Francine Garzotto has recently rediscovered the crock pot.  Not only rediscovered it, but used it to develop a recipe that earned her a first-place trophy in The Daily Iberian and Cajun Sugar Co-op Cajun/Creole Cookbook Contest held Wednesday, July 30, 2003 at the Sliman Theater in downtown New Iberia.

The crock pot “is perfect for a large meal and our active lifestyle,” Garzotto said. And she should know about active lifestyles.

A third generation business owner — Poncio’s, which was started by her grandfather — she is also  involved in the Downtown Business Association and other community and civic organizations and events.

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On the weekend, Garzotto cooks for her family — husband Jay, her three daughters, a son-in-law and her mother, Sylvia Poncio Schuler.

Garzotto’s late father originated from Nebraska. During World War II he met and fell in love with Garzotto’s mother and when the war ended, settled in Cajun country working in the oilfield. He subsequently took over the family business, which was then passed on to Garzotto.

With several nationalities in her family — Italian, German, French — Garzotto said it’s not surprising that she comes up with a lot of different dishes, Mediterranean, Italian and Greek among them.

 “I learned to cook by trial and error,” she said. “I find it fascinating because it’s kind  like chemistry — sometimes you end with something really good and sometimes, oh well, you won’t cook that again!”

Some day Garzotto hopes to make her own recipe book, with all the family recipes both handed down and learned over the years.

“When I got married I didn’t know how to boil an egg,” she admitted. “But I soon learned.” In fact, she said it was her husband who taught her a lot about cooking during those early years.

“But I would also refer to cookbooks and just changed things  that I didn’t like.

“You don’t learn if you don’t try.”

Another Teche Area resident that is always on the go is Angela Langlinais Bourg. A busy wife and mother of three she also juggles a full-time medical practice which makes quick and easy cooking a necessity for Angela in the Bourg household.

“Our daily schedule is go, go, go,” she said. “From dancing on Mondays, music lessons on Tuesdays, hip-hop Wednesdays and soccer on Saturdays. I am a soccer mom and I love it.” she said.

Bourg also volunteers at  area schools, Les Jeunes Amis and Networking Women of New Iberia. All that combined, it is  easy to see why she said her crock pot comes in very handy.

“My middle daughter Margaret just loves chicken and sausage gumbo, even in the heat of August,” Bourg said. “When I explained to her that most people eat gumbo when it is cold and that it takes a lot of preparation, she answered with ‘Just go and buy some already made.’

“Once that got to be expensive to do every week, my nurse told me about a gumbo cooked all day in the crock pot. So I experimented with a few different approaches and now we have ‘Soccer Mom’s Gumbo,’”

Her crock pot gumbo found fans at the 2006 The Daily Iberiand-Cajun Co-op Cajun Creole Cookbook Cookoff held July 26 at Antique Rose Ville in New Iberia. Then Iberia Parish president Will Langlinais and his wife discovered whose dish they had judged as the number one choice in the Soups and Gumbos category.

The cook was none other than their daughter.

“I was able to keep the entry quiet by telling then I was on call that night, plus they were traveling straight in from my nephew’s ELL State Championships,” Bourg said.

So go ahead and dig out that crock pot you put away years ago, dust it off and plug it in. It might just allow you to take life a little more slow and eeeasy.