I think I'm falling in love again...

with my crockpot.

I'm relatively new to crock pot cooking, having taken it up just this summer.
I got my first crockpot two years ago shortly after moving into this old house. When we first moved in, we were undergoing a major remodeling project and had no kitchen for 3 months.

Our only water source, for a time, was the bathtub upstairs. We bought a fancy grill with a burner, thinking we could do most of our cooking outdoors. But simply making pasta was an ordeal, involving filling the pot upstairs, traipsing down through the house and all the construction, out to the grill and putting the pot on to boil. Once the pasta was cooked, we then had to carry it back to the upstairs tub to drain it and bring it back downstairs to add the sauce.

Needless to say, we ate a lot of carry-out and did our darndest to appreciate microwaved meals, but when you're used to making almost all your food from scratch, these options don't hold much appeal.

You know you're in trouble when your kids don't even want to order pizza - again.

So, one day, I asked Michael to buy me a crock pot. Now, I'm not a kitchen gadget type of person; my mom still can't get over the fact that I don't have an electric can opener. But for some reason that I can't remember, he and the girls were going to KMart that day and I knew they'd be able to find a cheap one there.

And find a cheap one they did.

I had in mind one of the sleek brushed stainless models that would fit in oh, so well, with my kitchen appliances, once I had a kitchen, that is. But Michael is never one to pass up a bargain, and came home with this beauty.

It looks like it's right out of the 1970s.

After exclaiming about how ugly what a good deal the darn thing was, I gave it a try. We had a couple of less-than-satisfying crock pot meals and I relegated the crock to a position of obscurity in the basement.

I knew I wasn't the "type" of person who would use a crock pot.

Then, earlier this summer, when I was up to my elbows in fruits to jam or tomatoes to can or some such, I remembered the crock. I also happened to have some cuts of pork left in the freezer from a half hog we bought 2 years ago that I really needed to use. Hmm, maybe I could make a mexican chicken soup or chili verde while keeping the stove free for preserving.

I don't have a lot of experience cooking with meat; we've mostly eaten vegetarian for the bulk of our married life. I'm fine with adding small bits of meat to a sauce or soup for flavor, but cooking a pork roast? Scary.

I was afraid to mess around with a crock pot recipe, for fear of the meal not "turning out." But I found that the key to making crock pot meals we love is to find a recipe on-line (to learn the basics of crock pottery) and then to modify it as I would on the stovetop.

Wah, lah! Success.

Since these early experiments, I've probably used my pot about 3 times each month. Doesn't sound like a lot, but for someone who never thought she'd own, let alone, use a crock pot, it's a good start.

Who knows, maybe there's an electric can opener in my future...

Nah.