Layout:
Home > Random Cooking Stuff

Random Cooking Stuff

November 20th, 2013 at 05:31 am

Back when we had television service, I used to be addicted to watching cooking shows. I could sit on the couch and lose five hours and all I'd have to show for it is a knit hat or scarf or a few baskets of folded laundry.

I broke that addiction when we got rid of cable and didn't really even think about if for a years. Recently I have discovered little cooking shows on youtube. Fortunately the addictive quality of letting the afternoon disappear is long gone. And when you only have a ten or 15 minute snippet with no commercials you can fit them in just about anywhere. I watch them when doing the bills or trying to hit the daily goal on Swagbucks or folding laundry.

Recently I've come across two that have given me some great recipe ideas and are pretty money-saving. Sicily's post about her crockpot cookbook brought the one to my mind.

The first one is Linda's Pantry and what I really like about it is she does a lot of make ahead freezer crockpot meals. This is where you get all of the main stuff done when you have time, like chopping the meat and browning it, chopping the vegetables, measuring out your spices, adding any stock or sauces. She uses two gallon size baggies, one inside the other, and uses her canning funnel to fill the inner bag, then puts a card with instructions on it between the inside bag and the outside bag. The outside bag is reusable. Then she puts it in the freezer. Often it is for her husband to make when she is away, all he has to do is follow the instructions, dump stuff in the crockpot, and have an easy home cooked meal.

So I am making up lists of the recipes I think we will eat from her videos, but substituting with regular spices. She sells some stuff that she uses and promotes it in each vid, but it's a soft sell. I just ignore that part since we have to be very careful with our spices, herbs, and mixtures due to DS's allergies and my own. They have to be completely clean. Anyway, I am very much enjoying those and think I will save both time and money by making some of these meals up when I feel good to have on hand when I don't.

The other one I have been watching is Our Half Acre Homestead. They do a lot of things with meat and produce they grow themselves. It's more down home and rustic than the other one, but I love it for that quality. She makes simple, easy meals with their home butchered pork, goat, and chickens. She explains things in very simple terms so that even beginner cooks can get the hang of it. And best of all she gives me ideas on what I can do with my own home raised meats. Anything that makes my life easier is welcome.

3 Responses to “Random Cooking Stuff”

  1. rachel021406 Says:
    1384965896

    There are 2 new shows on Food Network that I'm really starting to like. Heartland Table and Farmhouse Rules. All about using real ingredients and using what you have or what you can get local.

  2. LuckyRobin Says:
    1384983676

    I'd probably love those.

  3. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1385090398

    Have you come across any that feature vegetarian crockpot/freezable meals?

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]