Fix-It and Forget-It

We know that slow cookers can’t be beat, but this time of year, with so many fresh vegetables available, a quick stove-top recipe is the best choice.
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I’ve got 2 pint boxes of grape tomatoes stacked in my fridge. Plus 2 fat, purple (why are they called red?) onions, 2 golden summer squash, but no fresh basil unfortunately. I also unearthed a half-full box of farfalle in the cupboard, so this will be supper this evening.

I’ll keep the tomatoes whole, chunk the onions and the squash, douse them with olive oil and sea salt, and onto two baking pans with sides they’ll go. I’m still lamenting the absence of fresh basil, so I guess I’ll sprinkle the veggies with dried basil. Sometimes you have to make do.

I’ve learned to always scoop out about 1 cup of pasta cooking water before I drain the pasta, so I can soup up the dish if I want to, once I’ve put everything together. That little act is now on my Essential Cooking Tips list.
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Since Thanksgiving is almost here, all thoughts around the office and Store are on turkey. We recently had a cooking class in which we learned how to brine a fresh turkey and bake it in the oven to perfection.

If you have time and space for this method, it is a wonderful way to serve turkey on Thanksgiving. But if you don’t have time to brine a turkey, or oven space doesn’t allow you to fit in both a turkey and all of the sides, why not try doing your main dish in a slow cooker this year?

Today’s recipe will give you turkey and stuffing for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, without the traditional Thanksgiving space headaches. And it will save you some time. Just set it to Low and let it go!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and remember to put your slow cooker to work for you!
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We have become big fans of Brussels sprouts. People have made way too many unfair comments about these guys. Don’t pick on them just because they look like miniature cabbages. And it’s not their fault that they’re often over-cooked.

Try mixing these babies with herbs and spices or cooking them gently with some of your other favorite fall vegetables, and you’ll have a great treat. We have convinced our most skeptical co-workers to try them… and now they are recommending them to everyone!

Here is a slow-cooker recipe that we made recently for our co-workers. It is a great side dish for our Asian–Style Country Ribs!
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Looking for a way to make something good and tasty with all of those zucchinis in your garden? Why in the world do we ever plant more than one zucchini plant, anyway?

Why, year after year, do we find ourselves running around the neighborhood late at night, depositing our extra zucchini on our neighbors’ front porches, “sharing” our over-abundance that’s visibly multiplying in our gardens?

We don’t have a solution for all of your zucchini woes, but this recipe will make you very happy for all of the zucchini in your garden today—and probably again tomorrow!
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I come from a little brood of 2 kids. Merle comes from a major tribe of 7 kids, all boys, by the way. I can only imagine. . . well, no, I really can’t.

The photo above is from the early years on the farm when the 7 brothers lined up to sing, which they always like to do. Merle is second from left.

Anyway, both kinds of families have their own particular advantages, and how lucky am I to have a toe in each!

A good many years ago, when Merle’s folks were still living on their farm but were starting to slow down a little, somebody in the family got a Christmas gift idea for them. Instead of giving them stuff when they were clearly starting to slim down their household, we decided to do fix-up projects around the homestead. Things they weren’t getting done or needed to hire people to do: painting, cleaning out the shop, fixing spouting, repairing mortar in the little stone smokehouse. . . those kinds of projects. Here we are in those early years painting the corn barn.
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