There's a first!

Born to crock is something like 1 1/2 years old now. (Can you believe it?) People have asked me if I've ever crocked anything that was inedible. We came close. Once. 

And then today happened. 

I saw this frozen package of tilapia shoved in the back of the freezer when we invaded Brad's place. It takes a lot for me to be in the mood for fish, so it stayed there. Until today. 

Today, I shoved it in the crock pot. The package said it'd be steamed and ready to eat in 5 minutes. I didn't do that. (But maybe I should have?)

What fun things are in Brad's pantry? Day 28.

~2 frozen tomato, basil, and garlic tilapia filets by Beacon Light (It expired in 2010.) 

~aluminum foil

Place filets in "boats" of aluminum foil. (Don't do this.)

Place "boats" in crock pot. (This, either.)

Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. (Please?)

2 servings (For the garbage disposal.)

Do. Not. Make. This. Promise me you will not make this. It made the house smell like fish. (Eew.) It didn't flake apart. (Double eew.) I took a bite and ended up spitting it into the sink. (Triple eew.) All of the lemon juice and tarter sauce in the world would not make this edible. And it wasn't just me. My other half couldn't stomach it either and he LIKES fish. Yeah, so don't do what I did. Unless you want to order wings from the local wing place like we did. (And then we didn't like the wings, either. Boo!)

Help me, help you.

I'll be tweaking the blog a bit over the next few days. So far, I've added a "pin it" button (for Pinterest users). See it? It's red and shiny and at the bottom of each post. Technically, my other half did it for me. My html skills are severely lacking. (As if you couldn't tell.) Also, I've made the tags visible on the left sidebar. I would've done that a LONG time ago, but honestly, I thought they were there already! Oops. Sorry about that! Recipes are 1000 times easier to find now. Well, I guess I should say they WILL be. If/when my little helper naps, my plan is to finish going through the entries and add more tags. Is there anything else you crockers think I can do/add/change to make Born To Crock better? I'd absolutely LOVE to hear it!

Julia Crocker.

Q: Do you REALLY crock every day?
A: No, not every day. Just most days.

Q: Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia?
A: Yes, yes I have.

It's Le Crock! French week! Everything I'm crocking this week is French.

Yesterday, I crocked French Dip. The most ridiculously easy French Dip recipe in the world. This is it...

"French Dip" (6 quart pot)

~1.5 lbs beef roast (Safeway was out of rump so I used the cheapest cut I could find. Shoulder.)
~1 can Campbell's Beef Consumme
~Hoagie rolls

Add beef and consumme to greased crock pot.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Remove beef and shred with fork.
Spoon beef onto rolls.
Spoon liquid on top of beef.
Spoon the rest of the liquid into a bowl.
Dip sandwiches into extra liquid.

2 servings.

These were really good. I'm definitely going to make them more often. Cheap and easy. Just the way I like it. Heh.

Aaron Burr to the principal's office, please.

Kids love flutternutter sandwiches on white bread AND I was looking for an excuse to break in my new crock pot. That's right, fellow crockers, I have a new pot. The pot itself isn't new, but it's new to me thanks to Freecycling Heather.  No more burnsthecrudoutofeverything pot for me. I now have 2 6 quart pots. My AWESOME pot which I'm going to call "Alexander" (it's a Hamilton Beach) and this new one I'm going to call "Aaron Burr" (it's a Rival).  I am hilarious, I know.



"Classic White Bread for a Fluffernutter Sandwich" (6 quart pot-"Aaron Burr")

~1 envelope of active dry yeast
~1 t sugar
~1/4 c warm water
~1 egg
~1/4 c vegetable oil
~1 c lukewarm water
~1 t salt
~1/4 c sugar
~ 4 c flour

Combine yeast, 1 t sugar, and 1/4 warm water in a medium bowl.
Allow yeast to foam, about 5 minutes.
Add egg, oil, lukewarm water, salt, 1/4 c sugar and 2 c flout.
Beat with an electric mixer on low for 2 minutes.
With a wooden spoon, sir in remaining flour.
Place dough in greased crock pot.
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours.
Remove stoneware from crock pot and let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

It's not the best bread in the world, but it was good enough for me. The edges were a little overcooked because I lost track of time, so I cut them off kids week style, and gobbled up my fluffernutter like any self respecting 30 5 year old would.

Kids love Sloppy Joes. Quite possibly because of the the word "sloppy". I based this recipe off of two different recipes and substituted ground turkey, so I guess I can say this is MY sloppy joe recipe.

"Sloppy Joes" (6 quart pot-"Alexander")

~1 lb ground turkey
 ~1 c onion, chopped
~2 cloves garlic, minced
~1 c ketchup
~1 c red bell pepper, chopped
~3 T Worcestershire sauce
~1/4 c brown sugar
~2 T vinegar
~2 T Gulden's mustard
~1 t chili powder
~hamburger buns

Brown turkey, onion, and garlic on medium heat. Drain and discard fat.
Combine ketchup, bell pepper, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, and chili powder in crock pot.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Spoon onto hamburger buns.

My other half makes a mean sloppy joe. It's one of my favorite things that he cooks...or used to cook, I guess. I've sort of taken over the kitchen these days. As per usual, I asked him what he thought about dinner. "Like, seriously yum.", he says. I guess I make a mean sloppy joe myself.

My weapons of choice.

I thought I'd answer some fan mail...

I have 2 crock pots.

A 6 quart Hamilton Beach programmable one that I absolutely love. It's on sale at Amazon right now, so if you're looking for one, I highly recommend you bite the bullet and order it. Pronto.

The other ia Rival 3.5 quart one that is about 30 years old...and looks it. The knob is broken and it tends err on the hot side (even when on low), so I have to shave off about a half hour from the cooking times and watch baked goods like a hawk.  Nobody likes a burned cake. I got this one from Freecycle, so I can't complain. Having 2 crocks is better than having one crock. Even if one's not the perfect pot. 

Happy crocking!

Crossing things off of my lists.

There are a handful of foods you will never see me use in a recipe. Ever.

Seafood other than tilapia or canned tuna.
Avocado.
Olives.
Sausage.
Beets.
Sweet potatoes.

All beef stews are pretty much the same, right? Meat. Potatoes. Celery. Carrots. Onions. Blah, boring, blah. I chose to do "Hearty Beef Stew" yesterday just to be able to say I've made a beef stew. "I have made a beef stew." Let's move on, shall we?

When I was charting the weekly meal plan, two beef dishes in a row was NOT on the menu, but something came up midweek and I had to rearrange things. On the menu today? Pot Roast. But this isn't just any ol' pot roast. Why? It has APPLES in it! Seriously? Seriously. I had to try it. Even though I "don't do sweet potatoes".

Autumn Beef Pot Roast Au Jus (6 quart pot)

~2.5 lbs beef roast
~1 medium onion, chopped
~2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces
~2 Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced into 12 wedges
~2 t thyme
~1 can beef broth

Place everything into crock pot. Place roast on top.

Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.

6 servings.

Yes, I crossed sweet potatoes off of my list. It was THAT good.

My sources teach me how to make almost anything in a crock pot.

Before I start, I should probably let you in on my little secret. I'm not going to pretend that I'm some amazing chef who seemingly randomly throws a bunch of ingredients into a pot and *poof* it tastes like The. Best. Thing. Ever. I'm just really great at following directions.

Nearly every recipe I've used in the last month has come from one of these 4 cookbooks:

~101 Things To Do With A Slow Cooker

~101 More Things To Do With A Slow Cooker

~3 Books In 1: Rival Crock Pot (Slow Cooker Favorites; Winning Slow Cooker Recipes; Slow Cooker Recipes for All Occasions)

~Fix-It And Forget-It Cookbook: 700 Great Slow Cooker Recipes 

If I've learned anything this month, it's that you can make almost anything in a crock pot. From go-to crock pot favorites like Hearty Beef Stew to desserts like Pineapple Upside-Down Cake.

Hey! Guess what I made for dinner tonight? Hearty Beef Stew and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake!

Hearty Beef Stew (6 quart pot)

~2 pounds of cubed beef,  still somewhat frozen.
~an entire package of celery, cut into inch long pieces.  (The whole package didn't end up in the pot...it was getting old, so I cut out what was usable and still somewhat crunchy. )
~about 5 or 6 carrots, peeled and cut into inch long pieces.
~2 large white potatoes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces.
~1 package of McCormick's slow cooker beef stew mix (I usually use my own spices, but I cheated this time because it was on sale.)
~1 cup water.
~the remaining dregs of a bottle of wine that had been taking up space in the kitchen.

Cover and cook on low for 9 hours.

6 servings.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (3.5 quart pot)

~grease crock pot.
~line bottom of pot with pineapple slices w/juice, halved maraschino cherries, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/8 cup brown sugar.
~mix Betty Crocker's super moist yellow cake mix as directed on package. (3 eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 1/4 cup water.)
~pour mix into pot.

Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

8-10 servings.