My Slow Cooker Adventure Today
So yeah, woke up thinking bout using that big ole ham piece sitting in the fridge. Saw some taters and remembered folks talking about this ham and potato crock pot thing online. Figured, hey, toss it all in and see what happens, right? My kinda cooking.
First step, grabbed my giant slow cooker plonked it on the counter. Dug around the veggie drawer – found the potatoes. Washed ’em quick under the tap, didn’t even bother peeling. Who’s got time for that? Just chopped ’em up kinda chunky, like maybe half-inch thick? Dumped them straight into the crock pot bottom. Big uneven pile.
Next, the ham. Big ol’ chunk leftover from Sunday. Pulled it outta the fridge, cold and kinda slippery. Hacked it into pieces – cubes, slices, whatever came off the knife. Just threw it all on top of the potato mess. Didn’t measure one bit. “Looks like enough,” I told the dog watching me.
Found an onion in the pantry. Wasn’t even crying while chopping it, miracle! Threw those onion bits right over the ham.
Time for the goop. Opened two cans of cream of mushroom soup. You know the cheap condensed kind? Thick and gloppy. Dumped both cans right in a bowl. Added maybe half a soup-can full of milk, stirred it all around with a fork trying to break up the lumps. Poured that thick sauce mess over everything in the pot. Barely covered the top layer. “Eh, it’ll work,” I mumbled.
Big mistake time. Remembered my fancy cheese drawer. Found this block of cheddar and some kinda white cheese leftover. Grated a bunch over the top. Like, way too much. Mountain of cheese. Slapped the lid on tight.
Set that cooker on LOW. Figured 7 or 8 hours? Went off and did other stuff.
About 5 hours later, walked past the kitchen. Whoa. Smelled amazing! Temptation won. Carefully lifted the lid. Instant steam blast in my face. Peeked down – potatoes looked soft. Stabbed one with a fork. Yep, done. But the sauce? Way thicker than I thought! Kinda clumpy where the cheese melted. Stirred it all up careful. Broke some potato bits but whatever. Scooped a tiny spoonful to taste.
The Verdict? Ham good! Taters perfect! Sauce… tasted fine but man was it THICK. Like paste almost. Tasted kinda one-note, just creamy hammy saltiness.
My Twist Fix:
- Threw in a big spoon of sour cream right into the pot. Stirred like crazy trying to thin it out a bit.
- Found some frozen peas. Said “Why not?” and chucked in a handful. Still frozen! Stirred ’em in.
- Grabbed that garlic powder bottle over the stove. Shook a bunch in. More pepper too. Big pinch of some dried parsley flakes for green bits. Smelled better already.
- Gave it another good stir, slammed the lid back on for like 30 minutes while I made coffee.
Final Results: Scooped it into a bowl. Looks messy, like lumpy comfort food. But taste? WAY better! Creamy sauce thinned just enough. Ham and potato soft. Peas popped with sweetness. Garlic punch! Saltiness just right. That sour cream trick saved it. Super filling and just… nice. Easy.
Try These Ideas Yourself Maybe:
- Green beans instead of peas? Or broccoli bits?
- Little bit of chicken broth dumped in with the soup might make it thinner right away.
- Different cheese? That Swiss slice I have? Might melt weird… but who cares?
- Leftover cooked chicken? Throw it in too! More meat the better.
Seriously, don’t sweat it. Crock pot forgives a lot. Toss stuff in, smell it cook all day, tweak it when it looks wrong. Almost always works out fine in the end. Learned the hard way: always stir in cheese later, maybe after cooking? Maybe not. Still figuring that out. It tasted damn good tonight though. Dog agrees. He licked my bowl.
