OK, here's the next installment in the slow cooking extravaganza! I was half-kidding when I nicknamed it 'Crock Pot Wednesday' but so far it's proving true... The lasagna from last week lasted until Sunday in surprisingly good shape; mellowed, blended with age. That will definitely be a 'do-over' at some point.
Here is the before & after of this week's recipe: Tamale Pie. Pretty easy, fairly good. This recipe uses hamburger but any meat would do--and easily could be only vegetarian. I added corn & chopped jalapenos to both the meat/sauce mix & to the cornbread 'dumplings', added more spice than requested, and less meat & cheese. The cornbread was made with a Jiffy mix base--came out too sweet; I think a made-from-scratch cornbread with additions would be better, as long as not too thick. Thought of Joe's cornbread stuffing after the fact & wonder if that might be a good try as well.
Pros: nice flavor, easy, good idea. Cons: not spicy enough, didn't make as large a pot as expected. Next time (or find a better recipe): double the recipe on most things (more), hot enchilada sauce + more peppers/spice, don't make the cornbread a top layer (mix spoonfuls more into sauce).
And, no, so far we're not expanding balloons of couch-potatoes. Walking a lot and can 'cook-and-forget-it' with some of these recipes. Have a nice portion for dinner & save the rest for lunches or dinners to come, so we can be off to do other things. Like our Saturday morning yoga class. 8-) Or like today: I'm going to spend the day at a friend's long-arm quilting studio; she has a 2nd machine that she 'rents out' for the day. This will be my first adventure into DIY...will let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile, Jim is getting busier now with the Hearts & Hammers projects for this year: work day is first Saturday in May, so they're finalizing the projects that will be included and planning budgets, materials, and work team assignments. This is only year two for the Central group, but they're acting pretty organized! I'm always proud to see the local community step up & lend a hand...we're lucky to live here.
So we'll be eating our leftovers when we manage to return home.
Meanwhile, Jim is getting busier now with the Hearts & Hammers projects for this year: work day is first Saturday in May, so they're finalizing the projects that will be included and planning budgets, materials, and work team assignments. This is only year two for the Central group, but they're acting pretty organized! I'm always proud to see the local community step up & lend a hand...we're lucky to live here.
So we'll be eating our leftovers when we manage to return home.
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