Crock Pot Love

So thanks to J for suggesting a crock pot recipe share. Because the crock pot is one of my very favorite things about winter. I broke mine out two weeks ago when it was yucky/chilly/windy outside and made up some fabulous mustgo** chicken chili.

I really do think a crock pot pot luck would be excellent.

Also, check out a book for sale at just about any supermarket called the Fix-It And Forget-It Cookbook, which lays out the basics of crock-pot cooking. Keys to success are:

1)don't put in too much water

Actually, that's about it. Throw a bunch of stuff in the old cooker, leave it all day, come back and it's hot and done. You can even just boil taters that way. And according to that cookbook, you can bake bread and cakes and stuff too. Incredible.

Of course, leaving the crock pot alone all day tends to make me half-think that the house will be on fire when I get home, but I'm just like that. And it's never happened. Yet.

Here's my very favorite crock pot recipe.

Baked Beans

Soak overnight and then drain

1 lb. of Great Northern Beans

Place in bottom of crock pot:
1 peeled onion

Mix together
1/8 c. molasses
1/2 c. brown sugar
3T. prepared mustard (or 2t. dry mustard)
1/4 c. ketchup
1 t. allspice
(optional: 1 T. liquid smoke. I don't know what that stuff is but my tongue loves it.)
about 2c. boiling water (enough to cover the beans)

Pour this mixture over the beans.

Drop in:
3 pieces of bacon OR small a piece of salt pork OR 1/4 c. vegetable oil

Put on the cover, cook on HIGH 4-6 hours or on low 8-10 hours.

I like to add a little more molasses after the beans are done (if you put too much in at the beginning, the skins get hard. True story.)

Let me know if/how it works for you.

**Where the hell did all those tomatoes come from? How old is that chicken? It MUSTGO. Today.