It's crockpot Friday...

[takncarabizniz]

At our house, a big crock of homemade chili for Pa and Thing 2, who is making his first trip home from school this weekend...
 
I also have his favorite cheese to go on top (Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar) and sweet hawaiian rolls...
 
Yuuuuuuuuuuuum...

[emilyB]

I love crockpot dinners - and that's our favorite cheese too!
 
The best thing about a crockpot is that you can sling everything in there in the morning and all day you have the feeling that someone else is cooking dinner for you.
 
After I got my new stove I went on a baking spree this week.  I made a bunch of lasagnes - 1 to eat and 2 to freeze if company comes.  Then I made lemon poppy seed bread and family fruit cake.  I was thinking about all the cooking I did when the kids were small and how they loved to hang around the kitchen and I got quite sentimental..........but then on the bright side now they are gone I get to lick the beaters!!!

[sunshine]

Nothing like a brand new stove. :-)

[takncarabizniz]

Fruitcake eh?  My friend makes one that is more like a butter poundcake and it's wonderful...traditional is not very good...

[pacifica]

Fruitcake always gets such a bad rap hahaha. But my mom has been making fruitcake (along w welsh tarts omg) every year for as long as I can remember...as did her Mom (from Canada via England)....and we kids learned to love it.  Plus it has gotten quite good over the decades as she has made improvements lol. Luckily (joke) no same hard fruitcake that gets passed around to people year after year around here:-x

[emilyB]

The fruitcake I make is easy and not so laden down with fruit and I add a little rum to it - it really is good and very moist.
 
I also make small mince tarts with the Crosse and Blackwell mincemeat that has the rum in it.
 
If anyone wants the recipe for my fruitcake - let me know.

[pacifica]

Never learned to love mincemeat but during holidays my parents do, and say it reminds them of when they were little. The Welsh tarts from my Dad's Mom is made with currants, butter, vanilla, brown sugar......

When we were little, Grandma/Dad's side used to make - for special treat when grandma&grandpa came from Canada, Welsh pancakes.....that no one since able to compare, haven't had in possibly 30 yrs...the thinnest type..crape pancake...again w currants, brown sugar/butter...from the griddle....rolled up!


Yes please, Em, Would love to see your family fruit cake recipe and will compare to Moms')

[sunshine]

Mince meat pie was grandmas tradmark every Christmas.

[aesopsfable]

Fruitcakes are out of style, popular in the fifties they have made their mark on history. Thank God they are gone.

[sunshine]

Bad memories mud?

[luvtimes]

I'm with you Mud on the fruitcakes... not pleasant in my memories...

[takncarabizniz]

I have a great mincemeat cookie recipe luv...it's like eating a soft, chewy iced oatmeal cookie...my mother-in-law used to make them by the truckload and people would come running when she started baking...and I actually hated mincemeat pie...
 
I would love to make a fruitcake that didn't weigh 50 lbs and tasted like a chewy brick...the dark molasses type that my grandmother made used to turn my stomach, but my friend's is so good...but she said it takes forever to make because you have to prep the fruits weeks ahead of time, kind of like a sourdough starter...
 
If you're willing to share emily, we'd all be much appreciative.
 
I have a project I'm working on right now involving recipes...will post pictures when it's all done...