Made this to go with dinner last night. ~~Easy Irish Soda Bread~~ 4 c. all-purpose flour 4 tbsp. white sugar 1 tSP. baking soda 1 tbsp. baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 c. butter, softened 1 c. buttermilk 1 egg 1/4 c. butter, melted 1/4 c. buttermilk 1 Preheat oven to 375*. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. 2 In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf. 3 Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes. Makes 1 1 1/2 pound loaf

I don't know if you want recipes using dry beans or canned.I found these at Cooks.com.The first one is using dried beans,the others from a can.I think you could use any baked bean recipe in the crock pot. Glenda has a good one posted here also that could be adapted to the crock pot. These are not my recipes.I make mine pretty much like the second recipe with canned pork and beans but instead of using barbecue sauce I use Catchup. CROCK POT BAKED BEANS 2 c. navy beans (soak overnight and drain) 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tbsp. molasses 1 tbsp. sugar 2 tbsp. brown sugar 2 1/2 c. water 1 tbsp. dry mustard 1 sm. onion, minced 1/2 lb. salt pork or a ham bone Mix together and boil for 30 minutes. Place in a crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. Add water if needed. CROCK POT BAKED BEANS 2 (1 lb.) cans pork and beans 4 slices bacon, cut up 2/3 c. chopped onion 1/2 c. barbecue sauce 1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar 1 tbsp. prepared mustard Mix together and cook on "High" for 4 hours. Freezes well. BAKED BEANS IN CROCK POT 2 (28 oz.) cans Bush baked beans 1 sm. onion, chopped 1/4 c. molasses 6 or 7 strips bacon, cooked crispy & crumbled 1/4 c. bacon grease 1/4 c. brown sugar Mix all and put in crock pot on low for 2 to 3 hours.

Not a pie recipe but another of Paula's. I saw her yesterday making Hot Cocoa with Robert Irvine and jotted this down quick. I know it was cocoa and sugar and milk on the stove, assumed it was typical Hot Cocoa recipe?? Then in a big glass mug she poured equal parts Coconut Rum and Peach Schnapps, filled the mug with Hot Cocoa and a dollop of whipped cream on top. Lord it looked good!!!!

Homemade never tastes like that made commercially, which is true for most things. I use a mix of 5 or so varieties of 40-50 total apples, peeled, cored, chunked, cooked with a small amount of water to mush (applesauce), then into the crock pot for several hours (about 6 or more to reduction of 2/3 the volume), adding sweet spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg) and small amount of sugar in the last 1/2 hour to taste, whizzed in the blender in batches to smooth, heated back up to lava eruption in my largest pot (Maslin), put in sterile 1/2 pint jars, de-bubbled, wiping the rims well, adding lids and bands, BWB 5 min after bubbles of boiling start up again, cooling O/N on a rack. Depending on the varieties of apples (from the orchardist in the Blue Ridge mountains of NC - part of the Appalachian Range) the flavor is slightly different every year, but always wonderful. I don't like the bite of brown sugar (has molasses) since it dulls the tartness of the 2 tart apples in the mix so I use use plain white sugar, and I even make a batch unsweetened that my diabetic and dieting customers love. Because there are 3 of the 5 that are sweet apples, you really don't miss the added sugar.I think cooking them down and adding the spices makes them brown, not brown sugar. I think that "richness" comes from the mixture of sweet and tart apples and long cooking to release the water in the fruit and thus concentrates the apple flavor. Butter is never needed or used in canned apple butter, nor is it necessary after opening. "Butter" describes the smooth consistency not dairy. Use apples that are not meant for eating fresh (like Gala, Macintosh, Honey Crisp, Red Delicious - they lose their flavor quickly when cooked) but choose those suited for baking (Mutsu/Crispin, Cortland, Jonagold, Rome Beauty, Stayman, Empire, Fuji, Yellow Delicious), and not Granny Smith, Arkansas Black, or Winesap - they don't work well with other apples. When in doubt, buy one or two of several varieties and make small batches of applesauce, add spices/sugar and see what mix you like best. Keep notes because you may forget from year to year. If you are near Elk Park NC on the TN line off 19E (then Buck Mountain Road) visit Johnson's Small Fruits. They have been apple orchardists for 45 years. Mrs Johnson can tell you which apples to mix and prices are very very low. Best time to go is late September through October. We've been buying there for 8 years. If you are in another part of the mountains, search out the local orchardists and visit them directly if you can. Ask the farm stand dealers if they grow what they sell, many do not.