Weasel Of Doom

Great article by Joe Walton on tor.com – The Suck Fairy, who “comes in when you come back to a book that you liked when you read it before, and on re-reading—well, it sucks.” The Suck Fairy has visited some movies I used to love, too (Navy SEALs, anyone?)

And the page99test (from Guardian.co.uk via Robin McKinley’s blog post) – reading page 99 to see if you’ll like the book. Must remember to apply it to my TBR pile and to the books I have read already, should be interesting to see if it works for me.

I have been dipping my toes in the murky waters of cooking (if putting stuff in the crock pot counts as such), and here are the recipes that worked so far:

Red, White, and Blueberry Fruit Salad
(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

# 1 pint strawberries, hulled and cut into easy-to-eat pieces
# 1 pint blueberries
# 1/2 cup white sugar

Mix the strawberries and blueberries together in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar, and toss lightly. Refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes. Serves 8.

The original recipe called for 4 bananas, and for adding lemon juice so that the aforementioned bananas won’t brown. I found that they browned anyway, so did away with bananas altogether. Also, the recipe called for quartering the strawberries, which seemed too large for me, so I cut mine smaller.

Bill eats this fruit salad with whip cream. I have seen plain yogurt used, as well.

Easy Pot Roast and Veggies
(adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook)

3-4 lbs chuck roast
4-6 medium potatoes, cubed
1 lb baby carrots (or 4 medium-sized carrots, sliced)
4-6 celery ribs, sliced
1 envelope of dry onion soup mix
3 cups of water

Put the veggies at the bottom of the slow cooker, and the roast on top of them. Combine the soup mix with three cups of water, pour the mixture over the meat. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

I have experimented with adding bay leaf, garlic, and whole peppercorns for more flavor.

Pork Chop Slow Cooker Casserole
(adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining)

3-4 pork chops
4-5 medium potatoes, cubed
10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
10 3/4 oz can cream of celery soup
15 oz can green beans, drained

Layer ingredients in the slow cooker in the order listed. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Apple Crisp
(adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining)

2/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water
3 Tbsp cornstarch
4 cups of sliced apples
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp ground allspice (optional)
3/4 cups quick oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter at room temperature

Combine white sugar, water, cornstarch, apples, and spices. Place in cooker. Combine remaining ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over apple filling. Cover and cook on low 2-3 hours.

I have made this with frozen blueberries instead of apples, and it tasted good. Bill thinks there is too much cornstarch in the recipe.

UPDATE (December 2010): I prefer the non-slow cooker apple crisp, now that I made it a few times.

After a really really pathetic month, I finally got my butt in gear and some stuff got done.

Yesterday: did laundry, vacuumed upstairs and downstairs, organized all the toys in the great room, put the dishwasher through its paces twice (so no more dirty dishes taking over the counters), washed the kitchen floor (we were starting to stick to the tile, ugh), cleaned the downstairs bathroom, nailed the long decorative rope-like thing that sits on top of the couch skirt back to the couch, and got the food dehydrator going with four trays of apple slices.

Today: took the kids to the park after picking up some books from the library; replaced the velcro on a pair of YoungestOne’s shoes and one OldestOne’s shoe (how he managed to rip it off in the first place I will never know); did another load of dishes; prepped the veggies for pot roast for tomorrow morning; and started another four trays of apples dehydrating.

And now I am tired and going to bed. Going to read a little bit of “Hunger Games” and then crash. Wonder how many more days my unnatural productivity will last….