Back to School Chaos Causing Dinner Drama? #LMDConnector

Let your slow cooker come to the rescue!

Let’s face it….dinner time is hectic at the best of times but when the new school year rolls around it seems to spiral out of control. Our nanny cooks for us a lot but as Fall sets in, I want to return to some of my comfort food favorites. Thankfully, many of them also happen to be some of my favorite slow cooker recipes. I love summer but I am ready for the cooler weather of Fall.

One of my favorite ways to save time is to prep the next day’s slow cooker meal either while I cook supper or right after I clean up. Many slow cooker meals can be prepped and placed in the fridge until the next morning. It makes cooking time a bit longer but since my meals have to cook all day, it’s never a problem.  If you are REALLY organized, you can even prep crockpot meals into large Ziploc bags and freeze for later use. Just thaw and pour into your slow cooker. You’ll leave home at your normal time in the morning and come back to a house that smells delicious & dinner waiting! That is my kind of cooking.

If you are thinking of buying a slow cooker, make sure and get one that is the right size for your needs. Too small and you won’t have enough food but too big and your dinner creation can burn. Your slow cooker should be about 2/3 full. (You can also do what I do and own three different sizes! Overkill? Maybe.) For a family of 2 or 4, the standard 4 quart model is perfect. For larger families or cooking big vats of chili, stew or soup for the freezer, I like having a larger model. Also make sure to compare price versus features. Many of the new cookers have lots of features but I still love my standard size model with one knob & three settings: off, low and high.

So now that I have you convinced….what are you going to cook? Some of my favorite “go to” slow cooker recipes for the Fall are: Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings, Pulled BBQ Chicken and Split Pea and Ham Soup (find more in the Recipe Index). I’m always looking for new recipes to try, though. I am definitely going to try the Chipotle Chicken with Pintos and Spanish Rice and the Pineapple Pork Tacos from Life Made Delicious.

The only downside? It’s bedtime & now I’m hungry!

What is your favorite way to speed up dinnertime now that it’s back to school time?

Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.