Like most people, I got a crockpot as a wedding gift. And, like most people, my crockpot sat unused in a dark, dusty corner of my kitchen for the first 7 years of my marriage.
I heard people rave about their crockpots and how they loved coming home and having dinner ready to eat, and I nodded and said “I’ve got to figure that out.”
Finally, I found myself with a 2 year old and a baby on the way, and knew that having dinner ready to eat when I got home had moved up in priority from should to must.
I’ll share some specific recipes in the future, but for now, I want to share the joy of “clean out the refrigerator soup.”
I usually have a can of tomatoes, a bag of onions, carrots, sweet potatoes and some other leftover vegetables (celery is good) on hand. You can mix it up. I added a bag of frozen corn that I had in my freezer.
You can add chicken, stew meat (that’s what it’s called at the store), ground beef or turkey (though I’d recommend you brown it first), or beans, which is what I did this week. Kidney beans, pinto beans and black beans work better in my opinion.
For spices, a little salt goes a long way, oregano is nice, I added cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper (along with a splash of apple cider vinegar) to give it a chili feel.
Then, I covered it with water turned it on low and came back 7 hours later to a meal my whole family enjoyed and leftovers for tomorrow!
I hope this gives you some courage to try something new in your crockpot, too! No recipe required!
On the Banks 