All Grown Up

[ehowton]

For several years now I've made these enormous crock-pot meals - almost always lentils & greens, and more often than not peppers and beans. On rare occasion a meat and/or very little rice or pasta. They're never seasoned the same way twice either - I vary wildly on whether I season it with cumin and turmeric with curry or cumin with chili powder, sometimes I'll make an Italian dish out of it and sometimes make it cheesy. We've had lasagna flavored, pizza flavored, southwestern chili, BBQ. Anyway, I usually make them over the weekend then eat on them for a week. They're really very visually appealing the first day, then less so over subsequent days until it just turns into goop.

Which is why my daughter a couple of years back exclaimed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" when she found her brother eating a large bowl of (I think it was Texan chili-style) one day. He looked sheepish, as they'd vowed to never eat the crock-pot meal, but he explained, "I know, but its really, really good!" She was so disgusted with him.

We had spent last week and last weekend apart, but were both home Monday. When she got off the bus she begged, "Please tell me you made something in the crock-pot..." I had to smile. Its become her favorite snack when she gets off the bus, and her favorite weekend staple - a big bowl of whatever is in the crock-pot that week :)