I would say I have a pretty fast paced life. Actually I think anyone with a young family does. Although some moments of 'The Toddler - Hood' can feel like it is dragging - namely; spontaneous tantrums in public; sick days; back to back episodes of Peppa Pig; potty training - overall time flies.
Particularly, I feel, when nursery / school get brought into the mix. Time is broken down into terms; half terms; school week; school day; drop off and pick up times. Then there are the after school activities to fit into the schedule. Everything else in life gets chucked into a big pot of 'needs to be done' and in between the fixed schedule times (usually 09:00-15:00) they get randomly plucked from never decreasing mountainous pile of things to do.
I think it is safe to say that the things to be done never really get completed either. They get worked on for the week and then sent to the bottom of the pile - I mean do you ever see the bottom of your laundry basket or ironing pile?
Then there is dinner. I heard recently a survey had been carried out whereby parents sited between 17:00-18:00 (noted as 'Dinner Time') as the most stressful time of day. I would have to agree. I used to enjoy cooking 'proper' dinner and experimenting with new recipe ideas. Now it is generally carried out amongst tired and hungry whining of two children, which does not a relaxing ambiance make. Usually by the time I sit down to eat my own food I am stressed out, hot, flustered and thus not particularly hungry. All I can say is thank God for a dishwasher.
So, in a world of fast chaos I have heard of a thing called a 'Slow Cooker'. How have I missed the notion of one of these beauties in the past? Friends tell me they chuck all the ingredients in at the beginning of the day and by 'Dinner Time' that evening it smells delicious and has cooked itself. They also tell me that it is virtually impossible to mess up a 'Slow Cooker' recipe.
So my current mission in life. Purchase a Slow Cooker. I do not want an expensive one to start with, in case I do not love it as much I think I am going to Also, given we have almost every other conceivable gadget in our kitchen I do not really have the space to purchase something I won't use. If I do take to it however, I will look at the potential 'Bad Boys' out there.
Does anyone else use a Slow Cooker? Would you recommend one? What are your favourite recipes?
