What a Crock

Slow cookers have been in the news lately, but not because January is National Slow Cooking Month.  In last week's episode of the popular NBC drama, "This is Us," a faulty slow cooker started a house fire which is presumably how a beloved character dies.  Reaction was swift with some fans posting on social media they threw out their slow cookers.  Crock-Pot -- the brand name -- reacted by setting up their first Twitter account (@CrockPotCares) to address the issue and assure consumers about the safety of crock-pots.

Although I've never watched this particular TV show, I am a fan of crock-pot cooking and have been since the late 1980s.  Like any appliance I use, I follow certain safety precautions.  I don't use a crock-pot with a damaged cord, cracked insert or if the unit is malfunctioning in any way.  When I use my crock-pot, I place it on the counter away from any flammable items.

If you like cooking with a crock-pot, here's a tasty recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken you might want to add to your collection.  

Carrots, green pepper and onion are placed on the bottom of the crock-pot.

Minute tapioca -- also known as quick cooking and typically found in the grocery near boxes of gelatin -- acts as a thickening agent and is sprinkled over the vegetables.

Cubed, boneless, skinless chicken breasts go on top of the tapioca.

Pineapple chunks go over the chicken.  You can add two cans of pineapple, but make sure to discard the juice from the second can.  If you don't, you'll end up with a thin sauce.  To keep the pineapple from getting mushy, don't stir the mixture until it's done cooking.

Combine the remaining ingredients and pour them over the pineapple and chicken.

If you don't have instant chicken bouillon, you can crush a chicken bouillon cube and measure out 1/2 teaspoon of the granules.  One cube makes approximately 1 teaspoon of granules.

In eight to 10 hours, you'll have a ready to eat entree.  I serve the chicken over white rice with some Broccoli with Lemon on the side to round out the meal.

Whether you use your crock-pot for soups, entrees, vegetables, desserts, or something else, remember two final safety precautions.  When the food's done cooking, turn off the crock-pot and unplug the cord from the wall.

Crock-Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken

4 to 6 Servings

1 1/2 cups sliced carrots

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 Tbsp. Minute tapioca

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes

1 (8 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained (reserve juice)

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. instant chicken bouillon granules

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. salt

Place vegetables in bottom of crock-pot; sprinkle with tapioca.  Add chicken; add pineapple.  Combine reserved pineapple juice and remaining ingredients; pour over chicken and pineapple.  Do not stir. Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours.

© Margaret's Morsels

Cook it Slow

January is cold; a month to make and break resolutions; the month bills from Christmas start arriving.  It's also National Slow Cooking Month, something I'm slow writing about this year!

I love cooking with a slow cooker -- or what my family refers to by the trademark name -- crock-pot.  I use a crock-pot for appetizers, chili, sauces, stews, entrees, entire meals and even a sandwich.  Some of the recipes were specifically for the crock-pot but others, like the one I'm sharing today, I adapted from the oven to the crock-pot.

My husband loved eating at my mother's house.  One of the entrees she cooked that he really enjoyed was round steak smothered with onions, tomatoes and seasonings and baked a couple of hours until tender.  That entree -- Swiss Steak -- was never one of my favorites.  My mother used a lot more tomatoes and onions than I liked, plus she only added water to the ingredients which made for a flavorless gravy.  Shortly after we got married, my husband asked if I would make Swiss Steak for supper sometime.  I told him I would, but I'd need to find a recipe first.

I don't remember where I found it, but my husband deemed the first Swiss Steak recipe I tried a keeper and I've been cooking it ever since.  The recipe was actually very similar to my mother's recipe.  The round steak was pounded, coated with flour and browned in a skillet, but it used fewer tomatoes and onions and, instead of water, a jar of beef gravy.  For years, I cooked it in the oven but, on a particularly hectic day, discovered it was equally delicious cooked in a crock-pot.

One day in the late 1990s, I realized I had a late afternoon appointment the same day I'd planned to cook Swiss Steak for supper.  The meat had been thawing in the refrigerator for two days so it had to be cooked that day.  I could fix the Swiss Steak according to the recipe which would make for a very late supper, or I could try cooking it in the crock-pot.  Suppertime is always a stressful time of day for me even under the best of circumstances, so I opted for the latter.

Since crock-pot cooking is different from cooking in an oven, I had to make a few changes to the recipe.

• I don't pound the meat because low and slow cooking in the crock-pot tenderizes even the toughest cut of meat.

• The first couple of years, I skipped browning the meat because I'd read it was an unnecessary step in crock-pot cooking.  One day, on a whim, I decided to see what would happen if I browned the meat first.  I don't think browning the meat improved the flavor, but I think it made the finished product prettier.  If I have time to brown the meat, I do; if not, I don't.  It's delicious either way.

• When I cook Swiss Steak in the oven, my baking pan is big enough to hold the ingredients in one layer.  Due to the size and shape of my crock-pot, I have to layer the ingredients.  To compensate for that, I put some tomatoes, onions and gravy over each layer, instead of putting everything on the top layer.

Two layers of ingredients.

Layered and ready to cook.

Cooking Swiss Steak in the crock-pot takes longer, but it makes suppertime so much easier for me.  All that's left for me to do is fix a couple of sides -- baked potatoes and steamed broccoli in the winter and fresh corn-on-the-cob and a salad in the summer -- and supper is ready.

January might be National Slow Cooking Month, but crock-pots are wonderful to use all year long.  After all, what's better than coming home to a hot cooked meal any month of the year?

Swiss Steak

4 to 6 Servings

1 (2 lb.) round steak, cut into 8 pieces

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil*

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 (12 oz.) jar beef gravy

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag.  Add meat, two pieces at a time, tossing to coat thoroughly.  Heat oil in a large skillet.  Add meat and cook one minute; turn meat over and cook the other side for one minute.  Put a layer of meat in the crock-pot; put some onion, tomatoes and gravy over meat.  Continue layering until all ingredients are used, ending with gravy.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  

*If you don't brown the meat first, omit the oil and proceed as directed.

© Margaret's Morsels