Fix-It and Forget-It

This one-pot meal has it all—meat, potatoes, and vegetable (if you use the optional peas). Continue Reading...

Remember the Staub Dutch oven that we talked about on Tuesday? Well, all that talk about slow-cooked stews made us hungry for one!

Here is a stew that you can make in either a Dutch oven or your slow cooker. Choose whichever method fits your life. Either way, the meat comes out wonderfully tender and juicy. And look at all the vegetables you’ll be offering the people at your table.

The smell of this great dish cooking will surely make you happy that the weather is cooler and that stew season has come.
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written by Tina, Assistant Manager at The Good Cooking Store

Tina bakes bread as recreation because she’s good at it and because she loves to eat it. Her cake-baking and cake-decorating hobby has turned into baking wedding cakes for her many friends that astound them and their guests. Here we get a tiny view into her early love of food. –Phyllis Pellman Good

I grew up in northwest Ohio. Many of our family vacations included a trip 5 hours north to visit my mom’s parents in Michigan. One of my fondest memories of these childhood trips was not the drive itself, although I do believe that this is where I got my love of road trips, but rather what awaited us at Grandma’s house: Hamburger Vegetable Soup.

We would walk in the door of Grandma’s house to her warm welcome. Not that she was always physically present…often we had to hunt for her out in the garden or down the road at my uncle’s farm. But the smell of warm soup on the stove always greeted us, no matter where Grandma might be.

She had a knack for making this soup, probably because she made it so many times for so many traveling children and grandchildren as a homecoming soup. Her blend of vegetables varied depending on what was in her freezer or ripe in her garden, but the staples were always the same: hamburger, carrots, celery, peas, and often potatoes. And when we tasted it, we knew we were with Grandma.
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When I was a kid, I adopted a third set of grandparents. Not that my two biological pairs weren’t adequate. In fact, I liked my grandparents a lot, so I’m sure I figured, why stick with just two?

Here’s how it happened. My cousin, Carol, lived in Virginia. But her mother was from Lancaster, so the family made long summer-time visits to the Lancaster farm where Carol’s mom (my aunt) grew up. This was Carol’s and my chance to play together, and so I’d go to the farm for several-day stretches.

Carol called these two older people “Grandpa” and “Grandma,” so I tried it, too. They answered—and treated me like one of their own. It was that simple, bless their generous hearts.
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Recently a customer came into The Good Cooking Store and purchased the Fix-It and Forget-It Kids Cookbook. Not for her children, but for herself

These recipes are great for all ages. The instructions are thorough and easy to follow. And the ingredients are simple and tasty.

Here is an old favorite—with a slow-cooker twist.
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We love a good salad. In fact, one particular office-mate has been eating Strawberry Spinach Salad at least three times a week.

But salads come in a variety of forms. In fact, the Amish here in Lancaster County often count a jell-o concoction as salad.

Crunchy Pea Salad is another option. It’s a great way to eat your veggies without making the same old lettuce salad day after day. And, you can alter it to fit your taste preferences. For example, we exchanged the cashews for almond slivers.

Crunchy Pea Salad: perfect for a picnic or for lunch at the office…at least three times a week.
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We’ve got stuff cooking today in The Good Cooking Store. That would be literally and figuratively.

We’re publishing a new cookbook in September, called Lizzie’s Cookbook: A Treasury of Favorite Amish Recipes—and today we’re photographing its cover.
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