I feel like I’ve written about this before but I could not find anything on it so here goes.  This is just an unvarnished pic of my beloved crock pot.  I cannot bring myself to refer to it as a “slow cooker”; in the ’70’s when I was growing up it was called a crock pot.  Truly it is my favorite way to cook.  I get the all ingredients prepped in the morning, leave for work, and by the time we all get home the house smells wonderful and we have something healthy and delicious ready for dinner.  I find myself looking up new crock pot recipes all the time.  Sometimes I break down and google “slow cooker”.  I do not cook deserts in it; always dinner.  I enjoy thinking of different things to make and the leftovers taste even better the next day.  It is well worn/loved/used and now my little one is helping me cook by adding beans, putting in diced onions, pouring salsa, etc.  I would say next to the coffee maker and the microwave, the crock pot is my most utilized appliance in the kitchen.  The only conflict we have is my little one and I love it spicy and when I recently cooked with habaneros she and I adored it.  Daddy liked it but had a harder time with the heat level, and drank lots of water.  The next dish I made was with portabella mushrooms using only salt and pepper for spice and it was very mild.  The hubs loved it but my little one felt it was slightly bland.  I’m thinking of kicking it up for my little spice girl and me on our next dinner after it has been cooked so hopefully everyone will really enjoy it.  I’d say my husband is at a green to yellow for “heat” level and my little one and I are definitely at red.  I keep hoping at some point we can all settle on orange.  American newspaper columnist Harriet Van Horne once said, “Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”  I felt this way cooking for my parents when they were living.  I loved having them over!  When I was single I really did not cook for myself, since I did not relish eating the same thing 20 times.  (I tend to cook in somewhat large batches).  Now that I am blessed with my own little family I once again have that joy and pride in cooking for them.  As for my beloved crock pot, which has made pot roast my daddy raved over, soup Mama craved, chicken my husband has devoured, and chili my little one and I love, all I can say is “what a crock!”