Crock Pot Creativity

I haven’t done a cooking post recently, and I did some cooking last night (Wednesday), so I thought this might be a change of pace.

Wednesday’s dinner was grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches. I thought about doing something to make it more memorable, like adding pesto or using real butter, but I was impatient to eat so I used the traditional, easy method. I did use farm stand tomato, so it was local (and yummy!), but that wasn’t what I meant to write about anyways. I got creative for Thursday’s dinner.

You see, Thursday is two days away from the DARE 5K (you knew I’d get back to talking about that sooner or later, didn’t you?). A guy at the Sneaker Store in New Hartford, NY, told me to eat a steak dinner two days before the Boilermaker and pasta the night before. The Sneaker Store, just to give a quick plug to a local business, is where I purchase my running shoes, because they are so helpful and knowledgeable. In this case, I had stopped in for running socks and advice about the intensity of my workouts the week before the big race.

I don’t know how to cook a steak, but I can throw a London Broil into the crock pot. I figured beef is beef. This would work.

I also happened to have an eggplant, which I know goes good with beef. I chopped the eggplant into bite sized pieces and put them in the bottom of the crock pot, which Steven had helpfully sprayed with no-stick stuff for me. I had some pesto I had made on Sunday, so I drizzled that over the eggplant and stirred.

My pesto is not made according to a real recipe. This time I used a combination of olive and canola oil to which I added fresh basil from my container garden, crushed garlic (which I let breathe for 15 minutes) and fresh grated Parmesan. I whirred everything around in the blender till it looked good. We had it with angel hair and chicken. I always try to make enough pesto for leftovers.

I put the London Broil on top of the eggplant, brushed it with pesto and sprinkled on a little garlic powder for good measure. Then I made a note on our grocery list to buy more garlic powder. Purists are now throwing up their hands in horror that I do not use fresh garlic exclusively. To these people I say, as kindly as possible, get over yourselves.

Then I looked in the cabinet for diced tomatoes or tomato sauce and found I have none. What’s that all about? Well, I don’t get to Aldi’s, that excellent source for canned food, as often as I used to. Also, for a while there I was going a little crazy with the diced tomatoes. They were piling up and I kept neglecting to rotate my stock with the result that some cans expired. By a couple of years. So now I err on the other side and don’t have things when I need them.

Steven found me some tubes of pizza sauce in the freezer. I’ve mentioned this sauce before: it comes with the pizza crust we sometimes buy (and for you purists who are now raising your hands in horror because I don’t make pizza crust from scratch and/or because I’m using the sauce that comes with it, oh, just put your hands down. Who asked you?). I put the tubes in some hot water to thaw and went upstairs to write yesterday’s blog post.

When I returned I squeezed the tomato sauce over the beef and eggplant and put the whole thing in the refrigerator. I have a fancy crock pot (purchased some years ago with money my mom and dad sent me for my birthday. Thanks, Mom and Dad!). The bowl comes out of the heating unit, for ease of cleaning and to put your food in the fridge overnight. A very handy feature.

Steven’s assignment today is to put the crock in the pot (or is it the pot in the crock?) and turn it on low, eight to ten hours before we plan to eat. If that turns out to be before I type this into my computer, I’ll let you know how it turns out.

ADDED NOTE: Haven’t tried the stuff yet, but it smells good and I’m hungry! I hope you’re eating well tonight, too.