crockpot chronicles: intro

y'all ready to get down to business? let's go!

i think we'll start off easy. the best idea i've come up with for that is some slow-cooker meals. i've spent some time searching the internet, my own cookbooks, and the recipe boxes of my dear family members looking for the simplest crockpot recipes. the goal was this: a meal that requires minimal preparation, has multiple parts (meat and veggies, generally) that are in the crock-pot at the same time, cooks for 6-8 hours, has a high degree of crockpot-to-table ease, and makes leftovers that can go in the freezer. this search came as a solution to several challenges. first, as a full time (plus) college student who works, i don't often have the time to come home and cook a whole meal, but on the flip side of that, i also don't have the cash to eat out every night, even if it is the mcdonald's dollar menu. second, i'd like to have something with a bit more nutritional value than whatever grade of "beef" it is that they use at taco bell. this is not to say that i don't enjoy the occasional baja chicken chalupa or fries and a diet coke, but they're not going to constitute my daily meals. (well, the diet coke might.) with these criteria in mind, i have compiled a list of recipes to test out. just to avoid my fear of the unknown for now, i'm sticking to the beef/pork/chicken family. once i get a little more confident in my cooking and i'm sure i won't kill anyone, i may branch out to seafood, but not quite yet. - i know it sounds weird, at least it did to me, but i have found some seafood crockpot recipes. the recipes i chose will be scored on a 25-point scale (that's right, this is official!), and at the end of the testing period, i'll put together a ranking for all to enjoy! this go-round i'll plan on eight recipes, which is about two weeks in my world, and they'll start tomorrow, monday. first up is going to be italian beef - yum! i'll do my best to update on a daily basis with a report of how everything went. i hope y'all enjoy, and as always, any suggestions are much appreciated! have a great week!