Welcome to autumn, which is my absolute favorite time of the year! Autumn in Ohio is beautiful. The trees start changing color, the air is crisp and clean, football is the Saturday afternoon staple, and we are navigating mountains of homework and school projects.

Autumn is also time to savor the last of the fresh produce from the garden. There's nothing better than the taste of a homegrown tomato. The only exception to this is when all your tomatoes decide to ripen at once! For me, that means a big canning session of pizza sauce, chili starter or salsa. It's a lot of work but well worth the effort. In many ways it is like once a month cooking. It's a big job but there are so many rewards and a great feeling of accomplishment when you are finished.

I don't know what happens at your house but it seems that once September and October roll around the family activities just multiply. We enjoy bonfires (who doesn't like s'mores, apple cider and roasted hot dogs!), hayrides to the pumpkin patch, picking apples at the orchard, and family hikes at the state or metro parks. This year we are considering taking a leisurely drive through the rolling hills of Amish country. We will visit the dairy farms and taste test all types of cheese, visit the fabric and hardware shops, and look for one of a kind bargains at the flea market.

We like to go to the fall festivals. One of our favorites is the Apple Butter Stirring Festival. They make apple butter in big black kettles over a roaring fire. The smells are wonderful! I like to make my own apple butter at home. I make mine in the slow cooker. It's much easier than cooking it on the stove. Click here if you would like to try it yourself.

For me, autumn also means the switch from cooking most of our meals on the grill to cooking comfort foods. This means more baking and meals cooked in the slow cooker. There is nothing better than smelling a roast in the slow cooker, tasting cookies still hot after coming out of the oven or a wonderful homemade lasagna with some fresh, hot garlic bread. Here are some of the 30 Day Gourmet recipes that are family favorites:

Oven Favorites:

Stove-top Favorites:

Mom-style Burger Helper
Beef Teriyaki (from the Healthy Cooking ebook)
Salisbury Patties
Chicken Fried Rice

Slow Cooker Favorites:

Cheesy Chicken and Noodles
The Emperor's Slow Cooked Chicken
Delicious Pot Roast
Taco Chili
Beef and Noodles (from the Healthy Cooking ebook)
Crock Pot Saucy Pork Chops

A lot of recipes can be converted to slow cooker recipes. If a recipe can be cooked on the stove or in the oven, it probably can be converted to cook in a slow cooker. There are some general rules to follow.

You need to take the size of the slow cooker into consideration. Most manufacturers recommend the cooker be one-half to two-thirds full for best cooking results.
Slow cookers capture moisture as they cook. You will need to reduce the amount of liquid in a recipe when converting it to a slow cooker recipe.
Dairy products should be added at the end of the cooking time. This includes ingredients such as milk and sour cream.
Vegetables should be thinly sliced and placed near the bottom of the cooker. Meats should be placed on top of the vegetables since they cook faster.
Keep the lid on while cooking. Removing the lid allows a lot of heat to escape and will require a longer cooking time.

Here are some general guidelines when converting cooking times:

Original Recipe	Cook on High	Cook on Low
30 to 45 minutes	3 to 4 hours	6 to 10 hours
50 minutes to 3 hours	4 to 6 hours	8 to 15 hours

An interesting product has come out in the last year. They are slow cooker meal kits that you can find in your grocery store freezer section. They are complete meals that you can just put directly into the slow cooker from the freezer. These meals generally contain three separate components; a vegetable and meat mixture, a sauce packet, and a starch packet that contains rice, potatoes or pasta. These recipes can go from a frozen state directly to the slow cooker because the meats are cut into small pieces and the recipe calls for warm liquid to be added to the cooker. The starch that is included with the meal is generally precooked or an item that will cook quickly. These ingredients are added during the last 25 to 45 minutes of cooking to allow them to be warmed. Click here to read the message board posting about this topic.

This issue of "Chewin' the News" brings you two slow cooker recipes that use some of these principles. Read more about it below in the bonus recipes section.

Chewin'

the News

Slow Poke Fajitas

30 Day Gourmet