It happens every year...The electric bill in April is ridiculously low since we usually run neither the heater nor the air conditioner. The weather is lovely and we have the windows open and fresh air blowing through the house every day. Then it gets closer and closer to May and...on goes the A/C and up goes the bill. Dinner becomes a vicious cycle. I use the oven to cook something which not only costs the electricity to power the oven but the A/C kicks on to alleviate the heat increase thus using more power. So this summer I have issued myself a challenge; I am going to try to use my oven less by using my crockpot and my Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker more. I have a lot of recipes for both, but I would love some help from y'all. So if you have a favorite recipe, let me hear about it! Send it to me by e-mail, leave it here in the comments, or even Facebook it to me. If I try it out and it meets Chaosville approval I will blog it and give you the credit!
I saw this post on This Week For Dinner the other day and I thought it looked so easy and yummy I just had to try it out. The Ingredients are cupboard staples so no trip to the store was needed:
2 Tbsp butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
Heat oven to 400 degrees. While oven is heating up, put butter in a baking dish and place inside oven until butter melts.
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add milk, flour and salt and beat until smooth. Pour into baking dish.
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes or until sides are puffy and center is done.
Serve with syrup and powdered sugar
or fruit or whatever you like. Personally, and this is just me, I'm sure...it was screaming NUTELLA!
I will most definitely make this again, but I think next time I will increase the ingredients by half. I think the recipe I used was for an 8 inch baking dish and I used a 9 x 13. I think if I added a little more "batter" then it would be a little puffier and even more delicious. Try it out for yourself and let me know how you like it!
I like to make taco meat in the crock pot and then put out a make your own taco bar - it's easy and pleases everyone!
ReplyDeleteAnd here is one of my favorite crock pot soups - although it's pretty spicy and probably not kid friendly. The recipe wasn't designed for a crock pot, but I just throw everything in and let it do it's thing!
Quick Jamaican Pepperpot Soup (Eating Well, February 2010)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound sirloin steak, trimmed, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 ½ teaspoons salt, divided
1 small white onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced Scotch bonnet chile pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or ¼ teaspoon dried
4 cups water
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 pound sweet potato (about 1 large), cut into 1/2 -inch pieces
1 cup chopped okra, fresh or frozen (not thawed)
3 cups chopped callaloo, collard greens or spinach (I used spinach)
3 scallions, sliced
1 14-ounce can "lite" coconut milk, well shaken
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add steak and ½ tsp. salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink on the outside, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
2. Add onion, garlic, chile pepper and thyme to the pot and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk water and cornstarch in a bowl or large measuring cup; add to the pot along with sweet potato and okra. Bring to a boil over high heat; boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are almost tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in callaloo (or collards or spinach) and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt; cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add scallions and the steak plus any accumulated juices. Cook until the steak is hot and just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in coconut milk.
I really like my crockpot too. I have so many great recipes. I would highly recommend purchasing the "Fix It & Forget It"' cookbook. They have several varieties and I'm sure they are all great. We happen to have the "Fix It & Forget It Lightly" and it's great!
ReplyDelete