So I jumped on the crock pot wagon. All of my years, nearly seven of which that qualify me as a mother I have never owned one – and was borderline resistant to get one. “Why!? Why Abby are you so stupid?!” I know, forgive me. Years of scrolling through delicious crock pot recipes on Pinterest, I still turned to my tried and true dutch oven to make them.
There was something about a crock pot that I could not get past. I only envisioned big hunks of red meat (we hardly eat red meat) and beef stew. While as delicious as those may sound, I found myself questioning the value of this “kitchen essential” so many of you talk about. So, I did what all good bloggers do, spend the money, listen to their readers and give it a whirl.
I turned to my one and only Wayfair and picked up two, one for us and one for my brother and his girlfriend who just got their first place. I figured the more jumping on this wagon the better.
You can find it here, great price too.
Basic 6 quart crock pot, with a lockable lid for travel that I love. And so far, from what I’ve tested in it everything has turned out exactly as intended.
Crock pots make an amazing bridal shower present, or house-warming gift. Fill it with a cook book and a bottle of wine and you are set! Look ..
Does it get any cuter than that?! Future brides in my family, get ready, you will be crock’ed.
When it arrived I was thrilled, and then found myself completely stuck trying to come up with recipes other than soups + stews to make in it. Thinking outside the box a bit, I stumbled across a crock pot artichoke dip on Pinterest and just knew this would be a great start to my crock pot obsession.
This dip was prepped in less than 5 minutes. Cooks on high for 2 – 2 1/2 hours, and kept warm all day long for company to devour. It turned out SOooo good it hurts to say we have no left overs, ugh, I want a scoop now!
here is the original, from gimmesomeoven
Here’s what goes into the pot:
20 oz of fresh baby spinach, chopped : 2 12oz jars of quartered artichoke hearts, chopped : 2 blocks cream cheese, cubed : 2 cups plain greek yogurt : 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese : 1 cup parmesan cheese : 6 cloves garlic, minced : 1 tsp garlic powder : 1 tsp black pepper : 1/2 tsp salt
Simply dump all of the ingredients into your crock pot and give it a good stir. Place on high, for 2 – 21/2 hours, stirring half way through the cooking process. Turn the crock pot on “warm” so your dip does not burn after the 2 1/2 hour mark. Serve with tortilla chips and watch it the crock pot get cleaned out with each scoop!
Oh! Even better, my brother is an amazing cook and this is one recipe I sent his way to try, and he said it turned out amazzzzing. They both work long days, so this crock pot I am sure will get used and abused so a delicious warm dinner will be ready when they open the door.
If you do not follow Half Baked Harvest blog, you have got to crawl out from under your rock and see the light. Tieghan is a culinary goddess, her recipes will leave you drooling and dumb founded and her photography makes me weak in the knees. Her crock pot braised short ribs are what my bro and his lady tackled and the picture he sent me was all I needed to see to know it’s going straight to the top of my make list next week!
What are your ultimate crock pot recipes?? I am excited to start testing some out these next few weeks and I will, of course, share them with you all too!
The dip looks delicious! We’ve totally been relying on it recently because our oven has been out of commission! Also, that short rib recipe had me drooling. Thanks Vince! I’ll be attempting that one soon!