LindaC, it's all in what you're comfortable with. Remember, I'm the person who has had a couple of house fires and so I don't ever light a fire in the fireplace and I refuse to burn candles. It's my own particular phobia... I do have an old Presto pressure cooker which I don't use a lot but I really like it for certain thins. Elery uses it to make beans, I'd prefer to just dump mine in the crockpot in the morning. I do use it to make chop suey for Ashley, even slightly tough round comes out fork tender. I don't like taditional chili in the crockpot, the ground beef "overcooks". I am a huge consumer of vegetables, though, and sometimes make a vegetarian chili that's delicious. Plus, like Chase, it gets used as a "warming" device for office potlucks, to keep soup warm and even to make oatmeal because I'm not a morning person and would never make oatmeal before I go to work, and I detest the instant stuff. Annie

slowlane, I make brownie mix from the King Arthur Flour recipe on their website, as well as this whole grain pancake "mix". I just use regular whole wheat flour. They also have recipes for biscuit mix and a quick mix that can be used to make muffins. Homemade Whole-Grain Pancake Mix These pancakes are just shy of 90% whole-grain; and they're absolutely delicious, featuring the sweet-nutty taste of oats and wheat. This recipe comes courtesy of Susan Reid and Susan Miller, two of the authors of King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. Thanks, ladies! 4 cups King Arthur white whole wheat flour 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons baking powder 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon baking soda 1 cup vegetable oil Pancakes 1 cup homemade mix 1 cup buttermilk, or a combination of plain yogurt and milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey 1 large egg 1) To make the mix: Grind the oats in a food processor until they're chopped fine, but not a powder. 2) Put the flour, oats, and all other dry ingredients into a mixer with a paddle. Mix on slow speed, and drizzle the vegetable oil into the bowl slowly while the mixer is running. 3) Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or indefinitely in the refrigerator or freezer. To make pancakes: Whisk together 1 cup of mix, 1 cup of buttermilk (or a combination of half plain yogurt and half milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey), and 1 large egg. Don't worry if it seems thin at first: the oats will soak up the milk, and the mix will thicken a bit as it stands. 5) Let the batter stand for at least 20 minutes before cooking. Heat a lightly greased griddle to 350�F (if you've got a griddle with a temperature setting; if not, medium-hot will do). 7) Drop the batter onto it in 1/4-cupfuls (a jumbo cookie scoop works well here) to make a 4" diameter pancake. If you have English muffin rings, use them; they make a perfectly round, evenly thick pancake. 8) When the edges look dry and bubbles come to the surface without breaking (after about 2 minutes, if your griddle is the correct temperature), turn the pancake over to finish cooking on the second side, which will take about 2 minutes. 9) Serve pancakes immediately, or stack and hold in a warm oven. Yield: a batch using 1 cup of the mix will make about 5 to 8 pancakes, depending on size. Recipe summary Hands-on time: 20 mins. Baking time: 4 mins. to 8 mins. Total time: 60 mins. Yield: 10 cups dry mix; enough for 50 to 80 pancakes Tips from our bakers ◦If you're not in the habit of having buttermilk around, reconsider: you can freeze leftover buttermilk, in 1-cup portions, for future batches of pancakes. And if you don't have buttermilk, but do have buttermilk powder, add 1/4 cup buttermilk powder to the dry mix along with 1 large egg and 1 cup water or milk. ◦These pancakes hold in a low oven for half an hour without getting tough or rubbery, and they're more than willing to act as a vehicle for any kind of fruit addition. A partial list of combinations that have made successful appearances so far: peach, raspberry, banana-walnut, cheddar-apple, blueberry, and cranberry-apricot. ◦Do you enjoy making your own Greek-style, thick yogurt by draining plain yogurt through a strainer? If so, don't discard the drained-off whey; it's a great stand-in for buttermilk in this recipe. Since it's thinner than buttermilk, you'll want to use 3/4 cup whey in place of the 1 cup buttermilk called for. ◦Variation: Add 1 tablespoon orange juice to the dry mix along with the buttermilk. We've found that the acidity and sweetness of the orange juice helps mellow the tannic taste some people perceive in whole wheat flour; while the pancakes won't have any orange flavor, they may taste slightly milder to you, if you're not a fan of whole wheat flour (but still want to get more whole grains into your diet). I agree about the soup base/bouillion/etc in most of the dry soup "recipes", the sodium level is astonishing. I think some people here found a lower sodium alternative "base" but I don't much like any of them, they taste fake to me. Good luck. Annie

Thank you so very much....I will save these sites. You posters are definitely "keepers" in my book. I never had a slow cooker....I bought a 4 quart Hamilton...I checked the reviews on Amazon and it received great reviews. so I thought I had to try it. I have a pressure cooker that I love and like to try new things. I love to cook for my hubby....thanks again I appreciate your input..

Okay, I confess... I coughed up the big bucks at Williams- Sonoma for an All-Clad slow cooker. This was kind of crazy since my family strongly objects to the texture (or, rather, lack thereof) of meat done in a crockpot. Because of that, I'd given mine away years ago. But I had several special events looming where a crockpot just seemed essential, so I did some research. Started out looking for the cheapest I could find that was decent. But for a lot of reasons (CI rec, info on the internet, a friend's input), I decided instead to break down and get the best. So far, I'm surprised and delighted! So here's my 'review'... First of all, that sucker is big! That was a real plus for me, since I mainly intended to use it for large parties. It would be a drawback if you have limited storage space and rarely cook for a crowd. I also love the multiple settings and digital timer. It's a huge improvement over the primitive 'hi/lo' kind of slow cooker I'd used before. The best part, though, is that the 'crock' is removable and is stovetop/oven/dishwasher safe. That was the main selling point for me. I got the 'deluxe' version for that reason. With the lower-end All-Clad (which is still extremely pricey!), you can't brown meats, etc. Imho, it would be foolish to spend so much extra for one that can't be used for browning when you can find far less expensive models that offer that option. I've decided a slow cooker is much like a microwave. You can settle for defrosting and reheating, or you can search out ways to make it a really valuable cooking tool. Because mine cost so much, I've been searching rather hard in order to justify. :) Who knew that caramelized onions could be such a snap?!? Or that potatoes didn't have to be mashed at the very last instant to keep them hot? Or that you could make such wonderful broth in a crockpot? (I guess everybody else knew, but I sure didn't!) Haven't used it much yet, but the red beans and rice came out great, the Italian beef wasn't mushy and everybody went crazy over the smoked sausages in BBQ sauce. Two thumbs up!