A busy cook cooks

By Leanne Ely, CNC

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It doesn't matter what walk of life you hail from, it seems everyone is busy. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home wannabe, very few people enjoy a leisurely paced life anymore. Being busy is as much a part of our lives these days as the Internet and cell phones. Rather than fight it by retreating to a log cabin sequestered away from the reality of life, why not tackle it head on and learn some nifty new tricks to make life a little easier? Like dinner perhaps…

CrockPot cooking makes life more simple!
One of my favorite tools for making my busy life easier is the CrockPot. What a work of art! Okay, so let's just say the color schemes from the 70s were less than attractive (if your CrockPot is as old as mine, that is) but who cares?

I call appliances that lighten my workload, indentured servants. Just throw a few good ingredients in Old Faithful in the morning and bingo, dinner is ready to roll when you come home. It's like having your own private chef, slaving away over a hot stove and whipping up a favorite meal for the family. If you're really swift, you have learned how to program your bread maker to do the very same thing so that a hot loaf of bread is ready for you when you walk in the door, too. Nothing like a hearty bowl of soup and bread for dinner.

With the cool weather around the corner, my CrockPot in all its retro glory, gets yanked out of the back of cupboard and sits in a place of honor- on the counter next to the coffee maker. Now is the time for good CrockPots to get cooking and mine is one busy cook!

Here is a terrific CrockPot recipe from my book, Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well. It's Crock Roast. Not pot roast, Crock Roast. The flavors are unbeatable and the red wine really makes it taste extra special.

Crock Roast
Ingredients:
3 pounds rump roast, trimmed
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons thyme
1 onion - quartered
4 carrots - sliced 1″ thick
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef broth

Directions:
In a large skillet, brown the beef on high on all sides. Salt and pepper to taste. Place beef in the CrockPot and top with the thyme and onion. Put carrots around the side. In the skillet that browned the beef, add broth and red wine and cook till boiling, deglazing the pan (scraping up the browned bits) as you go. Pour this on top of the beef. Place lid on the CrockPot and cook on high for about 4 to 5 hours. Serves 8.

Nutritional analysis per serving:
189 Calories (kcal); 6 g Total Fat; (29% calories from fat); 26 g Protein; 4 g Carbohydrate; 66 mg Cholesterol; 296 mg Sodium.

About the author: Leanne Ely is the author of Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well. She is the editor of Menu-Mailer, a subscription newsletter that e-mails you menus, recipes and a shopping list for the week. If you need help getting dinner on the table, go to www.menumailer.net. Leanne is also the author of several other cookbooks, including Saving Dinner: The Menus, Recipes and Shopping Lists to Bring the Family Back to the Table (Ballantine) due out in Fall 2003!