Today, I have more of a tip for you than a recipe. It all came about because of a mispurchase that I made at Costco some time ago.

Mispurchase ~ spell-check does not like that, but I think it is a perfectly reasonable word.

Anyhow, I accidentally bought a huge package of chicken legs instead of chicken thighs, and the legs have been sitting in my freezer for much too long.

Connor is still home this week, so I decided that he would absolutely love to have chicken legs for dinner and for a few lunches before he goes back to school on Monday.

I also had way too many bottles of various sauces taking up room in my refrigerator. I used a mix of these two.

So what does all this have to do with a new tip for a crock-pot/slow cooker?

Being as lazy as can be, I didn’t want to brown the legs before sticking them in the slow cooker and I didn’t want to have to pull the skin off of all 15 of them. But I also didn’t want all that fat from the skin to be floating around in there.  So… I came up with for brilliant idea of wadding up some foil and placing it in the bottom. Worked like a charm!

The fat all went down below the foil and the legs turned out crispy and cooked through and through.

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My husband loves fires, really a little too much. For Dave, this blazing glory is a small fire. I think he has a problem!

and…

… Crock-Pots Rock!

That’s all I have to say as an intro for this super easy and super delicious recipe.

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After working for two solid days on the “Treasure Party” – aka our neighborhood yard sale, I am beat! Dead tired! I didn’t get out of my PJ’s all day on Sunday. In fact, as I type this post, it is 7:30 on Sunday night and I am back in bed.

I went to sleep at 8:30 on Saturday night (the sale day) and didn’t wake up until 8:30 on Sunday morning. Twelve hours was still not enough sleep and I had to take a nap on Sunday afternoon. I never nap. Naps are for wimps. So, yes, I admit, much to my dismay, I am now officially a wimp.

We set up all the treasures on more than 3 dozen large (8-ft, 6 ft, and 60-inch round) heavy folding tables. We initially had to squeeze all those tables under the back patio and in the garages (because of rain) and then I got up before the crack of dawn and we moved them all into the yard and spread them out on the open patio for the sale.

Then there was the 4-hour sale itself. At times there were lines of people at the checkout and other times it was just the neighbors hanging out and chatting it up.

Next, it was time to clean it all up and break down the more than 3 dozen tables. Then Connor and I hoisted all the tables that were left at our house into the back of a truck and hauled them around the neighborhood to return them to their rightful owners. Finally, I put my yard back together – moving all the furniture that had been pushed to one end of the patio, to make room for everything else, back to their correct spots. By the late afternoon, I was feeling like a wrung-out dirty dishrag.

That is a lot of physical labor and a lot of hard work!

Aside from all that, the sale was really fun and we did pretty darn well. The remaining items are shoved and smashed into the third stall of our garage awaiting the Salvation Army pick up later this week.

After eating take-out for the three or four days leading up to the sale, I thought I’d better at least make an attempt at dinner for my guys on Sunday night. Thankfully, Connor agreed to go to the grocery store and pick up the two ingredients I needed to make this crock-pot dish, the epitome of an “easy breezy” meal.

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I needed to think of a quick meal to throw together in a crockpot – when suddenly I remembered that I had seen and then “liked” a pulled pork sandwich recipe on Pinterest. So I went back through my list of “likes” – clicked on the picture and it took me directly to the recipe on the Better Homes and Gardens website.

This is exactly why I love Pinterest!  It was even easier than if I’d cut out the recipe from the actual magazine. Because then I would have had to remember just where I had stuck that clipping, which would not have saved me any time at all.

I changed a few things from the original BH&G recipe, so we’ll call this one, “inspired by”…

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I’ve told you about my beloved Aunt Connie before and about what an amazing cook she was and what a huge influence she was on me. This beef roast, braised in beer and ketchup, was- and still is – one of my favorite comfort foods! The gravy is out of this world and the meat is tender as can be, no matter what cheap cut of beef you use. Luckily it became a staple in my mom’s rotation of meals too.

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It’s been overcast and threatening rain all week… and finally…RAIN!  Nothing more to say than… CHEESE!

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For me, once November hits, it is cider time. Even though it’s still not quite fall temperatures during the day (today’s high is predicted to be 87 degrees!), the evenings are nice and cool, so I’m ready for a hot beverage!  Here’s one of my favorites – spicy and just a little sweet. [Read more →]