You may find the following contents to be disturbing.
Get a firm grip and prepare yourself ...
Are you sitting down??
I'm Cooking...
No Shit.
Like, all the time. Well, least ways, most of the time. GTFO! Right?!
I Know! But it's true. And No, the Blog hasn't been hijacked. Nice try. Honestly, I haven't cooked this much since I lived at home. With my parents. Like a zillion years ago. Hey, I never claimed I couldn't cook... just that I wouldn't cook.
I've always taken great pride in the fact that I managed to land a dreamboat who loves to cook and who can/and will do the laundry. I'm very fond of the bragging rights these traits have afforded me over the years. I cannot begin to describe the pure awesomeness of having your very own iron chef.
Not only does he love to cook, he's completely Aces at it. We're talking lip-smacking-divine. And believe me, after a beautiful 17 year winning streak... I never dreamed I'd get roped into cooking again... but sometimes you've got to, in a word: SuckItUp.
Okay... so you can hold the phone... and forget about that call to Hell. Their weather remains a balmy 276 degrees... with no signs of snow, ice or shit storms on their horizon. It simply turns out that since little H quit taking naps he's been going to bed much, much earlier. With naps he went to bed at 8:30/9 and without naps he's in bed by 7/7:30. The earlier beddybye was working out swimmingly... save one hitch. Daddy/Son time had dwindled down to just about Zilcho and both Boys were extremely disappointed. The short of it is, if I manage the dinner we can eat as a family as soon as Daddy arrives home. Leaving us several hours of playtime to enjoy before the seven O'clock witching hour. How does one say 'No' to that?? Well, I've become quite the cream puff and couldn't. So as it stands, I've got dinner on the table about four to five nights a week now... a far cry from my four to five nights a year. And am fairly certain that The P is still pinching himself.
Enter: my new BFF... the Slow Cooker. Cousin to the Slow Hooker, but offering better conversation, more reasonable hourly rates coupled with the additional bonus of being far less awkward at kiddie parties. The only real issue with the SC is a lot of the meals concocted within the crock... well, they tend to taste a lot like an old wet sock. Which goes a long way to explain why over the years our first two SC's ended up at Goodwill and why our current model was sporting a 2 inch layer of dust while curiously housing an abundance of dust bunnies and spider skeletons. Weird.
Thus far I'm finding that the biggest factor for Crock Success is seasoning and longer cooking times. I've had much better results over seasoning (compared to stove top cooking) and using the high setting for 3-4 hours then switching to low for another 2-4. Another secret for stellar Crock results: stay away from recipes calling for "Cream of Mushroom Soup". Not that there's anything Wrong with it... but I've found it highly suspect in creating dishes that all taste freakishly the same. My advice is to omit it, replace it or skip it.
Luckily, I've done pretty well at avoiding actual stove top time. Slaving over the stove is the part about cooking I detest most. However... I don't mind doing something simple that doesn't take hours. Like these meatballs. Sublime! And so effortless, it's practically shameful.
Sweet & Savory Meatballs 
1/2 cup Ketchup
1 cup Jelly (any kind will do)
1/2 teaspoon Allspice
3 pounds of Meatballs (if using premade make sure they're Plain - NOT Italian)
Combine first 4 ingredients in a saucepan, stir well until jelly is melted. Add meatballs and simmer uncovered on low/med low for 15 to 30 minutes 'til meatballs are heated and sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice.
I think these were originally known as Swedish meatballs. And though they're totally new to me, they may be old hat to you. If so, share your favorite version... cuz I've seen about a hundred different variations of this recipe. Some use Chili Sauce in place of the BBQ and ketchup. Some only use ketchup, others only bbq. Other additions include: 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or 4 tablespoons mustard or 1 teaspoon garlic powder. I don't think it matters greatly, anything goes... so experiment and have some fun. Everyone loved these at our house. H-Man talked about the "Meataballz" for days on end :)
Only time will tell how long this gravy train will maintain its current velocity.
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