I just bought this Rotisserie Oven and would like to use it mostly as an oven but in the manual it doesn't give no instructions as to times and temp settings of baking in Big George. Does anyone here have one of these and can give me basic instructions on baking in it. In the manual it goes into detail about the rotisserie so I know how to do that part. Thanks for any help, Faye

Here's one way that I have used up a chicken breast. If the breast is already cooked, then cook onion in step 2 and add chicken pieces to onion in pan to warm them. Chicken & Chunky Pesto on Whole Wheat Spaghetti I made the pesto (the yellow one at left) rather than the food processor as it was such a small amount and it turned out lovely and chunky. Here's the recipe as I made it for the two of us, using half of my usual pesto recipe: 1 chicken breast cut into bite sized strips 1 small onion - sliced 2 portions of whole wheat spaghetti 1/4 teasp sweet smoked Spanish paprika (optional) olive oil for cooking Pesto - this is the halved version: 2 cloves of garlic - minced 1 cup of loosely packed basil leaves - chopped 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 teasp salt 1/4 teasp fresh ground black pepper 1/4 cup grated parmesan 1/4 cup pine nuts 1/2 teasp water 1. Put a large lidded pot of salted water on to boil for the spaghetti. 2. Prepare chicken and put into a small frying pan with onion and a bit of oil. Saute until cooked, turning and shaking pan.....about 12 minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked and all is lightly browned. Sprinkle with paprika and stir. Put on lid and keep warm while preparing the rest. 3. Meanwhile put in a ceramic mortar the salt, pepper, minced garlic and a few drops of the measured oil. Pound to a medium paste and add pine nuts, pounding some more, then add the chopped basil leaves, grated parmesan and some more of the oil. Continue grinding to a paste then add the rest of the olive oil. If it looks a little dry, add a few drops of water, up to 1/2 a teaspoon. 4. Boil the spaghetti 12 minutes or according to package. Drain and return to pan. Scoop out the pesto with a spoon and spatula and stir it into the spaghetti, mixing well. Serve on heated plates or platter and top with the chicken-onion mixture. Garnish with a sprig of basil and pass around the block of parmesan with a grater. SharonCb

OakIris, I have plants coming out the kazoo this year and was planning to pot some of them up to bring to the swap after I got home from my trip, but since I'll be out of town until after the swap this time, that won't be happening. But, I did just look and in 2012 I actually took the time to collect some seed, and I'll do my best to remember to send a little packet of them along with Barb for you. When you get them I need to warn you that most of what you see in the baggie will be chaff! The actual seeds are the hard little black things!!! When I collected them there were a whole lot of them that had gone to seed, so I just cut the whole plants off at the bottom and stuck them in a bag and left them sit to dry completely for a month or two. When I got around to it I just SHOOK the bag really well, and since everything was SO dry, a lot of "plant debris" came off along with the seeds! What I recommend you do with them is to wait till late summer or early fall, then "rough up" the soil in a couple small places, take a BIG pinch of "seeds" (the stuff in the baggie!) and scatter it in each of the places you've "roughed up." Then rub your hand over the soil where you scattered the seeds to "mix them in" just a little bit, and then clearly mark where you planted them 'cause they kind of look like weeds when they first come up and otherwise you might decide to pull them out when you see them and then think the seed I gave you was no good!!! ;-) Depending on the weather, some of them will probably come up before winter gets really cold, and then more will come up in spring. Any that come up will bloom next summer! And once you get a couple that bloom--you'll never get rid of them again! In this case, I don't consider that to be a bad thing! When they start to drop seeds you can either scatter some of it in other places where you want them--or you can just let them do their own thing and they'll wind up coming up all over the place anyway in a couple years! After any individual plant blooms it's gonna look REALLY ratty, and there's no way to make it look "good" again, so once you know for sure they've dropped some seed, I recommend just pulling the "old" plants out (I cut them off at the top of the soil, leaving the roots in the soil to decompose!). Since, once they drop seed, you'll ALWAYS have more, there's no need to try to "save" the old ones. If you have any other questions, I might not be back to answer them till after I get home after my trip. I'm crazy busy trying to get ready to go, and now something "legal" came up that's gonna take a bunch of the time I already don't have! Have fun at the swap, and enjoy your forget-me-nots next spring, Skybird Edited to add: After you sow the seed it would be a really good idea to mulch that area with some sort of "wood mulch" to help keep the surface of the soil moist. If you already mulch, just do whatever you normally do! Edited a second time to add: Mine are just starting to bloom! And my Brunnera 'Looking Glass' is in full bloom too! Love that BLUE!

A CSO is an expensive built-in. Rotisserie does two things: gives all sides a chance at the heat, and self bastes by recapturing the melted fat as it turns instead of having it drip off. For the poultry, at least, though meat as well, the better bet is to try to accomplish these things in your current oven. Heated convection does a lot for the all sides get a chance at the heat, because the point of it is to distribute the heat evenly around the oven. If you don't have a lot of hot/cool spots, however, it's not necessary if you can figure out how to even up the access. This is what butterflying is all about. Cut the spine out of your bird. If it's a tender young chicken, you can just kind of pull it open, turn it over, and gently but firmly press the breast down. For a big turkey, you might have to cut out the breast bone (google butterfly or spatchcock for pictures and directions). Make a bed of root vegetables or stuffing in your roasting pan and lay the flattened bird on top. Turn the legs knees in, and tuck the wing tips under. Add a generous amount( but not a flood) of wine, stock, and/or water to the bottom of the pan to help steam the bird and keep it tender. Butterflying meat just takes a very sharp knife and courage, but it's more technical, especially if there's a bone. Watch some videos. Or get your butcher to do it (or the birds). Most meat has so much fat that a lot is dripping off from the rotisserie. Same with butterflying. So not as good a candidate for roasting on a bed. Instead, use the grill pan as usual, for the fat to fall through. You should get a nice, even cook. You can also add liquid to the pan for steaming, and baste occasionally. Experiment with different temperatures and modes (roast or broil, etc.). Maybe a good alternative to the countertop appliance. :)