The discussion we have every year around Christmas time is ‘to stuff’ or ‘not stuff’….the turkey…not our bellies. Stuffing the bird means a wonderfully flavourful result with all those juices infused into the bread crumbs but cooking is longer to make sure you don’t kill your guests and in my opinion, it tends to over-cook the turkey. So this year the decision has been made to ‘not stuff’. Give a cheer for getting one thing made ahead! All the…
Now that we’ve moved back to Nova Scotia my son Luke gets to visit us more often. And he’s such a great helper, always asking what he can do to assist. One weekend he spent the time putting together some shelves so I could organize our wee place a bit better. Another time he spent the afternoon with Francois clearing the brush around Duck Pond, our newly discovered eco-system. We knew there was a stream that ran along the side…
Here’s an interesting way to get your pizza fix. Use your slow cooker. I made up a batch of my one and only pizza dough (recipe here) and laid it out nicely in the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Next, came the toppings. I kept this one simple with spicy sausage, caramelized onion and lots of cheese. Then I put the lid on loosely over a tea towel, set cooking time on high for four hours and walked away….hoping…
This was one of those ‘show stopper’ dinners. Not at all a gourmet-ish type of meal, made with lowly ground beef and a simple gravy, yet somehow when we sat down to dine and took that first bite….wow! The flavour of the gravy was amazing, the beef patties were surprisingly tender and that I had walked away four hours earlier to do other things made it such a treat. Instead of using a packaged gravy mix, I made my own….
Even though we are now land-based for the next several months, I still try my best to keep our meals simple to make and economical. This past boating season I found my combo pressure/steamer/slowcooker to be invaluable. It does mean that we have to be plugged into shore power or use the generator but the meals that it can produce make onboard life so much easier. The same applies to being back in our ‘dirt’ galley – dump (literally) all…
A version of Hobo or Cowboy Beans, this hearty slow cooked dish was a welcomed meal with near freezing temperatures still hanging onto the last days of May. Make enough so you have leftovers to serve up with your morning coffee. Just a few basics to start …then the rest thrown into the mix. …two hours slow-cooked to juicy sweet perfection. SAILOR BEANS what you will need for 4 generous servings 1 lb lean ground beef 1 cup chopped onion…