Works for Me Wednesday: Quick, Easy and Inexpensive Dinners

Whether you're a stay-at-home mom who doesn't want to be chained to the stove at dinnertime or a work-out-of-the-home mom like me who doesn't want to fret about the "what's for dinner?" question two minutes after you get home with starving children...let me introduce you to my friend "Lucy".

Lucy is my trusty crockpot (yes, I'm pathetic. I named my crockpot...). I love Lucy. So, so very much. I can put almost anything in Lucy, add some spices, some liquid and when I get home, not only does my home smell delish, but I have a homemade, nutritious, often inexpensive meal for the family. All it takes is a little preplanning, prepping the night before (or even that morning...I'm too busy in the morning to do the prep work so I do it the night before) throw it all in the crockpot, set it in the morning and presto magic! Dinner is ready!

Before you cry "but! Don't all crockpot recipes require that yucky 'cream of something' soup?!" I'm here to tell you that isn't true. Sure, you can find plenty of recipes that call for the icky soup, but there are still plenty that don't require it. I've made beef stew, soups a plenty, spaghetti sauce, chili and even chicken (shredded and in other forms! ;) ). My standbys are the recipes listed above, but you can even do roasts (beef or pork) as well as whole chicken or chicken pieces.

I ususally use the crockpot once to twice a week depending on what is going on and what I've already got in terms of pre-made meals (compliments of moi) in the freezer that is easily defrosted and popped in the oven. I almost always have the crockpot going on Mondays as I have afterschool mandatory meetings and sometimes on Thursdays when Maddy's got ballet lessons. We get home too late for me to even want to contemplate cooking from scratch.

My crockpot stretches my grocery budget as well. I'm able to make enough soup, sauce or chili for two meals. I prep once, eat one meal and freeze the other. Tonight, for example, I made spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. We'll have pasta for dinner tonight and tomorrow I've already prepped my baked pasta. After ballet, I'll pop that in the oven for half an hour and I'll have dinner ready for pennies!

The other great thing about the crockpot is that you can take an inexpensive cut of meat and let it go all day in the crockpot thus making it tender and delicious. Nice way to stretch those pennies when it comes to meat!

My favorite feature about my crockpot is that it has a timer. I can let it run for up to 9h59 min. I can set it to high, low, or "buffet". When the time you punch in elapses, the crockpot keeps the food warm for up to four hours. Even if you don't eat it in that time period, because the crockpot holds the heat so well, your food won't go cold very quickly. This was my favorite Christmas gift in 2006 (I know, so pathetic, but I love it!).

For more great "Works for Me Wednesday" ideas, check out Rocks in my Dryer!