Crack Pot

Crocked, by definition (according to the Oxford American Dictionary) means: drunk. Fun, if not very practical. If you look above the word crocked in the dictionary you can find the word crock which is defined as a piece of earthenware pottery.

I know many, many people who collect crocks - some of them are in high demand and fetch high prices. They are mainly used these days as decorations, or as storage. I myself have a couple of crocks that I use to store potatoes - just like my mom did in her pantry.

Crock - in my mind also means a crock pot. I was very, very wary of using a crock pot when I first got married. Mainly because whenever my mom made dinner in the crockpot there was some sort of cream of mushroom soup added and the color always reminded me of baby poop. Also, I wasn't sure that I trusted that what I put into the pot would come out the same . . . and not look like baby poop. Plus, how can you be sure that an appliance left all day on the counter will not catch the house on fire? The first few times I used the crock put I put in into the sink - just be sure it wouldn't burn the house down.

Sure, I had lots of friends who rave about their crock pots and their wonderful meals - I thought for sure they were crack pots.

Then, I slowly began to investigate how to cook in a crock pot - and I quickly fell in love with this easy kitchen tool. Who knew that spaghetti sauce, simmered all day in the crock pot would be oh so good. And, did you know that you can make chili in the crock pot and it is warm and yummy at the end of a tiring day - and your kiddos will slurp it up? I confess, I became a bit of a crack pot over my crock pot.

I tried to convince one of my good friends that crock pot cooking was the way to go. I mean, really, she is living in a barn with only a bbq and wants to be able to feed her family - but she wasn't convinced that the crock pot was the way to go.

Last week, another friend and I enticed her into coming over to cook and chat. We gave her a grocery list - and then we all laughed and talked and sent her home with a crock pot filled with yummy chicken. She called me today to tell me how much she loved the chicken. We chatted for a bit. Then, she called back and left me a message saying that she just bought a crockpot at the store. It came with ingredients to make chili. She is thrilled. So I am. I've just converted another crack pot!

Here is our favorite crock pot recipe.

One package of chicken - depending on the size of your family. We like to use drumsticks and thighs in this recipe. They are cheap and the I think having the bone in the chicken adds more flavor when it is slow cooked.

Quarter an onion and place it into the bottom of the crockpot. Then, put your chicken over the top of the onion.

In a bowl mix together 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 small can of chipoltle peppers in adobo sauce, on large can of either diced tomatos or tomato sauce, 2 tablespoons of worchestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons of seasoning salt and about 1 teaspoon of cumin. Mix the above ingredients well, then pour over the chicken and onions in the crock pot. Set heat to high for about 6 hours - then low for about two hours.

You can serve this with rice - or you can shred the chicken and serve it on buns with coleslaw - kinda like a sloppy joe.

Get crocked my friends - you will like it!