New cookbook provides effortless meals for two using a 3 ½-quart slow cooker. A slow cooker is a perfect kitchen appliance for today's fast-paced lifestyle. For large meals, a slow cooker can be fast and economical. But what if you are single or there are only two of you? How can a slow cooker work for you? Award-winning cookbook author, Cynthia Graubart answers that question with a new cookbook that creates easy and delicious meals designed specifically for two people using a 3 ½ quart slow cooker. Slow Cooking for Two: Basic, Techniques and Recipes (August 2013 Gibbs-Smith), is perfect for busy people on the go, newlyweds, empty nesters, small apartment dwellers, and for use in unusual spaces where a slow cooker might be the only appliance available for cooking (i.e., vacation cabin, boat, RV). This must-have cookbook shows home cooks how to create low maintenance, effortless meals using a smaller slow cooker with recipes running the gamut from soups and appetizers to main meals and desserts. Cynthia’s recipes do not call for browning or other additional preparation steps requiring another appliance such as a stove, oven or microwave. Each recipe is designed for two with a little leftover for lunch or perhaps a second light meal or a third drop-in diner. All of the ingredients can be found in local grocery stores, without an extra trip to a specialty store. Cynthia has also included basic instructions for slow cooking and creative methods for 100 recipes, plus tips and techniques.
Recipes found in COOKING FOR TWO include: Lime Pot Roast, Cornish Game Hen in Port Wine and Fig Preserves, Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatloaf, Kale and Kielbasa Soup, Foil Pouch Lemon-Dill Salmon, Orange-Glazed Carrots with Tarragon, Spinach Lasagna, Chocolate Soufflé Cake, Banana Bread, Lemon Curd and many more.
And Cynthia debuts a ground-breaking method of recipes using slow cooker liners as cooking bags to cook two different meals in the same slow cooker. She’s calling them Double Dinners – a meal for tonight and a meal for later in the week, or for the freezer.
Meals for two have never been so easy, convenient or delicious. Cynthia Graubart turns a 3 ½-quart slow cooker into a multi-use cooking convenience.
James Beard Award winner Cynthia Graubart is passionate about bringing families together at the table. Co-author of three books, she is also a culinary television producer and cooking teacher. Her previous books include co-authoring Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking (2013 James Beard Award), and Southern Biscuits, both with Nathalie Dupree. Her first book was The One-Armed Cook: Quick and Easy Recipes, Smart Meal Plans, and Savvy Advice for New (and not-so-new) Moms. Cynthia is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), Les Dames d’Escoffier (LDEI) and has served on the board of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. She and her husband live in Atlanta, GA, and are now empty nesters and regular users of the smaller 3 ½ quart slow cooker. For more information, visit her website, http://www.cynthiagraubart.com/.
CHEF CLAUD BELTRAN - "THE EATERY" - THE PASADENA GUMBO FESTIVAL
Noir Food & Wine. Claud & Co. Catering. Why another endeavor? Why Claud & Co. Eatery?“Because I’m crazy,” Chef Claud Beltran replies matter-of-factly. He smiles. “It was either that or make it into a storage room for the catering company. So, why not?”
We ask more questions. He answers easily, looks relaxed, not making us feels as though we’re eating up precious time that he doesn’t have, even though it’s already 5 p.m. and the Eatery is officially open. Claud looks to be in his element—in a restaurant, near his kitchen, about to do the thing he loves to do, which is cook.
Once we conclude the interview, Claud moseys into his kitchen, jokes and jibes with his staff, and leisurely gets ready for the evening. Chef de cuisine Eric Rouse is pouring white chocolate with green tea (and other ingredients we’re not allowed to share) into a mold, creating a small treat that will be served with the check. A bit later, we see Chef Claud slicing a watery-white colored block and inquire into its nature. “It’s turnip cake.”