The 'crock-pot' has been a bit of a revelation to me! Back in the UK I would associate slow cookers with the older generation and stinky stews ... but here in small-town America where we're living they are an every day occurrence, can be bought very cheaply in a variety of sizes and colours along with various different travel/carry bag accessories and at a pot-luck event you see them lined up along the table as it seems everyone is using them!
We moved to America as another family had graduated from the MMS programme and we were able to buy the majority of their furniture and kitchen appliances to use while we live here ... including a crock-pot. For the first year it remained in a cupboard untouched but the longer we lived here the more I saw my friends using them I thought I would actually dust it off and give it a go! Needless to say I am a convert and slowly building up my crock-pot recipe collection (avoiding the stinky stews!) ... and last weekend I even bit-the-bullet and bought myself a brand new one because the one we had was missing the on/off dial making it difficult to turn when hot!! I find the convenience of being able to prepare everything earlier on in the day when the girls are less cranky, brilliant and when it was too hot and humid in the summer to use the stove, this was a great alternative to the BBQ when we'd had one too many burgers or steaks!
The stuffed peppers above were our dinner last night and one of our new favourite recipes ... yummy when served with sour cream and nachos. It's SO easy and my 3 year old daughter loves helping both mix up the ingredients and stuff the peppers ... so it's a win win meal ... fun to make and delicious to eat. (The recipe is below). Another new thing for us is growing some of our own veggies while we're been here, again fun but also great to save some pennies ... just waiting for some more of these peppers to ripen so we can stuff these too!
- 4 bell peppers (preferably flat bottomed ones if you can!)
- 1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup (4oz) shredded cheese (you can use pepper-jack for a kick!)
- 3/4 cup salsa (however hot you can handle!)
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 cup chopped spring onions
- 1/3 cup uncooked rice
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- Cut off the top of the peppers and remove core and seeds (chop up the tops to include in the mix)
- Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl
- Fill each pepper and place in the Crock-pot
- Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours
We had this for dinner last night. Loved it! It was easy and tasty. One thing we did different then what you suggested is instead of sour cream as a topping we used plain yogurt, which I find just as yummy as sour cream but minus the calories. Thanks for this receipe.
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