Week 35: My New Mini Crock-Pot

I've been getting off track from the cooking thing for awhile now and it was time to revisit it.  Like many people, I've always liked the idea of throwing some food in a pot and having it ready to eat at supper time.  In theory it sounds pretty great.  However, the slow cookers I've commonly seen are large and expensive.  I'm one person and have no need for 5 quarts of food to torture me for weeks.  On the weekend I discovered a 1 person Crock-Pot designed for lunches ($19.99).  I was concerned that it would not cook meat since it is designed to heat up leftovers and canned meals.  That's why I chose to use beef as my meat choice instead of chicken; beef can be eaten rare and won't kill you.  This was my process.  At lunchtime I put a cubed steak followed by enough frozen peas, corn, and carrots to the fill line in the pot.  Then I poured in chicken broth (they didn't have any beef broth at the grocery store) to cover the food.  I plugged in my new Crock-Pot and left it till suppertime checking it every hour to see if the meat was cooking.  I admit I was quite surprised to see the beef was cooked after only 2 hours.  This little pot is ingeniously deceptive.  You can actually put your finger in the soupy water and it resembles the temperature of bathwater.  The real shocker for me was putting a big ol' spoonful in my mouth and nearly burning my mouth off.  My tongue is still sore.  I have to include that I added some pesto to my soup concoction about a half an hour before eating it.  Why?  Because I like pesto and thought it might taste good.  I was feeling especially experimental.  Anyway, it tasted pretty good for my first time with no recipe.  I actually predicted it would be a colossal failure since the odds were stacked against me.  All in all, this is only the beginning for me and my little Crock-Pot.  I can see a bright future for us ahead.  Stay tuned; you might be invited to join us in our crocked up pot adventures.