Make It Yourself

Money is tight for many people these days.  Even if you have a job and feel reasonably secure, it doesn't hurt to cut corners where you can.  There are so many things you can make for yourself, and sometimes it is much healthier to do so.

One thing that always struck me as odd is when people throw away bread crusts and then turn around and buy bread crumbs.  A basic container of bread crumbs costs $1.79 at my store.  Granted, that isn't a lot of money, but why spend it when you are already throwing away the ingredients to make it?

I keep a bowl on top of my toaster oven.  Everyone takes out the crusts and drops them in this bowl.  The heat from the toaster oven dries them out nicely.  Any slightly stale bread goes in there too. 

 

 

I break the crusts into smaller pieces and drop them into my food processor, using the basic metal blade. 

 



I pulse the blade a few times and then just let it run for a minute or so, until the crumbs are fairly fine.

 

 

If there are any large lumps, I will pulse it a few more times to break them up.  Sometimes I get a stubborn lump and I will just remove that and throw it away.

 



When I am happy with the consistency, I put them into a plastic container and put the bowl back on top of the toaster oven.

 

 



I keep a second container of Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs.  To make those I add a teaspoon each of salt, pepper, Italian Seasoning, and granulated garlic.  Then I rinse out the food processor and I'm all set.  The whole process takes about 5 minutes. 

Another thing I like to make for myself is Taco Seasoning.  I have all of the ingredients in my cupboard already, so I can't see buying it too.  Here is what I mix together:

1 Tablespoon Flour

1 teaspoon Chili powder
1 teaspoon Paprika
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Minced onion
1 teaspoon Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Ground oregano

Just brown the ground beef and add the seasoning.  Stir in 3/4 cup of water and allow to simmer until it thickens.  You can make up larger amounts and keep this in a container as well.  This mixture has far less salt than the packets you buy. 

If you spend some time poking around on the internet, you can find recipes for most of the packets and mixes you buy.  You probably have everything on hand already and you will save a bunch of money. 

 

Cooking With Beans

I love beans. They are probably one of the healthiest foods that are abundantly available to us. They are also very inexpensive and easy to prepare. They come in all sizes and colors. Each type of bean has a slightly different flavor and texture. I like different ones for different dishes, but I will happily toss just about any of them into soups and salads to add extra protein and fiber to a meal. They are also very filling.  Did you know when you combine beans with rice they create a perfect protein?

 

Here are some of the beans I try to keep on hand.  I often have many others as well.

 

 

I think the most common way people eat beans are in baked beans.  Baked beans are wonderful and if you like them you will probably like many other bean dishes. Did you know that the slow cooker was designed originally in order to cook baked beans? Baked beans and brown bread are a New England classic and grace our table often.  I talked about making Brown Bread in the Crock Pot the other day.  Now it's time to talk about the beans.

Canned beans are very nice to have on hand for quick meals, but they are more expensive and have a higher salt content than dried beans cooked at home. Much of the sodium will be washed away if you simply drain and rinse the canned beans before using them. I will be honest, I would be less inclined to use dried beans so often if I didn’t have my pressure cooker. I can cook dried beans up in a snap. Otherwise it does take some planning ahead to have them simmering on the stove for a couple of hours on a day off. That works just fine too and the beans freeze beautifully.   Maybe reading about how easy it is to use will convince you to give a pressure cooker a try. New, modern pressure cookers are very safe and can’t explode like your grandmother’s might have.  Keep in mind that a can of beans can cost between $.79 to $2.00 a can.  A one pound bag of beans is usually between $1.00 and $2.00.  The bag of beans will make the equivalent of 4 to 5 cans of beans. 

Most of the time recipes for dried beans tell you to soak them overnight, which is fine if you are going to be home the next day. I usually put my beans to soak in the morning and cook them in the evening. If I am doing a slow cooker recipe I will cook the beans in advance and have them ready and in the refrigerator. If I am making Boston Baked Beans I don’t fully cook the beans prior to putting them into the slow cooker. Once the beans have soaked here are the cooking times for my pressure cooker (at full pressure):

Adzuki beans 6 to 8 minutes
Black beans 8 to 10 minutes
Black-eyed peas – no need to presoak, just cook
Calypso beans 4 to 6 minutes
Cranberry beans 9 to 12 minutes
Fava beans 12 to 18 minutes
Garbanzo beans (Chick peas) 10 to 12 minutes
Great Northern beans 8 to 11 minutes
Kidney beans 9 to 12 minutes
Lentils…no need to presoak, just cook
Lima beans 4 to 7 minutes
Navy beans 5 to 8 minutes
Split Peas 10 to 12 minutes
Pinto beans 5 to 7 minutes
Red beans 4 to 6 minutes
Soybeans 10 to 12 minutes

To prepare dried beans rinse them and look for stones or bad looking beans. Put them into a large clean pot and cover with water to a depth of at least 2 inches of water above the beans. Cover and let sit overnight or all day while you are at work. When you are ready to cook the beans, drain the water. Put the beans into the pressure cooker and add 3 cups of water for every 8 oz. of beans. DO NOT ADD SALT AT THIS TIME! Adding salt, or an acid like lemon juice, before the beans cook will toughen the shell and they will not cook fully. Add an onion cut into chunks, a crushed glove of garlic, some black pepper, and 1 teaspoon crushed thyme. Seal the cooker and bring up to full pressure. Begin timing the beans when you reach full pressure.

If you do not have a pressure cooker add 2 or 3 cups of additional water with the other ingredients, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Check the beans to see if they are soft. Cook additional time, if needed. I like to prepare beans this way in the winter when I am home. When the beans are cooked, drain them and use them in your recipe (unless you are making bean soup, then just proceed to make the soup according to the recipe) or cool and freeze them in containers of 1 or 2 cups for recipes. The cooking liquid left after making beans is full of vitamins and flavor. I often freeze it to add to soups and stews later.

Here is a wonderful Boston Baked Bean recipe from The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever by Natalie Haughton:

For 8 to 10 servings

1 (16 oz ) package of Great Northern or Navy beans, cooked partially as mentioned above.
2 cups very hot water
1/3 cup dark rum (I never have this)
½ cup molasses
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 medium onion, chopped
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ pound salt pork, rind removed, pork chopped (I always use bacon)
Salt to taste

Add beans to slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients, except salt. Mix, cover and cook for 5 to 6 hours, or until the beans are tender. Salt to taste and serve. 

I shared by Brown Bread recipe already, but here is another way to enjoy the same flavor without taking as much time.  You will not get the same dense consistency with the muffins as you get with the steamed bread.

Brown Bread Muffin recipe from William-Sonoma Muffins& Quick Breads:

½ cup rye flour (I often just use regular flour)
½ cup yellow cornmeal
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (or yogurt and milk combination)
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter standard muffin cups.

In a medium bowl stir and toss together the rye flour, cornmeal, whole wheat flour baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, sugar, oil molasses and egg until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Do not over stir.  Stir in raisins.

Spoon into muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 of the way full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in the tins for a minute, then remove.

The bread and the muffins can be made in advance and served in a day or two, or frozen for up to a month. Often dishes made with beans actually improve in flavor if they are refrigerated overnight and then reheated. This is the kind of a meal that can be sitting in the crock pot and everyone can help themselves to whenever they are home and have time to eat. Just remind them to put the top back on the crock pot so the food is warm for the next hungry family member who comes home.

Another absolute favorite of mine is Black Beans and Rice. There are tons of recipes out there. This is one I have modified to suit our tastes. It is prepared in a pressure cooker, but can be done in a slow cooker or on a stove. You will need more liquid if cooking it on a stove, and obviously you will need more time. However, this dish freezes and reheats beautifully.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 package andouille sausage, casings removed and browned
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped (frozen ones are fine)
2 chopped tomatoes (if using canned, add them after the beans are cooked)
2 crushed garlic cloves (1 teaspoon granulated will work)
½ teaspoon dried oregano
3 cups chicken stock, broth, or soup base
1 pound dried black beans, soaked and drained
Salt to taste to be added after beans are cooked.

In the bottom of the pressure cooker heat the vegetable oil. Add the onions, garlic and peppers and cook until soft. Add the browned sausage and the oregano. Stir until you can smell the oregano (about 1 minute). Add the stock and beans and tomatoes, if fresh.

Lock lid in place. As pan comes to full pressure put on a pan of rice to cook. When the pressure cooker is up to high pressure, cook for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and quick release the pressure. Return the pan to the heat and check to see if the beans are tender. You can repressurize if you need to or let them simmer until they are done. Add the canned tomatoes, if using, and salt to taste. Mash some of the beans to thicken the sauce.

Serve in a bowl with a generous helping of rice. 

This is the kind of dish I will make when I have put the beans to soak in the morning. You could soak the beans over night and let them boil while you get ready for work. Put this into the crock pot just before you leave.  You can dice your onions and peppers, and brown your sausage the night before. Keep the sausage in the refrigerator over night. Put it together, keeping in mind the salt issue, and let it cook all day. Try to avoid using bouillon when cooking beans because it has so much salt in it. You can make this same dish using dried kidney beans. Then you have red beans and rice. Use whatever kind of sausage your family likes. Hot Italian sausage is wonderful in this dish. You can also throw this dish together very quickly with canned beans.

Hummus is another favorite dish of mine. It is a cold bean paste made with chick peas, sesame paste (Tahini), garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. I could live off Hummus and pita bread.

Chili is an American favorite that is made with beans. Everyone has their favorite recipe and it can be made just as easily with inexpensive dried beans.

If you haven't ever cooked with beans much, give them a try.  The extra fiber and vitamins are a plus to just about any diet. 

 

   

If you only ever try one thing I make, try this.

I'm serious.  This has to be the dish.  You must make it.




I said the other day, sometimes things you don't like will taste good in a dish.  This is a perfect example.  I hate beer, but I tried an Irish stout beef stew at a local Irish festival and it was really good.  The whole family liked it, a lot.

 We have friends that visited last summer.  My husband bought a six-pack of beer for them.  They drank two.  They came back this summer, and they drank two.  We had two left.  Yep, over a year old.  Since I had lots of left-over pot roast, I decided to make a beer & beef pot pie.  I could have made this into a stew and served it over noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.  I could have topped it with Bisquick biscuits or with pie crust.  I had some puff pastry in the freezer from when I made a batch a couple of months ago.  Yes, I did make puff pastry.  I wanted to see if I could and, thanks again to Jacques Pepin, I could and I did.  If you want to try it, watch this video.  He makes it really easy.  http://blogs.kqed.org/essentialpepin/2011/09/10/episode-115-all-puffed-up/#

This is what it looked like after defrosting in the refrigerator overnight.

 

I rolled it out until it was a little bigger than my pan and I covered it with plastic until I was ready to put the pot pie in the oven.

 

 

Now onto my pot pie...

 

I used the left-over pot roast, cut into cubes.  If I didn't have that, I would have used stew beef.  If you have raw 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. of beef you put 1 cup of flour into a Ziploc baggie and season it with salt & pepper.  Add the beef chunks and shake them to coat.  Make sure you close the bag.  Believe me, if you don't it takes a lot longer to cook dinner.  Sweeping up flour can take quite a while.  Then take the beef out, shake off the extra flour back into the bag, and cook the beef until brown in a large pan heated with 2 tablespoons of oil.  When the beef is brown, add the veggies and stock and don't worry about the thickening step I show here.  Yours will thicken because of the flour on the beef.

 

 

Ingredients and directions when using left-over meat.

 





Cubed, left-over beef or lamb from a roast.  I had about 3 cups of meat. 
1 onion, cubed
3 ribs of celery, diced
1/2 bag of baby carrots, or 2 carrots, diced
1 package baby mushrooms, I used cremini (baby portabellas)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced (about 2 spoons of crushed from a jar)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 can of beef broth (Aldi's had it for $.49)
1 bottle of beer
1 teaspoon thyme
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup of flour
salt & pepper to taste

I didn't add potatoes, but that would have been tasty as well.  My grandfather would have liked turnips.  Whatever your family prefers is fine.

Add the veggies, beer and beef broth to a large pan and bring it to a boil.

I let it boil for several minutes to boil off the alcohol.  Then I added the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, thyme and salt & pepper.  Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  This allows the veggies to cook.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, Fahrenheit. 

While the veggies simmer, mix the flour into about 1/2 cup of water.  I have a handy shaker I bought from Tupperware, but you can just put both into a drinking glass and cover the top with foil.  Hold the foil firmly and shake vigorously, until blended. 

 Then pour the mixture slowly into the pot, while stirring.  If you are worried about lumps, you can pour it through a strainer.  My daughter helped with this picture.  I'm not that talented.

 

Allow the mixture to cook for a couple of minutes, stirring the whole time.  Test the taste and adjust the seasoning.  Pour the whole thing into a baking pan and cover it with the puff pastry.  You can always blop drop biscuits on there, or even the refrigerator ones from a can.  If you have a round pan, try pie crust.    If using puff pastry, which you can buy frozen, brush it with an egg wash.  Just mix a beaten egg with a little water and use a pastry brush or your fingertips to gently apply.  Cut a couple of vents in the top for steam to escape.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.  I usually put a cookie sheet under pot pies, because they tend to cook over.  Serve and enjoy!!

 

 

 

Then, because my daughter asked so nicely, I made cream puffs.  They are very easy, and I promise to do them again soon.  I'll show you how easy they are.  I just filled them with chocolate pudding tonight.

 

 

 



You've got a little drool there.  No, over a bit.  Yep, that's it.

Name Change

I decided to change the name of my blog.  I hope you can follow this link and find me.  This is really just a test.

Picky, picky...picadillo!

I love picadillo.  My family, not so much.  Too bad for them, because I'm going to make things I love every now and again.  That's the advantage of being the cook.  They actually ate it last night without complaint.  Maybe we are making progress. 

Picadillo is a classic Cuban dish.  It is thought to be the forerunner of American Sloppy Joe's.  I don't know about that for sure, but I like it lots more than I like Sloppy Joe's.  It seems I like a lot of Cuban foods.  Black beans & rice, Cuban sandwiches, picadillo...hmmm.  Maybe I was Cuban in a past life??

There are a million and one variations of Picadillo (peek a dee yo).  It seems like every one claims it is the 'authentic' version.  I think you should make it the way you like it and just enjoy it.  It is a ground beef dish that can be served over rice or used as a filling in tacos, etc.  It is often paired with black beans and plantains.  I just go with the rice.  The thing that makes it unusual is that it has green olives and raisins in it.  Some recipes use capers in place of the olives.  I just love the salty/sweet combination.  Here is a pic of my basic ingredients.  I forgot to put the crushed red pepper flakes in the picture.

One medium onion, chopped

One bell pepper, chopped - I used frozen strips from my freezer that I chopped up

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1/3 cup green olives, chopped

1/4 cup raisins

1 or 2 (depends on how much meat) 8 oz. cans tomato sauce or 1 can diced tomatoes (I prefer the sauce)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

dash ground cloves

crushed red pepper flakes to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Hot cooked rice for serving

Hot sauce to taste at the table

 

Start by heating the oil and cooking the onions, garlic and peppers until they soften.

 

Add the ground beef and cook until brown.

 

When it is browned, drain the fat and add the chopped olives, tomatoes or tomato sauce and spices.

 

Simmer for several minutes and then stir in the raisins.  Check the seasonings and adjust the salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to your taste.  As you can see, I used diced tomatoes this time.  I didn't have any cans of tomato sauce in the pantry.  I just like the flavor better when I use the sauce and my daughter doesn't pick tomato chunks out when I use the sauce.

When it suits your taste, serve over rice and enjoy!  Don't forget to add some hot sauce at the table, if you like it spicier.  Of course, you can adjust everything to suit your tastes.  Look up recipe for Picadillo and see what other people do.  Adjust it to flavors your family may like.  Have some fun!

 

 

Do you make your own rice, or do you use instant stuff?  It really is very easy to make perfect rice with just a sauce pan.  Add in the amount of rice you want and pour in twice as much liquid.  Use a pan large enough that it won't boil over as it cooks. I used 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water.  This yields 4 cups of rice. 

 

Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the water and turn it on to high heat.  Allow it to come to a full boil and then set a timer for 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes are up, cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  That's all.  Perfect rice every time.  My old electric stove burners heat up and cool down slowly.  When I set the timer to 3 minutes, I turn another burner on to low and move the pan to that burner when the 3 minutes are up.  That way it doesn't boil over on me once I cover the pan.  If you have a gas stove, you won't have any problem with the temperature cooling down quickly enough.

 

Once in a while shake things up and try something new.  You might love it, you might not.  I scan through recipes and try to pick things that have ingredients we like.  I don't care for dill at all, so that is a clue to not try THAT recipe.  Of course, sometimes I go out on a limb.  Sometimes dishes with ingredients I don't like turn out to be really tasty. 

 





What a deal!

I work in a grocery store.  No, not a grocery store.  I work in THE grocery store.  Wegmans.  They were voted the #1 grocery store chain in the country.  I love them.

When I was at work the other day I spotted a discount sticker on some beef.  I went over to look and found a beef round roast marked down to $2.19/lb.  Guess what we had for dinner???  If you are concerned about buying discounted meats, don't be.  The only thing is you need to either cook it or freeze it the day you buy it.  If you freeze it, just make sure you cook it as soon as you defrost it.  I have been buying and using discounted meats for as long as I can remember.  We have never gotten a bad piece of meat, nor have we ever gotten sick. 

A number of years ago my husband was watching PBS while the kids were napping.  He saw Jacques Pepin making a pot roast on the show Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home.  When the kids woke up he drove to the store and bought the book.  He couldn't wait for me to make the roast and it was well worth the money he spent on the book.  The recipe called for white wine, instead of the typical red.  This recipe feeds 10, but can be modified for a smaller roast.

Jacques's Pot Roast

One 5 lb. piece beef bottom round, trimmed of fat.
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons oil
2 cups chopped onion, 1 inch square
1 large tomato cored & chopped (I've used a drained can of diced tomatoes)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 cups white wine (choose one you like to drink)
1/2 cup water
potatoes, pearl onions, turnips, carrots, and other veggies you like in pot roast.  Jacques likes turnips, onions, carrots and peas.
parsley to garnish (I almost never do this, but it is nice if you have parsley)

Preheat the oven to 300.  Season the roast with salt and pepper.  Brown the roast on all sides (I don't always do this).  Put in a covered casserole and arrange onion, tomato pieces, bay leaves, and thyme around it. 

 

Pour the wine and water over it, cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours.  After that time, take the pan out of the oven.  Ladel as much of the cooking liquid into a pan as you can, add the potatoes and other veggies (not peas if you like them.  Add those at the end.)  Cook for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours, adding in enough of the saved liquid as will fit.  Add peas during the last 5 minutes of cooking. 

 

Any additional liquid I have I will boil and reduce to pour over the sliced meats.

 

This is what the roast looks like when it is done cooking, without peas because I don't like them.

 

Remove your veggies and keep them warm in the oven.  Let the roast rest for 10 minutes or so before slicing.  You can thicken the cooking liquid if you want a gravy, or just use the reduced liquid for pouring over the slices of roast.  I like to serve the meat with horseradish or dijon mustard.

 

I actually prefer to make this dish in the crock pot.  I believe the extra long, slow cooking is what this dish really need for perfect flavor.  I just didn't have time to do that yesterday.

 

Give the white wine and thyme a try.  It really is wonderful!

 

Does that dinner look like a bargain basement dinner?  No, it does not!

 

 

 

These are a few of my favorite things...

I love music. I'll probably make a number of references to music over time. I can't help myself.

This post is about some of my favorite things to use when cooking for my family. I have been collecting utensils, appliances, and gadgets for a long time. You would be amazed what you can pick up at garage sales, Goodwill, and estate sales. Not to mention the gift factor. I have wonderful family and friends who know how much I love kitchen things. I understand not everyone has these thing or can afford to run out and buy these thing. Keep an eye out at sales and drop hints for gift giving. You won't be sorry. I was just delighted when a young mother I work with told me she had won a drawing and got to pick a gift. She was thinking about a slow cooker and wanted my opinion. Slow Cookers are one of my very favorite things!

I'm lucky in that I now have two Crock Pots. I've had a large one for years, but my sister gave me a small one that had belonged to her Mother-in-Law. The small one also came with a bread-baking insert. The insert had never been used when I got it, but I've used it and it works great. I honestly don't know if they still make them. I know some are available on E-bay, but I wouldn't go that route. There are other ways to make bread and cakes in a Crock Pot. If you find one at a garage sale, go for it. Otherwise, I'll show you how to make do.

These are my Crock Pots and some of the pans I use with them. One is the bread-baking insert. One is a small spring-form pan and the other is just a small cake pan. I picked up the small spring-form pan years ago to use in my pressure cooker. I still use it in that, but it's great in the Crock Pots too. The small cake pan came from a set of pans meant for making wedding cake. I got the set at a garage sale when I was in my 20's. I don't have any intention of making wedding cakes, but it is nice to have an assortment of cake pans to use.

 

I think most people think about using slow cookers to make soups and stews. They are great for that, but they can do much more as well. You can bake, steam, braise and all sorts of stuff. One of my favorite meals is baked beans and steamed brown bread. I can make the beans in the large Crock Pot and the brown bread in the small one. I'm going to share my brown bread recipe with you. It goes great with soups, stews, roasts, and just about anything else you can think of.

Brown Bread has a long New England history. Wheat production didn't take off well in New England at first. Corn meal and rye flour were more available than wheat flour. Brown bread developed as a way to stretch the supplies of wheat flour. The bread is also made with molasses, which was the less expensive sweetener used commonly in the colonial world. Since much of the cooking was done in a fireplace, methods developed to cook baked goods without an oven. This is where steamed breads and puddings come in.

When making recipes like this, I try to keep in mind that colonial housewives didn't always have the same items on hand and they learned to substitute and adjust. If I don't have wheat flour, I use white. If I have less corn meal, I use more rye flour. As long as the totals equal the correct amounts, I find the bread comes out well. You do need some cornmeal though. It just isn't right without it.

Boston-style Brown Bread

1 cup all purpose flour

1 ½ cups of combined wheat and rye flour
½ cup cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup buttermilk (you can mix plain or vanilla yogurt with milk to 1 cup)
3 tablespoons melted butter
2/3 cups molasses (blackstrap, not sorghum)
1 ¼ cups raisins

1 to 2 cups of water for steaming.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the buttermilk, molasses and melted butter in another bowl. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients until just mixed. Fold in raisins. Put the mixture into a buttered pan or coffee can. Butter a piece of foil and put it on the top of the pan. Make the piece large enough that you can tent it while still sealing the pan well. The bread will rise and needs room to grow. I use a large rubber band to secure the foil to the top of the pan. String will work too. Place a trivet or crumpled foil in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the water and place the pan on the trivet/foil. Put the cover on the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours. Insert a knife to check to see if it is done. If it isn't done, cover again with foil and let it cook for another 40 minutes. Check again.

I have a small trivet that came with the bread-baking pan. Before I had that I just used foil crumpled in the bottom of the slow cooker. There really isn't any need to buy a trivet if you have foil.

This is the bread-baking pan and the trivet.  You can see how nicely it fits in either slow cooker and how the pan sits on top of it.

This is what I mean by using foil instead of a trivet.

If you happen to have a pressure cooker this same recipe can be cooked in the pressure cooker on medium pressure for 65 minutes.

Slow cookers and pans can be used to make things like meatloaf, cakes, custards and all sorts of goodies. Crockpot365.blogspot.com is an awesome blog. Stephanie O'Dea has incredible ideas and recipes for using slow cookers. She taught me how to make granola and yogurt in my slow cooker. Take the time to look through her site. You won't be sorry.

The really nice thing about a slow cooker is that it works beautifully cooking tougher, cheaper cuts of meat. I also depend on it to provide hot meals for my family on nights when I have to work through dinner time. It is also nice on days when I'm at work all day and too tired to cook when I get home. I can prepare everything the night before and just dump it in the cooker in the morning and head to work. When I get home I set the table and we eat. I don't tend to cook rice or pasta in my slow cooker. I find they get too mushy. However, both can be cooked in advance and reheated easily to stir in when I get home. They also cook pretty quickly and I can do that just before dinner. A slow cooker give me so much flexibility. If we get home late it is no big deal. If we all have to eat at different times, everyone can serve themselves.

I'm not cooking today. We have an bunch of left-overs to heat up. Dig out your slow cooker if you have one. Check out Stephanie and try something new. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.