If you have been reading my posts, you already know that I love my pressure cooker, but I also use a slow cooker on my days off, especially when I am busy catching up on housework, gardening, or crafts.  It is such a wonderful way to have your dinner cook “all by itself”, while you go about your other business.

I have been using a slow cooker for many years now.  My first slow cooker was a Sunbeam Crocker Cooker-Fryer, and I used it for a very long time, but recently I have purchased a Rival Crock-Pot. I love it so much, that I even purchased one for each of my children, to get them started on experimenting with the slow cooking method.

Every household probably has at least one slow cooker, if not more, but if you are not one of them, then you really should look into it.  Basically it is a two piece pot, consisting of an insulated metal outer shell, with an electric cord, and a stoneware vessel, which is used for the actual preparation of your meal.

Preparing a meal in a slow cooker is probably the easiest way to have a home cooked meal without a lot of fuss.  For your convenience, a small cook book is included with each slow cooker, to get you started with some suggested recipes.  Once you become comfortable with this style of cooking, you will create your own favorite recipes.

It is very easy to use a slow cooker:

1. Select a recipe.
2. Have all your ingredients ready.
3. Follow your recipe directions (since meats usually need to be browned first, to add flavor).
4. Place all your ingredients in the pot.
5. Plug it into an electric outlet.
6. Set it on the recommended setting (low, high).
7. Set your timer (usually 5- 10 hours, depending on a recipe).
8. While you are taking care of  other chores, your home is filling up with a delicious aroma of your dinner.

I will be posting some of my favorite slow cooker recipes in my future posts.
I love reading your comments, so don’t be bashful, and be the first one to post yours.

Apricot Cake is a must in our dessert selection, especially when our sons are visiting for the holidays. They enjoy most of my baked goods, but this one is their favorite, maybe because it is not readily found in bakeries or restaurants.  A friend of mine, who is not a big fan of apricots, gave this cake her vote.

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• ½ cup heavy cream or sour cream
• 3 cups flour
• 3 tsp. Baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1tsp. Vanilla or Rum extract
• 2 cans of Apricot filling (Baker or Solo brand)

Streusel Ingredients:

• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup butter
• 1/8 cup sugar
• ¼ tsp. Vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl mix well the sugar and butter, until creamy.
2. Add the egg yolks, egg and sour cream.
3. Mix well until creamy and lemon color.
4. Add flour, baking powder, salt and extract.
5. Mix well.
6. Grease and flour a 12×18 cake pan.
7. Spoon the batter into the pan, and spread it out evenly.
8. Spread the apricot filling over the batter.
9. Prepare the streusel crumbs, by combining all ingredients, mix with a pastry blender, until chunky crumbs are formed, and sprinkle evenly over the filling.
10. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees, for 25-30 min.
11. Cool the cake in the pan.
12. Cut into small serving pieces, and remove into a serving platter.

Tip: For variation, I also use Almond filling, made by Baker Fine Dessert Filling, or by Solo, depending on which brand I am able to find easier.

Pastry blender (also known as pastry cutter) is one of the necessary kitchen gadgets you will need, if your recipe calls for a streusel.  I have been making streusel with the use of a fork, or just plain hands, but having the pastry blender is such a big help, and so much easier to get the job done.

It is very easy to hold, due to it’s nice, sturdy handle, and the metal blades cut very nicely into the flour, sugar, and butter, transforming it into scrumptious streusel crumbs.  Accomplishing this with a fork is doable, but the slim fork handle tires out your hand muscles.  Then again, if you try doing it with your hands, the warmth of your hands melts the butter, making the job quite messy.  It is a small investment, since it’s very reasonably priced, but a priceless addition to your gadget collection.

Here is another meatless dish, which is quick, easy, and nutritious.  Perfect for a busy mom who strives to serve her family a healthy meal.  These are perfect alone, or accompanied by a nice serving of garden salad, or a bowl of soup.  This recipe serves 2-4.

Ingredients:

• 2 English Muffins, sliced in half (horizontally)
• 6 oz can of your favorite tuna (I use Bumble Bee)
• 1 Tbs. Hellmann’s Light Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbs. chopped celery
• 1 Tbs. chopped onion
• 4 tomato slices
• 4 cheese slices
• 4 onion slices (optional)
• Pepper to taste
• 2 Claussen Pickles, quartered

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix tuna, mayonnaise, celery, onions, and pepper.
2. Toast the English Muffins.
3. Divide the tuna salad into four equal portions (about 2 Tbs. each).
4. Spread each muffin half with one portion of the tuna salad.
5. Cover with sliced onion, sliced tomato, and top it off with a slice of American cheese.
6. Place the tuna melts in a microwave and melt the cheese, or place it in an oven proof dish and melt them in the oven.

Serve with a slice of pickle, salad, or soup.  You can also prepare the tuna salad your favorite way, and build your own tuna melts.

One of my favorite recipes from my mom, is a recipe for crepes.  She usually filled them with creamed, and sweetened, farmer’s cheese.  I like my crepes filled with fresh fruits, or fruit preserves ( I use Smucker’s Sugar Free Fruit Preserves), served with fruit syrup (also by Smucker’s), and whipped cream.  This dish may be served as a light main course, or as a dessert.  Makes about 8 crepes.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• ½ cup whole milk
• 3 Tbs. water
• ½ cup sifted flour
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Vegetable oil for frying
• Fresh fruits, chopped and lightly sweetened, or your favorite fruit preserves
• Fruit syrup
• Whipped cream (optional)
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Beat the eggs until light.
2. Add milk, water, sugar, salt, flour, and vanilla extract.
3. Beat until smooth.
4. Use a small frying pan, about 6 inches in diameter.
5. Oil lightly the frying pan, and heat well.
6. Pour a few tablespoons of the batter into the pan, just enough to give it a thin coating.
7. Tilt the pan back and forth to spread the batter evenly.
8. Cook the cakes over a moderate heat, and when lightly browned on the bottom and firm to touch on top (do not turn over, to ensure tenderness).
9. Remove from pan and place on a warm plate, to keep them warm.
10. Oil the pan lightly after each use, and repeat the above frying technique until all the batter is used.
11. Use one crepe at a time, placing it on a plate with the browned side down.
12. Spread each crepe with your favorite filling (creamed cheese, fresh fruits, fruit preserves).
13. Lift one end of crepe and roll up, jelly roll style.
14. Repeat with all crepes until all used up.
15. Serve warm crepes with syrup and whipped cream, or lightly browned on both sides in a warm pan with melted butter, if you prefer a crispier texture.

photo credit: bcreamer_bigd

As I was visiting the latest post on AllWomenStalk, I realized that I have a very appropriate post to share, and add some humor to their post (the last two lines are my favorite), so here it is:

********************

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, ‘If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?’

‘No, I had to stop drinking years ago’, the homeless woman told me.

‘Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?’ I asked.

‘No, I don’t waste time shopping,’ the homeless woman said. ‘I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.’

‘Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?’ I asked.

‘Are you NUTS!’ replied the homeless woman. I haven’t had my hair done in 20 years!’

‘Well, I said, ‘I’m not going to give you the money. Instead, I’m going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.’

The homeless woman was shocked. ‘Won’t your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I’m dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.’

I said, ‘That’s okay.

It’s important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine.

The Great Lent is beginning soon,  and will last for 40 days, until Easter Sunday, which means that I will be preparing  meatless meals at least once, or twice, a week during this time.  I will share with you some of my favorite meatless recipes.

This recipe is very easy, especially if you already have left over mashed potatoes on hand.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked potatoes – mashed and cooled
• 1 cup flour
• 2 Tbs. potato flour or corn starch
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 onion – chopped and sautéed to golden color
• 3 Tbs. butter
• Sour cream (optional)

Directions:

1. On a large cutting board, place the mashed potatoes in a pile, and forming a well in the middle.
2. Add flour, potato flour (corn starch), and salt.
3. Add 1 egg and the egg yolk into the formed well, and beat slightly with a fork to blend the yolks with the whites.
4. Using a spoon, work in the rest of the potatoes and flour, until dough is formed. If the dough is sticking to your board, sprinkle some flour on the board and work into the dough.
5. Rest the dough for about 5 minutes, by placing it on floured board and covering it with a tea towel (dish towel).
6. Scrape off and discard any remnants of the dough from your cutting board.
7. Sprinkle the board generously with flour.
8. Cut the dough in half, and roll out into a log, one inch in diameter.
9. Using a knife, cut the log crosswise into ½ inch wide chunks.
10. Roll each chunk between the palms of your hands into tapered ended rods (see picture)
11. Scatter them on the floured board, so they do not touch each other, and sprinkle over them with additional flour.
12. Let them rest for few minutes.
13. Fill a 2 quart pot with water, add a little salt, and bring to boil.
14. Drop half of the dumplings into the boiling water, stir with a wooden spoon, so they do not stick to the bottom, and wait until they will rise to the top.
15. Bring the water to boiling again, and let the dumplings cook for 2 minutes
16. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon into a colander over a bowl, and let them drain.
17. Bring the water to boiling once again, and repeat the above process for the second batch of dumplings.
18. Melt the butter in a frying pan, and sauté the onions to a nice golden color.
19. Serve dumplings with the sautéed onions, and a generous dollop of sour cream.

For richer dough, you can add ½ cup of farmer cheese, or dry cottage cheese, to this recipe.
If you like these dumplings crispy, rather than soft as cooked, you can fry them in a sauce pan in hot oil of butter, and served hot.  If you don’t like sour cream, you may serve these with tomato sauce or salsa.

This recipe serves 2 – 4 people.

If you wish to reminisce for a minute and check out the cutest Valentine’s cards (click here) and enjoy.

I have been visiting My Suzy Homemaker site for a while now, and she posts a lot of nice ideas on there, including some great recipes.

photo credit: Wesley Fryer

As a response to my post on “Twelve Rules for a Happy Marriage”, one of my creative readers expressed a fun way of looking at marriage, and since I also enjoy humor, I am sharing his comments with you:

************************
“I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.”
-Groucho Marx

************************
“The best way to remember your wife’s birthday is to forget it once.” -H.V. Prochnow

************************
“I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. First, let her think she’s having her own way. And second, let her have it.” -Lyndon B. Johnson

************************
“A man’s wife has more power over him than the state has.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

************************
“My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God, and I didn’t.” -Unknown

************************
“My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.”
-Rodney Dangerfield

************************
“Getting married is a lot like getting into a tub of hot water. After you get used to it, it ain’t so hot.” -Minnie Pearl

************************
“Behind every great man there is a surprised woman.”
-Maryon Pearson

************************
“They say love is blind…and marriage is an institution. Well, I’m not ready for an institution for the blind just yet.” -Mae West

************************
“Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn’t they’d be married too.” -H.L. Mencken

************************
“A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished.”
-Zsa Zsa Gabor

************************
“I haven’t spoken to my wife in years. I didn’t want to interrupt her.” -Rodney Dangerfield

************************
“No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he was single.” -H.L. Mencken

************************
“A wedding is just like a funeral except that you get to smell your own flowers.” -Grace Hansen

************************
“If nature had arranged that husbands and wives should have children alternatively, there would never be more than three in a family.”
-Lawrence Housman

************************
“Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of happy, fat women.” -Marion Smith

************************
“Why does a woman work ten years to change a man’s habits and then complain that he’s not the man she married?” -Barbra Streisand

************************
“Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery.” -Erma Bombeck

************************
“I came from a big family. As a matter of fact, I never got to sleep alone until I was married.” -Lewis Grizzard

************************
“There’s a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It’s called marriage.” -James Holt McGavran

XOXOXOXOXODOXOXOXOX

photo credit: jelene

This recipe is very special, yet simple, since all the necessary ingredients are always on hand, and ready to use, but the preparation time takes 365 days, and a suggested time to start is on Valentine’s Day.

Ingredients:

• 2 Heaping cups of LOVE
• 2 Heaping cups of KINDNESS
• 2 Heaping cups of COOPERATION
• 1 Dash of HARD WORK
• 1 Pinch of HUMOR
• A few PRAYERS

Directions:

1. Mix together with UNDERSTANDING.
2. Bake in a warm HEART for 365 days a year.
3. You will have a delightful LIFE.
4. For yourself and those around you.

This is a Never Fail recipe, if followed precisely.

Please share your comments.