Our work with Item 4 yesterday took longer than we thought it would, but isn’t that always the way? Don rented a pickup truck, drove to the place that carries the gravel, had it dumped in the truck, drove home and then proceeded to shovel it out into a small wheelbarrow that we have (which is now ruined for garden work, of course). Then I dumped the gravel, while Don shoveled some more. My job was to spread it and carve out some sort of path from the driveway to the kitchen. We have some left over, which is being stored in said wheelbarrow under a tarp. If we need more to fill in here and there, we know we have some on hand.
Anyway. It took a long time. I was tuckered out. Don, who had to take the truck to a car wash and power wash it before he returned it, was even more tired. I’m glad we did it, though.
So no updates on the green mini tree.
This morning we spent an hour researching slow cookers – Don has been wanting to get one. Now, this is the thing about our kitchen: it may look spacious, but we have very little cupboard space. Hardly any. So, while Don was gung ho on a larger cooker, I, being the practical one (and often the downer because of that) kept insisting that we had to make sure we had a place to store it. And that meant we had to have the dimensions of the cooker. I balked at storing it on top of the refrigerator. I don’t like seeing too many small appliances out on the counters. In our case, we have to have the microwave and the stand mixer on the counter. But more? Nope. I drew a line in the sand. Since our kitchen and living room are essentially one big room, I’m very careful about it not looking too kitchen-y, something we could get away with if it was a separate room.
Would it fit in our dishwasher that we use for storage? No. And all the other cupboards were at capacity.
Finally, I thought of the china cabinet that we have in the kitchen. It will take some rearranging but we can do it – ONLY if we buy the 4 quart version and not the 6 quart. Besides, we don’t have kids, it’s just the two of us, so we don’t really need a big old 6 quart slow cooker.
Cleaning out the cabinet will involve getting rid of the juicer, another one of Don’s big passions that hasn’t been used for years. In fact, he forgot we still had it. I hope we’re more successful with the slow cooker. Don does most of the cooking and he wants to vary our menus a bit more and I’m all for that.
Riveting, right?
Maybe, maybe, after I’m done rearranging that cabinet, I’ll get to work on my mini Christmas tree.
Wish me luck!
Happy Tuesday.
Good morning Claudia,
So many appliances I’ve had end up being used for a while, then forgotten. I inherited my mother’s crock pot, and never used it, but my pressure cooker gets constant use and I love it. I prefer using gas for heating food anyway.
We have a Champion juicer & it weighs a ton, but we really don’t use it much. The Vitamix we use every day!
We never use a pressure cooker – and wouldn’t have room for one anyway! I’m hoping the crock pot gets a lot of use!
We eat a lot of beans and the pressure cooker makes that quick and easy, even though we soak beans aforehand. It’s my understanding that pressure cooking destroys harmful lectins in beans and that’s another plus.
A tasty lentil soup can be ready in 10 minutes.
Enjoy the slow cooker!
I can’t tolerate a lot of beans – though we do eat them, for sure! We had some garbanzo beans/chickpeas (my favorite) last night!
Whew, hope you’re finished messing with gravel for a long time.
I am an enthusiastic crock pot user. When the kids were home, I had two of them. 3-4 years ago, after he expressed an interest, I handed off my round one to #1 son who makes good use of it almost every week. I kept my oval 6 qt. one only because (and this will be of no interest to you) I could fit a turkey breast or a couple pork tenderloins in it easier. When I worked – and was away from the house at least 9 hours a day – I only used it on the weekends. Now, I have that baby fired up at least 2-3 days a week, especially in the cold weather. Never had the time before to fool with homemade soups with it and that is now my obsession. Anyway, YES to a slow cooker, if you find the space!
We did. Now Don just has to bring it home from Target.
I love a slow cooker and used mine a lot when the kids were younger and then I worked. Now that Mom cooks I don’t use mine much but it’s a keeper for when I need it. The gravel is done (for now) so I hope you can rest a bit. The sun is shining here so that makes me very happy. Taking a load to the thrift store today makes me even happier! hugs!
It’s sunny here today, too – but cold. I’m exhausted because I only had 4 hours of sleep last night.
I also have a small kitchen and am always looking for storage solutions. I find old woven picnic baskets really hold a lot (blender, mixer, etc) and look good on top of cabinets. Several stack nicely in a corner and look good.
The tops of all of our cabinets are already filled with vintage pottery. But I use baskets elsewhere in the house. No free corners, either!
I love our crockpot and use it a lot. In the summer it helps keep the kitchen cool instead of turning the oven on (you can even “bake” potatoes in it!). If we have company and I make a large pot of mashed potatoes, I can dump them in there and turn on low to keep warm. So many uses!! Great for making soups, too. My favorite thing is that I can start a meal in the morning, and all day I don’t have to think about “what will we have for supper? ~ plus the entire house smells so good. Loved the suggestion above from Anne about using things like picnic baskets for storage! Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Usually!
Glad your gravel project is completed. And nice to have some put away on the side if you need it. Hope the rest of your day goes well. Enjoy that sunshine! We haven’t seen the sun in over a week. So depressing!!
Sunny again today, but we’ve earned it after weeks and weeks of rain and gray skies!
I’m not sure if I would survive without my slow cooker! Just one caveat—-hope I’m not too late 🙂—-you may want to think about if you want a non-stick insert which most people seem to like for easier cleaning, or a ceramic insert, which is quite heavy but minus the worry of the nonstick chemicals…we have had both, but I just didn’t want to feed the kids from the nonstick one for that reason, so now we have only ceramic. You just have to soak it a little bit for easier cleaning up. Bonus: I couldn’t shake off my anxiety about the odd ‘extra’ smell of the nonstick one, which was a solidly respected name brand, btw, and now with the ceramic insert I only happily smell whatever it is that I’m cooking, win-win! Also, last thing, if you want to use it when you are gone all day on Broadway (as makes sense) just be sure to have someone who can come turn it off for you if you are delayed with bad weather, commuting nightmare, etc. Last Monday with that unbelievable pouring rain for hours on end we were very thankful to have soup to enjoy with wonderful NYC bread once we were finally (!) in dry clothing. Ok I am done now🙂I hope you enjoy whatever it is you end up with, since that is after all the whole point of the thing!
I spray my slow cooker with Pam first. The cleaning is a lot easier. Mine is a ceramic insert.
Ceramic here as well. I just soaked it last night and it cleaned up easily.
We ended up with a ceramic insert because the particular model we chose came with one. Thanks so much!
I love my Instant Pot which is also a slow cooker. You might consider it and Amazon usually has them on sale this time of year. I have a six qt I think. Love it Love it
Thanks, Joan!
You may LOVE having a slow cooker. As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s umpteen recipes out there now – many of them for healthy vegetarian dishes too. You can even do breads and desserts in a slow cooker these days. But a word of warning from someone who’s been there. DON’T get one if you don’t think you’ll be inclined to start dinner prep at 8 am. I loved the IDEA of slow cooking, of having supper simmering away all day long, filling the house with the heavenly scent of home-cooking. I LOVED the idea of coming in after work with a hot meal ready and waiting. But in reality I was only rarely – very rarely – motivated enough to cope with dinner prep while also making coffee and breakfast. Even after retiring, it just wasn’t something I wanted to do at that hour. So my slow cooker has basically met the same fate as your juicer. The idea was very appealing – the reality of it not so much. But if assembling dinner at breakfast time would totally be your thing, or if all the recipes you want to try need less time – maybe 6 to 8 hours tops – go for it! I’m guessing that most vegetarian dishes don’t need the typical 8-10 hours, so it could work really well for y’all Get one that can be programmed. You’ll appreciate having that when you have to be in NYC for the day – dinner can start itself while you’re in the Big Apple! Have fun shopping! Peace.
#Resist
#ProtectMueller
Don thinks about food pretty much all of the time, so prepping in the morning doesn’t bother him at all! Thanks, Janet.
I have used 6 qt crock pot/slow cookers for 40 years. I love them and still have and use one frequently. However, they really should be quite full to use them, so after barely covering the bottom with food many times, I bought a little 2 qt one to add to my 6 qt. It is just adorable and I used it for the first time last night. It is possible that when the 6 qt goes I will consider an Instant Pot, but I am not pressed for time so we’ll see. Good luck and enjoy!
We have the 4 quart and we used it yesterday. It worked well!
I know what you mean about having no place to store appliances. I don’t blame you for not wanting to leave a Crockpot on the counter or the top of the fridge – I wouldn’t either. One good thing about having a basement is that’s where I store such things you are talking about – the Crockpot, bread machine (yes, I do still use it sometimes), food processor and ice cream maker. I guess if I didn’t have this space, the bread machine and the ice cream maker would go bye-bye. I do use the food processor and Crockpot a lot.
We have an old buffet in our living room with serving pieces of dishware and some bakeware (again, lack of storage space in the kitchen), so that helps, too.
Happy cooking with your Crockpot – they are wonderful!
No basement. Well, a basement, but not one you want to store anything in! Darn it.
I feel for you and tiny spaces; I lived in tiny cottages for many years while single and every inch of space was important, lol. I had a lot of small ‘cooking for one’ size appliances, like a mini crockpot, a mini griddle, a mini electic fry pan (held a chicken breast or 1 large pork chop). I have used a crockpot since 1970s and have always loved cooking with them. To me, a working career woman all my life, my crock pot has been a god-send! I put my meal in before I leave and get home to a hot meal 3-5 times a week ;) Now I have still have a mini one (I use at holidays for dips), and a tall 2 quart and a oval 6qt (for big roasts / chickens, etc). The 2 quart I use a lot for sauces and stews and soups. And they are crammed into one cupboard and I mean crammed.
We ended up buying the 4 quart and it seems to be the perfect size for us!
My oval 4 qt. crockpot has its home in a corner of the kitchen on the floor. I just rinse it out when I use it. I gave up the bigger one because it was too heavy even empty. You could store something IN yours to free up space – like spices, etc. Are you the one who mentioned using it as a humidifier recently ? Sounds like a good idea whatever the source.
Connie
hope you and don take it easy after all that hard work and that the gravel will last you a good long time!
i have a small crockpot (a gift) and rarely use it … need to find some good veggie recipes. hope you find just the right spot for a crockpot and love it.
kathy in iowa
We’re finding lots of good veggie recipes online, Kathy!
I guess I’m not surprised at how many crock pot users there are out there. I’m sure you and Don will love having one. I don’t use mine half as much as I should…this might be the winter that changes things. Storage is always a problem for me…as my kitchen could easily get overrun with appliances…hubby loves gadgets, even though I do the majority of the cooking.
Happy cooking you two! ;)
I managed to clear a space in that white cabinet in the kitchen. The upside of it all was that it forced me to get rid of things that should have been cleared out of it a long time ago.
I used a crockpot when i was working outside the home, and when the entire family still ate meat. Now that I’m retired, I prefer using my enamel cast iron casseroles to cook soups and pasta sauces on a low burner all day, since I can be home to babysit the stove. I always noticed an off smell with my crockpot, even though it has a ceramic insert. The food tasted fine, but the odor was off putting to me. Apparently, the rest of the family’s couldn’t smell it. I still used the crockpot once in a while but with fewer household members, I don’t anymore. It’s stored in the garage and may be on the donation list soon. I used the cookbook, “Not Your Mother’s Crockpot”, but there are so many recipes online now, especially with the current popularity of the Instant Pot.
There are lots of veggie recipes online. We tried one yesterday and it was great.
My brother cooked Boeuf Bourgignon using Julia Child’s recipe for me but using all root vegetables. It was incredibly delicious. Though he cooked it in a casserole following Julia’s recipe but omitting the meat, and adding more veg, there are crock pot recipes on-line. Totally worth making!
We are definitely finding all sorts of great recipes online! And I love, love root vegetables, Wendy.
I have never made a meal in my slow cooker that I didn’t love…veggies and soup taste wonderful when slow cooked!
Yes, they do! Thanks, Nancy.
Claudia, you won’t believe the things you’re going to be able to make in that slow cooker/crockpot but I will suggest getting the six quart size because once you start using it, you’ll want the room for more food in it!
We are two in my household and use it so much. Good Luck!
We don’t have room for the 6 quart size. We used a 4 quart yesterday and still had room to spare. We don’t eat meat, either – so we’re not cooking big chunks of meat. Thanks, Nancy.