This recipe is a family favorite. It would not be the holidays without spiced apple cider, ladled from a waiting, simmering slow cooker into mugs lovingly cupped in cold fingers. We serve this at Christmas parties and to carollers, sip it while making pfefferniuss and while watching our favorite Christmas movies. I can’t eat Thanksgiving pie without a cup of spiced apple cider nearby. Nor open Christmas presents. A waft of this and I am home. Spiced Apple Cider adjust to fill your particular Slow Cooker Enough apple juice to fill your slow cooker. Growing up, we always used the frozen concentrated variety and I’m not above using that now! For every “can” of prepared frozen juice (or approximately 32 ounces of juice if you are using fresh or bottled [... To read more, click here ...]
Wait, let me repeat myself. Double Chocolate Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce And did I mention it is entirely whole wheat? Yes, yes it is. Oh, and cooked in your slow cooker? Yes, yes it is. You know you’ve seen recipes like this before. I had. And I thought, “Baking? In a crock pot?” At first I only found recipes in old, original crock pot recipe books that had you baking inside of a metal coffee can inserted in your slow cooker. Quaint, I thought, but I have an oven. But then I saw a recipe I couldn’t ignore. I tried it. It was good. I fiddled around with it and it became better, and better for you. And I’m here to share it with you today. Because Yes, you [... To read more, click here ...]
I have been eating this dish since I was a little girl. This recipe has been adapted by my dad from the original cookbook that came with their first Crock Pot, which they received as a wedding gift, 35 years ago. Dad remembers that crock pots were quite expensive at that time, compared to average wages, and three families went together to buy them one. What a gift. And for me, growing up, a gift that kept on giving. I was the happy recipient of hundreds (thousands?) of meals from that crock pot, and it’s even the happily featured dial that is pictured on the “For the Love of the Slow Cooker” button. See that burnt orange looker? Fantastic! There’s really not much difference between this recipe and Julia Child’s [... To read more, click here ...]
There is something beautiful that happens when you cook a bunch of onions, low and slow with butter. They become sweet, almost smoky with a depth of flavor that you’d never believe could come from the sharp, acrid taste of fresh onion. I love caramelized onions. As the base for French Onion Soup, piled on top of leftover roast beef in a sandwich or strewn over a pizza (maybe with some sliced granny smith apples and fontina cheese? How good does that sound? Yum.) But the thing is, to make really good caramelized onions, you have to be prepared to babysit a skillet of onions for 40 – 60 minutes or longer. You have to make sure not to get antsy and turn up the heat. You always, always end [... To read more, click here ...]
Hi! Thanks for visiting! This is an older post and I confess, I actually have a new favorite way to make yogurt now. With only two ingredients, you’ll make the thickest, creamiest, homemade yogurt ever! Come check it out here. However, if you’d still like to make it in the slow cooker, keep reading! Sarah P.S. – Like what you read? Before you go, make sure to subscribe in a reader, via e-mail (in the box to the right) or via facebook to keep up to date with new posts! See you soon! I am the last person you would think who would be making yogurt. I never thought I would. I thought that, unless you ran a dairy farm, yogurt was just one of those things that you [... To read more, click here ...]
The cure all of all cure alls. Homemade chicken stock. Who doesn’t love the feeling of bending down over a hot steaming mug of homemade chicken soup? Or adding flavor and texture to easily bland brown rice? Chicken stock to the rescue. And soup is most lovely when it is made with homemade stock. Once you’ve done it you won’t believe how easy it is and how little time it takes to make several quarts of good quality stock. Here’s my method. Homemade Chicken Stock 2 chicken carcasses (I normally save mine in the freezer after I roast chicken for making stock!) 2 medium size onions, peeled and cut in quarters 3 stalks of celery, washed and cut into four inch pieces 3 carrots, washed and cut into [... To read more, click here ...]
My husband and I met while attending college in New Mexico. As our love to each other grew, so did our love for green chile! Making this recipe brings us back there . . . it is simple, economical (my grocery store had the pork on sale for $0.99/lb), serves a lot and is just incredibly tasty and satisfying. Though you have to plan to make this, as it takes four to six hours to roast, the prep time is minimal, about twenty minutes, and the results are well worth it! Green Chile Roasted Shredded Pork 5 lb pork shoulder roast2.5 large onions (or 4 medium onions), skins removed and each sliced in half to make 2 circles10 cloves of garlicOne large can (mine was 27 ounces) of whole roasted [... To read more, click here ...]
This is one of our standbys . . . you can make this with either canned beans, if you don’t have much time, or can cook the beans first from scratch. I do both, depending on how much time I have. We’ll be enjoying this this Sunday for the Super Bowl! Three Bean Turkey Chili If you are using dry beans, in a large pot put 1 cup, each of black, white and pinto beans along with at least 8 cups of water over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and stir every once in a while until beans are about 3/4s of the way cooked. Take off heat and add two tablespoons of baking soda to beans and stir. This will foam up, but it will take away some [... To read more, click here ...]
Welcome to the Heartland! Reformed Urbanites, we are enjoying new life on a small family farm/homestead in the Midwest. Join us as we garden, cook, read and enjoy our boys; becoming better stewards of the Earth while raising our family.
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