was added to each meal! What bonus!

As a side effect of the current economic conditions, I notice people are increasingly returning to cooking at home. Cooking in general is in favor again. We are wanting easy to prepare, budget-conscious, great tasting, nutritious meals that fit in with our busy lifestyle. Meals that flexible, that allow us to eat either as soon as we get in from school, or back from sports practice, or eat as a family together. We want minimum fuss preparation and clean up too! The knowledge I have gained over my twenty plus years friendship with my trusty crock pot tells me it is time to rekindle or introduce a new generation to crockpot cooking!

Discover Or Rediscover Crockpot Cooking

Come and visit with me at my Blog: http://www.slowcookersandcrockpots.blogspot.com or check out the latest crock pot reviews at http://www.squidoo.com/crock-pot-reviews-and-where-to-buy-online I'm looking forward to sharing more with you, to help with what you need - whether you are looking to own your first or fifth crock pot - and with healthy crock pot recipes and ideas to stretch your food budget further.

Recommend : lodge logic pre seasoned 9 quart dutch oven