Recipes

[Beebee2]

I had a nice gift card for Christmas and went looking for a new cookbook. I, also, got a nice new crockpot for a gift, so thought I'd find some new recipes, and I did. But, what a surprise! I thumbed through and purchased a book full of recipes that I thought I would actually fix; in fact most of the recipes I would fix. This is unusual for me; usually I'm lucky if there are two or three in each chapter that I give a try.

The name of the cookbook is "Make It Fast, Cook It Slow". Don't ask me how, but until I got home with the book I had no idea that it was also a gluten-free cookbook, nice for any of you that are looking for such recipes. But, what that does for the rest of us cooks is spare us a lot of recipes that depend on noodles, rice, etc., although are SOME recipes that use gluten-free pasta and brown rice. I think that's why there are so many appealing recipes; the variety is greater when there are some limits placed on the ingredients. You'd think it might be the other way around, but not in this cookbook.

The author, Stephanie O'Dea, has a blog, and determined to cook one crockpot recipe a day for 365 days. The cookbook is a result of that and lots of help from friends on her blog and elsewhere. She mentions quite a few blog sites at the end of the book.

So, if you're looking for tasty good and healthy crockpot recipes, you might want to have a look see at this one.

In the meantime, I thought people might appreciate this money-saving healthy version of creamed soup for using in recipes.

Alternative Special Soup

1 T butter
3 T flour or gluten-free baking mix
1/2 c low fat milk or soy milk
1/2 c chicken broth
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper

If you prefer not to use canned ‘cream of something’ soup, make your own special soup.
Make a roux on the stovetop with the butter and flour, stirring until the flour has been cooked and no longer has a raw taste; just a couple of minutes should do it. Whisk in the milk, broth, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, just until all is combined and heated.

Use in recipes in the same way and quantity as canned ‘cream of something’ soup.