When you can get them fresh, you are good to go once they are out of the pod. If you get them dried, then you need to soak them in water overnight for about 8 hours and then rinse them a few times before you throw them in the pot.

Cowpeas are common in a lot of African recipes and provide excellent protein in many soups and rice dishes. These “beans” are also used in a lot of southern recipes in the USA. I even found a great recipe online for chow chow salsa that included canned black-eyed peas, but would be awesome with fresh cowpeas instead.

I thought that split pea soup sounded great to make this week– fresh cowpeas are readily available at my local farmers market right now and if I make it now and freeze it, it will make a great meal later this fall when the weather cools off a bit. I decided not to go the traditional route and cook the soup with a ham hock, but to keep it vegetarian instead. If you’d like to, you can add diced cooked ham or turkey sausage after you puree the soup and then heat it for an additional hour to warm the meat. Either way, the soup is filling and satisfying and an easy meal when served with a crusty bread.

Kudos to you for trying something new. Cowpeas are a nice variation, especially if your family already likes peas and beans. Plus, if you can get them fresh, it’s fun to pull the string and unleash the pea from the cow. Enjoy!

2 c. fresh cowpeas

1 medium onion, chopped

2-3 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and chopped

3 c. water

1 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1 T. fresh parsley, chopped

Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 4-6 hours. Using a hand blender, puree soup in the crock pot. If desired, add 1/2 lb. diced cooked ham or turkey sausage to the pot and heat for one additional hour on low.

But since I don’t feel like firing up the grill and cinging my eyebrows, I’m going to cook my beef in the crock pot. Chimichurri is often served with steak, so I am using a flank steak and I sliced it into half inch sections before cooking it. I think this will help really get all the flavors into the steak. I marinated the meat overnight in the refrigerator, but that isn’t necessary. I would recommend marinating it for at least four hours, just to give it enough time to fester.

I don’t have enough fresh produce on hand to make this with the real ingredients, but if you do— use 1 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley and some fresh oregano, too. I assure you this will taste good with the dried stuff, but even more amazing with fresh herbs.

I’m serving my chimichurri steak with some steamed veggies (at least I know my kids will eat those things!), but you can also try roasting some potatoes with the meat or serving it on a nice bed of salad. Enjoy!

Meat: 2 lbs. beef (flank steak, skirt steak, London Broil, flat iron steak…. if you don’t love beef, use chicken)

Chimichurri sauce:

1/2 c. white wine

1/3. c. vegetable oil

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

2 lemons

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

4 T. parsley flakes

2 T. oregano flakes

1 T. red pepper flakes

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. black pepper

Combine all seasonings, liquids and the juice of two lemons in a bowl and mix well. Put meat in a sealable bag and pour marinade on top of meat. Mush around and then let it sit for 4-24 hours in the refrigerator. When ready to start cooking, dump meat and marinade into crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

3 lbs golden delicious apples (10-12 apples=cored, peeled and sliced)

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. brown sugar

3 T. instant tapioca

1/4 t. black pepper

1 t. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 c. raisins (optional)

Put apples in the crock pot first. Mix together all dry ingredients and sprinkle on top of apples, then add water and vanilla and mix to turn everything a few times. Cook on low for 6 hours. If you prefer smooth instead of chunky applesauce, then use an immersion hand blender to puree apples to desired consistency. Add raisins during last hour, after pureeing. Serve warm or cold.

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 c. baby carrots

3 or 4 parsnips, peeled and diced

2-3 cups dried fruit (I like apricots and prunes)

2 c. orange juice

4 T. honey

1/4 brown sugar, not packed

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

Place all fruits and veggies into crock pot and stir together. Sprinkle the brown sugar and all seasonings into the pot and then pour the orange juice over mixture in crock pot and stir just a little so that juice runs through everything. Drizzle the honey on top of everything as the last step before covering with the lid. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

So last night, I crock potted four boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 c. baby carrots, half an onion, 1 T. parsley and a little salt and pepper. I set it on high for 4 hours. When it was done, all the broth went into plastic containers for the freezer and the chicken and carrots are in the refrigerator for lunches today. Voila– when I want to make my soup, I simply put the brick of frozen chicken broth into a pot and let it simmer back to soup.  Then I can add noodles or rice or more vegetables and have my meal done in a matter of minutes.

Homemade chicken broth is a healthier alternative to using boxed broths or bouillion. Store-bought bases are much higher in sodium and usually have that weird yellow tinge. This easy recipe means that my soup will taste flavorful and look authentic.

You can do this recipe with beef as well, but when the broth cools, I would suggest skimming the fat off of the top. BL/SL chicken breasts are very lean and don’t leave much to skim off, but since most cuts of beef have a higher fat content, you would want to remove some the excess.  You can also make vegetable broth (try using carrots, celery, leeks, onions and parsley) or fish broth (from any part of the fish) in your crock pot. 

After you make your broth, your chicken, beef, fish or veggies are cooked very soft, but most of the flavor has been boiled out. But, the meat is a great texture to add sauces too, try forking the meat apart and adding BBQ sauce for pulled sandwiches or chopping up chicken for curried chicken salad (see roasted chicken post for recipe). The vegetables can be glazed or broiled and served as a side dish with any future meal.

Hopefully, this post has you thinking ahead to future meals and you’ll let your crock pot do your base preparations. Enjoy!

When you pick your beer, think about the flavors and aftertaste that you get when you drink it. A heavy and bitter dark beer may taste smooth when cold, but it may become a little too intense when it cooks and evaporates. A light easy beer that reminds you of cheap nights in college isn’t going to add much to your meat. I suggest trying an amber, a red or a seasonal beer. It doesn’t make much of a difference if you use a can or a bottle, just as long as it isn’t flat when you pour it in. There is something very unique about the effervescing smell of carbination bubbles soaking into freshly sliced onions and fresh sausages that just makes me think of summer BBQs, outdoor concerts and sitting in the stands at baseball games. Are you with me? Then “go team go” and enjoy your drunk and cheesy sausages!

6  italian sausages (hot, mild or sweet mild)

6 oz beer

1/2 onion, sliced

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese (at least)

Lay sausages flat in the crockpot and lay thinly sliced onions on top. Pour half a beer onto the meat and if it’s after noon o’clock, drink the other half! Cook on high for 4 hours. Put one sausage and some onions on a bun and then sprinkle with lots of shredded cheese. Feel free to decorate your drunk and cheesy sausage with any variety of condiments.

(if you want more specific details– I made this yesterday with hot italian chicken sausages, Amstel Light beer and shredded mild cheddar up on top with a squirt of yellow mustard)   :)

But what now? It’s been years since I’ve been married, I’ve got months until my next birthday and let’s face it, December is a looong way away. I need to buy one for myself.  So last night, I sat down with my computer and went shopping. I read reviews, I priced things out, I compared chain stores vs. internet sales. I even checked out craigslist and a variety of other web sites to see if I could buy one that was already loved and enjoyed.

Before I tell you which one I bought (no endorsements here or paid advertising, I’ll just tell you since you’re curious), I’d like to walk you through my process. You might find yourself in the same situation the more you visit me and want to cook in your crock pot even more!

DISCLAIMER: Crock Pot is actually a brand name. I technically should be using the term “slow cooker” and this site should be called “dinnerisaslowcook” but that wouldn’t be as funny. I use the term crock pot in the same way I ask for a Kleenex after I sneeze– you know exactly what I’m talking about without me needing to ask for a facial tissue.

My primary concern for my new crockpot was shape. I have a Proctor Silex round one that I love, but I really wanted an oval shaped pot. In order to do chicken (see my roasted chicken and curried chicken salad post), corned beef (check back next week), or other meats, I really needed the oval shape. Plus, it works well to use a trivet in an oval pot, giving me the opportunity to also make custards, breads or desserts.

I also wanted a larger pot. The one I use now is 5-quart and that works really well for soups especially. But I wanted to upgrade to the 6-quart capacity since it always seems my pot is filled to the lid with everything I make. I was thrilled to find out that in the last 10 years there are also so many advancements that have happened to the crock pot! You can now get different colors or stainless steel, delayed starts and timers. 

Warranties are also important to me. People— do not throw away that quick survey that comes with your crock pot, fill it out and send it in. This is such an easy thing to do and I bet the number of people that don’t do it is astonishing. You don’t even need to supply your own stamp, now come on.

I decided on the 6-quart, oval shaped, stainless steel Crock Pot brand slow cooker.  It met all my criteria and was an affordable price.  I really like that I can set it for a certain amount of time and when it’s done, it automatically switches to keep warm. The pot itself is dishwasher, freezer and oven safe.  It also has a longer cord than most slow cookers; it may sound like a silly feature, but check out your kitchen and you too will realize how few outlets you have and even less counter space near the outlets.

I guess slow cookers are not big draw items–  crock pots were priced the same everywhere that I looked. You can order it from Amazon and get free super saver shipping. Free shipping is much easier than going shopping anywhere. I’m not lazy, I’m efficient. If you can wait a few days to get it, why gas up the car and go somewhere?! Order it from the comforts of your own couch. 

I also really liked the Hamilton Beach Set ‘n’ Forget Slow Cooker because it had a temperature probe attached so that the pot can tell when meat hits a certain temperature and is done. Such a smart tool! I actually already had bought my husband a temperature probe to use on the grill– it has a digital list of cooking temperatures for a variety of meats. So I figured I didn’t need this addition, but it’s a great way to make sure your crock pot meats are cooked perfectly.

On Amazon, a bunch of the Crock Pot brand pots are actually being sold right now include the “little dipper”- a 16 ounce mini crock pot, for free. This is a great mini-vesrion of the crock pot that can be used to keep dip warms, make fondue or make an individual bowl of oatmeal. I already owned one of these, so it wasn’t a huge selling feature for me. Yes, I have a lot of kitchen gadgets and yes, I’m running out of room but no, I am not ready to stop buying fun tools for cooking.

So there you have it. If you are looking to buy a crock pot, I hope this advice has been helpful. If you’ve read this far and didn’t need a crock pot, well then I’ve been happy to entertain you with my adventure.  Maybe you’ve realized that you too need a second crock pot and whether it’s a 6-quart one or a little dipper, I hope it helps bring you together with friends a family. Enjoy!

The most challenging part of this recipe is making sure that your meat will fit in the crock pot. If you have a round and more vertical design of a crock pot, you might have to use a cornish hen instead of a chicken if you want it to fit! This recipe really works best in a 5-6 qt. crockpot that is oval shaped. I just thought you should know this before you start trying to shove everything in and then being disappointed when it doesn’t fit.  (check out my next post about buying a new crock pot!)

If you have leftover chicken after tonight, I’d recommend making curried chicken salad tomorrow. Add a stalk of fresh, chopped celery (not a cooked one from the pot), add a small can of diced water chestnuts, 1/2 c. quartered red grapes and then enough mayo to make it a good consistency. Then, add curry powder, a little salt and pepper— I can’t tell you how much because I don’t know how much chicken you have left, but remember that curry powder becomes more potent after it gets a chance to fester. Make this salad up and then put it in the fridge for a couple hours– when it turns a darker copper color (from the curry), it’s ready to eat!

Well there you go, I guess it’s a two recipe day. You have one for today and one for tomorrow! 

Now for to the roasted chicken recipe:

1 3-4 lb. fresh chicken, thawed, rinsed and patted dry

2 T. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

8 oz. baby carrots

3 stalks celery, cut into 2 inch chunks

1/2 med. onion, cut into chunks

dash of paprika

salt and pepper

If you have a trivet that fits in your crock pot, I’d recommend using it. It keeps your chicken just elevated from sitting in it’s own juices and makes it MUCH easier to pull the chicken out when it is done (which makes for a nicer presentation too).  Place chicken in pot– to know it’s on the correct side, you should see the smooth skin covering the chicken breasts.  Brush the skin with the olive oil and sprinkle with the chopped garlic. Position the carrots, celery and onions around the bird. Sprinkle all contents with paprika, salt and pepper. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, depending on bird size.

This would be a great holiday dish, easy to serve to overnight guests and would even be great for a morning meeting at work.  Seriously, they make portable crock pots for a reason! Enjoy this sweet treat for breakfast tomorrow. If you spend the rest of the day humming “Purple Rain” or singing “Flying Purple People Eater” to your kids, you can thank me later.

2 c. quick oats

2. c. water

1 c. milk

1 T. vanilla

1 can cherry pie filling

1 c. frozen blueberries

Put everything in the crockpot, stir gently and cook on “keep warm” for 8 hours over night. When you mix this in the morning, stir gently so you don’t make the blueberries fall apart— they will be juicy and ready to explode.