Small Appliance Hall of Fame

Small kitchen appliances come and go (remember the George Foreman Grill?) but there’s one that never seems to go away – the Crock Pot®. To me, it has earned a place in the Small Appliance Hall of Fame (if there is such a thing and if there isn’t, why not?).

The Crock Pot® has been around since the early 70s, when it was introduced by the Rival Company in 1971. In 1974 they introduced the version with the removable stoneware insert.

I got my first Crock Pot® as a wedding gift in 1981. It was one of the original ones that didn’t have the removable crock and to me, it resembled R2D2 from Star Wars with its round, squat body and domed lid. It was a definite pain to clean since the thing couldn’t be totally immersed in water because of the electrical plug.

I loved my Crock Pot®. It was the perfect appliance for someone who didn’t know anything about cooking – which was myself in the early years of my marriage- because I couldn’t burn anything (although did manage to overcook things on several occasions which led to my intense dislike of cleaning my Crock Pot®). Plus, I liked it for the fact that I could use cheaper cuts of meat and its slow cooking process would tenderize the meat to perfection. What I liked the best though was coming home after the end of a long workday to be greeted by the smells of dinner cooking away on the counter. It was like having my own personal chef.

My favorite Crock Pot® recipe in those early years was “Yankee Pot Roast.” Coming from New England, Yankee Pot Roast was a staple of Sunday suppers and my mother always made one that would melt in my mouth. Having tried early on in my marriage to make a pot roast using my mother’s method with the end result being a tougher than shoe leather roast, I was delighted to find that I could cook one in the Crock Pot® that rivaled my mom’s (sorry Rival Company, I couldn’t resist the pun).

Over the years, I added a number of different recipes to my Crock Pot® repertoire but Yankee Pot Roast remains one of my favorites.

Up until about five years ago, I was still using my original Crock Pot® and I looked with envy at the new models with their new shapes, digital timers and other fancy features. Even though my Crock Pot® was still perfectly serviceable, I longed for a new one and finally bought a larger capacity, oval version with the removable crock. I was in heaven the first time I pulled out the stoneware crock and put it the sink to soak away the remains of dinner.

My original Crock Pot® has a place of honor in my own Small Appliance Hall of Fame (actually it’s just a shelf in my laundry room) right next to my home espresso machine and my deep fryer (which I’ve used once since I bought it). Now I’m waiting patiently for my five-year-old Crock Pot® to bite the dust so that I can buy one of the new touch-screen programmable versions. Will a new one make my Crock Pot® meals taste any better? Probably not, but I do have an empty space to fill in the Small Appliance Hall of Fame.

Here’s a great recipe from one of my myriad slow-cooker cookbooks. I love it because there’s virtually no measuring involved, except for a cup of rice. All the other ingredients get dumped out of their cans into the Crock Pot®. How easy is that?

 

Fiesta Chicken with Rice and Beans

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

2 cans (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes with chilies

1 cup long grain rice

1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, undrained

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 packet of chicken taco seasoning

 

1. Combine all ingredients in crock pot® and stir to blend.
2. Cover and cook on high for 4-6 hours; low 8 –10 hours.