3 Crock Slow Cooker

The other day, a FB friend and I were discussing slow cookers. She was asking my opinion on them and, of course when someone wants to know my opinion, I'll  happily them! What I didn't know at the time was there's something new on the market in regards to slow cookers. New to me, at least. Sometimes I can be a little slow on the uptake. But as IT Guy and I were strolling through Walmart the other day I came across this. Someone was thinkin'. Genius, I say! For those of you who do lots of entertaining, this would be perfect! I know for myself, there have been lots of times when I wish I'd had three slow cookers...but then, who wants three individual crock-pots sitting around. This is something you can store on a top shelf of a pantry or closet and use during the holidays, or game days or party days! I think it would be awesome to have one! Each insert holds 2.5 quarts and the inserts are removable!! Each crock also has it's own temperature control! I tell you....these GE people know what they're doing! And the price? About $40!! That makes this even better!!

Here's the link to the slow cooker on the Walmart website, but I'm sure they can be found lots of other places.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-3-Crock-Slow-Cooker-Buffet/15077806

There's almost nothing I like better than a pound cake unless it's a SIMPLE pound cake recipe. And this one fits the bill. I think pound cake is so versatile. You can eat it plain....with berries...use it in a trifle (Yum!)...toast it and drizzle a sauce over it....have you ever toasted pound cake? Oh. my. There are just so many ways to eat pound cake! This is one of my favorite recipes. It's "fairly simple"..... ;-)

Simple Pound Cake

1 cup butter
½ cup shortening – I used butter-flavored
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and butter 12-cup bundt pan.

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add 3 cups of sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating after each addition just until the yellow disappears.

Stir together the flour and salt. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until just blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla just until blended. Pour batter into greased and floured pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a long wooden pick comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

10 – 12 servings

Cast of characters.....

 

 

Cream the butter and shortening together....

 

 

...then add the sugar.

 

 

Beat until it's nice and fluffy. Then add the eggs...one at a time.

 

 

Mix it well, then....

 

 

when you have the dry ingredients mixed together,

 

 

...add it alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

 

 

Stir in the vanilla.

 

 

Have you ever used Baker's Joy? It's like Pam but it has flour in it.

In a recipe that calls for greasing and flouring a pan, just use this! 

Works great!

 

 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

 

 

Bake it until it's golden brown. Let it cool.

 

 

After it's cooled, flip it upside down and wait for the cake

to fall out of the pan.

 

 

Just like this! Ta-da!!!

 

 

Garnish! I used powdered sugar...because that's what I like...plain 

and simple but ready to add any other goodies!

Yesterday was the birthday of my second born. (Hi Evan!) One thing I've always let my kids do is pick their birthday dessert. I could guarantee that what would be picked by my first son is THIS dessert. He's not a huge sweet lover, but he does love this. And I can't say I blame him. My mom used to make this when I was a kid and I LOVED it. Crunchy, creamy, chocolatey....this dessert has it all! It has the ability to be versatile as well. You can switch up the ice cream flavors...the topping flavors. I think strawberry ice cream and chocolate topping would be heavenly! What about adding some caramel to the mix somewhere? Get creative with this dessert and if you're not adventuresome, stick to the original and you can't go wrong!

Ice Cream Crunch



Crust ingredients:
2 cups flour
½ cup quick oats
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts - any kind
1 cup butter – softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut butter into all crust ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pat into a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Crumble while still warm.

½ gallon vanilla ice cream - slightly softened
2 jars chocolate ice cream topping

Spread 2/3 of the crumbs onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Heat 1 jar of chocolate topping in the microwave until pourable. Drizzle warm topping onto the crumb mixture.

Spread softened ice cream on top of crumbs and chocolate. Spread to smooth. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 of crumbs over ice cream. Warm 2nd jar of topping in microwave until pourable. Drizzle topping over ice cream and crumbs.

Cover with plastic wrap and freeze several hours or overnight. Allow to set for about 10 minutes before cutting.

Here's the goods. I show two 

containers of ice cream because 

I wasn't sure if I'd need two since 

I was making this for company.

 I only used one of them.

 

Combine the flour, brown sugar, 

oatmeal and butter. And nuts! Don't 

for get the nuts. I used chopped, sliced 

almonds because we have a family member 

who is allergic to pecans...which by the way, 

are HEAVENLY in this dessert.

 

Work it until it's combined...

 

..then spread it out. No need to be 

perfect since you're going to crumble it up.

 

Let it cool then crumble. I use a 

spatula to lift it then I use my 

fingers to crumble it up.

 

All done. You don't want teeny-tiny 

crumbles here. Chunky is the name of the game!

Sprinkle 2/3's of the crumbs in a 9x13 pan.

 

Drizzle the warm chocolate topping 

over the crumbs and resist the urge 

to eat it at this point.

 

Make a HUGE ice cream mess because 

you let your ice cream get too soft. Or 

if you don't want to be like me, just slice 

it nice and neat and lay the slices over the topping.

 

Then pour any melted ice cream into the pan.

 

Spread it out nice and even like....

 

Sprinkle the remaining crumbs 

over the softened ice cream.

 

Drizzle the remaining jar of topping 

over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze!

Citrus-Pear Honey

Wanna try something yummy? Then try THIS! Who would have thought that pears mixed with a little honey, sugar and orange juice would turn out this scrumptious? And talk about easy! Everything gets mixed in the pot...left alone to thicken and caramelize for a little bit...with a stir every now and then..and the result is golden deliciousness. The citrus flavor comes through just long enough to give you a hint of honey...toning down the pear flavor but blending all together to make for a heavenly mixture of goodness! Great to have on toast, bagels, waffles, french toast.... or your finger! (Not that I'm guilty of that, or anything.) One nice thing about this is that it doesn't make a HUGE amount. I filled one quart jar. BUT...if you want to make it and share, it's easily doubled.

Citrus-Pear Honey

2 tablespoons butter
6 large pears, peeled and chunked
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
¼ cup orange juice

Melt the butter in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Stir in pears, sugar and honey. Cook for about 30 – 40 minutes until mixture thickens and turns a caramel color. Remove from heat and add orange zest and orange juice. Ladle into a quart sized canning jar. Turn jar upside down and allow to cool and lid to seal down. Store in the fridge.

Serve on toast, waffles or biscuits.

Makes about 3 cups.

Let's go! Peel and chunk up the pears....

..melt the butter.

Add the pears, sugar and honey to the pot!

Let it lightly boil until you can see it thicken and caramelize.

Then add the orange juice and orange zest.

Give it a stir.

I put mine in a jar, but it can go in almost anything.

Wisdom in Wood

I have a good friend (Hi Denise!) who introduced me to this little saying. And you know what? She's right. Sometimes you just can't do anything about a situation. You can't change it. You can't wish it away. It's just what it is. Sometimes it stinks. Sometimes it doesn't. I've learned to roll with the punches....accept things for what they are, try not to sweat the small stuff and just go with the flow. I keep this sign in my kitchen to remind me not to worry about things that have the potential to get me down. Keep moving forward! Put one foot in front of the other and stay on the path. The reward is worth the wait.

Who doesn't love peanut butter? What about peanut butter balls....aka Buckeyes! Well, here's a cake I found that gives you the same result as making 3 or 4 dozen little candy balls but without all the rolling and dipping...just a one layer cake with a yummy peanut butter filling and ganache on the top. How easy is THAT? I made this for our New Year's Day celebration and it was gone lickety-split. Chocolate and peanut butter.....is there anything better?

Buckeye Cake



Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease one 9-inch round cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper; grease

Cake:
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup flour
6 tablespoons butter - melted
3 1-ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate - melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Peanut Butter Layer:
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter - softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Ganache:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups (12 ounce package) chocolate chips

Drizzle:
1/4 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons peanut butter

For cake: Combine eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in flour, melted butter, melted baking chocolate, vanilla and salt until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan. Let cool for an additional 10 minutes. Invert cake onto serving platter. Remove pan and parchment paper and let cool completely.

For peanut butter layer: Beat peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar until smooth. Spread mixture on cooled cake. Chill for 30 minutes.

For ganache: Heat cream in small saucepan to boiling then remove from heat. Add chocolate chips and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Chill for 30 minutes or until mixture is spreadable. Spread on top and sides of cake.

For drizzle: Combine peanut butter and chocolate chips in a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave additional seconds until mixture is smooth. Transfer to a zip-top bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of the zip-top bag and pipe mixture onto frosted cake.

Makes 8 serving.

Here's the goods! As you can see by the picture, I used cocoa (hiding behind the peanut butter) and oil in place of the unsweetened chocolate because I was OUT. The substitution is: 3 tablespoons of cocoa and 1 tablespoon of oil.

Grease the pan..add the parchment and grease THAT.

Mix the eggs and sugar....

...then add the flour, melted butter, 

chocolate, vanilla and salt.

Combine and pour into the prepared pan.

Bake it, baby!

Cool then turn it out onto your serving platter.

Combine the peanut butter, butter 

and vanilla. Mix well then add the 

powdered sugar. As you can see here, 

I added everything at once. I'm such a rebel.

Mix it up....

...and spread it on the cooled cake.

Heat up the cream and add the 

chocolate chips. Let sit then stir to smooth.

Mmmmm....chocolate!

Then...get so excited about this cake 

that you forget to take pictures of the 

frosting and drizzling process. 

Then you can be just like me!