The crock pot: a busy bee’s best friend

I am not sure why I always wait until it is cold out to bring out the old crock pot. It doesn’t heat up the kitchen, so it is ideal for summer cooking. I guess it just calls for heavier types of meals that we don’t eat in the summertime. Over the next few months you will be seeing a lot of this crock pot. From chili to stew to macaroni and cheese to coq au vin, the crock pot is where its at if you want a hot meal made for you when you get home from work. My crock pot and most modern day crock pots have a removable pot for easier cleaning, but this also allows you to prep everything the night before, leave the pot in the fridge, and pop it in to start cooking before you leave for the day. Earlier this week, I made crock pot chicken burritos. I actually wasn’t cooking huge cuts of meat or anything like that, so I was able to put the crock pot on when I arrived home and to eat an hour later. So easy!

Please excuse the ugly raw chicken photo above! Trader Joe’s salsa verde makes a really excellent base for a bunch of things, including burrito filling. For this recipe I took 2 large chicken breasts and placed them in the crock pot with about 3/4 jar of salsa verde. Then I set it to cook. That’s it. You could easily throw in a few cups of black beans and corn instead of chicken and slow cook that for awhile to get a perfect blend of flavors. One thing that I love about my cooking is that pretty much everything I make can be easily adapted to a meatless diet. While the chicken was cooking, I made a quick guacamole with 3 avocados, 3 cloves of garlic, some chopped white onion, and crushed red pepper.

And a tasty salsa with a can of organic tomatoes, white onion, garlic, and a big fat habanero.

Excuse the foaminess of the salsa. . . it tasted really good. I don’t know why it looks like that. . . Once the chicken was cooked, I used a couple of forks to shred it and then put it back in the salsa to cook on low for a bit longer. Haha then I decided I didn’t want chicken, and scrambled up some eggs instead.

My egg burrito topped with some Oikos plain yogurt. Hubs ate the chicken, and he said it was good 😉 This “recipe” is great with a whole chicken and a whole jar of salsa, cooked low and slow for a whole day. Oh the possibilities of the crock pot! I can’t wait to share all of my favorites with you. Do you have any easy crock pot recipes? My mom got me a great cookbook for crock pots last year. It is PACKED with great recipes and some that are super old school and very funny to read!