The Crockpot is a Divinely Inspired Appliance

Anyone who knows me knows that I love my crockpot. It is one of those things that makes my life easier. Now that summer is approaching and I live in St George, I will probably be using it even more. Awhile ago I came across this blog: crockpot365.blogspot.com. One woman (Stephanie O'Dea) decided to make it a New Year's Resolution to use her crockpot every day for a year, and she kept going. And this is where she shares her results. And her's is not the typical throw some meat & cream o' something soup in the crock fare. She aims for healthy eating. All of her recipes are gluten free unless otherwise indicated. Looking through her recipes can help give you some ideas and help you out of a 'cooking rut', while saving time and money. She also wrote a book, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking, which is a selection of the best recipes from her blog. She has so many great ideas, it is going to take me awhile to try even half of the ones I'm interested in.

 Last night I made her BBQ Chicken & Cornbread. It was a winner with the adults. I think I'm going to make this the next time I have someone over for dinner. It was simple, yummy, satisfying and healthy too. My picky children wouldn't try it, but then they are ridiculously picky. My version is below. A couple things: I forgot to spray the crock before hand. You definitely want to spray your crock. Second, after I started making it I realized that I didn't have frozen corn, so I used canned corn. It was good, but I think frozen would work better.


BBQ Chicken & Cornbread
1 lb grilled chicken

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks

1/2 red onion diced 

1 cup frozen or fresh corn 

1 carrot, sliced

1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (18 oz) 

1/4 cup hot water


 Cornbread topping:
3/4 cup corn meal 

1 1/4 cups of flour (I did not use gluten-free) 

1 cup milk 

1/4 cup sugar 

1 egg 

1 tsp baking powder (only if using regular all-purpose flour)


1. Spray you crock with non-stick cooking spray. 2. Mix first five ingredients. Pour hot water into BBQ sauce bottle. Shake it a couple times before pouring into BBQ mixture and stirring. 3. Mix cornbread topping ingredients. (It should be slightly lumpy.) 4. Spread topping over BBQ mixture. 5. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until cornbread is done. (I cooked mine on low for 5 1/2 hours and then high for 30 minutes because I was getting impatient.)