Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Black Beans with Chorizo + Ham

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Thinking ahead to Thanksgiving? Click here for ideas for the meal and the leftovers.

Thanksgiving Music: Wednesday – Sunday

Need a gift for your Thanksgiving host? Make some cranberry-apple-nut granola to take along!

It’s been a crazy sort of few weeks around our house. Which made it a great time to work on a new slow cooker meal that’s up and cooking a big pot of dinner in not too many minutes at all. Isn’t that how slow cooker recipes should be?! Welcome SLOW COOKER BLACK BEANS WITH CHORIZO AND HAM….just in time for November football games and holiday gatherings…or for just the two of you with a few quarts in the freezer for later. Move over chili, there’s another great pot in the house easy to customize with your very favorite usual suspect toppings, including crushed tortilla chips, red onions, queso fresco or Cheddar, lime crema, tomatoes, avocado, sliced jalapeños, or….

But….why has it been crazy? For quite a while, we’ve barely held our heads above water. Good pun, but you’ll need to know the story. Sad, but true.

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SLOW COOKER: Ham and Beans

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Have ham in the freezer from the holidays? Grab it and go! Thaw overnight in the fridge and pat dry before chopping and using in the slow cooker.

All About Super Bowl LVll

Last year, I made a ham for Super Bowl Sunday and was never happier than I was with that choice for a big game day spread. Rolls and biscuits, butter (think a sorta-kinda American jambon-buerre, though ham and biscuits -with butter- is a world unto itself in the American south), spicy mustard, all the cheese you’d need, and tons of pickles. A few basic sides…oh, wings, of course… and we were good to go. But the best part may have been what came a couple of days after the baked ham, which was a big pot of ham and beans with a fresh pan of hot cornbread.

While I’m not a football fan, I’m happy to provide the halftime food, reading the Sunday New York Times for the rest of the afternoon while everyone else yells at the tv. And if you’re skipping game day all together, as some do, you can still make my ham and beans because they’re good just about any time and not much is simpler to cook or clean up as it’s a one-pot meal.

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Slow Cooker Lemony Bacon-Lentil Soup or I Love Lentils, I Do, I Do

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Yesterday the dogs and I were stuck in the kitchen (snow’s got us here again)…

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as our staircase was being overhauled.  Out with the ?-year old carpet, in with hardwood, in with new in-code metal railing.  All in all, it’s a two week project and worth every minute of it. Just to think I never have to try and clean carpet on stairs again. (Whose idea was carpet anyway?)

I had a bunch of reading and research to do for my upcoming “Cook and Easy 3-Course Meal for Valentine’s Day” Cooking Class (spaces available 2/5; 5-7pm) and settled on a slow cooker meal to make life simple.  I threw it together and had the rest of the day to do as I pleased.  I do not use the slow cooker for cooking very often, though when I do I have no idea why I don’t pull it out more often. (The words “pull it out” give you a clue.)  I use it regularly to keep things hot at holidays or to take meals to potlucks. If you’re a big slow cooker fan, you should visit Kalyn Denny’s Slow Cooker From Scratch blog for lots of wonderful recipes from around the web–or buy America’s Test Kitchen’s Slow Cooker Revolution- it’s just what it says and is worth the $21 investment; used copies are available, too.

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