a day of firsts

(jennie - i am happy to give you a green curry recipe, but do you want a slow cooker or regular recipe?)

the slow cooker made its appearance today thank you very much in the form of....drum roll please....

chicken adobo.

this philipino dish is not a traditional slow cooker meal, but after a quick call to lita i felt confident enough to give it a go.

threw it together in five minutes (the longest part was waiting for the chicken to defrost) and then set it to low for five hours and 30 minutes. it felt good not to be rushed around dinner time, it gave me some extra time on the playground, where i played hide n seek with the kids. they love that game right now although they always hide in the same spot and call me over to it.

around the allotted time, i set out the plates, put on them french loaf brushed with a bit of olive oil, some broccoli, and with some trepidation, took off the cover of the slow cooker.

it looked marvellous in there and smelt even better. i popped a portion on each plate.

my audience of four was thrilled to see the bread but wasn't so impressed with the other two items on their plate. only sebastian ate solidly. surprisingly, jasper did as well. sela whinged quite a bit and ignored her chicken, insisting, "i will make a broccoli sandwich", and she did, popping her broccoli on top of her french bread and popping it down the hatch. carys was quite good.

after five minutes or so, i gave them all a glass of milk. jasper was ignoring his broccoli and for some reason, as i put his glass of milk infront of him, i decided that this should be the day he had his broccoli.

"jasper," i said, "tonight you are going to eat your vegetables". immediately, jasper began to whimper. "i doan like vegetables!" he exclaimed, real tears fillng his eyes.

i picked up a fork and put a floret of broccoli on it. jasper's eyes widened and then narrowed as he saw this redwood approaching him. "hide it!" he beseeched. "please hide the broccoli!"

suddenly i said, "jasper, cover your eyes and count to 10. and when you're done, i want you to say, 'ready or not, here i come broccoli'!"

and he covered, counted and consumed.

Comments

[Boulder]

Do you know you can simply put the frozen chicken in the crock pot with the rest of the items and cook? I never wait for it to defrost! And it really doesn't change the cooking time. (Just be wary of sampling the seasoning until things are really hot! or get the sauce sorted and seasoned and then add the frozen chicken after tasting.)

Please post both recipes - is there a big difference in them between the regular and crock pot method? Maybe put the crock pot version up and then tell us in a quick little "note" at the bottom where to adjust for non-crock pot?

I'm hungry now, and it s 10 hours until dinner!

[Mel]

Well done Jasper! Also want recipe pls!!

[Auntie Pammie]

I would like recipies for both please, the regular way as I had a slow cooker and gave it to Mona. I am once again drooling as I write this,,,
And way to go JJ for eating the evil broccoli
xoxo
Auntie Pammie

[knobody]

i got tired of z not eating her veggies so i started serving them first. she gets the rest of her meal after she eats the veggies. what is it about kids and veggies? argh!

[Dad aka Grandad Blake]

Have you told Jasper that George Buh hates broccoli ?
Love to all....dad

[Tammy]

I'm jealous. I could NEVER get B to eat broccoli. He would throw it at me.

[joeinvegas]

On the defrost, yes, just put frozen right in. I usually add a half hour or so, but working and all the pot usually gets turned on in the morning before going. If it's frozen or a big roast even the night before. Things get softer and better longer in a crock pot, not burned and dry. I've got one of my pork/cranberry roasts going right now, turned it on last night and the house smelled loverly when I left for work.