Slow Cookin'

Not since my days of working in our New York City office have I been so short on time...for everything.  Every day is a rubix cube of making it all work and fit.  There are the less flexible things (like work) and the more flexible things (like cooking).

In past lives, I probably would have opted for tossing raman noodles in the microwave and eating a peanut butter sandwich for good protein measure at a time like this.  However, I successfully pulled off cooking with my eyes closed...aka while sleeping...and I think I'm on to something to avoid the horrors of eating out too much and raman as well.

In order to prepare a healthy meal for at least 2-3 nights this week, I decided to break out the good old slow cooker/crockpot.  While this option proved invaluable for my schedule, it's also endorsed as a great "green" option, as it uses less energy than firing up your stove, and it also affords almost as many choices as other regular recipes.  As time grew tighter and tighter during the course of the day yesterday, the meal plan fluctuated.  I landed on pepper steak (a fabulous recipe find from a couple of years ago on http://www.allrecipes.com/ because I could make enough time to brown the meet necessary, and the slow cooker could do the rest of the work...as I slept!  The only quirk about this route is that it is a bit odd waking in the night to the aroma of a home-cooked meal. 

In the end, I have to endorse this as a great option for those days, weeks or months that more time consuming cooking just isn't possible.