Over winter break, we rented a sweet little ski cabin. On top of the ski pants and snow boats and snow coats and groceries, I stacked my slow cooker. This was completely against my best-practice packing instincts, but I had a feeling it would make my after-slope life much easier. Truly, I had no idea.
That first snowy evening, I put on a pot to boil water for pasta, the light went on, the water started to steam, I heaped a salad into a bowl, and ten minutes later, the coils were ice cold.
The problem appeared to be a fuse, but in the icy dark, we couldn’t get the the connection to work. Could my slow cooker boil water, I wondered? Why, yes, yes it could. In fact, it boiled water, it heated the red sauce, it saved dinner. Over the next 5 days, we found out exactly what this near miraculous appliance could and couldn’t do. Could it scramble eggs? Perfectly. Could it heat up tomato soup? A cinch. Grilled cheese? The best the kids had ever tasted. Slow-cooked baked-potatoes and meat loaf? Favorite new meal. What it couldn’t do: nothing.
The kids conquered the mountain, in their own, blue-square kind of way. I conquered dinner. And now there are 2 things I will never again go without on a ski trip. My slow-coooker. And all-wheel drive.
- Pierce each potato with a fork all over. Lightly rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and wrap in aluminum foil.
- Make your favorite meatloaf recipe. Using aluminum foil, shape the meat mixture into a long loaf, leaving the top somewhat exposed if you’d like it brown a little bit. Otherwise, you can wrap it completely for a moister loaf.
- Nestle the foil wrapped potatoes and meatloaf in your slow cooker. Set to “low” and cook 7-8 hours or 4 1/2-5 hours on high.
Melissa
January 10, 2013 @ 12:22 pm
Please explain grilled cheese, too!
Lisa
January 11, 2013 @ 9:51 am
My slow-cooker has a setting for brown/sautee…so I can use it like a griddle. It’s a little challenging to get in there and flip, but it browns perfectly.