zdepth writes:
I know you [are] a kitchenphobe, but STOP USING CANNED VEGGIES. They dont have half the flavor of fresh.
I used fresh vegetables in my first crock experiment – well, carrots and potatoes and onions – and they didn’t turn out. They were still too firm and as such didn’t add anything to the dish. That’s why I bought smaller potatoes. For the last experiment I had a yam and I sliced it up, but cleaning and chopping up vegetables is not something I’m likely to get into the habit of doing regularly. So that’s why I used canned vegetables in my last experiment – I knew the carrots would be soft. Would frozen vegetables be preferable? Because if you think I’m going to shuck and cut kernels of corn off of a cob, or picking peas out of a pod, YOU’S CRAZY!
See here’s the thing about vegetables – the ones I like (carrots, broccoli, peas, tomatoes) I’m happy to eat raw rather than go to the trouble of prepping and cooking them. Potatoes are an obvious exception.
Geisel’s saying that the solution may be to parboil the vegetables (not an option for a potless and kitchen-impatient man) or simply keep them in the crockpot longer, but I’m already cooking dishes that are supposed to take 6-8 hours for 8-10 hours. Kenn says to salt the vegetables before I cook them to soften them up. Any other advice?
Day 20: ice cream 100 apple 100 licorice 200 more licorice etc 150 crockery 200 ice cream 100 granoli 110 = 960 calories
Sounds like your crock pot isn’t getting hot enough. If full, it should get to a very slow boil in a few hours and then anything you put in to it should soften at about the pace it would in regular boiling water – certainly if it’s on all day and you’re not fussing with the lid nothing should be firm. Have you got it on the hottest setting?
Frozen, cut veggies are awesome. Corn particularly freezes well, as do peas. Green beans not so much. Avoid stir fry mix, it always tastes weird.
The recipes I’ve been using call for low heat, so that’s what I’ve been using.
Next time I’ll try high and see what happens. I’m on the verge of getting fed up with the fickleness and minutia of it but I’ll see these next few ideas through.
Low heat is for sissies. It might take some more experimentation Toren, but it will be worth it. Believe it or not, crock cooking is extremely simple and easy (especially compared to “real” cooking). Once you master the parameters of the crock cooking space it will cease to be a chore. Right now, since you’re learning, you’re brain is tracking many variables, unsure which ones are important and which are less so. Every step being new, is bigger than it is. Get over the initial learning curve and it will become effortless.
Now, if you had a car, and enjoyed excessive and pointless driving around, you could cook all your food on the engine! That way you could ruin the environment AND eat healthy!
I recommend something with a V-12 engine like a Dodge Viper. I’m sure you could find one on Craigslist for about $60,000.00.
And you call yourself committed to eating properly… Tsk, Tsk…
I hear they sell crock pot ready packaged stuff in the frozen section of the store.
I say skip the ‘crock’ and just go with the ‘POT’, if you know what I mean…
*WIIIIINK*