Your December assistant, the slow cooker

 

Seems I just have to write a post about this every few years!  If it sounds familiar, I apologize, but I think you will thank me for the reminder.  I will do a similar post, with different recipes, on my Christmas blog.  I rely on my slow cooker during any busy season, but I find it invaluable in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I can put supper in the cooker on any busy day, even if I plan to be home all day.  I can then spend my day crafting, cleaning, decorating, or whatever happens to be on my agenda, while supper cooks all by itself.

If sides are needed, I might -- depending upon what the main course is --  use a bagged salad mix, scrub and pierce a few potatoes or sweet potatoes and bake them,  or quickly cook a bag of frozen vegetables in the microwave.  But I tend to use recipes that are one-dish meals, to keep things really simple!

I'm just going to share a few links: Slow-Cooked Pork Ribs. To make baked potatoes to serve with it, scrub and pierce several baking potatoes and place them on top of the ribs.  Cook for the same amount of time and remove to a serving dish before adding the barbecue sauce to the ribs.  Cole slaw from a bag would be good with this.

  Easy Crockpot Chili.  Again I need to add a quick note that I tweak the recipe by cooking the spices and onion with the ground beef first.  It seems to add a very measurable depth of flavor to the chili.    Even though this is a super simple recipe, I usually get many comments about how good it is.  I also use much less meat: a pound or less rather than the 3 pounds called for.  I often add an extra can of beans too -- usually kidney beans.  And I'd forgotten about this, but I usually cut down on the water and sometimes on that large quantity of tomato sauce as well.  It all depends on how many people I'm serving, the size pot I use, and whether or not I'm transporting it somewhere. An easy side with this would be to just open a bag of tortilla chips.  Or if you have time you could bake a pan of cornbread. 

.Slow Cooker Clam Chowder.  This chowder recipe is one that my daughter and I made one time in Nevada and it is SO good.  It tastes just about like the chowder at our now-defunct favorite local seafood place.  You could maybe bake some biscuits to go with this, or make grilled cheese sandwiches.  

Rosemary Chicken with White Beans.  This is one of those great recipes that is an entire meal in a bowl.  I change this recipe up slightly in that I use less rosemary than called for, less Italian dressing (I used about 1/3 cup of homemade Italian dressing), and I use more carrots and celery than called for -- probably at least twice as much.  I don't usually brown the chicken, but I will if it's for company and I want it to look as appetizing as possible.

Creamy Sausage Stew is another favorite that's a meal in a bowl.  I've changed this recipe up a lot over the years, but it has great flavors that we really enjoy.   Everyone I've served this to has liked it, and many times people will ask for seconds.

If you need more inspiration for slow cooker recipes, please do click the "Slow cooker recipes" link in the label cloud at right.  You will find pages of good ideas!

I seriously hope that many of you will get out your slow cookers and put them to work for you in this busy, festive season.  It really will make life easier! 

Another cookbook recommendation -- Weeknight Dinners

 

 Here's another Gooseberry Patch cookbook that I highly recommend -- Weeknight Dinners.  This is one that we had a recipe published in.  I have used this book a great deal since it came into our household, and have gifted copies to others.  One of the favorite recipes I've used over the years is sort of pictured at the top left of the cookbook cover: baked potatoes topped with vegetarian chili.  

This cookbook is divided by type of cuisine: for example, meatless, Italian, Mexican, etc.  In fact, the categories include: Meatless Monday; Tuesday is Tex-Mex Night; Wednesday is Italian Night; Comfort Food Thursday; and Just for Fun Friday.  I've made recipes from each of the chapters.  One thing I love about this book is it has a good number of slow-cooker recipes.  In fact, there are so many that there's a special category for Slow Cookers in the index!

Stir-Fry Veggies & Rotini and Chile Relleno Casserole are recipes from the Meatless Monday chapter that we've greatly enjoyed, in addition to the Chili Baked Potatoes.  I want to make the Cheddar Baked Spaghetti, and the Lentil Brown Rice Tacos have been on my want-to-try list for some time.

In the Tex-Mex Tuesday chapter, I have made a slow-cooker recipe, Tex-Mex Chicken & Rice, countless times.  I can't eat frozen corn, so I substituted a can of black beans, drained and rinsed, for the corn.  This meal is delicious and I have often taken it to church potlucks.  Shredded Mexican Chicken is made in a slow cooker also and is perfect for tacos, enchiladas, taco salads, or any Mexican dish.  South-of-the-Border Rice makes a perfect accompaniment to many Mexican dishes, and I have prepared it many times.  Chicken Tortilla Soup was also published along with a review of this cookbook by my friend Linda at Prairie Flower Farm.  It's a really delicious and easy slow-cooker recipe.  

Another nice thing about this cookbook is that not only does it feature main dishes, but also sides, salads, a few breads, and desserts.  In the Tex-Mex section is a recipe for a dessert called Tim's Apple Burrito -- really just a huge apple turnover that serves 5 to 6 and sounds amazing!

Wednesday is Italian Night is a fun chapter filled with want-to-try recipes.  I've made Yummy Chicken Italiano -- another slow cooker dish -- for church potlucks and it goes over well.  Creamy Tomato Tortellini is another I've tried.  It's meatless but so scrumptious. Herbed Parmesan Squash is a good side dish.

In the Comfort Food Thursday chapter is another slow cooker favorite, Jan's Pork Chops & Pierogies.  True comfort food!  Chicken & Broccoli Bake is delicious but only serves two.  I would double or triple that one, and I prefer florets to chopped broccoli.  Dill Potato Wedges is a side dish recipe I've tried and loved.  Swedish Meatloaf is a recipe I'd love to try.  We enjoy Swedish meatballs and this would have a similar flavor.  

The chapter Just For Fun Friday contains the reason I own this book: my own recipe for Slow-Cooked Pork Ribs.  I've also tried Melissa's Hawaiian Chicken, another flavorful slow cooker meal.  Cheeseburger Macaroni is another recipe I've tried and liked.  And there are many, many more in this chapter that I want to try.  Baked Potato Bar and Pizza Butter Muffins, just to name a couple.

Because this cookbook contains such a variety of cuisines, it makes meal planning quite easy. 

Apparently this book has been updated to include photos and a photo cover.  You can check that out here: Updated Weeknight Dinners.

If you should be interested in the edition I have, Thriftbooks has one in good condition for $4.69: Weeknight Dinners.

Whichever edition you choose, I think you would be very pleased with this cookbook.  I know it's a much-used addition to my own cookbook shelves.

Fall meet-up with friends #5 -- another breakfast and lunch at our little camp

 

It's a rare treat when we are able to get together with our good friends Syd and Cyndy from Vermont.  So when it happens, we like to spend most of a day together, usually beginning with breakfast.  Often it's at our home, but in summer and fall we love to entertain at our little cottage.  And thanks to a mild November, such was the case on Veterans Day.  Amazingly, this was the second meet-up with them this fall; they are the same friends mentioned in my October post about meet-up with friends #4!

I kept breakfast super-simple with breakfast sliders and with a Hash Brown Casserole, which I kept warm in a crockpot rather than baking it in the oven.   (The oven at the camp is tiny and only has one rack, so I could only bake one 13x9 dish.)   Cyndy is somewhat of a baked-apple specialist, so I had asked her to bring baked apples to add to the breakfast menu.  She surprised us with an unusual but scrumptious variation -- baked apples filled with bread pudding!  Of course we also had coffee with our breakfast.

The sliders were from Jamie at My Baking Addiction.  They were delicious!  I tweaked the recipe in a few ways.  I couldn't find Hawaiian rolls in the right size, so I bought Pepperidge Farm slider buns.  (They were still expensive -- $4.29 -- but not as expensive as the Hawaiian rolls would have been.)  I made homemade sausage patties instead of using purchased sausage.  And, I used American cheese for the cheese on the bottom roll layer and shredded cheddar for the top layer.  I really liked the cheddar, so another time I would likely use all cheddar cheese.   There will definitely be a next time! 

I imagine some readers might like to have the homemade sausage recipe.  I have posted it before, but it's been years.  So here it is:

HOMEMADE SAUSAGE PATTIES

1/4 cup water
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
2 lb. ground pork

In a bowl, stir together water and seasonings. Add pork and mix well. Shape meat mixture into eight 4” patties (or a larger amount of smaller ones). In a skillet over medium heat, cook patties for 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the center.

This is such a yummy recipe for homemade sausage! I often cut the amounts in half to make a smaller batch. This sausage is very lean and not at all greasy.  For these sliders, I used about 1 1/4 pounds of ground pork, which is what I had, and used half the amount of seasonings specified here.

We lingered over breakfast just enjoying the fellowship and wonderful food.  After the breakfast dishes were done,  we decided to take a walk at nearby Quincy Bog.  Syd took these photos with his phone.

There is just something about red berries after all of the other foliage is gone.  Love them.

We were fascinated by this large tree apparently growing out of a rock.

Such unusual moss growing vertically on this stump!

For lunch, we were joined by our daughter and three of the grandkids, who walked through the woods from their house next door.   Chili seemed like the perfect choice for a fall day, although the day turned out to be quite balmy. Once again I served  Easy Crockpot Chili.  And again I need to add a quick note that I tweak the recipe by cooking the spices and onion with the ground beef first.  It seems to add a very measurable depth of flavor to the chili.  (And the grandkids LOVE it!)   Even though this is a super simple recipe, I usually get many comments about how good it is.  I also use much less meat: a pound or less rather than the 3 pounds called for.  I often add an extra can of beans too -- usually kidney beans.  And I'd forgotten about this, but I usually cut down on the water and sometimes on that large quantity of tomato sauce as well.  It all depends on how many people I'm serving, the size pot I use, and whether or not I'm transporting it somewhere.  This time I used around 16 ounces of tomato sauce and no water, as we were transporting a very full crockpot over a bumpy dirt road.  (Once we got there, I transferred some of the chili to a saucepan and added some of the tomato sauce to each batch.)  So if you make this, feel free to tweak it too! 

Cyndy brought a pan of delicious cornbread and a jug of cider,  and we also had tortilla chips and a Baked Taco Dip.  I had seen this dip recipe on the Hodgepodge this week and decided to try it.  With teenage appetites present for lunch, I wasn't sure if the chili would stretch far enough without it.  (It certainly did, because two of the teenagers in question enjoyed leftover breakfast sliders and hash brown casserole.  After which I heard, "Amazing food, Grammy!")

For dessert, I had made two Turtle Pumpkin Pies.   This is apparently a Kraft recipe, but I found it in my Gooseberry Patch Big Book of Holiday Cooking (the link will take you to my review of the book).  In fact, it's one of the cover recipes!  I got this book at Thriftbooks for $5.99 a couple years ago.  It's always worth checking there for good deals on cookbooks.

 
I made homemade graham cracker crust (which the recipe I had specified doing).  Instead of cinnamon and nutmeg (which totaled 1 1/2 teaspoons) I substituted 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.  My pie slices came out looking just about exactly like the picture, which was surprising and encouraging!

 

(My family has teased me for years about trying out new recipes on company.  I'm notorious for doing that!  But this may be the first time I have tried three new recipes on one hospitality occasion.) 

Just one more photo, for fun.  Our dear friend is "Miss Cyndy" to our young granddaughter Arielle (as well as to many other children).  When she saw Ari's deer costume (purchased on clearance after Halloween) she decided a photo shoot was in order.  A little deer is bounding through the woods on a gray November afternoon!

What a delightful day it was!  So thankful for good friends as well as for family "just through the woods". 

A simple but festive breakfast

 

 I promised to share recipes from our recent breakfast with four of the local grandkids.  We kept it very simple:

Homemade Breakfast Sandwiches
Hash Brown Casserole
Cinnamon Fried Apples

This menu worked out great!  Here are the recipes:

HOMEMADE BREAKFAST SANDWICHES
English muffins, toasted and buttered
Fried eggs
Canadian bacon, fried
Sliced or shredded cheese

I buttered the split English muffins and placed them on a large baking sheet to toast in the oven while we cooked the Canadian bacon and then the eggs.  When the muffins came out of the oven, I added cheese to each toasted half (a small amount of shredded cheese or a half slice).  Then I added the eggs and Canadian bacon (which is the perfect round shape for these sandwiches, and is so yummy), and put the tops on the sandwiches.  Then I wrapped each one in foil, placed them in a crockpot and turned the temperature to Low to keep the sandwiches warm until we were ready to eat.

This is the second time I've tried this crockpot trick for breakfast sandwiches.  It works great!  This time, I made a dozen sandwiches so used two crockpots.

HASH BROWN CASSEROLE

 
As I'm sure I've noted in previous posts on this subject,  this casserole is at its absolute best when one uses a homemade cream soup substitute rather than the canned cream soups.

I prepared this casserole the night before, refrigerated and baked it in the morning.

CINNAMON FRIED APPLES

This recipe made our youngest daughter, the kids' Auntie JoJo from way out in Nevada, a part of our day.   As part of a Thanksgiving package, she had included a couple pages of recipes clipped from their local Everything Elko magazine.

As you see, this apple recipe was one of them.  I planned to serve some type of fruit with our breakfast, and someone had given us four very large apples, so I gave the recipe a try.  We really liked it and every scrap was eaten.  I just made a couple of changes to the recipe as written: rather than cut the apples in bite size pieces, I sliced them and cut the slices in half; and I used only half the amount of cinnamon called for.

That was our festive, simple breakfast last Friday before jumping into candy making, crafting, and visiting an ice cream shop.  Just what we needed to fuel our adventures!

Cozy camp breakfasts

 

This morning as we were eating breakfast at our little camp, I happened to think that others might like to know how we've been making breakfast happen there on the mornings after we stay over.  Usually, our breakfast there has been extremely simple: a supermarket bakery muffin (oh, so healthy!😊) and two mugs of coffee.  

But once we embarked on a 40-day sugar fast, we needed to do something a little different -- but it still had to be quick and easy.  One thing I did was to research refined-sugar free muffins.  Chocolate-Covered Katie has some great ones.   The first recipe I tried was Coffee Cake Muffins.  They turned out perfectly!  I used xylitol instead of sugar in the muffin part and coconut sugar in the crumb topping.  I also substituted frozen raspberries for the chopped strawberries.  

Next, I tried Katie's Applesauce Muffins.  I used xylitol in these.  They also turned out very well.  In each case, I packaged the muffins all together in a plastic container and froze them.  Then I put the number of muffins we wanted to take to the camp each time in a smaller plastic container for transport.  In the morning we put the desired number of muffins in a round foil cake pan and placed it atop the woodstove to warm a bit.

 I also made Katie's Apple Bread.  That was very good as well, and I liked being able to pour the batter into a loaf pan rather than taking time to fill individual muffin tins.   I brought the loaf along (frozen in between uses) and in the morning we just sliced off a slice or two and warmed it in the foil cake pan the same way as the muffins.  It is not super sweet (I didn't add the coconut butter "frosting" pictured in the recipe) but is quite tasty.  I upped the cinnamon to a teaspoon (recipe called for 1/2 tsp.) but I think another time I would add at least 2 teaspoons.  It just didn't taste cinnamon-y enough to me.

As time has gone on and the weather has gotten colder, we've found it seems really important to have a warm breakfast.  The two smaller rooms are uninsulated, so it gets rather chilly "around the edges" away from the woodstove.

One sugarless breakfast that really fills the quick and yet warm requirement is crockpot oatmeal, so some mornings we've been having that.  I will share the best recipe I've come up with for it, which I adapted from one in Gooseberry Patch's Fall, Family and Friends:

COZY CROCKPOT OATMEAL

2 cups almond milk
1 cup old-fashioned oats (uncooked)
1/4 cup brown sugar or alternative sweetener; I used xylitol in the best version I made
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons maple syrup, honey or agave
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 medium apples, cored, unpeeled, chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Spray the inside of a 3-quart slow cooker with non-stick vegetable spray.  Place all ingredients in slow cooker and mix well.  Cover and cook on Low setting for 7 or 8 hours.  Stir before serving in bowls.  We topped ours with a pat of butter and some half and half cream.  Makes about 4 servings.

Probably no one but me will need these details, but since we brought this over in the late afternoon and wouldn't start cooking it until bedtime, I put the oats, sugar, butter, cinnamon, raisins and walnuts in the slow cooker for transport.  I brought the apples separately and put the milk and maple syrup into a quart jar, refrigerating the jar when we reached camp. 

(I had previously tried it the other way around -- placing the milk and syrup into the slow cooker and bringing the dry ingredients in a ziplock bag.  Well, the camp is located on a very bumpy dirt road and by the time we reached there, milk had spattered all over the inside of the crockpot lid.  Not a huge deal, but it worked better bringing the liquids in a jar.)

Just before bedtime, I chopped the apples and mixed everything together in the slow cooker.  It was ready in 7 hours and we enjoyed every bite.

If you are trying to avoid sugar too, you might find that one or more of these recipes will add interest to your breakfast routine.  Our sugar fast finishes tomorrow, but we'll be starting another in January, so we will be enjoying these breakfast treats again soon!

Recipe ramblings

 

As I mentioned last week, I've tried a few new recipes lately.  The recent hot, humid weather prompted me to go through a stack of main-dish salad recipes that I'd saved.  The potato salad with kielbasa, above, is a Woman's Day recipe I've had for years but had not tried.  It's very good!  Below is the rest of the recipe:

Another salad recipe I've saved for years but never tried is this Hearty Pasta Salad from an older issue of Taste of Home.  

Photo from Taste of Home

For the meat, I used cut-up smoked turkey and it was very good.  I didn't use either carrots or celery as I was really crunched for time.  Instead I used some frozen petite peas, thawed in a strainer under hot running water.  I also added a good bit more lemon juice to the dressing.  1/4 teaspoon is a pretty small amount.

When we visited Nevada this spring, my sweet daughter gifted me with a copy of Taste of Home's Healthier Cooking.  It has so many good recipes in it!  This Slow-Cooker Chicken Taco Salad is one of them.  I've made this multiple times now,  and it is SO delicious.  That entire magazine, in fact, has such a variety of great recipes that it is well worth owning.  Very few, if any, ads. 

Photo from Taste of Home

I used that taco salad recipe while we were staying and working at a Christian camp early this summer.  It was so easy since I cooked and shredded the chicken at home, then brought it along in a container along with bags of salad mix, cherry tomatoes, avocados, shredded cheese and a bottle of ranch dressing.  It made for quick, simple, nourishing meals after busy work days.

 Another new recipe I recently tried was for Quick-Pickled Red Onions.  I kept seeing this condiment mentioned on people's blogs, so I finally bought a red onion, found a recipe, and went for it.

 

Photo from Martha Stewart

We both enjoy onions on burgers, but seldom have them because we are still tasting the onions for days afterward, it seems.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that we could put these pickled red onions on a turkey burger or a sandwich with no ill effects at all.  Now I am looking forward to trying these out in the company of grandson Sam, known in his family as the Condiment King when it comes to burgers.

I can't forget to share this recipe for low-carb Cream Cheese Chicken Stuffed Peppers!  I tried this one day when I had some colorful sweet peppers to use up and this recipe happened into my email inbox.  I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand.  This is a super recipe by Karly from Buns in My Oven.

Photo by Karly from Buns in My Oven

This is a scrumptious recipe and so easy!  My hubby could not stop raving about how delicious these stuffed peppers were and that there is no need to ever make them any other way. 

Lastly, I want to share an eggplant recipe: Slow Cooker Eggplant Parmesan from Anne Wolfe Postic.  Someone gave my local daughter a very large eggplant; in fact, it seemed like two large eggplants that had grown together.  Their family doesn't really care for eggplant, so she offered it to me.

 

Photo from Pixabay

The weather was so hot at that point that I couldn't even think about making moussaka or eggplant parmesan in the oven as I ordinarily might.  My hubby suggested looking for a slow cooker recipe, and this is the one I found.  It was also too hot to think about making my own marinara, so I used the jarred kind.  This eggplant parmesan turned out so, so good!  I loved the fact that, although the eggplant slices are dipped in egg and crumbs, they do not need to be fried.  Again, this was a recipe my hubby raved about and declared there was no need to make eggplant parmesan the regular way ever again.  I really think he's right!

There are my recipe ramblings from the past few weeks.  Maybe you'll find a recipe you want to try among them.

Monday musings

 The lovely graphic above is by Abby at Little Birdie Blessings.

 I didn't find time to do a Friday five post this past week.  I really missed it.  So  today I'm doing "Monday musings" instead, just jumping into what my friend Arlene calls The Stream (as in stream of consciousness).  The only streams actually running up here in New Hampshire right now are on the roadsides, as yesterday's snow melts in today's warm sun.  And I actually dipped a toe -- really, my entire foot -- into more than one of those on my walk this morning.  My socks and sneakers were soaked.

So, in no particular order, here are a few things from today and the past week.  No idea if I'll end up with five, six, or three.  This is the stream, after all.

1.Slow Cooker Clam Chowder! 

Photo from The Spruce

This is a delicious recipe that I have simmering in the slow cooker right now.  I had a dental procedure today, something that I hadn't been planning on.  A situation was discovered during a routine cleaning last Thursday and was repaired today.  I thought I'd play it safe and make a nice slow cooker soup for tonight's supper.  This chowder recipe is one that my daughter and I made one time in Nevada and it is SO good.  It tastes just about like the chowder at our local seafood place.

2.  Courage -- yep, my word for 2019 -- for the above-mentioned dental procedure. 

from Little Birdie Blessings

I'm a real wimp when it comes to the dentist.  Very bad childhood experiences with dentists have left their indelible impression upon me.  It takes music, headphones, prayer, and plenty of courage for me to face a procedure.  So thankful for my wonderful dentist and for God-given courage!

3.  Essaic Tea.   Link and photo are both from Amazon.

Mr. T and I have been taking this for a couple of months.  Essiac tea is a mixture of four different roots, bark and leaves used as a health tonic. It is used as an anticancer treatment, but is also used to treat other serious health problems. We started taking it just for general wellness -- one takes a capful a day.  One thing it is supposed to help a lot with is inflammation throughout the body.  And today I had proof that it's doing just that, when my dentist commended me for taking such good care of my mouth and noted that there was no inflammation or bleeding.  This has not always been the case.  I do try to take good care of my teeth and gums but some days I fail miserably.  I truly feel that the difference must be the Essiac Tea.


4.  A few (a very few) minutes for creativity this past weekend.  I enjoy using free printables to add a seasonal touch to a picture frame in our front hallway.  I wanted one with a maple sugaring theme and ended up putting together one of my own using Canva.  Not 100% sure if I will stick with this one or make another, but for now, this one, using an image from a vintage Christmas card, is framed and on the wall and I'm enjoying it.

5.  The opportunity to celebrate a birthday with two teenage grandchildren this past week.  They share a birthday -- March 5 -- but are three years apart in age.  We celebrated one after school on the actual day, when granddaughter Sarah and her sister came over for ice cream with hot fudge and a present with card.  The other was celebrated on Saturday night with grandson Sam and his family over cheeseburgers, chips, pasta salad and a truly decadent chocolate cake put together by Sam and his mom. (The image below is not Sam's cake,)

6.  The comfort God has given as we lost a dear friend early Friday morning.  We are rejoicing for him, but it's hard for those left behind, and his widow particularly needs our prayers.  However, we will see our dear brother in the Lord again some day!

Another from Abby

7.  Another free photo book code from Shutterfly that enabled me to make a second one of these:

My blogging time is about up and it's time to shift to working on my Sunday School lesson, so I'll get going.  Hope you are all having a good Monday!

Time to fire up those slow cookers!

Yes, and not just because it's winter!  I rely on my slow cooker so much during any busy season, but I find it invaluable in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I can put supper in the cooker on any busy day, even if I plan to be home all day.  I can then spend my day crafting, cleaning, decorating, or whatever happens to be on my agenda, while supper cooks all by itself.

If sides are needed, I might -- depending upon what the main course is -- bake a loaf of bread in the bread machine,  use a bagged salad mix, scrub and pierce a few potatoes or sweet potatoes and bake them,  or quickly cook a bag of frozen vegetables in the microwave.

Yesterday we had company for Sunday lunch and I left this favorite in the slow cooker: Rosemary Chicken with White Beans. The recipe, and the photo above, are from Taste of Home, a valuable resource for all cooks.

  I change this recipe up slightly in that I use less rosemary than called for, less Italian dressing (I used about 1/3 cup of homemade Italian dressing), and I use more carrots and celery than called for -- probably at least twice as much.  I don't usually brown the chicken, but I did this time since it was for company and I wanted it to look as appetizing as possible.

We found that all we needed for a side was the cornbread I had baked early that morning.  Speaking of cornbread,  when I serve it for Sunday lunch, I have recently taken to sifting together all the dry ingredients the night before and transferring to a quart size zip top bag.  Then in the morning, all I need to do is grease a square pan or a muffin tin, whisk together the wet ingredients in a bowl, whisk in the combined dry ingredients, and transfer to the prepared pan or tin, then bake.  It makes the process so quick and easy.

If you need inspiration for slow cooker recipes, please do click the "Slow cooker recipes" link in the label cloud at right.  You will find pages of good ideas!

I hope that you seriously will get out your slow cooker and put it to work for you in this busy, festive season.  It really will make life easier!

A keeper recipe: Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meat Sauce

Photo from RefreshHer

Several weeks ago I saw this recipe:Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meat Sauce at my friend Denise's blog and knew I just had to try it. 

We love spaghetti squash and I serve it often in the fall, but I never knew it could be cooked successfully in a crock pot.  Well, it certainly can! 

To make this dish, as you will see, one first browns ground turkey and then adds it to a crock pot with the other ingredients.  Then the spaghetti squash, halved and seeded, is placed on top.  It cooks on High for four hours, then the strands of "spaghetti" are loosened and removed to a bowl or plate, with the sauce placed on top.

I usually avoid slow cooker recipes that involve browning meat as a first step; I guess I am just too lazy and I want to skip washing that extra skillet.  But in this case, of course, since it was ground meat, I did brown it.  I also added the onion and some chopped green pepper while browning (I didn't have mushrooms, so left them out and used peppers instead).  For spaghetti sauce, I used our supermarket store brand in the plum tomato and olive oil variety.

By the way, a good tip for cleaning out the "innards" of  spaghetti squash is to use a grapefruit spoon.  The serrated edge works so well to get every bit out.

When I prepared this, my two halves of spaghetti squash wouldn't lay flat atop the meat sauce in the cooker as Denise's did in the photo of that step in the recipe.  So I laid one of them flat and the second one sort of sideways.  They both cooked just fine, so don't worry if you have to position your squash halves like that, also.

This is such a delicious meal!  We enjoyed it very much and had the leftovers a night or two later.  They reheated well in the microwave.

I highly recommend you visit RefreshHer -- not only for great recipes like this one, but also for spiritual refreshment and encouragement for homemaking and family matters.  And I do hope you'll try this marvelous fall supper!  I think you would enjoy it as much as we did.

Creamy Sausage Stew, take 3

Photo from Taste of Home

Sunday we had guests for lunch  after church, and I made this sausage stew in the slow cooker to serve with corn muffins.  It's a perfect meal for fall!  I've had this recipe for a long time and have posted about it at least once previously.  I found it in a Country Woman magazine in 1995.  It was a great recipe to begin with, but I have tweaked it over the years.

As I noted in my other post, I usually use half the amount of sausage, cut in smaller pieces than specified, and I usually use light or turkey sausage.  I also use half-and-half instead of the heavy cream.  It even works with fat-free half-and-half!   The dish still tastes very rich but it is a lot lower in fat. 

You can find my other post about the sausage stew here and the original recipe from the Taste of Home site here: Creamy Sausage Stew.   The original recipe called for roasting the vegetables and sausage, and it is very good that way, but I have been tweaking it to try and make it work easily in the slow cooker.

Here is my most recent take on this recipe:

CREAMY SAUSAGE STEW
8 medium potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 to 2 yellow onions, cut in 8 wedges each
1 large green pepper, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 large red pepper, cut in 1-inch pieces
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, halved
14 ounces turkey kielbasa or smoked sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced about 1/2 thick
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Half-and-half to taste
Cornstarch and water to thicken if desired

In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients except for the half-and-half and optional cornstarch/water.

Cook on High for about 2 hours, then turn to Low and cook for 3 to 4 more hours.  (Or you could just cook it on High for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.)

When ready to serve, add half-and-half to your taste.  If it seems too liquid or not as creamy as you'd like, just mix equal parts of cornstarch and water and add to the stew, stirring well and allowing to cook for a few more minutes until it is as thick as you'd like.

This got great reviews from our guests on Sunday, with everyone having a second bowl of stew!  I hope that you and your family enjoy it also!

One more slow cooker dessert: Hot Fudge Sundae Cake

Photo from Taste of Home

Probably a good many of us have made a hot fudge sundae cake (also called a hot fudge pudding cake) in the oven.  It used to be a very popular dessert in the 1960s and 1970s and I had several other variations of it.  A lemon one, a caramel apple one, and a toffee raisin one.  All were good, but I think the hot fudge one was the favorite of most people.

Once I realized that my newly acquired 3-quart slow cooker was the perfect size for desserts, I decided to try the hot fudge sundae cake from my Gooseberry Patch Slow Cooking All Year Round cookbook. 

Here is  the recipe:
HOT FUDGE SUNDAE CAKE
1 cup flour*
1/2 cup sugar
6 Tblsp. unsweetened baking cocoa, divided use
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk*
2 Tblsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 cups hot water

Spray a 2 to 3-quart slow cooker with non-stick baking spray.  Sift flour, sugar, 2 Tblsp. baking cocoa, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.  Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla.  Spread this batter evenly in the greased slow cooker.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and the remaining 4 Tblsp. baking cocoa.  Slowly stir the hot water until smooth.  Pour this mixture evenly over the batter in the slow cooker.  Do not stir!

Cover slow cooker and cook on High setting for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Turn off slow cooker.  Let cake stand, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes before serving. 

Spoon warm cake into dessert dishes; add ice cream if desired.  Spoon sauce from slow cooker over top.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

(The recipe also called for 1/2 cup chopped nuts, but I don't think they are necessary.  If you use them, fold them into the batter just before spreading it in the cooker.)

* When I made this, I used the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 baking flour.  I also used almond milk instead of regular milk.

Oh, my, is this delicious!  I've made it twice now for our potluck lunch at church.  The second time I doubled the recipe and again, used the 3-quart slow cooker.  It worked fine.  Both times, I had French vanilla ice cream available to serve with this.  Coffee ice cream would also be fantastic!

To take this to the potluck, since I was going to be at church all morning anyway, I just cooked it there.  I spread the batter in the slow cooker and did not do the rest of the prep until I got to church.  I had the brown sugar and cocoa combined in a covered plastic bowl and just stirred in the hot water when I got there, then poured it over the batter.

And I just realized that -- although I followed the directions to turn the cooker off and let stand 30-40 minutes before serving, I didn't take the cover off.  It didn't seem to do any harm, but I'll pay attention to that next time!

If your family or potluck crowd likes chocolate and you like the idea of a nice warm dessert without any last-minute fuss, give this one a try!

Ever make a dessert in a slow cooker?

 I hadn't, until recently.  The concept has been around for awhile, but most slow-cooker dessert recipes call for a smaller cooker than what I have had.  Then I inherited a 3-quart crockpot with a removable Corning Ware casserole as the liner.  At first I used it mostly for smaller main dish recipes or for side dishes like vegetables.

Recently it occurred to me that now I could try one of the slow-cooker dessert recipes that so intrigued me.  I could take them to Sunday potluck lunches at church so we wouldn't have any leftovers tempting us at home.  I've now tried two recipes and am sold on this idea, especially for fall and winter.

The cookbook shown above, Slow Cooking All Year Round, is one that I received for having a recipe published in it.  I'm so thankful that I have this cookbook, as I have turned to it again and again.

But now I could turn to the dessert recipes!  There are 29 dessert recipes in this book.  A few of them are candies -- one combines and melts the ingredients in the slow cooker and then the mixture is dropped onto waxed paper to cool and harden.  Most, though, are some sort of pudding, cobbler, or cake.

This is really a great idea for a church potluck as the dessert can be cooking unattended in the slow cooker during the services.  When ready to eat, you have a nice warm dessert to serve.  Of course, it could also work to have the dessert in your slow cooker at home if you are planning Sunday lunch for guests or family.

On to the recipes.  The first one I tried (and my favorite of the two) is Gingerbread Pudding Cake:
GINGERBREAD PUDDING CAKE
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg white*
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup water
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
----------------------------------
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup (or less) melted butter

In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg white* and vanilla.  In separate smaller bowl or a measuring cup, combine molasses and water.  Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the molasses mixture, starting and ending with dry ingredients and beating well after each addition.  Pour mixture into a greased 3-quart slow cooker. 

Sprinkle brown sugar over top of batter.  Combine hot water and melted butter; pour over brown sugar.  Do not stir.

Cover and cook on High setting for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted near center of cake tests clean.  Turn off slow cooker; let stand for 15 minutes.  Serve warm, scooped into bowls and topped with whipped cream or ice cream.  Serves 6 to 8.

* Changes I made: I used a whole egg rather than an egg white because I just didn't have time to separate an egg right then.  The recipe did call for 1/2 cup chopped pecans in the batter, but I left those out.  I also used less melted butter at the end than called for; it called for 2/3 cup, which would have been impossibly rich.  It is a very rich dessert as it is.  Next time, I am going to try just 1/3 cup of melted butter, or maybe even 1/4 cup.

To make this at church, I had everything in the slow cooker except the hot water and melted butter at the end.  I just added those at church before turning the cooker on.  We just brought along a container of French vanilla ice cream to serve with it.

This dessert got rave reviews from those who tasted it.  It's delicious!

🍎 🍏 🍎 🍏 🍎 🍏 🍎 🍏 🍎 🍏 🍎 🍏 🍎

Now for the second recipe, Slow-Cooker Apple Pie:
SLOW-COOKER APPLE PIE
8 cups apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
5 Tablespoons softened butter, divided use
1 1/2 cup biscuit baking mix, divided use
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

In a large bowl, toss together apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg; transfer to a greased slow cooker.  (I just tossed them together IN the slow cooker.) 

In a bowl, blend eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, 2 Tablespoons of the softened butter and 3/4 cup of the baking mixture.  (I beat them together with a hand mixer.)  Spoon this batter over apples.

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar with the remaining baking mix and remaining softened butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Spoon brown sugar mixture over batter.  Do not stir.

Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 7 hours.  Serve warm, spooned into individual bowls and topped with whipped cream or ice cream.  Serves 8 to 10.

I would not call this a pie, exactly; it was more of a cobbler.  But still very delicious!

So there you have it!  Some readers had been asking for the Gingerbread Pudding Cake recipe.  Now you can choose from two slow cooker dessert recipes if you are interested in trying this concept.  (And I highly recommend Slow Cooking All Year Round, too.)  Enjoy!

A fowl tip

Photo from Pixabay

 ... on preparing cooked chicken for the freezer.

Our local supermarket will often feature boneless chicken breasts for $1.69/lb.   I nearly always buy a large package or two to freeze.  I most often freeze them individually, wrapped in plastic, and this works out well for using however many I want for a particular meal.

This summer, though, I tried a recipe for Basic Mexican Chicken from a Gooseberry Patch slow cooker cookbook, Slow Cooking All Year Round.  I got this book for free because my recipe for slow cooker "rotisserie" chicken was published in it.

Here's what you do:

BASIC MEXICAN CHICKEN
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg, taco seasoning mix*
16-ounce jar salsa

Place chicken in slow cooker; sprinkle with taco seasoning.   Pour salsa over top; do not stir.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  Shred chicken with 2 forks; mix well with sauce in slow cooker.  Serves 6 to 8.

Julie Saifullah, the lady who shared the recipe, wrote, "I make this chicken often because it is so versatile.  You can use it to make all kinds of Mexican dishes, like tacos, enchiladas, burritos, rice bowls, nachos, or even chicken tortilla soup!"

This recipe is indeed so versatile, as I found when I tried it for myself.  From there it was a short step to thinking about freezing the cooked chicken.  I made the recipe again next time chicken was on sale, and packaged meal-sized portions of the Mexican-flavored chicken in quart-size ziplock bags.  It proved to be very handy to just pull out a package of cooked chicken to get a start on a soup or casserole.

So recently chicken was on sale again

Photo from Pixabay

and I found myself thinking about this a little more.  If Mexican-flavored cooked chicken in the freezer was so helpful, why not other flavors?

So I bought two large trays of chicken and cooked one tray with more of an Italian flavor.  I put a little olive oil in the bottom of the crock and between the layers.  I also made up a dry Italian salad dressing mix* -- a double batch, because this is a lot of chicken to season! -- and sprinkled that between the layers of chicken.  I cooked it for about 4 hours at high.  When it cooled a bit, I cut it up in cubes and again froze meal-size quantities in quart-size ziplock bags.

The next day I cooked the other tray.  I wanted this one to have more of a rotisserie chicken flavor, so I drizzled in a bit of olive oil and sprinkled the layers of chicken very generously with Montreal Chicken seasoning.  Again I cooked it about 4 hours at high and packaged it the same way.  Of course I labeled the various flavors accordingly -- Mexican, Italian, or seasoned.

(I should add that the Mexican chicken recipe, because of the salsa, comes out with a more "soupy" consistency, but I just divided the liquid among the freezer bags of chicken.  It's been fine in the recipes I've tried it in.  But if I wanted it less liquid-y, I would just drizzle the chicken with some olive oil, sprinkle with the taco seasoning, and cook it without the salsa.)

I am looking forward to having these "meal starters" at the ready in my freezer for busy days!

There are several pluses to cooking this chicken in the slow cooker which I thought I would mention.  First, of course, is that it cooks while you are doing other things.  A huge plus in my book!  And then there is the fact that several cups of nicely seasoned broth are also produced with this cooking method.  You just strain it into a clean container (I use a recycled quart-size yogurt container) and put it in fridge or (for longer storage) freezer.  Next time you need chicken broth, it's there!

And then, a very important plus is that you don't need to trim the fat off the chicken breasts before cooking.  Most of it melts into the broth (which isn't an issue because you are going to chill the strained broth and can then lift the layer of fat off the top).  What small bits of fat remain on the cooked chicken, you can easily trim off with kitchen shears and you won't have wasted a lot of meat as can often happen when trying to remove fat from raw chicken.

And also:  * My recipes for taco seasoning mix and Italian dressing mix may be found in this older post: Saving Money in the Kitchen.*

Slow cooker strategies

Photo from Six Sisters' Stuff

I've been using my slow cooker a whole lot this summer, mostly as a tool to get supper to cook itself while I do other things.  I'm going to share some main dishes and a side dish that I've found really useful.

First up, the side dish -- the Slow Cooker Roasted Vegetables pictured above.  We get lots of produce from friends, and this is an awesome way to use it.  The picture above actually does not do this recipe justice.  It is much more colorful than this.  I don't usually add the cheese on top.  This would be a great side with pizza or calzone, or with a quiche or even scrambled eggs.  Of course it would also be a wonderful side with any grilled item.  I like the fact that this recipe includes potatoes.  I cube the potatoes because they take longer to cook, but cut veggies like zucchini and peppers in much larger chunks.

Oh -- this recipe calls for a salad dressing mix.  I always make my own.  Here's the recipe:

ZESTY  ITALIAN  DRESSING  MIX

1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. each:  pepper, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, sweet red pepper flakes
Pinch of paprika

    In a custard cup or small bowl, mix all together.  Whirl briefly in a blender if you like a finer texture (I skip this step).  Makes the equivalent of 1 packet Italian dressing mix.  May double or triple the recipe if you need more than one packet of mix in whatever you’re making.

(I was a little disappointed in the lack of flavor the first time I made the veggie recipe, so recently I’ve been tripling this dressing mix recipe to use in it and it is much improved.)

This Tex-Mex Quinoa Casserole is a very flavorful meatless recipe.

Photo from Chelsea's Messy Apron

We have enjoyed it a lot.  Just pay attention to the cooking time and temperature.  It needs to cook at High for only 3-4 hours.  Otherwise it will get mushy.  When it does, the taste is still wonderful but the mixture looks regrettably like dog food.

Lastly, one more recipe which I do not have a photo for.  This is adapted from the Fix-and-Forget-It Lightly cookbook.  It's a fantastic way to use up large amounts of zucchini.

VEGETABLE RICE CASSEROLE

1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used 1 cup of quick-cooking brown rice)
1 lb. zucchini, cubed
1 lb. yellow summer squash, cubed (or just use 2 lb. zucchini)
1 large onion, sliced
1 1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 medium sized sweet pepper, any color, sliced in strips
4 celery ribs with leaves, sliced (optional)
2 large tomatoes, sliced (or, use 1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tblsp. olive oil, divided use
Shredded cheese, optional

1.  Spray slow cooker insert with cooking spray.  Spread rice in the bottom of the insert.
2.  Layer in the zucchini, summer squash, onion, and sprinkle with basil. 
3.  Combine the brown sugar, salt and pepper and sprinkle half of this over the basil.  Drizzle 1 Tblsp. of olive oil over.
4.  Top with sliced peppers, celery (if using) and tomatoes.  Sprinkle remaining brown sugar mixture over this layer.  Drizzle remaining olive oil over this layer.
5.  Cover.  Cook on High for 3 to 4 hours or until vegetables reach desired degree of doneness. 

Stir casserole before serving and top with shredded cheese if you like.  I serve this as a main dish so I like to add some shredded Mexican blend cheese to give it more protein.  Pepperjack would probably be good, too.

Makes 6 servings. 

Slow cooker meals will be great for those beautiful fall days, too, when you just want to work or play outside and come home to a nice supper all ready.  Enjoy these!