I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT MY SLOW COOKER- Busy Mom Recipes

Ok, how do you take care of your children, run your house hold, make money, and eat a healthy- hot family meal every night. Two words--CROCK POT. That's right, I rely on my Slow Cooker to provide a healthy- hot meal for my family. I use the slow cooker about 4 nights a week and we always have left overs for great lunches the next day.

Benefits of a slow cooker

1. Quality on a Budget. You can use a cheaper cut of meat because it will be stewing all day. This means you can take those extra pennies and spend it on a better quality of meat. Eg.- instead of buying a generic prime rib, you can buy a hormone free or organic beef pot roast. That's right- quality on a budget.

2. One Pot Meal- all of the veggies are cooked right into the meal. This is great if you have toddlers, you are basically disguising the vegetables and can avoid a the great vegetable debate at the dinner table.

3. Low Prep Time- I have not spent more than 15 minutes ever preparing a slow cooker meal and typically I spend 5 minutes on the prep. Sad but true, I wake at 5am, feed the baby, make lunches, eat breakfast, prepare a dinner meal in the crock pot for that night and go to work by 6am.

4. Homemade Baby Food- Although my baby is 11 months old, she has NO TEETH. She is active and ready for a hearty meal. Using some little bits of meat, mashed veggies and juices allows her all the nutrients she requires and we are setting her up for great eating habits.

5. No Burning- that's right you cannot burn something in a crock pot, and small inevitable interruptions do not ruin your efforts, just serve out the meal when ever you are ready, or have food at hand for your forever hungry toddler.

There is no TV allowed at meal time and we all sit at the table, this is the only 15 minutes we all spend together each day. We connect as a family over a hot, healthy meal.

I would love to hear your favourite busy mom meals, write in and let me know. Here are 2 of my favourite meals.

J Fit Mom Meal #1
Spicy Pulled Pork

Place a frozen or fresh pork shoulder into your crock pot and spill about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over it.
Add 1/8 cup of water to the pot and sprinkle these dry spices over the pork
1tbsp paprika
2tbsp of ground cummin
1tsp chopped thyme
1 clove garlic or 2tsp dry garlic powder
1 tbsp fresh oregano or 1tsp dried
1tsp cayenne pepper

Cover the crock pot and cook all day. The pork will pull apart when ready. I just pull no spiced pieces from the middle for the kids.
I like to serve this over rice and snow peas. I use my rice cooker and in the last 5minutes of the rice cooking I throw the snow peas on top to steam them.
Other ideas- you can put the pulled pork into a tortilla shell with avocado and veg.

J Fit Mom Meal # 2
Crock Pot Osso Bucco

This is dinner party grade. Add the Veal shank osso bucco and a 2tbsp olive oil to the crock pot. 4 servings

4 veal shanks
2 tbsp butter
1.5 cup red wine
1 beef bullion cube
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion
2-4 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1tbsp fresh parsley
3 sprigs fresh thyme
sprig of oregano if you like it- not mandatory
course salt and pepper to taste a few sprinkles
carrots-chopped and celery chopped

Please write in and share your best Busy Mom meals, we want to hear from you.