Thread: Food you cook
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Old 2012-02-12, 22:20   Link #49
Ledgem
Love Yourself
 
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
For my standard meals, because I don't have a lot of time or a very large budget, I make all of my stuff in a slow cooker. You can basically just throw everything into there (even uncut meat), and it makes everything soft enough that as you stir it around, it'll break up. It doesn't become mush, although if you leave certain things in for long enough, they get pretty close. Another benefit is that you can buy the cheapest, crappiest cuts of beef, and they still come out incredibly soft and tender. The only drawback is that cook time will be at least six hours, so some advance planning is necessary. But prep time and everything else is so brief, it's well worth it. Add Japanese curry mix or a "cream of"-type soup to prevent it from becoming a stew, and you're good to go.

As for recipes, here's one from my wife. It's one of my favorite desserts, and a fresh (better IMO) take on pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Crunch

Pumpkin Crunch by Velocity of Sound, on Flickr

Ingredients
1 can (1 lb. 13 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 box (18.25 oz.) yellow cake mix
1 cup nuts, chopped (note: we used walnuts)
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
Cream Cheese Frosting (note: we used just plain Cool Whip for frosting instead)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350˚F (note: if you're using a dark pan, as opposed to a glass one, try using 325˚F instead). Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs and cinnamon; mix well. Pour into 13x9x2-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Sprinkle with cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle with chopped nuts and press them lightly into the mixture. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool, then turn out on a rack and frost. Makes 16 servings.

Prep time: 1 hour 10 minutes.

Cream cheese frosting prep: (optional; you can go with a frosting of your choice if you like. The frosting pictured above is plain, unmodified Cool Whip)
Blend together 8 oz. cream cheese and 1 cup powdered sugar. Fold in 8 oz. thawed frozen whipped topping.
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