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Saturday 18 February 2012

Who would have thunk it?

I was all excited this afternoon, picking up a recipe book i had reserved at the library, to inspire my culinary experiments with my crockpot!  I hummed all the way there -5 minutes-  and all the way back - 9 minutes, i hit all the red lights. :-)

As soon as I arrived home, I made myself a cup of tea and curled up in my favorite chair with the recipe book, with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. Oops, i think that's a different story.  Sorry. I got sidetracked. 

So, here i am with " Slow Cooker: The best cookbook ever, with more than 400 Easy-to-Make Recipes”   Yesssss!  I'm shaking, in anticipation,  i'm so excited.    

But.... What? .... Where? ... How?...  There are NO pictures!!! Well, that's a lie:  there are 6 pictures in the middle of the book!!!  6 , read them,  SIX pictures only!   What is that about?  Ms. Phillips, i have a bone to pick with you!

I don't know about you but looking at a picture is really worth 1000 words to me; i can see how it's supposed to look like when i'm done with it,  so it's a real encouragement!  I am not like my sister who can look at 3 unrelated ingredients and create a gourmet meal out of those,  which will also be picture perfect and make you want to drool just looking at it.
No sir!  Not moi!  I need pictures for inspiration.  

So here are my choices:

-Butternut Squash Braised with Thyme and Cider...naaaa, don't think so;
-Ultimate Mashed Potatoes: and sculpt mountains out of them? Naaaa, not at this time;
-Alphabet Beef Vegetable Soup? Well, i made Beef Barley Vegetable Soup last week so i should pass on that but maybe i could use the alphabet noodles for another project!
-There is a picture of pizza dip... Hum... Maybe not;
-Fruited Chicken Tagine? What in the world is a tagine?  ZAB! Help!
-ok, now i've found it!  It looks delicious!  It's called: 

Red Wine Poached Pears with Stilton !!!
No, peoples from the peanut gallery,  Stilton is not my guy's name, it's a type of cheese!  Really!  Pay attention:

Ingredients are:
-1 cup full-bodied red wine
-1 cup Ruby Port
-1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar (Zab, can i use Splenda?)
-6 large firm red pears, halved and cored
-6 ounces Stilton cheese
-one 4 - inch cinnamon stick.

Combine yadda, yadda, yadda and throw in your crockpot.
Cover and cook on high for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Uncover and allow pears to cool at room temperature.
Devour.

Ok, now it'll be Sunday evening and i'll have  eaten my cookings for the week!  What shall i do then?

I guess there's always Pringle chips and red licorice!! Shhh, don't tell my sister!

Salut to all those of you who need to see to be inspired to cook; i know what you're going through!

PS: i did not pick that recipe because of all the red things in there... Or did I? ;) 
PPS:  don't eat that stuff and drive, you're bound to be over the red limit!
PPPS: note to myself to check out recipe book BEFORE i sign it out from library next time.

Better be a Little "S" than a Little Less!  J

5 comments:

  1. First, don't know what a Tagine is, so can't help you there.
    Second, weren't you looking for a nice complete meal that would welcome you when you walk in the house after work? (not pears sheeesh!) ;)
    And last, I just got a new recipe book ordered on Amazon, and it has no pictures (NONE).I know what you mean with the inspiration part missing! But I will focus on the fact that it was extremely well rated by all readers and I will make pictures myself, with every recipe I do, so that's another inspiring project right there!
    Now make a wonderful red cherry tomatoes salad with fresh mozzarella and pesto and start a nice beef ragout in your slow cooker! Go go go! :)

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  2. So now you're Alive and Cooking! I thought that you were going to use this title right after the previous one!!! ;)

    For tagine or tajine see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagine

    The Stilton is a very strong cheese see :
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilton_cheese

    Without a sense of smell, you might not notice it but if your animals start doing funny things (funnier than usual I mean!) ; blame the cheese! ;)

    With 2 cups of alcohol and 1 & 1/2 cup of brown sugar for 6 pears, it should be an interesting expérience! We should ask The_Zab if this is considered a Low Carb meal!!!!
    I sure hope you plan to eat something before this dessert! ;)

    I also have a few recipe books without pictures; in the long run, you can get used to it and if what you finally get is not what they had in mind, you can blame them!!! ;)

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    Replies
    1. You should know by now there are certain things i cannot ask our sister because i already know what she is going to say! Yikes! Never mind that the alcohol will be all evaporated due to the long cooking time... i know she's not going to think there is enough protein in there. Sheeesh she says.... That just goes to tell you how polite she is to be sheeeshing me instead of excommunicating me from the family!

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