Removing Cooked on Food Messes From Your Crock Pot

Because it's crazy here in the FFB house, I tend to use my crock pot quite a bit.  I love just throwing a bunch of stuff in the crock pot and coming home to a meal ready to go. 

BUT, what I hate about using the crock pot is the clean up.  I know it's only one big ole pot to clean, but every great once in awhile, it leaves a huge crusty mess in there for me to clean up.  I HATE having to scrub my crock pot to get it clean.  Hate it!  Luckily, I have a little trick to make it easier. 

After making Chili Lime Tostadas last week, my crock pot was a MESS!  It seems I didn't put enough lime juice in to make up for the fact that I had it cranked up on High all day.  The chicken was fine, but it left a big dry crusty mess in there.  Oops!  So, after removing our dinner, I added enough water to rise above the crusty stains on the side.  I added a squirt of dishwashing liquid and cranked it back up on high for about an hour. 

I let it cool back down and dumped out the water and most of the crusty yuck.  I added a little water and more dishwashing liquid and the stains came right off.  No SOS pad and sore arms from scrubbing.  WOO HOO!  This also works great on pots and pans.  Just bring them to a boil on the stove top. 

I'm linking this post to Holly's Tips and Tricks Party.