Adventures in Crock-Potting #1

We received a crockpot/slowcooker as a holiday gift this year. It's taken us this long to finally get the thing out and start playing with it. Our first attempt came from a recipe found by mama Newman for Shredded Chicken Tacos. The beauty of this recipe (and slow cooker recipes in general) is that dinner can be ready when I get home. I tend to work late sometimes, add that to my decent length commute and sometimes its hard to find the motivation to shop and cook. Drop everything in the pot before heading to work, turn it on low for 6-8 hours, and voila! Dinner is hot and ready when I get home.

As a burgeoning foodie, I'm not sure if I should be offended by the idea of tossing all the ingredients in at the same time. The lack of technique involved goes against everything I've learned watching Top Chef or the detail-oriented care I tend to put in to my more elaborate cooking. That said, there are some nights when its nice to eat a home cooked meal without taking the time to cook it post-work.

The beauty is, on top of being almost absurdly easy, this dish was tasty and well textured. If I made it again, I'd add a little more spice (then again, there aren't many things I WOULDN'T add a little more spice to). I made tacos out of the meat, but it could just as easily be used as enchilada filling, nacho topping, taco salad topping, etc.

I intend to continue this series of Crock Pot adventures now that I've moved past the fear of leaving an electrical appliance on all day while no one is home. I'll have to continue to suppress the part of me that finds the whole notion insulting to the art of cooking, but that shouldn't be too hard if all the dishes that come out of the thing are as easy and tasty as this first one.