Slow-Cooker Pork Stew

I came across this recipe in the December edition of "Food Network Magazine". I'm always interested in slow-cooker recipes and decided to try it. The recipe called for fingerling potatoes, which I had never bought before. I had to go to two stores to find them. I have read somewhere that they have a buttery texture. Honestly, when they were in finished dish, I couldn't really tell a lot of difference between fingerling potatoes and other potatoes. The recipe also called for fresh ginger. I had never cooked with that before either, and I realize that a little goes a long way. When I make this stew again, I'll probably use less than the 2-inch piece called for in the recipe. Putting together was pretty straight-forward. The aroma of the fresh garlic throughout the house when the stew started to heat up was wonderful. Very Italian.

I made Jane's cornbread recipe tonight to eat with the stew. It was just what I needed on a day like today. Gene enjoyed the stew, but really he likes the cornbread better. I was surprised that the liquid in the stew did not make more of a gravy, since the recipe includes 1/3 cup of flour. As I said, the ginger was a little strong, and I'll make this again, but reduce the amount.

I am adding the recipe to this posting and encourage those who might be interested to try it.

Try this and let me know how you like it.

Slow-Cooker Pork Stew
Active: 20 minutes/Total: 8 hours 20 min./Serves 4 - 6

1 pound fingerling potatoes
3 carrots, cut into 2 inch chunks
2 stalks celery, cut into 2 inch chunks
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 two-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
1/3 cup all purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly gound pepper
3 bay leaves
1 bone-in pork shoulder or pork sirloin roast
(2v - 2 1/2 pounds)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup ground allspice
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

1. Combine the potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic and ginger in a slow cooker. Toss in half of the flour and season with salt and pepper. Scatter the bay leaves over the vegetables,.
2. Season the pork generously with salt and pepper,m sprinkle with the thyme and allspice and toss wit the remaining flour to coat. Place the pork over the vegetables in the slow cooker. Add 2 cups water and the tomatoes, cover and cook on low 8 hours.
3. Discard the bay leaves. Remove the pork roast and slice or pull the meat off the bone into large pieces. Serve in bowls with the vegetables and broth.

New Kitchen Toy

I've not posted lately because I sort of lost my cooking focus for a while. I don't know what happened, but I'm about to get geared up and going again. I have a new kitchen toy. Last week while watching QVC I saw a demonstration for the KUHN RIKON Clear Cookie Press. It is made in Switzerland and must be manufactured by the same place that manufactures Swiss Army Knives, because that little red cross is right under the name on the box. Anyhow, the demonstration was so convincing that I couldn't resist ordering. I have always wanted to make cheese straws and I could do it with this. The person doing the demo stamped out those spritz cookies so fast it made my head spin. But I know that things are not as easy as they make it look on television, especially when they are trying to sell stuff. I remember that one time I told my friend Glenda Culver about my plan to try something I had seen on HGTV. She cautioned me that "things aren't always as easy as they make it look on television".

The UPS delivery person brought the cookie press this week, and tonight I finally had a chance to use the KUHN RIKON Clear Cookie Press. I used the recipe for Vanilla Cookies (Spritz Cookies) that came in the instruction book with the press. The recipe was easy to follow and most of the ingredients I had here in the kitchen. If you would like the recipe, let me know and I'll send it to you. The only ingredient I had to buy was cardamom. I looked for that at Wal-Mart, but they didn't have it. I found it at Publix and almost fainted when I saw the price. It was almost $9 for a 2 oz. bottle. You can find it with the spices. I'll have to make those cookies a lot to make sure I use that up. These little cookies are really good. The cookie press was very easy to use. The only problem was that it was MESSY to work with the dough. It has to be sticky because the dough doesn't shoot out of the press, but you actually place the tip of the press onto the cookie sheet, and the dough sticks. I found that the faster you work, the better the results.

I consider the Spritz Cookies a success, and can't wait to try the Chocolate Cookies and Cheese Straws. I'll let you know how they turn out.

I learned a lot about the baking equipment I have in the kitchen. The recipe says that it makes 4 dozen cookies, but it actually made 5 dozen. The directions were specific that the pans had to be cold and clean. I didn't want to wait and wash the pans. First I used 2 Pampered Chef stone ware cookies sheets. The cookies were prefect! Then I used a Pampered Chef metal pan, and a Wilton metal pan. Those didn't turn out nearly as well. The got too brown around the edges and the ones on the Pampered Chef pan fell flat. I won't use them again.

Chocolate Chess Pie

Today I made Chocolate Chess Pie. I remember that when I was a little girl my grandmother, Nancy Jane Addison (Ma) made a chocolate pie that was not like a chocolate cream pie. Instead, it had a slightly grainy texture. I found a recipe for Chocolate Chess Pie that had a little corn meal in it. I think Jane, my sister, has made it. Anyhow, I tried it today. It is actually pretty good. It might not be as sweet as I like, but it's pie and it's chocolate, that's enough for me. Gene was just happy he didn't have to clean out the oven. I found this recipe in Baptist Bounty, a cookbook published by First Baptist Church, Opelika, Al. in 1981. This, of course is the church where Jane and John Leland, my sister and late brother-in-law served for many years. I think John served there as Minister of Music for 25 years. Jane served in many capacities including organist, Minister to Senior Adults, and directed several choirs until she retired in May of this year. Jane, if you read this, please feel free to correct any information. Baptist Bounty is a wonderful cookbook. It was put together with a plastic ring binder, and the binder is gone from mine. I have to keep it together with a rubber band.

The recipe follows:

Chocolate Chess Pie

Oven: 324, 45 minutes
1 unbaked pie shell 3 whole eggs
1 cup sugar 1/2 cup melted margarine
3 tablespoons corn meal 1/2 cup while Karo Syrup
3 tablespoons cocoa 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs well, add other ingredients. Pour into unbaked pastry shell. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes or until firm. Top each slice with whipped cream before serving.

Comfort Food

These cooler days make me want to make something in a big pot. Today I'm going to start a barbecue in the crock pot. I have used this recipe for a long time and the family seems to like it. In fact, when my oldest grandson, Chandler requests a meal, this is what he asks for.

I begin by cooking a large Boston Butt in the crock pot,with water to cover, an onion, and a few garlic cloves. I'll put it on this morning and let it cook all day. Tonight, if it's tender enough to fall off the bone, I'll remove it from the pot, saving the broth, and let the pork sit overnight in the refrigerator. Since the butt I'm cooking today is larger than usual, I might let it cook on low overnight. Anyway, tomorrow morning I'll remove the pork from the bone, and shred it. Then I'll return it to the crock pot. Add some chopped onion, and a couple of bottles of Kraft barbecue sauce. I'll let it cook on low all day and it'll be ready to eat for dinner tomorrow. I serve it on buns and it's goooooood! When I'm ready to prepare the meal, I'll put the reserved broth into a large pot, with some salt and pepper (more about salt and pepper in a later posting), and when it begins to boil, I'll add rice, and cook it according to directions. Some of my family tell me that they like for me to make barbecue just for the rice.

Sometimes I'll bake some sweet potatoes with this meal. This really is comfort food at its best.

Today I'm meeting some Mathews friends for lunch at the Farm House Restaurant in Ellersley, GA. I'll probably have a slice of their caramel cake. If you haven't been there, try it if you can. Then I'll stop by the art show and sale at the Phenix City Art Center at Idle Hour Park. This should be a really good day, and I hope you all have a great day too.

Bedtime Snack

I believe that one should always take medicine with food unless dosing instructions advise otherwise. My daily routine is pretty predictable. Each morning I eat my breakfast of HIGH-FIBER cereal, topped with some grape nuts, for added FIBER. I think I got the grape nuts idea from my sister Jane. After eating my breakfast I take my morning meds, all non-prescription pills including a multi-vitamin(you know like Centrim Silver), vitamin D, fish oil, and until recently added calcium. I have been advised by a doctor to stop taking that for a while. I really don't want to go into the reason in this forum.

At bedtime, I take my prescribed medications, and usually eat a few saltines, Ritz crackers, or on occasion, a slice of bread. Last night, however I went in a little different direction. I don't know why, but I just grabbed a fork from the drawer and standing at the counter, ate cake! The picture on the left the result. If you look closely you'll see the marks left by the tines of the fork. Disregard the date stamp on the photo. I haven't set it on my camera.

Chocolate Layer Cake

The THREE cake layers have been carefully placed in the oven to bake. They are carefully arranged in a triangulated formation, with two 9-inch pans pushed to the back of the rack, and the third pan placed on the front center. The oven timer is set for 25 minutes, according to Paula Deen's recipe for 1-2-3-4 Cake posted on The Food Network website. The baker (that's me) carefully re-read the directions for chocolate frosting, which was also Paula Deen's recipe posted on the Food Network's website, while the layers were baking. The oven timer beeped, and I, with a child-like enthusiasm opened the oven door to first check for doneness and then remove the layers. I had read advice for techniques to use to test for doneness. They are done! The THREE brand new MATCHING cooling ranks have been placed side by side on the kitchen counter. I had purchased them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond just last week because the two I had used for 35+ years, during my novice baking years were bent and slightly rusty. Now that I am approaching baking with a new, fresh eye, I have a compulsion for things to be new and matching. Using oven mitts, I removed the single cake pan on the front of the rack and placed it carefully on the cooling rack. I then turned back to the oven to remove the other two layers. This was when the fun really began. I pulled the oven rack out slightly in order to access the other two pans. The pan on the left slid off the back of the rack and rested on its side with the cake side facing the the back wall of the oven. At this point I was just slightly annoyed at myself for making such a bonehead move. I would just have to be careful when reaching back to get the pan. I was careful. I wore my oven mitts, and slowly and deliberately reached back between the racks to get to the pan. I got a grip and as I moved the pan away from the back wall, the cake layer, which had been lodged against the wall, FELL OUT OF THE PAN, new resting on the floor and elements of theoven! Let me just say this....I have checked the "Cooking Terms" sections of a cookbook, and NONE of the words I said were listed there. In fact, I think I might have invented a new word or two. I do think I handled it well though. I turned the oven off, closed the door and decided that I would do nothing, and that is just what I did. Later that night, as Gene got the mess out, I looked for the instruction book that came with the oven to learn how to use the self-cleaning feature. I might point out the the oven is almost 2 years old and that function has never been used.

Now I have a TWO layer chocolate cake. It was good, and believe me, the frosting recipe that was written for a 6 layer cake (Paula) allowed for plenty. Even with all that sugar, the cake leaves a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.

Let me just mention, that I also found the 1-2-3-4 cake recipe in a great cookbook, "In
Search of My Mother's Kitchen", by Cindy Summerford Aman. I found this cookbook while visiting in my hometown of Ashford, Alabama. Gene and I dropped into a great little flower and gift shop, The Pedal Pusher, which is located just across the street from the cemetary. I think the shop is owned by Hugh Deese, whose family I knew well while growing up there. I was surprised when I saw Cindy's name on the front of the book. Cindy and I both grew up in Ashford, and Cindy has written a cookbook of recipes from her mother, other relatives and residents of Ashford. She even has a recipe for citric acid punch from my mother's collection. One of my favorite recipes from the book is Aunt Birdie Lou's Cream Cheese Pound Cake. I like saying the name and it makes a great cake. I remember Miss
Birdie Lou. In fact I remember most of the people whose recipes are found in the book. I bought the book for Jane, my sister, and myself. Cindy did a great job with the recipes, but I enjoyed reading the stories most!