What are you Cooking the Week of September 5, 2021?

[kimbob]

Buttermilk pancakes, sausage, butter and delicious Scruggs maple syrup tonight!

[chocomouse]

Kimbob, we haven't had that for ages, although I can almost taste it now. But it will have to wait. I have a tomato tart in the oven - tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, basil, mozzarella, and parmesan.

[kimbob]

That sounds delicious, chocomouse! A quiche is in our future. 😊

[cwcdesign]

A quiche might be a fun dinner sometime. Tonight I made a sheet pan salmon, asparagus and baby potatoes.

[Joan Simpson]

We had chicken that I marinated in Italian dressing,baked potato,okra and tomatoes,and a green salad.

[RiversideLen]

I made Sloppy Joes tonight.

[Joan Simpson]

We went grocery shopping today so it was my easy supper...Hamburger steaks and fries.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I made yogurt.

For dinner, I made a quinoa salad (recipe adapted from Bob’s Red Mill) that includes corn, baby lima beans, green onion, and feta. We will have it as a main dish tonight, but it also works as a side dish.

[chocomouse]

Dinner tonight was ham steaks, cole slaw, summer squash, and brown and wild rice from a prepared packet. We used to eat that quite often, but haven't had it for several years. I rarely used pre-packaged or prepared foods at all these days - too many ingredients that I cannot pronounce. It was delicious, a nice change, and I think we'll have it or something similar more often.

[Mike Nolan]

I ordered takeout, too tired.

[Joan Simpson]

We had taco salad.

[Italiancook]

For the second time, I made Trisha Yearwood's (Food Network) Slow-Cooker Pork Loin. Recipe says to cook for 4-5 hours. Both times, the pork reached 210* in 3-3/4 hours. Both times, it was too dry. I'm not sure it's safe to crockpot cook for less time, but I'll try this recipe one more time & cook for 3-1/4 hours then check the temperature.

I served it for lunch with roasted potatoes & roasted carrots. It was my first time making roasted carrots, but they were scrumptious, so there will be other times.

I put the liquid from the slow cooker in the fat separator. I'll use it tomorrow to make gravy for mashed potatoes, leftover pork loin, and marinated artichokes.

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, my newer crockpot cooks too hot. I can’t leave anything in too long or it is tough and dry.

My solution is to use my Chef Alarm from ThermoWorks. I put the probe in the meat and set the alarm for the proper temperature for the cooked meat. I also use the clamps to keep the lid tight even though Hamilton Beach says not to do that while cooking. My chicken breasts usually take less than 3 hours on low.

As long as your meat is cooked to a safe temperature, it doesn’t matter how long it takes.

A few years ago, some organization decided crockpots weren’t “safe” cooking appliances because they took so long to come to temp - they were worried about it allowing bacteria and stuff so the manufacturers started upping their thermostats to cook hotter. Funny how for years we never heard about anyone getting sick.

If you review new ones, the reviews will let you know if they cook too high - wish I’d read them before I bought my last one.

[Italiancook]

cwcdesign, thanks for your helpful information. The crockpot I used for the pork loin is newer -- 3 or 4 years old. It doesn't lock, it's pretty basic. It seems to me that making the pots run hotter defeats the purpose of a slow-cooker. At least for people who depended on them while working outside the home. I'm going to look into the Chef Alarm. Thanks for mentioning it.

[Mike Nolan]

Sous vide cooking has changed a lot of perceptions, because you can cook something to a 130 degree temperature safely even though it might take 6 hours or longer, but for beef, pork and chicken I think it is still the case that as long as the temperature is higher than 140 you're not in the danger zone regardless of the cooking method. Most crock pots will get the liquid to a boil, which means it is well over 212.

I have a little crock pot that doesn't have a temperature control, I use a Lutron light dimmer cord (like you'd use with a table lamp) to adjust it to a temperature that works for hot fudge (no more than 110.)

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