A Crock-Pot Thanksgiving

Over the years, I began to realize that with adulting comes cooking a Thanksgiving meal. Cooking has never really been my jam so I decided to try and forego being a grown up. *Spoiler Alert*.. It didn’t work. No one else was really on board with my plan so, with reluctance, I conceded. I’ve always struggled with anxiety but the thought of having people over yet me being stuck in the kitchen just wasn’t an option for me.

You see, I can recall all of the work the ‘grown-ups’ would put into the meals yet they never got to truly enjoy the day. Whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter or Birthdays or any other major celebration, they would be in charge of cooking and cleaning up the kitchen mess that it never really left a lot of time for fellowship with everyone else.

Don’t get me wrong, the meals were always a-MAZE-balls and something to look forward to. My mother seriously is the best cook ever! Unfortunately, that gene wasn’t passed on. So even if I DID try, I could never recreate them as my cooking ability is sub-par at best. This isn’t me being self-deprecating, this is me stating the fact that when my son hears smoke alarm go off, he assumes I’m cooking. Or if he smells something ‘gross’, he walks down the steps groaning ‘ugh, is Mommy cooking again?!’.

…. So what was a gal to do?…

In comes my stepmom* with a crazy yet brilliant idea! –> SLOW COOKERS!!!! (Yes, the photo below is from her Thanksgiving set up just a few hours ago)

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Now, before your brain starts to hurt, I’m going to ask you pause judgement until I explain 😊

I currently own roughly 8 or 9 crockpots (yes, I’ve lost count). I use them for every gathering we have or attend. I can’t get my $&*% together to use them on any random night, but for special occasions or celebrations, they are now my go-to. They allow me to prep ahead of time, get a work-out in, clean the house (and myself, which is much needed) and have an alcoholic beverage all before the guests arrive. THEN.. get this, this is the best part… I CAN ACTUALLY HANG OUT WITH MY GUESTS (insert imaginary meme of someone’s mind being blown here).

Additionally, with my anxiety, it stresses the crap out of me trying to coordinate 10 different sides to be done at the same time as the turkey. The crock-pots not only solve this problem, but when a situation arises (like today when my husband said the turkey should be done at 2pm but it was really ready by 11 am), they allow for flexibility. I just flipped them from low to high and *voila* perfectly timed meal.

When I tell people of my cooking ‘style’, their judgy eyes are nothing compared to their involuntary face reactions. I get it, it sounds crazy. Yet, when they actually experience it in person, they are not only pleasantly surprised by the taste of the food, but they truly appreciate the time savings. Legit, it took me a whopping 10 minutes to clean the kitchen today after our meal as the crock-pot or slow-cooker bags are the best invention after the crock-pot.

So here I am, sitting here in the kitchen surrounded by .. nothing but good memories and the smells of the pies waiting to be eaten. It allows me to partake in the football banter with the guys, it allows me to take more sippy-sips from the drinks, it allows me to re-watch the Grinch with my boy. It comes down to, for me,  Slow-Cookers afford me the time to make more memories.. which is what gatherings and celebrations are all about!

*I will go into my displeasure of the term ‘stepparent’ in a future blog… as I hate it. (this is me stepping off of my soapbox for the moment)