Tikkabik

My mom did something nice for us over the weekend when she gave Bonnie and me a belated anniversary gift -- an All-Clad stainless steel slow cooker from Williams Sonoma. It's this seven-quart monstrosity with a digital timer and enough sense to know that if I've programmed it for over [x] hours, it should go on low heat instead of high. A real nice piece of kit, and big enough that I could use it to make enough stew to feed a dinner party if need be.

Now, I've made stews and soups a lot over the past few years -- I like hearty meals like that especially as the weather gets cold. Combine it with a nice crusty loaf of bread and it's the perfect cold-weather dinner, as far as I'm concerned. But up until now, I've used a big pot on the stove to make it. The meat doesn't get very tender or flavorful, because I inevitably don't give myself enough time to make it.

I've bought enough stuff to make slow-cooked meals three times this week. I've got for lazy, lazier and homemade. The first run last night was my chance to try the lazier method: using a Slow Cooker Helper recipe -- that's from the same folks who make Hamburger Helper. It's a box with dehydrated vegetables and seasonings, and it's dead simple to make (though I did opt to brown the meat myself, since it helps get the excess fat out). Basically pour the stuff out of the packets, add five cups of water, mix it thoroughly, then add your meat, turn the machine on and piss off for six or seven hours -- et voila, a feast. Bonnie and Bob loved it. Emme and James turned up their noses at it, as they do with virtually everything I make. Ungrateful little whelps.

Tonight I'll try something different -- I might try a recipe out of a slow cooker recipe book Mom got us, or I might try the lazy method: A frozen slow cooker meal from Banquet that comes with everything, meat, vegetables and seasonings. Again, it's basically a dump-and-pour way of cooking. I'm sure it'll be good. I'm not sure that it will be plentiful, however. Despite adding two pounds of stew meat to last night's Slow Cooker Helper recipe, we didn't even have enough for leftovers, and Bonnie and I only had a small second helping to polish it off. Still, this might be handy for those times that I'm on the road and Bonnie is looking for a hearty meal for herself and the kids without a lot of prep work.

This is really interesting: It seems like there's a new trend in slow cooker helper-type pre made meals that I hadn't noticed before. I don't know if that means that the use of slow cookers is on the rise and it's a trend we're just grabbing on to, or what, but it's interesting regardless.

So, homemade: The one recipe in this book that totally grabbed my attention was for Beef and Guinness Stew. Adding beer to beef stew isn't anything new, but this recipe is just so simple but so good sounding that I couldn't help but want to try it right away. I think I might make that one tonight, and I know Mom wants me to, because I promised to have her over next time if it was good.