First of all...
Showing posts with label slow cooker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slow cooker. Show all posts

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Slow Cooker Experiment --And a Book Review!

I had a small boneless pork roast, a cabbage that needed to be used, and a couple bottles of sauces that needed to be used (Teriyaki and BBQ). Chopped up some cabbage and onion added that all to the slow cooker and crossed my fingers.
 When the pork was done I took some of it, shredded it and had it on a brioche bun w/coleslaw.

Then I made a sort of fried rice. I stir-fried cabbage and onions, added a bag of frozen peas and carrots a flew liberal pours of soy sauce, a couple tablespoons of butter and about 3 cups of cooked brown rice stir-fried it all together for a couple minutes. Oh, I forgot I scrambled a couple of eggs and added them as well.   To my dismay I didn't realize BMO who is a big fan of fried rice, doesn't like peas. He said he would pick them out. :-) 

If you are looking for a very engaging short-read with a distinctive voice check out this book!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this book for a monthly book club, it was on my tbr pile already, now I'm looking forward to hearing what others thought. As the title lets you know Korede's sister is a serial killer. The book takes place in Lagos, Nigeria. I enjoyed the setting, this dark noir book still has a good amount of food talk and I found myself looking up a couple of dishes to add to my list of recipes I need to try.

This is a slim bo0k, I am not sure of the specific cut off for a book to be a novella but this one is about 230 pages long. It's short enough that when you're swept away and want to finish the book in one afternoon, you can do just that. Or you can read it on a few lunch breaks.

I think as the story goes on I liked Korede less and Ayoola more. Interesting. In any case, this book is a worthy read and gives the reader plenty to think about once the book is done.


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Slow Cooker and What the kids are reading

Yes the boys and I are reading the Strange Case of Origami Yoda.  They love it.  And Patrick is trying unsucessfully to make his own Origami Yoda.

The end of the Jewel-Osco Cookware for a penny with  reward stickers was right around the bend, so Sunday night I went and spent my whole paycheck at Jewel. Well, not really the whole thing, it wasn't as if I was at Whole Foods, but I stocked up and earned enough stickers for my grill pan. 
Since it was a Sunday and I had time to plan my purchases, I got everything needed to make a slew of Slow Cooker Recipes.  Tonight on the menu is Chicken Cacciatore, which is a big fave of 4 of 5 members of our household and honestly, that's as good as it gets.  I should start putting a star on the calendar anytime everyone likes dinner simultaneously.  I splurged on Butoni whole wheat refrigerated linguini noodles for dinner.  I will report back and let you know how that part of the meal goes---since I am too cheap normally to pay for the refrig. pasta.

I have been thinking for a good 2 years about how I would like to put together a Wine Pairing list to go with Tastefully Simple recipes.  To that end, I really need to host a night at my house to practice and to get feedback on what I come up with for the pairings.  Why am I writing that here?  Now I feel more compelled to actually work on getting that together.

Now if you are looking for a good pairing.  Try a nice Charles Shaw Merlot or Coopershawk Shiraz with this recipe from http://www.tastefullysimple.com/web/vhamel

Merlot Beef Stew

Submitted by Dodi Kuehl (WI) Modified by me.

Ingredients

2 lbs. cubed boneless top round steak (or chuck roast,it's cheaper)

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter    Just use a tsp of olive oil to brown the meat.

4 medium peeled, sliced carrots

8 quartered small red potatoes

12 sliced mushrooms

1 chopped medium onion

I'd use a sliced parsnip as well --that's how I roll

1/2 cup Merlot Sauce

2 Tbsp. Bacon Bacon™ Shrug I's skip this and throw in a TBSP of Onion Onion (TM)

1 Tbsp. Garlic Garlic™

4 cups beefbroth

Directions

Coat beef with flour. Melt butter in pan; Put Oil in pan heat up the pan and oil just a little then sauté beef in batches (don’t crowd), add butter as needed. Layer carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions and beef in slow cooker. Sprinkle Garlic Garlic™ and Bacon Bacon™ over beef. Combine Merlot Sauce with beef broth, pour over slow cooker ingredients. Cover; cook on low for 8 hours. Makes 6-8 servings.