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Crock pot, slow cooker or whatever you want to call it you need one. Yes, I know that you’re still trying to figure out the intricacies of making toast. You still need it. You need it more even; the crock pot is the perfect cooking utensil for the beginner:

It’s Easy.

No flipping, basting, or monitoring required. Just set it and forget it. Occasionally you’ll be forced to stir once, but that’s it. And even though there’s nothing to screw up, it’s very screw up tolerant. If you leave roast in for an extra half hour you might as well order Chinese food. If you leave your crock pot going all night then you get stew for breakfast.

And often you can get a whole meal in one pot. Just add bread and serve. Even if it isn’t an all-in-one recipe the slow cooker allows you to focus on the stuff that really needs your attention. This weekend I had the best steak[+] ever with some cheesy potatoes(recipe pending) out of the crock pot. If I’d been trying to make mashed potatoes at the same time as frying the steak I probably would have screwed one of them up.

It’s Cheap.

9 times out of 10 vegetables taste better fresh than from a can. That 10th time is in a crock pot. Canning subjects the vegetables to a wet heat that ‘muddles’ the flavor. So does the crock pot, making fresh and canned taste almost the same.

But where it really shines is with beef. I mean cheap ass, 2 bucks a pound beef. I’m looking at you brisket. You can’t grill this stuff because it’s got so much connective tissue(gristle). But when you cook it long, slow and wet that gristle dissolves and gives everything a soft, jello like texture. And boom, cheap meat becomes good meat.

It Stores Well.

Because what you make in the crock pot is wet it reheats really well in the microwave(remember how microwaves work). This makes it easy to cart into work. Also note that really wet foods are all but immune to freezer burn so they freeze forever.

It’s Fridge Velcro.

One of my favorite AB phrases, fridge velcro means that you can throw about anything in there and it will stick. Take a look in your fridge and ask yourself what you need to get rid of?

Making chili and have an extra half dozen eggs? No problem. Got that half cup of onion from meat loaf last week? Throw it in the potatoes. Find one of those bizarre, back fridge cheeses that you don’t know what you originally used it for but you’re sure you never will again. Throw that bad boy in anything. You can never have enough cheese.

As a matter of fact, I think the crock pot needs more attention than it gets. I think I’m going to devote the month of April to crock potting(shut up, it’s a word). By May you’ll all wonder why you tried cooking using anything else.

Here are some links to what I thought were the best posts last week in the food blogosphere:

• The Chicken Enchiladas over at Anne’s Food. A lot of her stuff is too ambitious for me but this one is right up my ally. If you find yourself curious but intimidated just remember that enchiladas are nothing more than a Mexican casserole.
• Technically this Cake Recipe from The Smitten Kitchen is this week but I’m including it anyways. I love anyone who tells me I can play around and substitute ingrediants because I hate having to run to the store for the one God-forsaken, scarce, impossible ingredient that I’m never going to use again. Bastards.
• Amy Sherman gives us 5 Tips For Quick Home Meals over at Glamdish. I particularly apreciate the idea of having your own spice rub ready. If you’re eating a lot of meat this can save you a lot of time. And if you’re not eating a lot of meat then what the hell is wrong with you?
• Epicurious dropped this great Potato Bacon Hash recipe, which is no big deal by itself but it’s right underneath their “Perfect Passover” ad and that makes my day.
• Finally I was introduced to this great site www.foodbuzz.com . It’s a great mashup of recipes, blogs and reviews. It might be a little too facebook but I really like that you can localize it. I’m getting sick of reading reviews of restaurants in New York and San Fransisco. Like the rest of us are a bunch of pig farmers and carnival workers who never bought food that didn’t come on a stick.

photo credit: caryn74

So I’m checking out Anne’s Food and I come across a recipe she stole from the Smitten Kitchen called Blondies. I figured they were kind of like brownies but racist but actually they are halfway between cake and a cookie. Besides being just great desserts they are perfect for new bakers because:

1. The Ingredients Are Simple - The rarest thing in there is brown sugar.
2. The Procedure Is Simple - You slap it in a bowl, stir and bake. Nothing to rise, nothing to be ‘creamed’.
3. You Can Experiment - This is the perfect recipe to play with. The batter is basically a delivery mechanism for ‘other crap’, anything from chocolate chips to toasted almonds.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter(4 oz) melted photo credit: VeryBadLady
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 cups ‘other crap’

Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease up the smallest baking dish you have(like a 9′ by 9′).

In a bowl mix the sugar and melted butter. Then stir in the egg, salt, and flour one at a time. I add the vanilla last to minimize evaporation(it is alcohol based)

And yes you need to use real vanilla. Vanilla makes random flavors ‘play nicely together’. Blends them. And since the whole point of Blondies is random flavors, we really want real vanilla extract.

Then I add the ‘other crap’. This could be anything, chocolate chips, peanuts, peanut butter, mini-marshmallows, raisins, etc. This is great to experiment with because there’s no “bad” combination.

One of my favorite combo’s is:

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 1 cup chocolate chips

So these are added last and stirred into the mix, then the whole bowl is dumped into the baking dish. Then throw the dish into the oven for 20-25 minutes. I usually pull mine at 22 to get the perfect ratio of gooey to chunky.

If you pull them a little too soon don’t worry about it. Just dig the pieces out of the dish and throw them in a Ziploc with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Shake it up and let the sugar stick to the surface of the chunks. Pour that in a bowl and no one will notice if they’re a little underdone.

Easiest baking you’ll ever do.