When people imagine gourmet chefs, they think of pans, knives, stoves, and a lot of fire. Not too many of them imagine a programmable crock pot. You might think that the crock pot is a joke of a cooking tool, that when compared to the microwave, the oven, or the stove, that it just doesn’t stack up. But this is just not so! Let me show you a few things that you can cook better with a crock pot.

Chili

Chili is delicious, hearty, and easy to make. It’s perfect for those long winter nights that seem to go on forever. If you’re wondering if the cold will ever end, you should dust off that crock pot and make yourself some chili. Plug it in and start off by cooking the ground beef in the bottom of the pot. Don’t cook it separately in a pan, or else you won’t be able to enjoy the juices from the beef as a part of your chili. Once the meat is ready you can throw in your beans and your other ingredients, and then just let it simmer for a while. Before you know it, you’ll have a hearty bowl all to yourself.

Cooking Shredded Pork

There are so many things you can do with a few pounds of shredded pork. You can make tamales, you can make sloppy joes, or you can make yourself the messiest, most awesome sandwich by stuffing it between two fat hamburger buns.

All you have to do is buy some pork and place it in the crock pot with your favorite seasonings. Once you let it cook for a good long time, the pork will be ready for shredding. The meat will be so soft that you can pull it apart with your fingers or just a fork. Crock pots can make meat so juicy and tender that it will quickly fall apart.

Making Spaghetti and Pasta

Although it’s recommended that you boil the actual pasta in a pot, crock pots are still an excellent way to prepare the sauce. When your pasta is finished boiling, drain it and set it aside, and then turn to the crock pot with the ingredients for your sauce.

The first thing you need to do is cook the ground beef in the bottom of a small crock pot, just like you did to make the chili. Next add some tomato sauce and whatever other ingredients or seasonings you like to add to your pasta sauce. While the meat is cooking with the sauce you should boil your pasta, and then once that’s done, you can add it to the mix by draining it and dumping it right into the crock pot. Let the pasta mix with the sauce and pretty soon you’ll have yourself a meal.

Cooking Chorizo

This is one of the quickest things to cook up in the crock pot. Buy some pork chorizo from the store along with some eggs. Mix them together in the bottom of the pan until they are cooked together, and once they’re done, shred some cheddar cheese on top of them. Put the lid back on the crock pot and let the cheese melt. Soon, it will be ready for you to enjoy. In my opinion, it’s served best on flour tortillas.

Now that you know what you can do with your crock pot you might want to rethink letting it sit unused! Instead of wasting it, why not try your hand at some of the suggestions mentioned above? Once you’ve had a taste of what crock pots have to offer, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been using it every day.