Crock Pot Decision

Thank you all for taking the time to leave comments, recipe links, and opinions about using a crock pot.

Arija, I am sorry that you lost so much in the bush fire. I appreciated your minority opinion, which gave me a smile. When I was much younger, I was an extremely disorganized hostess. We used to tease my half sister and her husband about my lack of preparation. They would drive up to our house in New Hampshire from theirs in Massachusetts, maybe a two and a half hour drive. When they arrived, we would visit for a while, then I'd say, "Well, I'll just nip out to the garden to harvest some wheat to make the bread for supper."

It wasn't far from the truth, when describing my meal-preparation habits. Those poor people had to wait once while I made hamburger buns from scratch, and then while I ground the meat for the burgers!

I really, really wanted to show them that I could have a meal mostly prepared and ready to put on the table for them, so for their next visit I bought a crock pot and made spaghetti sauce, which simmered all night long before they came for supper one Saturday. I was so pleased with myself, but only until we tried out the sauce. It had really simmered to death, the herbs had long lost any flavor, and the consistency of the meatballs was that of canned dog food, as best I can imagine it!

This time, many years later, I am ready to try again. Thanks to all your advice, I have bought a crock pot (actually two!), and a couple of cookbooks as well. I plan to follow directions and see if the modern crock pot is all it is cracked up to be,  Arija's opinion notwithstanding!

I'll let you know how it all works out.

Crock Pot Questions

I have had a crock pot in the past, but never used it much and finally got rid of it. However, I keep hearing from friends about how much they like their crock pots, so I decided to put a few questions out there:

If you have a crock pot, how do you like it?

What do you make in it?

Any favorite recipes?

Any favorite crock pot recipe sites?

Please use the comments to tell me about your experiences. Based on your answers, I will decide about buying one for the kitchen in the Pecan House, and I'll let you know if I do. Thank you for your help!

More Fire and Ice

After putting together the post on Beez's newest recipe for a hot and chilly dessert (pun intended) the other day--see It's Cold! No, It's Hot!--I discovered that there are other New Mexicans with reckless taste buds trying out some similar experiments.

If you are a chile aficionado, you owe it to yourself to try out Habanero Popsicles. The recipe is found here, under Hotsicles. It's found on the web site called Chile Recipes, which includes all kinds of salsas, enchiladas, sauces, soups, and even a Hot Herbal Cough Syrup.

It's Cold! No, It's Hot!

A new flavor combination

My husband, Beez, adores chile. Red chile, green chile, chiles in salsa, on eggs, and in any kind of main dish. I suppose I wasn't really surprised when he found a way to have chile for dessert.

It started with a trip to Ristramnn Chile in Mesilla, just south of Las Cruces. Yes, that's the right spelling. I have the sense that it might once have been Ristra Man, and they just compressed it to "Ristramnn" for reasons of their own.

We were exploring all the back rooms at the store, looking for some big packages of red chile powder that I knew they carried, when the owner introduced us to green chile powder. He gave us a little sample, and we were sold. The pure stuff was blazing, but he said to sprinkle it over the top of food for a delicious addition to almost anything.

On the way home, we stopped at Caliche's for some of their wonderful frozen custard, and that's where I saw the look of inspiration come over Beez's happy face. Long story short, we bought a quart of frozen custard, brought it home, and Beez spooned some into a bowl and sprinkled a bit of green chile powder over the top.

Sounds odd, doesn't it? But it is the perfect combination of hot and cold, creamy and fiery. Once you try it, you'll never be the same.

It turns out that there are some other variations on this hot/cold theme. Stay tuned ...

Oatmeal Pancakes

If you are traveling through Las Cruces, be sure to have some breakfast at The Shed restaurant. I can personally vouch for the oatmeal pancakes they serve! If you can't make it to southern New Mexico for breakfast, try this version that I came up with at home.

3/4 cup quick oatmeal

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

2 tbl. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

Stir oatmeal and buttermilk together in a large bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir in eggs, oil, vanilla, and brown sugar. Mix well.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into the oatmeal mixture.

Cook pancakes on a hot greased griddle for about two minutes per side. Keep the cooked ones in a warm oven until all are ready to be served.

Serve with warm syrup, sliced bananas, or warm applesauce.

Frosted Orange Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 whole orange (peel and all) finely ground up

1/4 cup buttermilk

4 - 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Add the ground orange and buttermilk; mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually add it to the orange mixture, stirring well.

Drop by teaspoonsful onto a greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350〫for 10 to 12 minutes until the bottoms are just brown. Cool a bit on paper towels. While still slightly warm, frost with Orange Buttercream Frosting, below. Makes about 4 dozen.

Orange Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup ground orange (peel and all)

3 tbl. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar, or amount needed to make the frosting a spreadable consistency

Beat all together until creamy.

Beef Enchiladas

Because Beez has been working in another part of the state, he has been doing a lot of cooking for himself and even trying out some new recipes. He loves this one and plans to make it for our company tomorrow night. You can see the original at AllRecipes.Com.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 (1.5 ounce) package dry enchilada sauce mix
• 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (2.25 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium skillet over medium high heat, cook the ground beef and onion until beef is evenly browned and onion is tender.
2. Prepare the enchilada sauce according to package directions. Pour 1/4 cup of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. On each flour tortilla, place an equal portion of the ground beef mixture and about 1 ounce of Cheddar cheese, reserving at least 1/2 cup of cheese. Then tightly roll the tortillas and place seam side down in the baking dish.
4. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with the remaining cheese and olives.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and cheese is thoroughly melted.

Sour Cream Spice Cake

• 2 cups sifted cake flour, sift before measuring
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons vinegar and sour cream to make 1 cup
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Optional: Substitute nutmeg, mace, and/or cardamon for the cloves and allspice

Optional: Add 1 cup of golden raisins

Sift dry ingredients. Mix and beat well the shortening, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Mix the vinegar and sour cream together in a measuring cup; add alternately with the sifted ingredients and beat until smooth. Add nuts and/or raisins and beat all until smooth.

Bake at 375〫in layer pans for 25 to 30 minutes, or in an oblong pyrex dish for 35 to 40 minutes.

Frost with the butter cream frosting of your choice.

The original version of this recipe came from Diana's Kitchen.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These cookies are soft and taste a lot like brownies.

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

2 - 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Powdered sugar

Mix together butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, and cooled chocolate. Beat well.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and stir until blended.

Chill the dough for easier handling. Form into small balls the size of a walnut. Roll each in powdered sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350〫for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on pan for another couple of minutes, then place on paper towels to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen.