Lazy Cooking Tip #1

I may not be a recipe maker, but I AM a lazy cook. So I figured if I'm not going to share lazy recipes with you, I can at least share some lazy cooking tips that I've discovered along the way. Also, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the support from last week's post!

LAZY COOKING TIP #1: CROCK POT COOKING

No matter the season, using a slow cooker or crock pot is the ULTIMATE lazy cook's secret weapon. You simple put your food in it and walk away! Come home after a long day to meal waiting for you feast upon!

But in all seriousness, I love my crockpot. I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to recipes to make in it. If I know it is going to be a busy week, I get ingredients for crockpot meals. If we are going to need chicken for salads, crockpot. If it's 100+°F outside for three months, CROCKPOT. It is my favorite kitchen tool. Now if I only had a rice cooker...

If you want to take the lazy up a notch, get crock pot liners. I was hesitant at first because it is basically a plastic bag you put in your crock pot–but I've long since given up the fear of it poisoning me in exchange for having a crockpot with nothing caked to its sides. It's a true game changer.

I even have a couple of crock pot recipe posts on the blog if you want to give them a try:

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What do you think of this new series? I'm thinking about doing it once a month, but maybe it could be more frequent. Let me know in the comments below!

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken /// Lazy Cooking

I don’t remember where I saw this recipe and I’ve made it so many times over the years that it is now just done by memory. It is a great crock-pot dish that can be used in a myriad of ways (which is helpful to keep meal boredom at bay). I’ve eaten it wrapped in tortillas, on top of baked potatoes and last we made it, we ate it with rice (but you could even do gnocchi!).

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Crockpot cooking for the lazy soul

I don't know about where you live, but it is hot here in New Orleans. Our new home only has window units for AC and, as an added bonus, no insulation. So it is super hot here. When Mr. LL and I go to work in the mornings, we sequester the pets into the back of the house and leave that window unit on for them. However, that just means the rest of the house is like an oven when we get home. After buying groceries for delicious home cooked meals that required the stove or oven and then either melting as we prepared them or just forgoing the process all together because of the heat, I declared that we would be only be using our trusty crockpot until the weather cooled down.

We have not regretted this decision one bit.

Crockpot, or slow cooker, cooking is one of the laziest ways to cook. I absolutely love it. You just have to do minimal prep, dump everything into the magic pot and go about your life. Eight hours later, you have a meal ready to be eaten. Perfection.

The first recipe we tried has now made its way into our "favorite recipes" list. It is a caesar chicken salad that we put into wraps, and you can find the recipe over at The Girl Who Ate Everything.

The other recipe is one we adapted to better fit our tastes. I started by looking on Pinterest for a crab/crawfish/shrimp and corn bisque recipe for the crockpot. The closest I found was Real Advice Gal's Crockpot Crab and Corn Chowder. You can click that link to make the original recipe, but I'm going to share my adapted recipe with you:

Crab and Corn Chowder Crockpot Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) low-sodium,99 percent fat-free chicken broth
• 1 bag of petite golden potatoes, washed and quartered (or chopped smaller)
• 1/2 medium sized white onion, diced
• 1/2teaspoon ground thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 1 bag frozen corn
• 1 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated skim milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cajun seasoning
• 1container (16 ounces)  pasteurized crab claw meat (it's by the seafood in the grocery store)

Pour the chicken broth into the crockpot, and then put the potatoes and onion in. Add the thyme and Old Bay seasoning and top with the frozen corn. Put the crockpot on LOW for 6 hours, or HIGH for 4.

After the 6 or 4 hours have passed, combine the evaporated milk, diced pepper, cornstarch and salt in a bowl. Pour over the stuff in the crockpot and cook on LOW for another 30 minutes.

Add the crab meat (check for shell bits!) to the mixture, and cook for another 30 minutes on LOW.

Serve hot with fresh french bread and enjoy!