(no subject)

[nolly]

I recently picked up a small, inexpensive crockpot. It's got multiple heat settings and a removable crock; it's not just a dip warmer. The problem is, all the recipes I can find are for much larger crockpots, and I don't have a good enough feel for what's right to be comfortable tweaking them for my 1.5 quart baby crockpot. Are there rules of thumb about liquid proportions? Other things I should know? Right now, I really want things more like "dump X amount of canned soup, Y amount of rice, and a chicken breast, set on low for N hours, eat"; I can get fancy later. WHat I don't know is reasonable values for X, Y, and N, and if that's likely to be an adequate recipe, or if i needs water/milk, or...?

Comments

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Cream of mushroom is a perfectly good comfort food ingredient.

[koyote.livejournal.com]

I was going to make the exception for cream of $FOO soups, since they are a pretty common ingredient in middle American generic cooking. And I used to use them a lot, but then I learned how easy it is to make your own and stoppped :)

Check out variation on new england clam chowder in crock pots and you'll see what i mean.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Cream of $FOO and close cousins are the canned soups I had in mind. If I had time and wanted to clean up after making my own, I'd just make the whole meal.

[koyote.livejournal.com]

but you are making the meal, just in a crock pot.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Right. Using one or maybe two dishes which will need to be washed afterwards. Making my own soup would add at least one more pot and more time I'd need to be present, unless I"ve got serious misconceptions. This (http://community.livejournal.com/what_a_crock/272987.html) is the kind of recipe I've got in mind.

[koyote.livejournal.com]

huh? but the crock pot is where you make the soup?

Looking at that recipe, some diced mushroom, flour, salt, and water would do it.

But, if you are really looking for an aswer for having cream of mushroom soup around, get a BIG restaurant can, open it, and freeze 3.5 ounce baggies.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

No, what I'm looking for is a way to keep myself fed and the kitchen usable when I have minimal time, energy, and spare cash. Minimal dish use because I don't have time and energy to wash much, and my dishwasher is useless. I'm usually already hungry when I get home, so trying to cook then doesn't work so well.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

If you're hungry, using the crock pot to make dinner isn't a good idea. its going to take hours.

Really, getting the large can and freezing in baggies/gladware is a great option.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

The idea is to start the crock pot in the morning so food is ready when I get home.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

It might clarify things if I point out that I mostly don't like soup as a main dish. SO making soup is not my goal, but making things that use cream of $FOO as an ingredient is A-OK by me, because I've had many tasty dishes like that.

[koyote.livejournal.com]

is okay, weve done lots of roasts, pastas, even bread.

I guess i'm trying to get you to think of it less as a microwave type of arrangement and more as a broadening of horizons- you can do all sorts of scratch stuff easily- even tamales and chili and mexican stews. Rice dishes are cake.

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I know it can be used for all of that. But firstly, I need to crawl before I walk -- much less run -- and secondly, right now, I don't have time or energy for anything that requires a lot of prep or clean-up. 5 minutes in the morning is pushing it; I could maybe manage a little more in set-up the night before once in a while. The energy I have needs to go towards laundry and liutterboxes and general home maintenance. That's the current state of my health, and there's not a lot I can do about it.

[koyote.livejournal.com]

I totally understand that.