Crock-pot Power

As a graduate student and an athletic trainer I spent a lot of time on the go and away from home. My hectic scheduling often interferes with studying, sleeping, girlfriend, and cooking food for myself. Thankfully I have come to love using my tiny single-serving crock-pot.

I remember growing up my mother would often cook roasts, turkey sandwich meat or Little Smokey's with this magical invention but I didn't have any gratitude for it back then. I didn't realize how easily a healthy and well-balanced meal could be prepared while gone at work all day long. A crock-pot has a huge benefit for anybody attempting to eat a whole-foods, paleoish, primal...whatever you want to call it diet with a crazy work schedule.

Here are three reasons why I love using this device to prepare supper.

1) Foods are cooked gently at lower temperatures.

Avoiding high temperatures allows food to cook without destroying nutrients, without causing excessive oxidation, and you're less likely to burn your supper! Another benefit with my crock-pot too is the ceramic composition of the pot itself. No need to worry about non-stick pan carcinogens or taking proper care of my iron skillet.

2) Foods are cooked without my supervision

This part is pretty self-explanatory but I love coming home from work or class at night and having a delicious stew waiting for me as soon as I walk in the door. I am going to steal the motto from whatever that piece of crap roaster was and say you can just....set it and forget it.

3) Foods are easy to prepare, taste delicious and become very tender.

Sometimes I am lazy and don't want to take the time to dice, chop, or chizzle my foods. I'm sure that I'm not the only human who doesn't want to properly prepare our food before ramming it down our gullets after a long day of work. If I was, 2/3rds of us American's wouldn't be obese. It is very easy to plan ahead when I know I have a long day of classes and spend 10-20 minutes preparing the crock-pot the morning of or even the night before. I just chop up some veggies, thaw some meat, pour in some broth and seasoning and 8 hours later I've got a delicious looking meal all ready. Half of the time I don't even know what I am doing but somehow it always comes out tasting delicious!

Thus far I only have three complaints when it comes to cooking with a crock-pot.

1. Lack of Recipes (Need to spend more time on google)
2. The tease of how it smells throughout the day (if i am home)
3. The tiny and limited size of my single-serving crock-pot. (Definitely need to invest in a larger one)

Now I am hungry. Cheers!!!

Categories: crock-pot, easy cooking, food, health, healthy cooking, healthy living, lazy cooking, paleo, whole foods