Post Cards from - Tom’s “Crockpottery” & other Natural Disasters!

This recipe is by Linda Larsen the doyen of the Crock Pot arts.  It follows in the footsteps of the Japanese tradition of cookery using a teriyaki sauce. It called for a pork loin or pork shoulder roast both of which are economic choices. It calls for the trimming of excess fat as fat causes the temperature to rise above the setting in the average Crock Pot resulting in overcooking. I changed the amount of the brown sugar called for to suit my personal taste. Linda calls for three tablespoons of brown sugar and I used five tablespoons rounded. I served the finished roast with shrimp fried rice heated from frozen entree. That took about 4 minutes. Enjoy! 1 ½ pounds of boneless pork roast. 2 garlic cloves, cut in slivers. ¼ cup honey 1 onion sliced ¼ cup orange juice 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce 5 tablespoons brown sugar (rounded) 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper 2 tablespoons water 1 t...

Burgundy Beef Stew for Two This recipe is my latest try with my 3 Quart Crock Pot. The original recipe is from the booklet that came with my pot.  Of course being who I am I could just do what they say but as usual I was compelled to add my own touches. The main changes were to add carrots, a quarter cup of cooking wine “Burgundy” ( Carla! He's into the cooking wine again!) and  since it was at hand a one third of a packet beef stew seasoning mix from McCormick. I gave the result a 4.999 Stars because I used stew meat from Walmart and they cut it into small pieces and they shrank a lot. The meat was of course fall apart good but way too small to make a statement. I usualy buy stew meat that meets my specifications but took this shortcut instead. I will not make that mistake again. On a lark I looked up French title of Burgundy Beef Stew and got this return  ” Boeuf Bourguignon” Now I am a French Cook! J Somehow everything sounds better in French! I served bot...

Toms BLT! I became a fan of the All-American Bacon Lettuce & Tomato sandwich at Schrafft's Restauran t s in the Big Apple. Alas Schrafft's is no more! This recipe is my version of the traditional sandwich. I use cracked wheat bread that also contains sunflower seeds from a local grocery store. Makes a great toast! To this I add my special “secret sauce” revealed here for the first time. My B.W. and I play a little word game about this sauce as she accuses me of keeping secrets from her and I pretend that “It’s Secret”! J Serves 1 2 slices of cracked wheat bread toasted. Set aside. 3 pieces of “turkey bacon” or preferred halved & fried crisp. Set aside. 1 or 2 slices of a ripe tomato. Set aside. 1 leaf of lettuce. Set aside. 1 dash of sea salt. 1 dash of fresh ground pepper. For the no longer “secret sauce” topping: 2 tablespoons Mayonnaise. “Light” or” regular”, makes no never mind. 1 dash of garlic powder or a clove of fresh finely mince...

Sausage Gravy & Biscuits! This is my own recipe for this delicious breakfast treat. It’s a short cut of course but one of favorite ways to get the day started. For the biscuits I use either Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk frozen biscuits or when I felt like making a mess of the kitchen I will use the wonderful War Eagle Mill biscuit mix . I usually make them up in batches of 12 and freeze half and put the other half in a zip lock in the fridge. For this Sausage gravy recipe I like to halve a biscuit add a pat of butter and toast them on our toaster/oven. At the moment I’m using J.C. Potter Sage Sausage but I’m not above using some of the precooked sausage patties available in most grocery stores. I use a great gravy mix by Williams to make the base stuff! Blah. Blah. Blah. So here’s the recipe: Yields about one & half cups sausage gravy. Slice of sausage: about 1 ½ inches thick. Garlic powder:  A dash. Salt: A dash. Pepper: A Dash. ½ packet of...

This recipe came to me from my good friends Ken & Sandra Posten. They are retired near Ringgold GA, Thanks guys! The Posten’s rate this recipe as “Excellent”! I have yet to try it but I plan to either on the coming Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays! Whichever comes first! J  Here is what one website says about Old Fashioned Tea Cakes: “ Food and memories are so intertwined in southern cooking that just the mention of things like  fried pies ,  drinking custard , picking  blackberries  for cobbler and preserves, or  biscuit bread , can bring back a flood of memories associated with loved ones long past. If there is one single food that invokes that excitement for Southerners though it surely must be a Southern Tea Cake .” Yields: 3 – 4 dozen cookies. 1 cup sugar ½ cup butter, softened 2 eggs beaten 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon milk (optional) ½ teas...

This recipe came from a small booklet that accompanied my new Crock Pot. Here it is: Serves 2 or 3 1 lb. of beef chuck pot roast ¼ cup flour Salt & pepper 1-2 carrots sliced 1 potato quartered 1 onion sliced 2 celery stalks sliced ½ cups mushrooms, sliced ½ cup of water, beef broth or wine 1.        Coat roast with ¼ cup flour, salt, and pepper. Sear roast in skillet on stove top (optional). 2.        Place all vegetables in a slow cooker, except mushrooms. Add roast and spread mushrooms on top. Pour in liquid. 3.        Cover and cook on Low for 10-12 hours or on high for 6-8 hours, or until tender. Critique: I followed this recipe more or less but I had on hand A Crock Pot Seasoning mix bought at the store earlier. I tried using ½ of the seasoning but that was still over the top and will reduce it the next time to 1/3 rd. The next time I will use only low salt b...