Steven Helmer Publications

Yesterday was a typical Monday for our household. In addition to work/school, our oldest daughter had skating practice and her younger sister had dance class and, since that pretty much meant my wife and I would have a very limited amount of time to make dinner, I decided to make something in the slow cooker. I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to make so I ended up stopping at the store yesterday morning in search of something. While there, I had remembered seeing the Stouffer's slow cooker starter kits in the freezer section and, after some consideration, purchased this one for $5.99. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this product, mostly because I have had mixed results with similar products. But, after trying it last night, I did feel as though it was an OK purchase. One of my biggest considerations when making a purchase like this is convenience. I usually start our slow cooker dinners when I'm home for lunch and (at least if I want to actually e...

This is something I normally save for colder evenings. But, Summer has dance class tonight and Azalea has skating lessons and, because of that, it'll be after 7 before my wife and I have a chance to sit down and have dinner. I figured pinto bean soup made in the slow cooker would be a nice alternative to frozen pizza. I also like the fact this is something I can make for less than $5. There's really only three necessary ingredients - one pound of pinto beans ($1.39), a ham steak ($2.39) and an onion (roughly 15 cents because I bought a bag of them). The pinto beans needed to be rinsed then soaked over night (there's supposedly a quick method of soaking them but I prefer this way) so I chopped up the ham steak and onions too and, this morning, the only thing I had to do was put them in the slow cooker with some water and turn it on low. It should be done by the time we can sit down to eat and I'm sure I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Of course, my ...