Over winter break, we rented a sweet little ski cabin. On top of the ski pants and snow boats and snow coats and groceries, I stacked my slow cooker. This was completely against my best-practice packing instincts, but I had a feeling it would make my after-slope life much easier. Truly, I had no idea.

That first snowy evening, I put on a pot to boil water for pasta, the light went on, the water started to steam, I heaped a salad into a bowl, and ten minutes later, the coils were ice cold.

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The problem appeared to be a fuse, but in the icy dark, we couldn’t get the the connection to work. Could my slow cooker boil water, I wondered? Why, yes, yes it could.  In fact, it boiled water, it heated the red sauce, it saved dinner.  Over the next 5 days, we found out exactly what this near miraculous appliance could and couldn’t do.  Could it scramble eggs?  Perfectly. Could it heat up tomato soup? A cinch.  Grilled cheese?  The best the kids had ever tasted.  Slow-cooked baked-potatoes and meat loaf? Favorite new meal.  What it couldn’t do:  nothing.

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The kids conquered the mountain, in their own, blue-square kind of way. I conquered dinner.  And now there are 2 things I will never again go without on a ski trip.  My slow-coooker. And all-wheel drive.

Slow-Cooker Meatloaf and Baked Potatoes

  1. Pierce each potato with a fork all over. Lightly rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and wrap in aluminum foil.
  2. Make your favorite meatloaf recipe. Using aluminum foil, shape the meat mixture into a long loaf, leaving the top somewhat exposed if you’d like it brown a little bit. Otherwise, you can wrap it completely for a moister loaf.
  3. Nestle the foil wrapped potatoes and meatloaf in your slow cooker. Set to “low” and cook 7-8 hours or 4 1/2-5 hours on high.