A Crock, Indeed

I do not like to cook. (Thank goodness Jeff does.) I just don't enjoy it. It stresses me out, too many things can go wrong, then you end up disappointing people. ugh! Plus, I get so tired of looking at whatever I am cooking, that by the time it is done, I just am not interested any more. I am also terrified of getting burned, so I try to stay out of the kitchen.

Bad wife? Oh well.

Anything I do make has to be really simple and generally idiot-proof. So far, Jeff likes mostly everything I have made him and he hasn't yet been poisoned(although I did set two oven mitts on fire last week). I thought that getting a Crock Pot would make things even more simple in the kitchen, but I have realized that I was wrong.

I guess I had this image in my head that I could throw in some mud, a few rocks, and maybe a dash of salt and pepper into the pot and it would make me a glorious feast...

Here's news if you haven't heard: making food in the Crock Pot is just as much work, it just takes a reallllllly long time!

Who knew?

So... you chop, mince, dice, slice, and all the prep work that I hate. The house smells amazing all day long, your mouth is watering, and you sit down to eat. And that's it. No confetti or anything. Just waiting. Lots of waiting.

I realize that part of the draw is theoretically being able to set the device and go to work to come back to a hot meal, but let's face it. I can't even leave the house if my toaster or hair dryer is plugged in. If I left a Crock Pot on and left the house for any length of time, I would lose my mind with worry. Plus, I am pretty sure Piper is bold enough to jump up on the counter and break into the pot.

Am I the only person who thought that maybe, just maybe, a Crock Pot would create just a teensy bit of magic?

Does anyone have super simple recipes they'd like to share?

5-cheese pepperoni quiche

This is what I had for dinner tonight, and what I will have for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. It's also a big hit at parties.

This is super easy. You will need:

1 pie crust- I get the refrigerated pillsbury kind
4 eggs
1 cup milk
a handful of sliced pepperoni
1 bag (2 cups) shredded 4-cheese blend (usually says pizza or Italian blend)
shaky cheese (locatelli, romano, or parmesean).
salt, pepper, oregano.

Preheat oven to 425. Unroll your pie crust into a pie pan. Put one layer of pepperoni on the crust. It won't seem like enough pepperoni, but any more makes it greasy. Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the pepperoni. Scramble eggs in a bowl. Add milk and a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and oregano. Mix them together and pour evenly over the cheese. Sprinkle some shaky cheese over it and add the rest of the shredded cheese. bake this for about 25 minutes. check it. It should be golden brown on top and shouldn't be too jiggly when you give it a wiggle. You'll know.

Scientific, I know. You can skip the shaky cheese and make it 4-cheese, but 5 sounds way better. It really makes no difference, and sometimes I lie about the 5th cheese.

Souper!

Today I made chicken noodle soup for the first time. I didn't have a recipe, but I figured I didn't need one. This also marks the first time I ventured into the kitchen with a "eh, it'll work out," attitude. It went something like this:

I splashed some olive oil into our giant All-Clad stock pot. I heated it up, and got some minced garlic going. Once that was happy, I added about half a diced onion, about 5 ribs of celery, and about 5 carrots. I let them work out their feelings and added a generous splash of dry white wine because they looked like they needed a drink. I popped the lid on to let them simmer nicely, then took the lid off for the alcohol to evaporate. I threw confetti into the party in the form of dried basil, black pepper, oregano, and bay. In went two giant cans of chicken stock. That got to a nice simmer for quite a while, so I added two cut up baked chicken breasts (I don't like meat with parts). I was looking low on liquid so I added two more little cans of broth I had in the cupboard and improvised with some water and bouillon. It worked out nicely. I let the carrots and celery get even more tender while the chicken soaked up some goodness from the pot. I finished it off with a whole bag of egg noodles and a handful of chopped fresh parsley for color.

It ended up being so rich and delicious. I think Jeff was impressed, or shocked, or both.

Now we have tons of soup, but it will be really good as leftovers and I will freeze some. We shared some with our downstairs neighbor and we'll probably continue to do so.

Yum!

Today, I channeled my mother-in-law.

My mother-in-law can make a meal out of everything and never lets anything go to waste. While I don't think I can aspire to do half of the things she does in a kitchen, I channeled her today.

I am home sick from work and feeling like crap, so I went a-searching through our cupboards for chicken noodle soup. I looked and looked, and then remembered that I married an Italian who scoffs at the mere mention of canned goods and would have a stroke if he saw any in the apartment. Sigh. I assessed my situation. I noticed in the refrigerator two blocks of cream cheese whose "sell-by" date was today (eeek! I live and die by these dates, my MIL lets them slide...and slide), a half an onion left over from the Penne a la Betsy mentioned below, and fresh parsley.

Single Stacy would have shrugged and made buttered noodles (I am still allowed to have boxed pasta, but only Barilla). Married Stacy snuck out to Shop-Rite (observing universal precautions so as not to get others sick). I built my list from my soon-to-expire ingredients and got the makings of cream cheese chili dip and mostly-home made chicken noodle soup.

If you have never had cream cheese chili dip, go to the store, get the ingredients and make it now. You need 1 block of cream cheese, 1 15-oz can of chili, an 8 oz (1 bag) of shredded cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips. Spread the cream cheese out evenly in a small casserole dish. Spread the chili out over top. likewise with the cheese. bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Dip. Send me gifts, because this is oh-so-good. Perfect for football season. Well, I don't watch football, but I am assuming it is perfect for football parties. i will rephrase: Perfect for hockey season.

I have never made chicken noodle soup before, but how hard can it be? I will let you know later...

Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy

I needed a new recipe to cook for my husband, and I found this: Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy. It's easy to do and delicious. She even has step-by-step pictures for beginners in the kitchen like me. It was my first time making shrimp, and it was perfect!

Check it out!

When life hands you limes...

...make limeade!

A few weeks ago, Jeff asked me to pick up "one or two limes" for something he was making. They were on sale, so following in the footsteps of my deal-crazy father, I bought ten. Those little guys have been calling to me from the fridge, and right before their demise I got inspired.

I don't even think I have had limeade before, but I did a pretty good job. Here's what I used:

8 limes, juiced. I got about a cup and a half of juice.
1 cup simple syrup. Just dissolve 1 cup of sugar into 1 cup of water on the stove.
Enough water to fill the rest of our 84-ounce pitcer.

Results: Yummy, summery refreshment!

Bonuses to making limeade: The lime rinds clean and freshen the garbage disposal, and the citric acid from squeezing all of the fruit exfoliated my cuticles!

This is a domestic adventure I will be sure to repeat.

Tip: To get all the juice out of the limes, roll them between your palm and the counter. Then, microwave them for 20 seconds. After juicing (I picked up a cheap hand-juicer from Target), I took the pulp and squeezed that through a fine mesh colander to get every molecule of limey goodness.

Happy squeezing!