What’s in the Crock?
As I walked in the door this evening I paused to inhale deeply – dinner had been simmering gently for 6 hours, filling the house with the aroma of comfort.
I love my crock pot. I love it when walking in the door feels like pulling on my favourite fireside sweater. And I love the idea of ‘dinner’ being just a ladel away.
Today what’s in the crock is comfort food: ham and corn chowder. I found this recipe when looking for ideas to use up the crazy-huge fresh ham we cooked for Easter dinner. For two.
Dearest likes to do this at all the ‘big meal’ holidays, even for just the two of us, and he’s got me hooked. And with recipes like this, who minds leftovers? Even the year we had a newborn at Christmas, and didn’t even open presents until Boxing Day, he cooked a full turkey dinner. Incidentally, that was the first meal Miss Bea ever slept through – and so the first one I’d eaten hot in 6 weeks – now how’s that for a Christmas present?
But I digress. I do that a lot.
With cubed ham and pre-diced onion in the freezer, this recipe is as ‘dump and go’. The best kind 
Easy Ham and Corn Chowder
from About.com Southern Food
Ingredients
- 2 cans (about 10 1/2 ounces each) condensed potato soup
- 1 can (about 10 12 ounces) condensed cream of celery soup
- 2 cups leftover diced ham
- 1 cup chopped frozen onion or finely chopped fresh onion
- 10 to 12 ounces frozen whole kernel corn
- 1 cup chicken broth
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup half-ahd-half, light cream, or milk
Preparation:
- Combine everything except the milk in the slow cooker insert.
- Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
- 20 minutes before serving, add milk or cream.
The original recipe suggests you serve with biscuits or cornbread and a tossed salad. Bread fresh from the breadmaker works just as well, and is less effort. Also, I frequently forget the milk until the last minute – I’ve always found 5 minutes is enough.
Serves 4 to 6.
So what’s in your crock? Share your favourite recipes and crock tips in the comments! And if they’re already in your blog, feel free to post a link!
Other places I ramble
Stack Overflow
4 Comments
>Oh yummy! I love my crockpot too. I have a great recipe for crockpot lasagna. I am planning on posting it soon! And will post the link when I do.
>Thanks Alicia! Do come back and post your link – in these comments or a subsequent crock post, because there will be more!!
>I'm still investigating good crock pot meals, having taken a hiatus after a series of diasters. My husband makes some nice stews and I like to pop in a ham and add some brown sugar and maple sysrup for a maple glaze, but otherwise haven't found any recipes we truly love yet. I'm going to give the chowder a try.The one thing I do love in the crock pot is oatmeal. Steel cut oats cooked overnight make for a yummy breakfast. For a small pot, one cup of steel cut oats and 4 cups of water, cooked on low for 6 to 8 hours. You can google other recipes which include things like milk or butter too, but I found just the water and oats are fine if you plan to flavour it with brown sugar or maple syrup after it's cooked. You can add dried fruit while it's cooking if you like. I also discovered that you can refrigerate the leftovers and warm in the microwave for the next day, so it doesn't matter if a whole crock pot is more than you need. Marianne
>That's a great idea Marianne. I've never actually used the crockpot for breakfast. I should try it next weekend – we find we can go out (and get back in time for nap) OR have a nice breakfast on the weekend days. This might let us do both!