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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Osso Bucco in the Crock Pot

It all started with this book:








I had to make something in it. The book was a good beach read (nothing deep, but fun), but the recipes - oh my. Then Osso Bucco kept showing up on tv shows and movies and . . . Well, I had to make it. So, I searched high and low, researched, adapted, played and I came up with this recipe. Must have been good - no left overs! Prep took a bit, but so worth it. I don't stand over a stove and slave, I prep and crockpot it. I just wish I had better pictures or better yet a scratch and sniff button. But, here is my recipe:






Osso Bucco in the Crockpot

¼ cup all-purpose flour (I prefer to use Kentucky Kernel seasoned flour)

salt and pepper to taste

10 (1 inch) thick slices veal shank, sliced for osso bucco  

3 tablespoons butter melted with 3 T. olive oil

2 onions, roughly chopped  (I confess, I just use a bag of frozen chopped onion)

5 large carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped  

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

3 cups beef stock  

1 cup wine (I use white)

2 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes

3 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano  

2 bay leaf

2 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

1. Toss the veal shank slices with the flour (if using plain flour mix with salt and pepper first) until evenly coated. Melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the shank slices in the hot butter until golden brown on all sides at 5 min, probably closer to 10 per side.

2. Combine the chopped veggies in a large slow cooker. Lay the browned meat on top of  the vegetables, then add the stock, wine and diced tomatoes. Season with oregano, bay leaves and the lemon zest.

3. Cook on Low for 8 hours until the meat is falling off of the bone. Add salt and pepper to taste if needed and remove the bay leaves. Here is a really really bad picture of it:
2013-06-20_20-44-32_577.jpg

I serve with Risotto Milanese made in my rice cooker using the recipe from



Which, by the way is an excellent cookbook for rice cookers. Before this book I never realized the differences in rice - but that will be another post.





Saturday, July 6, 2013

Vintage (?) Camper Redo

So I have been MIA, sorry. Life you know. I have a couple of projects, but I can't get my camera to work. I almost didn't post this and the next post since the only pictures I have are from my phone, but, use your imagination and pretend they are wonderful photos, okay?

My darling husband came home a few days ago with this:



We normally tent camp, but due to my health, and our age, this is getting tougher to do. So I was not to upset. The price was good. It belonged to a friend of a friend who only used it for hunting. Hence, the décor.




Camo! I hate camo. The walls were brown, and to me very depressing and claustrophobic. It is very small anyway and the brown just made it seem closer. The refrigerator, stove and most importantly the air conditioner as well as electric all worked. The water heater was cracked, which we found when we tried to test out the water, so out it went. We are waiting on a new one to arrive. She had a 3 gallon, with a little modification we can fit it with a 6 gallon, so that is what we went with.

Now the guys are thrilled with the camo. I am not. I have refused to camp in it without a redo. I won. Everything has been drug out of her. The guys will start painting everything with primer and then white. I have ordered fabric to make curtains (only has valances now) and to cover the cushions.  Although I am afraid I am stuck with the harvest gold appliances. I will post pictures as we go along.


I always wanted to redo a vintage camper, I was just thinking of something a little different lol. Oh, it has a "bathroom", although I use that term loosely. That will have to wait until next winter when we have more time and hopefully the funds.





Stay tuned!

Deb