I confess that I love my slow cooker,  I use it at least once a week. The best part is that clean up is easy and you don’t have to watch over the food. Throw ingredients in the crock pot, turn it on and come back when it’s done. Whether it’s a whole complete meal in the pot or just the main dish cooking is a breeze.

My kids love spare ribs but I am not a fan of the mess and time involved in making them. When you have children in the house, it is very easy to over cook the ribs with all the distractions. The result is dry or burnt ribs.  Although I prefer my ribs well done, most everyone else doesn’t. Making barbecue ribs in a slow cooker is the perfect answer. Extremely easy to make and never dry or overcooked.

Ingredients for Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

• 4-5 pounds pork ribs
• 2 onions
• 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

Directions for Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

For easier clean up, lightly spray inside of crock pot with a no stick cooking spray.

Thinly slice onions and place in bottom of crock pot. Place the ribs on top of onions, try not to let ribs touch the sides of pot. Pour barbecue sauce over ribs, making sure they are completely covered. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until ribs are tender. The ribs will be perfect but because I like a little crisp to mine I pop a few under the broiler for a couple minutes.

I serve the ribs with a tossed salad, corn on the cob and some home made cole slaw or potato salad. Using a slow cooker to make ribs is a perfect way to have a summer barbecue even if there is snow on the ground.

Shish kabobs are easy to make, taste great and mean very little clean up which is a big plus during the summer. I just finished getting my shish kabobs ready so that later all I have to do is fire up the barbecue.  This is a very simple recipe for shish kabobs that everyone loves from picky kids to meat loving husband.

Ingredients for Shish Kabobs

• beef cubes (about 1″ squares)
• white meat chicken (about 1″ squares)
• fresh cherry tomatoes
• fresh onion sliced thick
• green or red pepper (about 1″ squares)
• canned whole potatoes, drained and large potatoes cut in half
• teriyaki marinade or other marinade

Marinate chicken and beef in marinade overnight or for minimum of 2 hours. The longer you let it soak the stronger the flavor.

About a half hour before you are ready to assemble your shish kabobs soak the wooden skewers in water. This will help to prevent them from burning during grilling.

On each skewer place tomato, beef or chicken, onion, pepper in repeating pattern. Don’t cram everything together, leave a little loose to help cook evenly and completely.

Skewer potatoes on separate skewer and sprinkle potatoes with a little seasoning such as  garlic herb. Either wrap skewer in foil or skip the skewer and place potatoes in tin for easy grilling. I keep the potatoes separate because I find they have a tendency to fall apart. It’s also why I wrap them in foil or use a tin. I use canned potatoes because I don’t have to peel them and raw potatoes never seem to keep properly.

Place all on barbecue and grill until cooked through.

When done serve immediately. I serve with some raw fresh baby carrots.

Everyone loves shish kabob night. Never any left overs and never a mess to clean up.

Our slow cooker pot roast recipe is delicious. This is one of our favorite crock pot recipes, adults and children love it. It is very easy to adjust this recipe to suit your tastes. Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or broad egg noodles. Also try with 1-2-3 Biscuits Recipe. Slow cooker pot roast even tastes great when made with chuck roast because the cooking will tenderize and flavor the beef. Like most slow cooker recipe little supervision is required. See Slow Cookers and Crock Pots for more information on selecting and using a slow cooker. Start the pot roast in the in morning, then forget about it and it’s done for dinner. The finished beef will equal that of the best quality roast, no one will be able to tell it was a less expensive cut. Freeze leftover meat for a second meal or use sliced meat the next day for hot or cold sandwiches.

Shopping list for Slow Cooker Pot Roast

• 3-4 pound chuck roast
• 4-5 cubed fresh potatoes
• 5-6 sliced carrots
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1-10¾ ounce can cream of mushroom OR cream of celery soup
• ¼ cup water
• 3-4tablespoons flour (to thicken gravy)

Directions for Crockpot Pot Roast

Brown meat in skillet in small amount of oil.
Place potatoes and carrots in bottom of slow cooker. Add meat. Sprinkle onion soup mix on top of meat. Pour the chosen can of cream soup on top of meat and vegetables. Add 1/4cup water.
Cover. Cook on low 8-9 hours, do not remove cover during cooking.

Once meat is cooked remove meat and potatoes and carrots, cover and set aside. To make gravy take about 3 tablespoons flour and mix with small amount of cold water until paste forms. Mix in the remaining liquid from the slow cooker. Heat in small saucepan, stirring until smooth.

You can substitute 2 beef bouillon cubes and a thinly sliced onion in place of the dry onion soup mix. Also try adding a can of diced tomatoes in place of canned soup. Many other variations are possible, so experiment.

This basic biscuit recipe has been in my family for a while. It goes back a few generations as my mother got it from her mother, who in turn, had gotten it from her mother. It also uses basic ingredients and is easy on the budget. It results in a versatile biscuit that can be served in a variety of ways. It can be used as is for a delicious biscuit to accompany a cup of tea or coffee, or served along with dinner or lunch.
Like any basic biscuit recipe it has many uses and can be easily adjusted by addition of another ingredient. Add parmesan cheese for cheesy biscuits or use for your favorite fruit cobbler. Like many recipes that are passed down in families, some of the ingredients are approximate amounts. If you want to add grated parmesan cheese try adding a generous handful. You may need to add slightly more flour. After your first batch you will get an idea if you need to do so. This recipes makes about 15 biscuits. Do not cut the recipe in half if 15 is too many. Instead, freeze uncooked biscuits on a cookie sheet to bake another time. Freeze up to 4 weeks. This biscuit recipe takes only 30 minutes start to finish.

Ingredients Needed for Making 1-2-3 Biscuits

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups flour

Directions for Biscuits

Step 1 – Mix the DRY ingredients together. Preheat oven to 375° F & grease 2 cookie sheets.
Step 2 – Add whipping cream to the dry mix and stir with spoon or fork just until combined.
Step 3 – Using large spoon, drop mounds of dough 1″ apart on cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
(If the biscuits are frozen prior to baking increase baking time to about 18 minutes)

These biscuits are great served warm with a little butter or margarine. They can stand alone but are also perfect to serve with soup or main course.

Corned beef cabbage is a traditional St Patrick’s Day meal. With March just around the corner I thought I’d share this great recipe to make corned beef cabbage in a slow cooker. A slow cooker is often called a crock pot. This corned beef cabbage recipe makes it possible for everyone, no matter how busy, to enjoy corned beef cabbage.

Ingredients for Corned Beef Cabbage in Slow Cooker

• 3 pound corned beef brisket
• 2 onions
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1 cup apple juice
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 6 whole cloves
• small head of cabbage

Cut onions into quarters and put in slow cooker. Put corned beef brisket on top. In measuring cup mix brown sugar, mustard, apple juice, orange juice and whole cloves. Pour over meat. Place cabbage wedges on top and cook 5-6 hours on high or 10 -12 hours on low. Remember when using a slow cooker it is better to not open the crockpot during cooking.

Some people prefer to cook cabbage separately. If desired you can cook additional cabbage on stove top. We suggest that at least a couple wedges in crockpot adds to the flavor.

To finish off dinner try our Irish coffee recipe.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching.  As I sit here sipping home made cafe mocha I am thinking of what to do.  A few years ago it seemed much simpler. Go out to a nice restaurant and have dinner. Now it is more difficult, I not only need reservations, I have to line up a sitter which is a lot harder than it used to be. In addition I often find that restaurants are too noisy.

A couple months ago I found what I think is a great idea Gourmet Meals Delivered . Not only is the food delicious but you don’t have to leave home to enjoy a great meal. For under $100 you can have a four course romantic dinner in the privacy of your own home. You select the menu – the bread, soup, main entree, dessert even coffee. Your custom meal package is delivered to you.  All you do is heat and serve, and that takes only 30 minutes. Any of these gourmet meals will make a wonderful Valentine’s Day gift.

I was a little skeptical, but it only took one course to convince me. The quality of the meal rivals the food I’ve had in some of the finer restaurants in NYC. I have taken the opportunity to try several of their meals and I am always happy and impressed. My favorite so far is the Parisian – I simply love both the Salmon En Croute and the Chicken Montrachet. And who could resist Amaretto cheesecake? My husband really enjoys the Beef Marsala; the rich Marsala wine sauce is the best he’s ever had. The Medici Renaissance Pork is another favorite.

While I often believe the best part of a meal is the coffee, I have to confess that these desserts are simply wonderful. The Rocky Road Cake is simply irresistible!

 
These gourmet meals and desserts are not only great for romantic dinners, anniversaries and birthdays, they make a wonderful gift for people who cannot easily get out. Gift certificates are also available which makes it a fine gift for a friend or business associate.