That Crock Pot

Well, nothing like a migraine to get in the way of an entire day. I went grocery shopping yesterday and by the time I got home in the morning I was at the beginning stages of a headache, and it never went away. All intentions for the day pretty much went out the window, and I was so glad that I had an extra pan of enchiladas in the downstairs fridge to heat up for dinner. Yes, friends. We had leftovers last night, and not even re-invented leftovers. The enchiladas were a little more mushy after their overnight stay, but they still were pretty good, those corn crepes really have good flavor.

To accompany the enchiladas the night before, I threw a side dish in the crock pot from a cookbook that doesn't get a whole lot of use in my kitchen. I chose to make Chili-Cheese Party Potatoes from Pillsbury Doughboy Slow-Cooker Recipes. The potatoes were pretty good for what they were. If you've had a has brown casserole at all, this is similar. I left off the crushed Doritos called for at the end because, well, crushed Doritos? I was already committing a crime using cream of mushroom soup, so the crunchy topping was omitted. I think I would make these again because of their simplicity, and the fact that they didn't taste like crock-pot food. But they do need some tweaking. I would add a second can of green chiles and I think I would add a 1/2 teaspoon or so of chile powder as well for a different layer of flavor. If you don't have a crock pot, I have no doubt that this could all be placed in a baking dish and baked in a 350 oven for about an hour or so.

I want to address the cookbook I used now. As far as crock-pot recipes go, this one hasn't disappointed me yet. One of the things I like about this book is that there is a picture of just about every recipe. With 140 recipes, there is a pretty good variety. My only problem with this book is that so many of the recipes call for ingredients I don't regularly have on hand. Things like cream soups, gravy packets, and sauce packets are regularly used, and I just don't have those on hand. But overall, if you're looking for a good crock-pot cookbook with tested recipes, this is the one you want. Those folks at Pillsbury do know their flavors and the art of easy cooking.

I'm not sure what's on tap for today. Our furnace isn't working- yet again, so I may need to bake something to warm up the house a little, so stay tuned... you never know.