Everyone Woman Needs One

Every woman needs to own a slow cooker. Simple as that.

For most folks, a slow cooker is used to make chili, or stew, or a pot roast. Oftentimes, winter food. I know in mama's house, the crock pot gathers dust from March until November, and she brings it out during winter months for delicious roast and her special "yankee chili" (because apparently, southern chili's never met a tomato.)

Now, in Fargo, we get about 10 months of winter. Just kidding. Kinda.

It's October  now and our daily high temps are about consistent with the high temps of winter in Dallas. Ouch. So, my slow cooker came out to say hi a little early this year. And with that, I've started looking into new recipes to make. Chili is divine by all means, and roast is always hearty. I've yet to discover a stew recipe that really enraptures my heart (or stomach, whichever!). But with Pinterest becoming so popular, I knew I'd find some real awesome recipes for my crock pot that would break the everyday humdrum.

Beer chicken.

It's chicken. Slow cooked. In beer.

Every redblooded male ought to marry the woman that makes this for him. And it's SO. EASY.

The recipe I used can be found here. I altered it a bit because I used Shiner Bock, which comes in a bottle, and I did not measure my spices. I also substituted cayenne for paprika. For side dishes I made garlicky mashed potatoes (From a box. Thanks, Betty Crocker!) and sweet and spicy carrots (basic glazed carrots, and hit it with some black pepper and paprika). When the chicken was done and smelling oh-so-delicious, I used what liquid was left in the slow cooker, poured it into a pot, and added a bit of flour and turned up the heat to thicken it into a gravy. Only about a table spoon and a half of flour was needed, and even then I think I overdid it. I've never made gravy like this, so it was kind of a trial and error ordeal. "Yeahh, that looks about right!" type of situation.

It it looks like my slow cooker is going to get a real work out this year, because this week is not supposed to get about 45F, and Thursday we've a chance of snow. Granted, it probably won't stick, the ground is too warm, but still. Snow. In October. Yikes.

In Dallas, we might see snow once or twice. Between December and February. Never before, never later.

It's a different world here...