Crock Pots Make Potluck Easier
If you have an adventurous cooking spirit and a cabinet or pantry full of goodies, it’s easy to create a crock pot meal from scratch. If you’re shaking your head and have those doubts don’t. Potluck meals from scratch are doable and the family will love it.
When putting together a potluck crock pot meal, start with a main ingredient. Meat or beans make the perfect base. Although grains also make a good base for meals, they cook too quickly and can make for a mess in a crock pot. Rice quickly becomes mushy when it is overcooked and pastas work best when boiled. Therefore, slow cooking these types of foods would potentially ruin them and your meal.
A main ingredient is something that can stand up to the length of time required for crock pot cooking and the constant temperature. Chicken, turkey, beef, pork or lamb are all good choices for a meat base. Most beans can stand up to the heating process of a crock pot. Once you have made a choice for your meal base, rinse it well and put it in the cooker. Be sure to add a bit of liquid to the bottom of the crock pot before adding any meat.
The next step is to decide what will go well with the base chosen. Most meat types share the fact that they are compatible with many of the same vegetables. First, check the fridge. If you have bag of baby carrots, an onion and some celery you have some great vegetables for your crock pot meal. Toss in the fibrous vegetables on top of your meat or bean base. Add other vegetables in the last hour of cooking time.
Go ahead and start the cooker while you search for more ingredients. See that bag of red-skinned potatoes in the corner? The best thing about them is that they don’t have to be peeled. Simply, wash the outer skin thoroughly and pop them into the cooker as well. No need to slice or dice them beforehand.
That celery and onion can be sautéed first. Throw them in a skillet with salt, pepper, and any cooking liquid you may have on hand. Allow the liquid to reduce and cook the veggies.
What about spices and seasonings? They are necessary to turn that base into a scrumptious delight. What will go well with your base? Add some turmeric, cumin and cilantro to give your dish a little spice. Curry goes well with chicken or pork and adds an Indian flavor to these meats. Cooking Italian then choose rosemary, basil, oregano, bay leaf and coriander. Fresh herbs will give those meals a more distinctive taste. If you have fresh on hand use it. If there are no fresh herbs on hand dried herbs and powdered seasonings will do just fine.
About an hour before serving time add your sautéed veggies and spices. The smell of these wonderful spices with your base is a delight in itself. If there is still too much liquid, turn the cooker up on high and remove the lid. This will help the liquid evaporate. When enough liquid has been removed, recover the crock pot and place it on the low setting until ready to serve.
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