crockpot 365

a few years ago I came across this website:

crockpot 365

I tried a few of the recipes and I really liked the ones I tried.

Here is the deal. The blog is written by a girl named Stephanie and she made a vow in 2008 to use her crockpot every single day for a year. After about Valentines Day she realized that she was onto something big. She contacted the Rachael Ray Show and they featured one of her recipes. She went the entire year using her crockpot for traditional crockpot foods like pulled pork and taco soup. But she also tried all sorts of other things like brownines, bread, deserts, and even things like homemade yogurt (which I have yet to try!).

Well, I kept thinking that I needed to go back through her blog and see if there were other recipes that I wanted to try but had missed along the way. Then I discovered that she was going to put out a cookbook of all of the recipes that she had tried and blogged about. It seemed like a waste to order the cookbook when I could just find them on the blog for free. However, in a moment of Amazon weakness, I broke down and ordered the cookbook. I'm glad I did. The cookbook does not have any photos, but if I need to see how to do something or what it looks like then I can just look at the blog and search for the particular recipe that I am looking for.

I have tried several recipes from her blog in the past, but this is the first of many that I have tried from the cookbook. I chose this one because I had all of the ingredients on hand:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Curry and Honey:

--1 head cauliflower
--3 T olive oil
--1 tsp kosher salt
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
--2 cups water
--1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (1/4 was enough for me)
--1 yellow onion, chopped in chunks
--2 1/2 tsp curry
--honey

The Directions.

Cut the cauliflower into florets, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower has begun to brown and turn crispy.

While the cauliflower is roasting, plug in your crockpot and turn to high. Use a 4 quart or larger size. Add the chicken broth and water. Chop the onion and add it along with the cayenne pepper and curry powder.

When the vegetables are finished, add them to the broth.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for 3-4. This is finished when the onion and cauliflower are fully tender.

Carefully use an immersible blender to blend the cauliflower and onion. If you are going to use a traditional blender, go slow and blend small batches at a time.

Drizzle honey over the top before serving.

We served this over rice. And I used the full amount of cayenne. It was HOT--just how my family likes it. And we skipped the honey.

It was so good. Plus it made my house smell good. Like an exotic restaurant.

I looked on Amazon to see how the reviews were for the cookbook and it got some mixed reviews. Some people were annoyed that it didn't have pictures. Others said that the food was bland. This is what I think...look at the blog first to see if it something that you would eat. There are plenty of pictures. I think cooking in a crockpot is brilliant. You just have to be smart enough to plan your dinner 8 hours ahead of time. It uses way less electricity than a conventional oven. It doesn't heat up the whole kitchen like the oven does. And I don't seem to be as apt to burn food in the crockpot. And as far as the bland food goes--nothing I have tried is bland. And if it is, just serve it with ketchup, salsa, ranch dressing or cheese. Kids will eat anything with ketchup, ranch or cheese.

Another plus about the recipes is that Stephanie has some gluten issues in her family and so all of the recipes have gluten free instructions included.

The name of the cookbook is:

Make it fast, cook it slow.

**photos and recipe are all from Stephanie's blog