Crockpot Wonder

Does cleaning up a crockpot strike fear into you - having to soak that well cooked on casserole residue overnight? Line the crockpot with parchment paper. Cook as usual, lift out the casserole type meal and voila! almost no mess left.

We cooked a Chicken-Stuffing Casserole (such as Baked Swiss Chicken) this way. When it was done, we lifted it out by grabbing the edges of the parchment paper and set everything in a bowl, shredded the chicken and enjoyed dinner. And the clean-up (or lack of it). This would not work for soups or a very full crockpot, but it did a meal for 6 with no problems.

We also used this method, lining the crockpot with a piece of parchment paper to cook a sweet and sour chicken meal. The chicken breasts were covered with a vinegar, pineapple and juice and soy mixture. Even with all the liquid the meal cooked beautifully in the parchment paper and clean up was a snap-no ring around the crockpot!