So super-informal brunch happens a lot, as does brinner (breakfast for dinner). We do that at least once a week, so when I told Todd we’d be having a lot more breakfasts his response was “oh, twist my arm.”

Why the uptick in egg-laden meals? Because I received a copy of Breakfast: the Most Important Book About the Best Meal of the Day for review. And if you’ve read this blog long enough, you know I feel duty-bound to make several recipes from a cookbook before offering up any sort of review.

I opened the book with a pad of sticky-notes in hand, expecting to flip through the book and pick out the promising menu items and move on quickly to creating my grocery list but found myself, quite a while later, barely having scratched the surface.

Some cookbook fans love to read a new cookbook like a novel. Others wonder how that’s even possible. With Breakfast, it’s more like reading a collection of essays. Created by the editors of Extra Crispy, Breakfast is easily half information and half recipes. There are infographics, history lessons, personal anecdotes, and comparison guides galore. And lots of eye-catching, slightly retro-feeling photography, too.

But the recipes, how are they? We sampled six of them, ranging from the more traditional to the how-does-this-classify-as-breakfast, and the overall feeling is they were all tasty, indeed. I did have some issues (like the recipe that serves 4, shows an egg on top of each serving, but only calls for 1-2 eggs… Oooookay) or lacking salt and pepper in other recipes, but the key pieces are there and you can generally infer the rest.

The luxurious Ham & Cheese Dutch Baby…

I was first introduced to the Dutch Baby shortly after graduating high school. Sense then I’ve made them many times, but never–for whatever reason–did it occur to make them savory, topped with black forest ham and cheese. That was unfortunate because the Ham & Cheese Dutch Baby was amazing. Even without the savory topping, the density of the custard (in part because my pan was a bit smaller than called for) was heavenly, and the leftovers reheated beautifully for lunch.

Next up was the Squash and Spam Hash. I had never had Spam before, but figured this was as good a time as any to rectify that issue. While it won’t be making my regular rotation, combining it with yellow squash, zucchini, and corn was not a bad introduction to the spiced ham in a can.

This next one got a bit of a brow-raise from Todd, but I had to try it! Ramen Carbonara–billed as a hangover cure to end all hangover cures–was quite tasty. It does not call for those sodium-packed seasoning packets, so fear not on that score, and I had some gluten-free ramen noodles in the pantry which worked just fine. I’m a big fan of carbonara in general, so adding a little more egg was not a hard sell for me.

The Mojito Pancakes might have been one of the more involved recipes I made from Breakfast, but only because it included making a flavored butter and doctoring the syrup in addition to make this actual pancakes.

But the effort was worth it! These pancakes were so amazing and the lime and rum-spiked syrup was just a thing of beauty in and of itself. This was probably my favorite of what we’ve sampled so far.

Next up was the Texas Red Chili and Eggs. I’m all for a no-bean chili (which is why this recipe appealed to me to begin with) but–and I never thought I’d hear myself say this–I missed the tomatoes. The meat was great, the chili blend on point (though why we soaked the anchos but not the guajillos I’m still fuzzy on), but I think I would have liked this just as much with the meat shredded and on a bun rather than in a bowl topped with an egg.

Finally we have the Instant Pot Burrito. As with many Instant Pot recipes, it’s more the novelty that you can make it in there than the pressure cooking really adds to the recipe in any way. Sure, it was nice that I could leave it to cook while I went and hung up laundry, but it wasn’t necessary, either. They were good burritos, though!

Thus we close the book on Breakfast… for now. I still have several other recipes marked to try at some point in the future. This book makes a great gift for a brunch-loving foodie that won’t be relegated to the shelf. It’ll be perfectly at home on the coffee table, the breakfast table, or the reading nook and could spark quite a few lively discussions around the table or elsewhere.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Breakfast in exchange for an honest review. All opinions (and errors) are mine and mine alone. Affiliate links have been used in this post, should you choose to support the book and this blog at the same time.

I encountered Holster Brands at the 2018 Creativation show (on one of my few forays from the Imagine booth–I’ll try to see more this year!) and they were kind enough to give me one of the Lil’ Hoster (affiliate link) size (which I believe falls under the “ANY” application in the picture above) to try out.

I’m embarrassed to say that all the stuff I brought back from Creativation got put aside “for a moment” and I just recently uncovered it as I’m getting ready to head out for this year’s show, so I wanted to be sure I repaid the kindness of the convention swag and gave them a shout-out.

While they do make an actual Hobby Holster (affiliate link) specifically for use in the craft room, I decided to put my Lil’ Holster in The Abyss where it would do me the most good.

It really does stick well, even to my work desk (which was not exactly smooth and clean at the time of use), and the silicone flap that rest on the table to anchor the holster made a perfect “drop zone” for those little beads of hot glue that sneak out the nozzle between uses.

My mini glue gun (which I don’t use super often these days, but did have out for the first #StashCraft19 project) even fits into the holster itself if I needed to get it off of the table without worrying about singing something while it cooled, so that was a bonus.

According to their website, Holster Brands products can be found at Walmart, Amazon, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and many more retailers as well.

Thank you to Holster Brands for the sample! It wasn’t offered specifically in exchange for a review, and I was not otherwise compensated for this review. There are a couple of Amazon affiliate links included for those who wish to support the brand and this blog.

For the first week of the #StashCraft19 challenge I decided not only to craft from my stash, but also complete a project I’ve been meaning to do for a few months, now.

I began work on a doll room over the summer and made the first of the benches then. It turned out so well that I knew I needed to not only make another, but also share how easy it was.

As far as the challenge is concerned, this one is 100% stash–not a single cent was spent in the making of this bench and I still have enough supplies to at least do another bench or ottoman before having to scrounge up some more foam core.

The video includes the supply list and full instructions on how to make the bench for a 12-inch (or similar) doll.

Coming up next week: An altered board book!

At this annual calendar flip we often declare resolutions, goals, or intentions for the new year. While it’s completely arbitrary, it feels good to have direction with the yawning year ahead of us, and I’m just as prone to ascribe hopes and dreams to the beginning of the calendar year or the beginning of a new birth year as anyone else.

Which is probably why I accepted a copy of Happy: The Journal for review. And since it’s a daily, dated journal that starts on January 1, today seemed the best day to share it with you.

On its own, it can be a book to put happy thoughts of each day. Or, you can use the prompts that accompany each entry, usually following a theme each month, to direct your journaling a bit more. The pages are pastel and the lines are spaced wide, which I think makes the idea of daily journaling and introspection a little less daunting.

Perhaps the one detractor to this journal is the binding. When will publishers think of how a book will be used and bind accordingly?! A lay-flat binding, like actual notebooks and journals, would have been preferred, but lacking that a spiral binding would make the journal much more user-friendly.

Reading the introduction, I realized that there is a book that preceded the journal, and I thought it might be useful to read that, as well. (The Kindle edition is only 3.99 as of this writing, so it’s an easy pick-up if you’re so included.)

Happy: Finding Joy in Every Day and Letting Go of Perfect was written by Fearne Cotton, a UK television and radio personality. While I’m not a huge fan of self-help books as a general rule, I found many feelings and passages in Happy that resonated with my own, far less public, experiences. The book has quite a number of activities in it, and the worksheets are printable from the publishers website. There are a bunch!

Overall, the point of both the book and the journal are to concentrate on the choices we have in our lives to concentrate and react to the events and people we encounter and encourages us to choose happy, joyful options over the negative alternatives. Because Fearne doesn’t set herself up as having all the answers, instead is quite frank about her struggles over the years and the ongoing ones of today, she’s a far more relatable source, like sitting down to a cup of coffee (or wine) with a good friend.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of Happy: The Journal in exchange for a review; no other compensation was received. All thoughts, opinions, and errors are solely my own. Affiliate links have been used throughout this post.

For 2019 I applied for absolutely no design teams so that I could work on more of my own projects. BUT! One of the nice things about being on a team is the deadlines and accountability you have to the organizer. When it’s just me? That’s harder.

Enter the wonderful thing that is public accountability! I’ve created a challenge (and some supporting goals) and I’m putting it all out there in the hopes that it’ll help keep me motivated when the going gets tough.

Here, have a video of me explaining it:

But if you’re not in a place where you can watch a video, here’s the basics:

The Challenge

Create one project a week–with a video–using mostly (if not completely) materials I already own.

Goal #1: Use of the supplies I’ve hoarded over the years.

Let’s face it, my craft stash is considerable, with so many things I’ve purchased, collected, or been given over the years (decades!) with plans to use them someday. Well, someday is now! Time to blow off the dust and finally get to the projects I’ve meant to do for so very long.

Goal #2: Declutter the Abyss

Use it up, move it out, make something awesome! I’ll be able to organize as I go while using the supplies up and weeding out any items that are too old, dried up, or otherwise no longer viable.

Goal #3: Save Money by Using What I Have

Not only do I have tons of supplies to be creative with already, my budget is currently not in favor of spending a lot of supplies to fuel a year’s worth of projects. I’m aiming for 90-75% stash supplies for each project (the 75% in deference to the inevitable using-up that’ll happen by the end of the year) but many things can be accomplished strictly with the stuff I already own. Each project will include a run-down of supplies and what, if anything, I spent.

Goal #4: Make Some Money, If Possible

This is a stretch-goal, sure, but it’s not exactly unrealistic. Blog/Vlog business schtuff alert: First, creating weekly videos is bound to increase my subscriber count and watch time which will enable me to go back to monetizing my videos. Not that it’s a huge revenue source, but it’s something. Second, of the items I’ll be making as part of the challenge, some will undoubtedly be personal projects while others may be suitable for sale and will be available in my Etsy shop.

So that’s it! Every Monday, starting January 7th, I’ll post a new video of a new project created from my craft stash. All posts here, on YouTube, and on social media will be tagged with #stashcraft19 and I invite anyone who wants to join in to do so by using that same tag.

I’d love to know what you’re creative goals are for the year. Leave a comment here or on the YouTube video and grab a little public accountability for yourself!

Today on the Imagine blog I’ve got another interactive card–this time a shaker card–that uses both our color challenge as well as the new Dewlet dies as stencil and shaker window. Make sure to check out the video to see the whole process.

This card has another layer to it, though: it’s my final project as an Imagine Artist in Residence! It’s been a fabulous three years on the team and while I’ll miss them all terribly, I chose not to apply for the 2019 team (their’s or anyone else’s) so that I can spend more time on my own projects.

I hope you’ll follow along here on the blog, my instagram page, and–most of all–my YouTube channel to see what I have planned for the upcoming year. I’ll be announcing my personal challenge right after Christmas and I’d be thrilled to have you participate, too!

Stay tuned for more and have a creative day!

Our color of December is Frosted Blue, so I used a muted blue to “frost” the inside scene of the card with tinted Creative Medium and stencils.

Then I paired it with some die cut snowflakes from Rinea Foil suspended within the frame on the front of the card.

The Rinea foil held up very well as I cut it on my Cricut. After a couple of false starts, I discovered the aluminum foil setting did the best, allowing me to carefully pop out the snowflakes after the cutting was finished. I might try it again and bump the pressure up a notch to see if it made separating the shapes from the rest of the foil sheet a little easier, but I didn’t want to chance it on these delicate shapes (and under deadline!).

Make sure to head over to the Imagine blog to see the video of how this card comes together!

Have you seen the kits that are like a mash-up of paint by number and cross stitch? They’re called Diamond Painting and you create the picture by applying small resin “diamonds” onto a printed, pre-adhesive canvas. And it’s pretty doggone cool!

NewFrog supplied me with some kits to try out and I had a blast making this pretty puppy picture. A relaxing blast, if there can be such a thing. There is in my world, at least.

I hadn’t heard of NewFrog before they reached out to me, but they carry all sorts of products at very attractive prices. For the 5D Diamond Painting category they have over 6,000 kits to choose from. And I’ve poked around their other arts and crafts offerings and I like a lot of what I see!

There are a lot of pros to a product like this:

• Incredibly fun and relaxing
• Near-instant gratification
• Lots of choices
• Everything you need in one kit
• Excellent for home/dorm decor
• Minimal packaging (perfect for stocking stuffers)

And not many cons. At least not ones that can’t be worked around. The first thing you need to know is that products ship from China, so you’ll need to allow enough time for them to arrive. I think my packages took 10 days or so from the time the tracking information was emailed to me until they arrived in my mailbox.

About the kits, themselves, the only tiny criticism I have is that the bags of resin diamonds aren’t resealable. That was fixed by a piece of tape, but that’s how hard I had to work to come up with a downside to the kits themselves.

Head over to my YouTube channel to see the video of the kit in action!

I first learned to crochet when I was 7 or 8 years old while visiting family on the holidays. But all my grandmother taught me were granny squares. It wasn’t until I taught myself to knit almost 20 years later that crochet patterns started making sense.

Lately I’ve been splitting my time between knit and crochet projects, so when I was offered a copy of Crochet Animal Rugs  by Ira Rott for review, I was very interested. Even more so when I saw there was a monkey set included in the patterns!

I had so much fun working on the monkey rug and companion pillow. They kept my hands busy during Hurricane Michael and the three day power outage afterwards as well as while watching over Todd after his gall bladder removal the following week (October was a busy month for us). And thanks to the yarn-bombing project a couple years back I had almost all of the materials I needed to complete both the rug and the pillow in my craft stash (I didn’t have the right size hook, so I ordered a set that had L, M, and N hooks).

The patterns in the book are clearly written, well-illustrated, and quite fun, to boot! Because the rugs use three strands of yarn at a time, the individual pieces work up pretty quickly, so they definitely give you that instant gratification feeling that I love about crochet in general.

The pillow pattern only uses one strand of yarn and, yes, the base shape is slightly tedious to construct, but even that’s not so bad. I’m the girl who detests garter stitch in knitting because it’s so incredibly boring, so 25 rounds of single crochet isn’t going to get rave reviews from me, but the end result is worth it. I love the ruffle on the monkey pillow and the big and small bows were so fun and quick to crochet that I may need to make some to wear!

Of course, if the rugs and pillows (each animal set also comes with a third project–toy bags, security blankets, a stool cover, and a placemat, for example) are adorable in their normal scale, how much cuter would they be miniaturized?!

That would be very, in case there was any doubt! For the mini version of the panda rug, I used a single strand of lace-weight and sock yarns and 1/2.75mm steel hook. For the pillow I dropped down to crochet thread (No. 10) and a size 7/1.65mm steel hook. This scaled the finished projects down to roughly 1:3 scale, making it perfectly proportioned to 18″ dolls.

Not that this stops my 12″ dolls from enjoying the rug and pillow. The rug just takes up more floor space and the pillow becomes a big cushion–I don’t hear her complaining!

Working through these patterns I picked up some new skills (like popcorn stitch and crab stitch) as well as discovered useful gems in the form of the bows and even the star element from the panda–I can just see those stars worked up in metallic thread as ornaments (or even thin-gauge metal itself).

Sure, the projects in this book are intended for the joy of kids, but I’m a big kid at heart and I look forward to finding just the right spot for the monkey rug and pillow in my own home. I’ll also be set for any upcoming baby showers on the horizon!

Basically, this project has all the fun of decorating gingerbread houses/cookies without having to clean up the kitchen. It’s fabulous for crafting with kids, and the sky’s the limit on how much or how little you want to decorate the houses.

Using chipboard or craft cardstock and whatever house die or cut file you want takes care of the base of the banner, getting you closer to the the real fun that much sooner.

And here’s something I’ve learned about working with the Cotton White StazOn Studio Glaze: you can’t be stingy if you actually want it to show up as white rather than clear. Let the Cotton White build up or go back and add a second layer, if need be, especially against dark backgrounds. And layering one color of StazOn Studio Glaze over another while both are still wet works just like layering royal icing on cookies–beautifully!

Make sure to head over to the Imagine blog to see the video of how this project comes together!

Since the foils are so pretty on both the front and the back, I wanted to do something that showed off that feature. What better than a 3-D bit of paper sculpture that also happens to work as a place card holder?

Above is a cleaner look at the pattern I drew out for the cornucopia. Each row is 1/2″ tall and the spine is 1/2″ wide. On the main piece, the spine is the part you cut up to, plus a separate spine for what will ultimately become the bottom of the cornucopia. After the first four rows, the spine and the “arms” (ribs?) shift over by 1/8″ each row to create a little bit of a curve or angle without having to crush or crunch the paper into shape.

Even though the process somewhat resembles trying to dress an octopus in a onesie at first, I promise these do come together quickly! And once you add a simple stamped and lettered place card inside, your table decorations are taken care of in no time.

Make sure to check out the Imagine blog for the video that goes with this project to see just how simple these cute cornucopia can be!

Fact: There’s only so much room in the craft storage area of your choice–be it a shelf, a closet, or a dedicated room–for supplies. And way too many awesome, cute supplies on the market for one crafter to hoard, right?

Today’s project for the Imagine blog is an answer to that, of sorts: a way to utilize the more all-purpose items in your craft stash to create holiday cards without spending anything extra on special supplies.

The only holiday-specific items were the sentiment stamps, (which I already had from previous years’ projects). So take a look through your pattern stamps, pull out the basic dies or punches, and put them together in some new ways.

Incidentally, this is also a great way to involved kids in holiday crafting as the techniques used here are very simple and straight-forward. They might need a hand with the heat part of the embossing, but otherwise the little ones can have a field day creating the patterned cardstock and decorating the completed cards.

Make sure to hop on over to the Imagine blog to see how each of the three cards came together!

Hi there! Imagine is teaming up with So Suzy Stamps for a blog hop and I’m absolutely in love with the stamps I chose! Make sure you read all the way to the end for how to enter the giveaway!

They’re sold individually, but when I saw the Goddess of… seasonal stamps I couldn’t NOT get all four because I had to do at least one project with the full set of these sleek, stylized ladies in their seasonal splendor.

So today’s project is a 5-panel card, using all four stamps, and since each has their own color combo there are a LOT of products used in this project. Because of that, I’ve opted to list the products for each panel separately to keep the list from getting completely overwhelmed.

Basic Ingredients:

Cardstock – 12″ White (cut into two 5.5″ tall strips and scored at 4.25″ and 8.5″–the remaining 3.5″ sections of each are overlapped to create the center panel; accordion fold)
Hot Press Watercolor Paper – 5 panels, approx. 3 1/2″ x 4 5/8″ panels (I stamped first, trimmed after, hence the approximate)
Acrylic Blocks
VersaMark Ink
Embossing Powder – White
Darice – Heat Tool
Plastic Plates
Water
Paint brushes
Tear It! Tape

Winter

So Suzy Stamps – Goddess of Winter Stamp
All-Purpose Ink – Platinum
Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – Paris Dusk, Bahama Blue, Summer Sky
Memento Markers – Teal Zeal, Summer Sky
Cardstock – Navy Blue

Spring

So Suzy Stamp – Goddess of Spring
All-Purpose Ink – Spring Green, Vegas Gold
Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – New Sprout, Cantaloupe
Memento Markers – Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart
Cardstock – Hunter Green

Summer

So Suzy Stamps – Goddess of Summer
All-Purpose Ink – Lemon Yellow, Vegas Gold
Walnut Ink – Willow
Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – Cantaloupe
Memento Markers – Dandelion
Fabrico Markers – Lemon Yellow
Cardstock – Dark Yellow

Fall

So Suzy Stamps – Goddess of Autumn
All-Purpose Ink – Vegas Gold
Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – Rhubarb Stalk, Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand, Potter’s Clay
Memento Markers – Potter’s Clay, Tangelo
Cardstock – Burgundy

Sentiment

Memento Markers – Elderberry, Lulu Lavender
Cardstock – Deep Purple

Now, as per the usual with hops like these, there are giveaways going on from the two sponsor companies. In order to be entered into the drawing for the $25 gift certificates from Imagine and Crackerbox/Suzy Stamps you’ll need to leave a comment on **each** post in the hop for the day. If you do both days, you have double the chances.

Today (Wednesday’s) links:

& don’t forget our host blogs: Imagine & Crackerbox/Suzy Stamps

Thursday’s Links:

& our hosts: Imagine & Crackerbox/Suzy Stamps

So it’s really tough for me to think about this project without thinking about the following, so let’s just get it out of the way:

via GIPHY

So how did we get here? Imagine’s color of the month was Pebble Grey, and I was noodling around a few ideas concentrating on shadows and monochrome, etc. Until the moment I made a note in my planner where I just wrote “greys” and suddenly I couldn’t think of anything beyond aliens.

I had so much fun with this project, even when I screwed something up (but then fixed!) and I love my little aliens. They might have to become a digital stamp set once I get the Halloween set released.

At any rate, make sure you head over to the Imagine blog to check out the video on how this card gets put together.

Two sides of the same stocking–which side you flip is between you and Santa!

Holiday prep was another of our prompts and, combined with the color of the month (Sangria), I decided to go with a classic Christmas stocking with a twist. One side of the linen cuff reads Naughty, with some prickly holly leaves, while the other says Nice, paired with a pair of pretty poinsettias. Both feature a bit of heat embossing, which is the real highlight of this project (I think).

In preparation, I tested several Imagine mediums to see which would give me the result I wanted.

• Versamark (pad and marker): definitely held the embossing powder but became part of the fabric rather than sitting up on top like heat embossing on paper.
• Delicata (and other pigment inks): Also sunk into the fabric a bit more than I wanted, wicking through the fibers in some cases–this was problematic for details.
• Creative Medium: Great through a stencil but I think you’d really need a good mask (like freezer paper ironed-on) to hold the integrity of finer details in a design. Did maintain it’s raised quality after heating.
• On Point Glue: Perfect for fine details! This was what I used to embellish the Memento Marker and All-Purpose Ink words and art on my stockings.

Because of the heat embossing, you definitely want to make sure the fabric you’re decorating can take the heat without melting. Mine was felt (wool felt) and linen and I made it specifically for this project. If you’re purchasing one to decorate, make sure you test in an inconspicuous place before starting.

The full process can be seen in the video over on the Imagine blog!

I’d recently seen a picture of trumpet flowers and for whatever reason that gut stuck in my head and I was desperate enough to try my hand at carving my own stamp just so I could create the card I saw in my head.

I’m actually really pleased at how it turned out, and if you’d like to see the carving process I’ve posted it over on my own YouTube channel: Stamptember: Carving a detailed flower cluster stamp! It was a good 4 hours or more of work, spread out over three nights, but totally worth it!

After putting in so much effort into carving the stamp and then coloring the image, I didn’t feel like the card needed at lot of extra bits added to it. Does this count as a CAS (clean and simple) card? Maybe?

At any rate, make sure to head over to the Imagine blog to check out the video of how the finished card came to be.

And if you’d like to make your own version of the card but aren’t quite into carving your own stamps, I made a digital stamp set from the finished image–complete with separated elements as well as the finished arrangement–and put it up over in the Crafty Branch Etsy shop. I’d love to see what you come up with!

While I was add it, as a thank you for reading this far, I took those digital elements and made a wreath image you can download now for free! Make sure you tag @scrapsoflife and @thecraftybranch on Instagram when you make something with it!

Download it by clicking this link: TCB_JLV_TrumpetFlowerFreebie

Lately I’ve had puzzle pieces on my mind. Not so much the desire to put together an actual puzzle, but more their use as a metaphor for life.

• Picking up the pieces
• Missing piece
• Piece of my heart

And so on…

Puzzles make fairly inexpensive crafting materials, since you can usually find some at the thrift or dollar stores. It doesn’t matter what’s on them, because you’re going to transform them into something else.

I have a whole list of projects planned for puzzle pieces (watch the blog and, more often, my Instagram feed for works in progress), but today I’m sharing a fun faux finish project over on the Imagine Blog–faux metal stamping. The metallic silver Creative Medium is pretty much perfect for this technique, and I hope you’ll give it a try!

Another fact: I so often forget to use mine!

This month one of our prompts was to use stencils in something. I always have such fun with them, I really need to get in the habit of using them more. Without needing to be nudged.

At any rate, I had a blast making this simple, yet striking, background using a leaf stencil, VersaCraft, and All-Purpose ink. The light chalk ink stood out just fine on the dark background, but when I added the Plantinum API, it really popped!

The effect I went for with the fourth layer of color (all with the same stencil) I thought looked like the ripples of a pond or a soundwave echo, so that’s why I’m calling it a Stencil Echo technique.

Head over to the Imagine Blog to check out how I did it and give it a try yourself!

If you’re starting at the end, make sure to check out the play-by-play in parts 1, 2, and 3.

Final Thoughts on the 6qt Crock Pot Express

Overall, I was surprisingly impressed by the Crock Pot Express and I look forward to trying out more of it’s functions and features in the coming weeks. Oh, hell, I named the damn thing, I adore it–let’s be honest!

From a usability standpoint, once I got accustomed to the way the appliance worked, my comfort level grew exponentially. Unlike the stove top pressure cooker I tried a few years ago, this one doesn’t rattle and only whistles the tiniest bit when it’s building pressure. Nothing alarming or concerning at all. No desire to flee to the next room and peek around the corner with a mirror to protect myself from the shrapnel.

The earlier recipe issues were, I think, just that. Incomplete instructions made for lackluster results. My concern that the cooker may not be functioning as intended was dispelled once we got into more straightforward applications.

Upkeep-wise, I’d read (in reviews on the Crock Pot site, when I was looking at replacement parts availability) that using the dishwasher for the inner pot (despite this being shown on the sales page for the pot) had damaged the finish for some people. Since I don’t want that to happen, we’ve stuck to handwashing. The good news is that so far nothing sticks and clean-up is a breeze. I’m still planning on ordering a second inner pot (and a spare gasket, just in case) to have on hand for busy nights.

Also, I need to get my hands on some smaller cooking vessels for pot-in-pot recipes. I found a 7-cup Pyrex bowl (I carried it over to the display model in Target to make sure it would fit!) that I used for the quiche, but they didn’t have a small enough springform pan or other bakeware. The steam rack that comes with the CPE is a shade over 7.5″ wide, so 6-inch diameter vessels seem the safest bed.

A Word on the Books

I used a lot of the recipes from 500 Crock Pot Express Recipes by Jamie Stewart, even after the first few tried to go pear-shaped on me. It wasn’t planned, it’s just the one I bookmarked the most out of. Would I actually recommend it? Hard to say. No, really! With 500 recipes, there’s bound to be a few duds, but at the same time it also means you’ve got a lot of options to choose from.

The Crock Pot Express Cookbook by Dave Zinman didn’t have as many recipes that I was interested in, but your mileage may vary, as with all things. There was one recipe that involved Cake Crusts as an ingredient that puzzled me to no end. Upon looking it up I did find some references to using the crust of a sponge cake for cheesecake instead of graham cracker, etc. So maybe that’s it.

The Crock Pot Express Beginner’s Guide and Cookbook (by Elizabeth Moore), however, I cooked zero recipes from–I just didn’t get to them–but really enjoyed the info at the beginning of the book. That’s where I learned things like the CPE needs at least a cup of liquid to create sufficient pressure and to thin down thicker sauces (like barbecue sauce) to prevent burning or insufficient pressure.

Of course, you also have to take some of the tips with a grain of salt as she mentions removing foods like oatmeal or pearl barley from recipes when you convert the for pressure because they foam and can clog the works. There’s a multigrain preset, so that seems a bit overly cautious, don’t you think? And then the first recipe is for Apples and Cinnamon Oatmeal. So, yeah, a little contradictory.

I think after a few weeks I’ll feel more comfortable adapting recipes for use in Exie and I won’t feel so dependent on specific recipes. We shall see!

Just joining us? Make sure to check out part 1 and part 2.

Day 4: Smooth Sailing

I was feeling pretty good about our working relationship by Friday night, and set about to prep the Beef Medley with Blue Cheese and Cabbage (Zinman, 60) without any hesitation.

It’s so nice to be able to saute the meat and vegetables in oil in the same vessel it will pressure cook in, though being on the shorter side it is, perhaps, a touch more awkward than preparing the same dish would have been on the stove.

Truth be told, I was feeling quiet comfortable with the new kitchen toy. Perhaps a bit too comfortable.

Day 5: Our First Error

Saturday’s supper wasn’t quite a set it and forget it sort of deal, the way the last few nights had been. The Orange Marmalade-Glazed Chicken Thighs (Stewart, 57) only needed 5 minutes under pressure (again, not specified, but I figured the Poultry setting would suffice–call it a hunch) and the lowest that preset will program is 15.

In this case, I needed to watch the display count down and then press the Start/Stop button to end the process, let the pressure release, and then serve up supper.

Sidebar: I wasn’t quite brave enough to try the pot-in-pot, 2 dishes in one setup that some sources say you can (in this case setting the steaming rack on top of the chicken thighs and placing the rice and water in a bowl above it. Maybe next time…

At any rate! The rice cooker must be feeling the pressure (oh, gosh, really bad pun, totally not intended) because I did set it up to cook the rice for the meal and it worked perfectly. I can hear it now “Please don’t throw me away!!!!”

Thinking I knew what I was doing, I did the start/stop, but then figured I could manually switch it over to Keep Warm. Exie set me straight with an E4 error code that that was a no go, ghost rider. Oops!

To clear the error I needed to unplug the appliance and let it cool down. Since that was the general plan anyway, dinner was not harmed due to my hubris.

And if I was worried that 5 minutes under pressure wouldn’t be enough to cook the chicken thighs, I needn’t have been. Those suckers were registering at 200 degrees F by the time  the pressure released sufficiently to check them.

Too bad a turkey won’t fit in there!

Day 6: Six Minute Soup

I’d expected Sunday to be rainy, with a bit of a chill, so the Thai-Style Sweet Corn Soup (Stewart, 323) seemed like a really good idea. Sunday actually ended up rainy and muggy, but the soup was still tasty!

Once again, the 6 minute pressure-cook time was less than the Soup preset would allow, so I had to babysit Exie and hit Start/Stop at the appropriate time to let the pressure start to come down. Once it had, I switched it back over to Saute so I could add the final ingredients.

It was a nice and easy coast to the finish line of our first week together. I still have a lot of functions to try out, though!