CityView Magazine

food Take it Slow of breakfast, lunch, dinner — even dessert! C BY REBEKAH SANDERLIN old, gray days practically beg for long sim- mering stews and hearty meals, but between working and the possibility of playing in the snow, who has the time to stay tethered to a stove? That's where slow cookers come in — models now feature a range of pot sizes and timer functions. Some even have mul- tiple pots that allow several dishes to cook at once. Army wife Rebecca Logan knows a little something about slow cookers. She and her husband were living on post at a military installation that shall remain nameless (but it was not Fort Bragg) when her stove broke. Six months and many calls to housing officials later the stove had still not been fixed. Only a small oven compartment, just big enough to warm a tray of rolls, worked. No major baking could be done and nothing could be cooked on the range. So for six months Rebecca had to make do, night aſter night, with her slow cooker. "I think we got it as a wedding present and I had never even taken it out of the box," she said. "We didn't use it for about 15 years and it was ugly, flowered and green." But, with no other options, Rebecca said she was grateful to have it. The crowning moment, for her slow cooker anyway, was a Christmas dinner she hosted for about 15 people. (Yes, she 24 | January/February • 2012 was brave enough to host a large dinner despite not having a stove.) She made Cranberry-Apricot Pork Tenderloin (the recipe is at right) in her slow cooker and got rave reviews all around, on the pork — but not on the salad she served with it. "The pork was delicious," she said. "The salad? Not so much." In fact, the salad was such a flop that aſter a couple of bites her husband quietly and unceremoniously stood up and collected everyone's salad plates. Word of Rebecca's dis- astrous salad even got back to the wife of the Commanding General, who insisted that Rebecca come over and pick up a recipe for the General's wife's favorite salad. "I was horrified," Rebecca said. "But at least the pork was good. I made a lot of stuff in our Crock Pot back then. We used it so much during that time that I didn't want to eat any- thing out of a Crock Pot for the longest time, but now I love it again. I have a nice, new one now," she said, laughing. Other slow cooker dishes she discovered during her stove- less months were Vampire Slayer Chili, (see the recipe on page 26) Pulled Pork, Polenta and Meatballs. "But I never really got good at any of the vegetable dishes," she said. Logan's advice for slow cooker newbies? "Don't push the recipe max time. If it says eight hours, stick to it. The food will dry out if you over cook it." CV Slow cookers make quick work

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