The Great Slow Down

I ordered a great new cookbook; The Gourmet Slow Cooker which has awesome slow-cooker renditions of everything from Artichoke Risotto to Beef Burgandy separated out by country. I made the risotto last night and it was fantastic. It's the same as any other risotto in that you start it out on the stovetop, but when you get to the point that you'd lovingly ladle in 1/2 cup of stock at a time and stir, stir, stir, stir...and stir some more (generall right after you've added 1 cup of wine) you transfer the rice mixture to the crockpot and dump all the stock in at once. Cover and cook on high for two hours and Voila! Generally, I like the meditative process of it all, but now that school is in full swing, I don't want to spend 5 nights a week with H being tired or over-excited trying to corral him and make dinner at the same time.

When I lifted the lid with about fifteen minutes left, I had my doubts...there was a lot of liquid left to be absorbed. But after about twenty minutes more, I lifted and stirred and it was the same perfect creamy consistency of every risotto I've slaved over. Except instead of stirring for about 30 minutes constantly, I was watching H race his bike down the street, getting to hear all about his first day of Kindergarten and how he's 'nervous to not make new friends.'

Another bonus was that I was able to hit the road (literally) with my new running buddy, J and the kids ate, and when I got home, dinner was still warm for me. Genius!

I'm going to try to make at least three slow-cooker meals during the school week throughout this year. There are two more volumes to this cookbook, including a vegetarian slow cooker tome. And now, it's time to hit the road with my new BOB jogger and baby Charlie while the big boy is at school.

And, if you were born before 1986, you'll appreciate that today is 90210