Category Archives: Blather

How not to use a combination slow cooker & pressure cooker

Do you have “one of these?”:http://www.amazon.com/Fagor-670040230-Stainless-Steel-6-Quart-Multi-Cooker/dp/B001A62O1G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300807848&sr=8-1 It’s a combination slow cooker and pressure cooker. And technically rice cooker, but that seems to be part of the pressure cooker part of this.

We have one. We’ve had it for a bit longer than we’ve had MetaCookbook; maybe a year and three months. It was a Christmas gift from Bill’s father. We love it, and we use it often. Mostly to make overnight oatmeal.

Overnight oatmeal is the best. You grab a cup of steel cut oats, a cup of milk, three cups of water and dump them in your slow cooker. Set it on low for about 8 hours, and wake up to a delicious pile of oatmeal. Seven hours or nine, it all works. You can even use all water, but we like the milk.… Continue reading →

Busy week ahead.

So, it turns out that there’s a big event regarding local foods and their sourcing right in my backyard. Considering I went “all the way to California”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/177-Where-Ive-been-and-where-Im-going..html to learn more about so much about all of this, it only made sense to find a way to get to “Family Farmed Expo”:http://www.familyfarmedexpo.com/ as well.

It wasn’t in the budget, much as I wanted it to be, to get the 3-day all-access passes. However, I got very lucky and won a pair of tickets to the “localicious party”:http://www.familyfarmedexpo.com/localicious/localiciousoverview.html and I managed to finagle the budget to go to the days of the conference as well. I’ll only be going to the “policy” part of Friday (which has three parts to it, a “trade show” for farmers & restaurateurs, a “school food summit” and a “policy summit”), which dropped the cost dramatically.… Continue reading →

My words sure do taste good!

It was “just two days ago when I said I wasn’t going to cook out of Bittman or Pioneer Woman cookbooks this week”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/224-Probably-no-recipe-this-weekend.html. Now I’m having to change my tune. Or eat my words. Whichever you prefer, really.

Here’s the deal. I promised our friend Rob I’d cook up some meals for him to toss in his freezer and eat once he got home from having his ankle replaced. He was, in theory, going to have this happen last week or so. It didn’t. We’re still not sure when it will happen. However, I’ve made some lasagne and I’ve given him some of the frozen leftovers from “Blue Ribbon Chili”:http://www.metacookbook.com/archives/196-99-Blue-Ribbon-Chili.html. However, I told him to make requests, and he did. One of his requests was black bean soup.… Continue reading →

Probably no recipe this weekend

I am not a morning person. It’s kind of a struggle for me to be awake at 6:45 am, especially on a Saturday. Yet, here I am, awake and posting a quick entry to say three things.

First, I probably won’t manage a recipe entry this weekend. Bill and I have many errands to run, so we’ll probably focus on getting those errands done and some repairs around the house. Hooray for the weekends!

Second, I’m making a commitment to not use How to Cook Everything, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Pioneer Woman Cooks this upcoming week. I love those books, but I feel like I’ve gotten into yet another rut, and am now just cooking from them. Which is really conducive to my “using all my cookbooks” plan.… Continue reading →

Pumping the minds of my readers!

I plan to make a recipe of my own invention on Friday. I invented in for my final exam in “my cooking class”:http://www.fortheloveoffood.com/ way back when. I call it “Blueberry Hopeful”. I was hopeful it would come together and I would “pass”.

It did. Chef Diane helped a great deal.

However, I realized I have a question, and what better way to get an answer than to ask you folks?

What should I serve with it? “Blueberry Hopeful” is, in essence, chicken in blueberry sauce. It’s got some lime for tartness too, but that’s the core.

What would you all serve with it?… Continue reading →