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| I think mine came out pretty close to the picture in the magazine 🙂 |
This week, I made something out of the ordinary for dinner. I made curried chicken I made in the slow cooker, and let me just say that Indian food is something that is not in my normal reportoire. However, I made this dish because Cam really likes curry, and since he had just come back from being out of town last week, I thought that this would be a nice surprise. I’ll admit, I was expecting this meal to be super gross, but it was actually pretty good, and it was super easy. Anyone who has read this blog knows that I LOVE my slow cooker, and I use it at least once a week. However, I was getting a little bored with my normal slow cooker dishes, so I got this recipe from the March issue of Real Simple magazine. They had a great feature about slow cooker dinners, and I ended up making almost every recipe in the article. Some of our favorites included the chipotle beef tacos with cabbage slaw (Cam liked these a lot), the spinach ricotta lasagna (I loved this and was amazed how well it came out!), and the white bean soup with collard greens and andouille sausage (we both liked this).
The slow cooker is something that’s usually associated with winter, it’s actually perfect for summer cooking. I think that a lot of people think that the crock pot is just for chili, but in reality, it can be used to make a wide variety of much lighter dishes that are perfect for spring and summer. Plus, by continuing to use the slow cooker throughout the warmer months, you can make a fix it and forget it dinner, without turning on your oven. This way you make the most of the nice weather (without heating up your house!) because you have a meal ready when you walk in the door so you have more time to enjoy the evening outside instead of in the kitchen. I plan on using my beloved slow cooker all summer long; case in point–it’s 74 degrees in Greenville today and the high for tomorrow is 83 degrees, so the last thing I want to do is sit inside all night and cook and clean up. But since it’s St. Patrick’s Day today, I ran home at lunch to throw a corned beef in the crock pot (I have to make corned beef every year for St. Patty’s Day, it’s tradition and soo yummy!), so when I get home tonight, dinner will be ready and we’ll have leftovers to take us through the weekend! Now that’s lucky! Happy St. Patty’s Day everyone! 🙂