I come from a long line of cooks and our kitchens have always been a place for us to express our creativity. Both women and men cooked in my family and frequently teased each other as to who was the best cook (without a doubt, it was my mother). My brother had a cooking show on one of the local networks years ago and the family Bar-B-Que recipe is still one of our favorites. However, I am the only one who has that ‘secret recipe’ as my mother entrusted it to me. My father, grandfathers, my mother and my grandmother each had a different Bar-B-Que recipe, but it was my mother’s that was the favorite at all family picnics and church gatherings. I inherited my family’s love of culinary adventure, but not quite as much of the talent!
So, you know anytime a new gadget or something comes on the market that will send me to the kitchen, my husband knows I am going to get it. I do have a few favorite gadgets, though – like my slow cooker, which is great to have dinner ready if we are going to be gone for the day, and food processor. These things I just cannot do without when it comes to easy, fast preparation and great meals.
The first slow cooker, and originally known as the crock-pot, has been around since the early 1970’s. By 1991, the slow cooker had generated over $30 billion in sales. Believe it or not, I still have the original one my mother bought back then. It has participated in many Sunday roast dinners with all the trimmings. Slow cooking rendered the toughest cuts of meat to falling-off-the-bone-tender and added the flavor of the vegetables to the juices in the pot. The slow cookers weren’t very attractive back then, and have evolved over the years. My mother’s famous chicken and dumplings were cooked in that old slow cooker and that is the dish she took to every church dinner at the request of everyone!
We have since upgraded to a larger slow cooker with lid locks and handles. My husband’s favorite slow cooked dinner is roast with potatoes, carrots and gravy. Mine is a chicken dish. In the morning, I put two skinless chicken breasts in the slow cooker, add a cup of rice, water for cooking (water amount depends on what type of rice you use – white, brown or basmati – our favorite), and add a jar of Seeds of Change Tikka Masala curry sauce on top, cook all day and it is ready by the time we get home from work. The chicken and the rice absorb all the flavors and it is yummy! Serve with a tossed salad and you have a complete healthy and delicious meal!
I couldn’t begin to tell you how my mother made her chicken and dumplings. We could never duplicate that recipe. She just had that special loving touch and evidently, a secret to her incredible dumplings. The great thing about a slow cooker is that you can cook just about anything from meat dishes, to pasta dishes, dessert and bread. It also saves on the electric bill and in the summer keeps the kitchen from heating up since you don’t have to turn on the oven for a few hours to cook. And believe me, living in a hot, humid climate like we do, that is worth it in itself!
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