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

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...