Slow Cooking, How I Missed Thee

A couple weekends ago, we were eating dinner with friends and one mentioned missing crock pot meals. There have been plenty of times I have also missed these types of meals, but this time it really stuck with me. We had used our crock pot pretty often in Chicago, and I felt like we were missing out on certain meals (especially since the convection oven and I regularly have disagreements on what can be considered "cooking"). We knew that a few are available on bol.com (think of it like the Dutch version of Amazon.com), but they seemed ridiculously expensive and therefore, just not worth it.

But I kept dreaming about the meals that could be, and I decided to take my chances with Amazon.de (the German Amazon). Usually, it's difficult to buy from Amazon.de - it seems to be a combination of the item needing to ship directly from Amazon and being "expensive" enough for it to go internationally - but this all worked out so much smoother than I could have hoped.

I ordered this crock pot on Monday evening, and it arrived Wednesday afternoon - faster than expected. And while I wasn't able to use it right away, it's been used pretty heavily since Saturday. Already we've enjoyed crock pot French Toast, a chicken taco mix, and a pasta dish. It's nice to feel like we're opening up our meal options and bringing in more chances for "comfort food."

Chicken Taco mix

I see this little guy becoming the best-loved appliance in the house right after the coffee maker.

It's hard at work so I don't have to be.

Have you found yourself missing an appliance from home? I'm surprised at how happy I am to have this one back!