Fix-It and Forget-It

Garlic. We’re guessing there aren’t many undecided voters when it comes to cooking with this pungent ingredient. If you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy this handy website filled with interesting garlic information, history, and how-to’s.

Although the article states that most garlic consumed in the U.S. is grown in northern California, there’s no reason why most of us can’t grow our own. Garlic is a most forgiving garden crop, and now is the time to plant it. For instructions on planting your own, click here.

If you’re using garlic in a slow-cooker recipe and you want a very distinct, garlicky flavor, add it near the end of the cooking time. You can sauté the garlic briefly on the stovetop if you want to make sure it’s tender and fully cooked.

Do you grow your own garlic? Love to cook with garlic? Have a favorite garlicky recipe? We’d love to hear from you!

This Fruit Salsa threw us for a bit of a loop. Fruit and salsa? But with our gardens bursting with peppers and fresh peaches available at every road-side stand we pass, we decided to give it a whirl. Boy, are we glad that we did. What we discovered was an unexpected take on the sweet and sour flavors that make our area’s relishes so famous. The two hours in the slow cooker melded the flavors beautifully. The fresh juicy peaches blending with the sharp depth of the onions and green peppers to create a truly satisfying pop of flavor.

Serve Fruit Salsa with tortilla chips or top grilled chicken breasts or fish with a spoonful. There’s something about fruit and meat together that is surprising and utterly satisfying.
Continue Reading...

One of our daughter’s college friends bakes all of her own bread. She loves to bake and is strict about doing it the “old-fashioned way,” which means that she refuses to use a bread maker.

She recently tried this recipe and now says that she might have been converted to a new way of baking bread: using a slow cooker! Who would have thought that a few simple steps and an hour of baking time could produce a wonderful Parmesan bread? This is a great bread to serve with soup and salad or in place of dinner rolls with a more elaborate meal. The bread is easy and doesn’t take up oven space when you are cooking a big meal.
Continue Reading...

We love the bite and depth garlic adds to food. But we don’t love the shreds of garlic that catch in our fingernails and smell up our hands when we peel a garlic clove. That’s why we were thrilled to discover this Zak! Designs Garlic Peeler. This gadget is genius in its design and actually pretty practical.

Just stick your unpeeled garlic clove in the tube and gently apply pressure while rolling it back and forth. When you hear the skin pop off, voilà!, the clove is peeled. Tilt the Peeler so that the peeled clove falls out, ready to use.

The Zak! Designs Garlic Peeler is available from The Good Cooking Store. Click here for more information on how to reach them.