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I love my slow-cooker as much as I love my breadmaker. Its used regularly no matter what season it is because its such a fantastic feeling to have dinner ready by the time I am home.
This is an easy-to-prep recipe that is quick to put together from start to finish, and youll have a delicious and nutritious meal waiting for you by the time you get home.
Heres my quick and easy version of slow-cooked Osso Bucco.
What you need:
3 pieces of Osso Bucco
2 stalks of celery
1 carrot
1 can of (400g) diced tomatoes
2-3 cups of vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic lightly smashed
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes optional, or you can use black pepper
finely diced carrots and celery
What to do:
1
Finely dice the celery and carrot.
2
Do a quick pan sear of the meat and place in the slow-cooker optional.
3
Add the celery, carrot, bay leaves, garlic and chilli to the meat in the slow-cooker.
4
Cover the ingredients with the can of tomatoes and vegetable stock add enough stock to completely cover the ingredients.
5
Put on low and cook for about 5-6 hours.
the stock and diced tomatoes completely cover the ingredients
Serving suggestions:
1
Serve as is with a side of salad, or
2
Break up the meat in the sauce this should be easy, as the meat should be falling off the bone by now and serve it with pasta.
- don't forget the marrow -
Tips
to avoid a mad rush in the morning, you can chop up the vegetables the night before. Cover tightly with cling-wrap and refrigerate.
use a timer to set the total cooking time before you leave/go out.
you can replace Osso Bucco with shanks if you prefer, or any cut that will take to slow-cooking well.
bread-mix.
Bread has been around for hundreds of years and has been the staple diet of many people for centuries. From a plain simple loaf, bread has since been transformed. Bread now comes in a range of varieties and flavours.
Bread made well and with wholesome ingredients free from unnecessary addictives and preservatives are great for a healthy meal.
On days, where Im short of time to precisely measure the ingredients for a loaf of bread, I use the preservative-free bread-mix, Tip Top Kitchen Collection-Grain Bread Mix. It comes in a box of 4 x 500g packs plus 4 x 7g yeast sachets.
The mix is a healthy blend of wheat flour, soy, linseed, wheat flakes and maize polenta. Ive found this brand to produce bread that has the right texture and moisture, without being too crumbly.
Tips
if you use the Sunbeam Quantum SmartBake:
1
measure out the 2 teaspoons of yeast thats required for a 750g loaf. The 7g sachet thats provided for use with each pack of mix actually yields 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast resulting in a loaf of bread that rises way too much, unless you like it that way.
2
use the darkest crust setting I found that the couple of extra minutes of baking produced a nicer and browner loaf.
The other brand that I like is the preservative-free Lauckes Multigrain Bread Mix, which comes in a box of 4 x 600g packs plus a pack of yeast. Its a blend of wheat flour, soya, linseed, whole rye and maize polenta. It yields a beautiful grainier loaf than the Tip Top but do tend to be crumblier.
Tip
if you use the Sunbeam Quantum SmartBake:
although each pack is less than the amount suggested (in the breadmaker booklet for a 1 kg loaf), I use the same amount of water and yeast. If you use less water, the loaf would likely be crumblier since it already yields a slightly crumbly loaf at the suggested amount of water.
Since owning the Sunbeam Quantum SmartBake, Ive been experimenting with recipes from the booklet modifying them to make healthier and more nutritious recipes, primarily trying to use less plain (white) flour.
Each bread-maker is different and a lot of the recipe modifications require a lot of trial and error. Ill be sharing the modified recipes as they progressively become better.
Notes
- These bread-mixes can also be used if youre making bread by hand.
- You might be able to find other bread-mixes if theres a specialty baking store near you. Let me know if you have used any other nutritious and effective bread-mix.
If you live in an apartment building (like I do), and have to share the laundry room with tens of annoying others (thank goodness its a small building and not everyone is annoyingly irresponsible) you can understand how it can be good and frustrating at the same time
Five positive perspectives on it:
1
Its a good safe place to meet a date
2
You know what s/he looks like without being too done-up
3
You know that theyre hygienic
4
At least s/he does his/her own laundry so theres potential to further domesticate
5
You can potentially have (hot and wild) sex on a coin-operated vibrating machine
?!
Five negative perspectives on it:
1
He could turn up in his boxers, and that could be a turn off (or a turn on?)
2
S/he could be the one you saw (and thought) through 'beer goggles' was hot
3
S/he could be a slob and be inconsiderate by not cleaning up after having spilled detergent on the top of the machines or on the floor
4
S/he could be environmentally unfriendly by leaving the lights on machines generally take an hour to finish a wash/dry cycle, and most dont return to pick-up till way after (that time) most times
5
Knowledge of any of these idiosyncrasies might be enough of a turn off for you to not ask for a date so you might have to consider another avenue for meeting someone.
This post was inspired by the many irresponsible folks who find it too energy-sapping to turn off the lights and to clean-up after themselves before leaving the laundry room
Images courtesy of GregParis and the ever talented Clarita, respectively.
I had a couple of pears lying around and I didnt feel like having pears (in itself) anymore, so I decided to improvise on a basic cake mix. Heres what I came up with
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Coriander is a year-round herb that is green, soft and fragrant. All parts of the plant can be used in different ways, making it a versatile herb.
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As you might know, I love gadgets, and kitchen gadgets are on my list of toys that I like. Naturally, Ive been a *victim* of those at-that-minute-seemed like-a-great-tool moments which have reaped tools that sometimes turned out to be not too useful in the kitchen.
My top 5 useless kitchen gadgets:
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Grains - The Agricultural Research Service, the research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture
Bread making has come a long way. Until the 1900s, bread was only made by hand. These days, you have an array of basic and high-tech bread-makers to choose from. The five basic steps of mixing, kneading, rising, shaping and baking which usually takes about half a day and lots of energy, has now transformed into an automated one-button function which takes between three to four hours and less energy
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'Making Bread' - Norway, 1904.
Not sure what to do with leftover flatbread/Lebanese bread, or just tired of having wraps? How about turning it into a quick and easy snack
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Baked fish is the most delicious and easiest way to cook fish. What I like about this dish is, you dont necessarily have to prepare a salad/vege dish as its already full of vegetables!
What you need:
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