Cooking Crockpot Crap

We've been blessed to welcome a bambina this summer, hence the reason why there's been a lack of posting. One of the many joys these past few months was having my mother-in-law, Angela, stay with us:her first visit to the United States. Prior to her arrival, I fantasied and scoured Pinterest for recipes I would impress her with....insert a baby and all that went to the wayside.

Angela TRIED to show me how to cook traditional Italian meals. I have shown her how American women throw a whole bunch of crap in a thing called a crockpot and call it dinner.

Tonight's meal was no exception. I tried a new sweet potato, black bean chili recipe. Love both these ingredients, but it was bland. No buono!

Part of the problem is I always try new recipes and half the time they bomb. Italians don't experiment as much and as a result know how to cook the basics perfectly.

Last night Angela made a frittata with just tomatoes, onion, eggs, milk, salt and oil. It was perfectly seasoned and cooked. Something so simple shouldn't be so good, but that is Italian cooking.

On the other side, Angela said she is shocked how much variety we have in our diet. "You even change your bread!" she observed after seeing one week we buy rye, the next whole wheat. She would have never thought to put corn and peaches together in a salad, but was a fan. My quick peanut butter cookies also received some "mmm's" so I've not been a complete failure.

If my crockpot experiments haven't horrified her, the manner in which we shovel food in has. In the south of Italy everyone gets at least a couple hours off for lunch. You sit down, have several courses. chat, chat, chat, espresso, and more chat. This summer while I've been working from home, Angela has seen me come into the kitchen, throw a slice of cheese on bread and eat it over the sink as fast as possible without choking. Voila, lunch. She always wants to set the table and I'm like no it takes too much time! Chop, Chop!

I'm just glad I've already married Ciccio and given her a granddaughter so hopefully that trumps my sometimes less than glamourous kitchen skills.