Ode to the Crockpot

Dear Crockpot,

You make me happy.

When I was in grad school and working 12-14 hour days, I used my crockpot all the time. I mostly made big batches of soup that I could eat throughout the week, and I loved retreating from the cold Chicago winters, smelling something wonderful in the air of my apartment, and knowing I had a hot meal to enjoy while I studied.

Now I use the crockpot even when I'm not going to be gone all day. It's convenient, and I like that I can make everything in the morning and have dinner ready whenever my husband gets home from work. His work hours are unpredictable, and he could be home anywhere from 6pm to 9pm. That variation is fine when I know it will only take me 20-30 minutes to prepare dinner, but when I want to make pork roast or soup or something that needs to cook longer, I'm often left (incorrectly) playing the timing guessing game. And I HATE when my food gets overcooked and dried out. Hence the crockpot.

I also try to make food that is somewhat healthy. I admit to being a junk food junkie, and I'm not a huge fan of vegetables, but I really try to make well-balanced, nutritional food for my family. I once heard that the sweet potato is the most nutritious food in the grocery store, and I like sweet potatoes, so I've been looking for new recipes to incorporate them as more than just a side dish. I also have a slight obsession with canned pumpkin. Pumpkin is also full of vitamins, and I've found that I can add pumpkin to a lot of things without altering the flavor too much. I put it in my chili and tomato sauces quite often, and sometimes make pasta with pumpkin instead of tomatoes altogether.

So when I found a sweet potato chili recipe, I thought I hit the jackpot. The original recipe is here, but I changed it up a bit based on what I had available to me. And of course, I peeled the sweet potatoes so I lost some of the nutritious fiber, but the beans certainly bump it back up!

(Vitamin) A+ Soup

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks

1 yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 chipotle in adobo, diced (I store the remaining chipotles and sauce from the can in a ziploc bag in the freezer - actually, I used a frozen one today - just chopped it and put it in the crockpot frozen)

8-10 baby carrots, sliced (just because I had them)

2 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 (14.5 oz) cans roasted diced tomatoes with garlic, with the juice

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

2 T chili powder

1 T paprika

1 T cumin

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth (the original uses 1 c water and 1/2 c OJ - I bet that would be delicious here or vegetable broth would work too)

2 T liquid smoke


Add everything in order. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I ate this with a rosemary foccacia bread for mopping up the soup. I felt like the soup could handle a little more heat and might add a jalapeno or an additional chipotle pepper next time. The flavors can be changed easily - like using thyme, sage, and rosemary to give the soup a more earthy feel - but the base of the soup is healthful and full of Vitamin A. This recipe made plenty and it was even better when I ate it for lunch over the next couple of days. I added a spice here and there when I reheated it, but my favorite version was topping it with the leftover guacamole and tomatillo mixture I had from making this recipe (found from the Rut Buster blog).

Making it in the crockpot made the house smell great as it heats up throughout the day, and all the vegetables softened to create a very thick consistency without needing to puree the mixture - one less step! I love that dinner was ready the moment my husband walked in the door, and just as good (maybe better) at 8pm as it would've been at 6pm.

Cravings

One of my favorite desserts is key lime pie. If I'm getting dessert and key lime pie is available, that's what I'm ordering. I have no idea why.

For as much as I love it, I never make it. Maybe it's because I think of it as being a special treat when I go out to dinner or maybe it's because I would probably eat the whole thing by myself at home. Either way, I don't ever make it and I don't ever think of making it.

Until yesterday.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, A Year of Slowcooking, and came across a post for cooking sweetened condensed milk in the crockpot to make dulce de leche. I started thinking of all of the awesome things that could be made with sweetened condensed milk and key lime pie was the first thing that popped in my head. Once it was there, I fixated on the tart and tangy flavor and I had to have it.

When I get a craving for something, I try not to indulge myself immediately. I wait and usually the craving subsides, and I'm proud of myself for not giving into whatever fattening or sweet treat I wanted. Or I develop a craving for something else. However, I dreamt about key lime pie last night, so I was positive this craving wasn't going anywhere until I had some.

I seriously have no idea why I don't make this more often. It took 5 minutes to make and now it's chilling in the fridge, waiting for me to have a slice after dinner. My husband will be pleased because we rarely have desserts in our house, unless you count popsicles and I don't.

Of course, now that it's made, I'm no longer craving key lime pie. I really want a Chicago-style stuffed pizza. I don't think I can make that with sweetened condensed milk.