Crock it to Me!

And just like that, it was over.

Week Four dawned, and with it, my hope. I thought, hey. Hey. It's almost over.

And then I got all excited, and it was almost like Week One again.

Oh, but that I could have known what was ahead. Before I get too excited, let's start with:

Week Four, Night One: Chicken Fiesta!

I did that thing on the dry erase board where you put the upside down exclamation mark in front of the word, but I can't find that option on my keyboard, so screw it. I thought that the simple addition of said exclamation mark made the whole thing infinitely more exotic (read: Spanish). My real goal was to hide the fact that I had fully INTENDED to make white chili again, but realized after I started that I didn't have close to the ingredients that were necessary to close the deal.

So what I did instead was put shredded chicken, white corn, green salsa, fire roasted salsa tomatoes, black beans, chicken broth, and green chilies in the crock and back away slowly. Hunter was taking a nap, so when it was done I tiptoed into his room, eased the bowl next to the bed, and booked it right out of there before he awoke and discovered that there was nothing chili about that dinner.

He ate it, but pronounced it too soupish for his refined palate. He asked what happened to the chili.

Whatever, kid. This ain't the Taj Mahal. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Basic kindergarten rules.

Week Four, Night Two: It's Over.

I remember the moment it happened well. I had clocked off and was in the process of thinking about standing up from my desk chair when I got the text. I had, that morning, asked Hunter what he wanted for dinner that night. At some point in the day, and who even knows what goes on in his mind, he had made a monumental decision.

The text read: I'm doing Paleo diet now.

And just like that, it was over. Sure, it was roughly only 12-14 meals, but it was over. Our month-long adventure had come to an end after three weeks.

So I did what any mom would do, and feverishly crammed on Pinterest to learn the Paleo way. I decided that I could master this. I could make this happen. I decided I'd pull something together by Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, Hunter and I had our little morning routine. We were both leaving the house earlier than usual. He left at about 7:15, and I was on my way out the door a few minutes later, when my phone started to buzz in that way that means it's an actual phone call.

It was Hunter. I remember thinking that it was lucky I was still home, because he had forgotten something.

But what he said instead was, "Mom? I got in an accident."

I remained fairly calm. Until I fully realized how close he came to not being okay. My anti-texting-while-driving crusader had reached over to move things out of his passenger floorboard and run right into a culvert, tapping a utility pole, which then split in half. The top half, containing the transformer, got caught up in a tree over his windshield. Wires came down in front of his car, but not on it.

His worst injury was an arm rash from the airbag deploying. He had exited the car, like a big dummy, but had not gotten electrocuted.

Therefore, dinner was not on my mind Wednesday night. So that night was out.

By the next night, he had purchased one of those hot plate things and a lot of eggs, and had determined that eggs would be the go-to staple of his new caveman diet.

But I threw some chicken and veggies in the Crock, as a last huzzah.

He ate them all, and while they didn't get an individual rating, I'd say the overall Crocksperience got the following nod:

But some good came from it. I realized that I was capable of putting together meals that weren't dessert-based. And if anyone wants any of the recipes, hit me up. I'm totally cool with it.