wwu, yes, ours has the pasta insert and steamer although they are rarely used (had to think for a second about that question ;) ) i'm guessing yours is performing normally. the ~10min it takes has always seemed fast enough to me...fast enough that it keeps up with me prepping a quick dinner meal so that i can get food on the table, if i'm efficient in 20-25min. [10+ pasta cooking time is the same i'd use to prep whatever quick sauce i'm making + salad or any other side veggie dish] i don't think i would need it to be any faster than it is, although it might be interesting to try out our all clad stock pot and some cheap thin pot, as suggested above, to see if it makes a big difference. (of course, carefully measuring out the exact amount of water in each case...)

I am another who just loves Sharon's Salmon Quiche! Yum! And I adore Deborah's Paella Salad, too! I wouldn't have hurt feelings if someone wasn't too crazy about a recipe I posted as long as they don't "bash" it and just nicely state that it wasn't for them. We all have different tastes as is so obvious by this thread alone! But I do see Sherry's point, too. There are a couple of recipes I've tried that many of you rave about and I just scratch my head and go "huh?", but we'll leave those be. I tried lots of new recipes this year, and just some that made my "keeper" file: Pear & Candied Walnut Salad....Rachel Ray Stuffed Pork Chops...The Neely's Chicken Alfredo Pizza....Cooking Light Great Lakes Salmon Chowder....Midwest Living Magazine Ultimate Shrimp Scampi....from allrecipes Roasted Carrots with Thyme & Garlic....rosemarythyme Capuccino Mousse....Midwest Living Magazine Peppermint Bark....Sharon (Chase) Pork Saltimbocca with Polenta....Cooking Light The only bomb I can remember was a knock off recipe that really tasted nothing like it's namesake, Boston Market Meat Loaf. But I try lots of new things and if we don't like them I simply toss the recipe so I don't remember most of the others. Linda

Agmss - This is a good beginner smoothie and the first one I started with I found it on a recipe runner. 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or milk of choice) 1/4 cup plain non fat Greek yogurt 2 cups fresh baby spinach 1/2 cup fresh or frozen strawberries 1 frozen banana, broken into chunks 1/2 T. honey 1/4 t. vanilla extract 1/2 cup of ice Then my new current favorite smoothie that my SIL introduced me to. I don't have a recipe so I just kind of wing it but its - 1/2 frozen banana approx 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk 1/4 of an avocado two good size handfuls of spinach a tsp of peanut butter cinnamon approx 1/4 tsp and sweetener of choice honey, stevia, a date, sugar, whatever you like to use best. Adjust sweetener amount to your own taste. I usually just give a good size squeeze of the honey and its enough especially with the banana. You can also adjust the amount of liquid if you like a thinner or thicker smoothie. Just always add the liquid first in the blender than the rest of the ingredients. I generally like to eat my greens too but I have to say as a quick breakfast I can drink on my way to work I really enjoy them. I sometimes make them as a sweet treat at night too.

shaun said, "You aren't cooking the ham, you're just heating it up." But I wasn't planning to buy an already-cooked ham -- I would like info on cooking a ham. Do you think it best to only heat a cooked ham in a slow cooker, rather than cooking an uncooked one? Though my friend's Coke idea really threw me, I was thinking perhaps it was somewhat similar to the pineapple juice in your recipe, for keeping the ham moist? I'm a bit confused. Tracey -- I'm almost speechless at the thought of boiling a ham in a 2-Liter bottle of Coke! LOL I can't quite wrap my mind around that; I was already having a hard time envisioning pouring 'only' a can of Coke over the ham. Also, the recipe calls for onion on the ham. Now, I love to use onion to flavor ribs or fresh pork (as a roast, or for pulled pork BBQ sandwiches) in the slow cooker, but somehow 'cured ham' and 'onion' don't seem to go together in my mind. My friend's suggestion of brown sugar does sound more appropriate to me than onion. Nigella Lawson cooks her ham in the oven, which I don't think I'll be able to do. But one thing is certain: You have really livened up my evening! The day had been rather humdrum 'til I read your post and then read that recipe. :-)