Eats & Treats: Slow-Cooker Debacles

You know how I've been talking for ages about wanting to make CrockPot Breakfast Oatmeal?

Yeah, so that happened.

Besides the fact that I'm disappointed in the recipe, I discovered something about myself: I am REALLY not drawn to sweet foods in the morning. I have known for ages that if I only get starchy goodness first thing, I'm a bear to live with all day. This "revelation" should be no surprise to me but it somehow is. The long and the short of it is, I need PROTEIN to get through until lunch, and I want it to be savory.

I do know that rice and beans works great in the crockpot, and it is something that I'll scoop into a bowl and throw a couple of eggs on top for something a bit more substantial than the eggs-and-toast rut we've been in lately.

Something else I'm noticing is that I don't mind cooking food from scratch, but when I do manage to get hungry and am ready to eat, I need the food ready OMG!RIGHT-NOW. I'm more interested in cooking right after I've eaten, so throwing things together in a crockpot seems to work really well for me. Putting together casseroles ahead of time also works really well for us, both because it means that people can eat whenever they're ready without having a sit-down dinner time.

Of course, the last couple years I've suddenly been having problems with my crockpot meals. They keep coming out with this metallic, sour taste that I can't seem to get rid of. Brainstorming with friends, the consensus seems to be that it's either:
  • Stuck-on food mixed with soap to create a consistently burned-yick flavor;
  • The water, somehow reacting badly to crock-pot cooking;
  • That the glaze on the pots themselves is wearing thin; or 
  • That I need to try a different brand because the glaze itself is leaching into my food. 
So we'll start with a baking soda scrub and vinegar rinse to get out any invisible food particles, and then use filtered water on the next round of slow meals. If that doesn't work, I'm going to have to borrow or buy a couple different brands of slow cookers to see if it's a brand/glaze issue.

Yet another experiment to add to the list!

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