My husband and I are trying to prepare for the baby by finding really good (or at least decently edible) crockpot recipes. The plan is to have a stockpile of recipes so in the morning one of us can throw the ingredients into the crockpot and hit "Go".
Last week I successfully found and made two really great recipes: one from a seasoning packet I picked up at the grocery store, and another from a crockpot recipe book. The last one was a simple beef stew, but my husband said it was the best one yet.
To add to the challenge of pleasing both our paletes (he is much more of a carnivore than I am), we are both trying to eat a lot healthier. Unfortuantely many crockpot recipes are comfort foods comprised of high calorie ingredients. Yesterday I found a recipe for cheddar broccoli soup that looked delisiously promising. I carefully followed the very simple directions, and set my crockpot on low for eight hours.
On my way home I thought about the creamy, thick, cheddar broccli soup and the oyster crackers that would be swimming in it shortly. When I walked in the door, the smell of broccoli and cheese hit my nostrils.
"Smell's like a fart!" My husband announced as I opened the door. He was right, but most broccoli and cheddar dishes do smell like a fart.
"Did you stir it yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, it seems a little watery."
I opened the cover, hoping to find that a little cornstarch would thicken up my soup. As I peered in, I noticed grayish chunks floating around the concoction. At first I thought they may be the potatoes I put in, but then I remember how small I diced them. As I stirred and investigated, I realized these grayish chunks were actually unmelted Velveeta cheese! Disgusting.
"The cheese didn't completely melt! Come look at this!"
I lifted up a spoon of the unmelted cheese. "That's not cheese," my husband said assertively, "that's chicken."
"Um, I didn't put any chicken in!"
"Yeah, I am not eating that!"
I went on to make us some tuna fish sammies and canned chicken noodle soup for him. After, as I emptied the cooled soup-slop down the drain, I thought about how disgusting the cheesey experiment really was. The soupy mess was orange, which meant the dye from the cheese (I am guessing) did melt off and into the pot. Then that made me wonder what the hell kind of cheese is gray! Is it gray to begin with and then Velveeta dyes it orange? Or did some weird chemical reaction occur in my crockpot that stripped the orange right out of the cheese?
We'll never know, but thank god I had a few cans of tuna on hand.
