Good evening, everyone! What a treat to come back and find 4 new posts. You made my day! I really enjoyed reading about your treasures. Thanks so much for sharing with everyone. I've purged so often over the years that I'm amazed I have anything left, but those special things have a way of hiding out from me so that I don't do anything foolish with them. LOL I had a good workout, then came home to do piddling stuff around here. I finished the last book in a series by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer. I hated reading the last chapter because I knew that would be it since it was only 4 books, Spring through the following Winter. If you're ever in the mood for a just-because-it-feels-cozy kind of book, I highly recommend these. My next book is "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" that a friend loaned me. I'm sure I'm probably the last one to read it. Dinner is cooking, so I have a little play time here. I had leftover chicken breasts and leftover whole wheat spaghetti and creamed spinach, so I threw together a kind of chicken florentine or chicken spaghetti kind of casserole, all basically WW/Core and using up all our leftovers! Hubby gets the 1/2 cup of leftover mashed potatoes on the side, and we'll both have garden salads. Marci, happy first day of school tomorrow! I hope your assistant works out great. Jan, I drink green tea drinks all the time, especially before working out because I read in a Woman's World magazine recently that it maximizes your workout. Hey, I'll do anything to get double the workout! Raeanne, love your sense of humor! Suzanne, I've been keeping Sweet Pea's photo on my end table and keeping healing thoughts for him going everytime I look at it. Dee, I have my mom's last wedding band that my dad gave her for their 25th anniversary. I wear it whenever I go somewhere nice and think about how I'm taking Mom with me in spirit! She used to be a great Canasta player, so maybe she'll send me some good strategy if I wear it to the next game. :-) Well, hubby's home, so I'd better scoot. Wishing you all a peaceful evening and a happy Thursday!

This one isn't done in a crockpot but it does have ginger ale in it. It was posted by Angelaid. No Peek Casserole This is a recipe that my family literally will fight over. It makes a delicious gravy (what they fight over) and absolutely nothing to making it.I double the recipe and there is still none left at the end of the meal. No Peek Casserole 2 lbs stew meat (I use 3 lbs) 1 can Campbell's Chicken Mushroom Soup 1/2 cup Ginger Ale 1 pkg Lipton Onion Soup Mix 1 4 oz jar mushrooms, drained (optional) Preheat oven to 300. Combine ALL ingredients (DO NOT brown meat and DO NOT dilute soup with water) together. Mix well. It will be lumpy before it's cooked. Pour into a casserole dish and cover. Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours. DON'T PEEK!! Serve over pasta, rice or mashed potatoes. The smell as it's cooking is WONDERFUL

Freezing is the choice for preserving left-overs, not canning, for several reasons. First because the the additional processing would often render the food into mush. Foods containing meats require 75-90 of processing time in the pressure canner. A food that has already been fully cooked won't usually hold up that long under pressure. Second because you have no way of knowing the pH or the density so the processing time required would just be a guess at best. But if you chose to do it anyway and take the risks then yes it would have to be pressure canned - the gravy too - as both are low acid foods and both contain fats. Only high acid foods may be canned using boiling water bath canning. Sorry. Freeze the leftovers for safety sake and better quality. Dave

Ours was delicious. The meat was fork tender. DH made a few substitutions. Not wanting to open a new bottle of wine, he used the tag ends of an open bottle and finished it out with sherry. He also added sherry to the umami bomb 🤷‍♀️ I’ve learned not to question. This recipe will definitely be in rotation for the one or four days out of the year that we put on long pants and socks. For those of you looking for more stew recipes, this is a good one. No meat and very rich. Mushroom BourguignonMELISSA CLARK YIELD4 to 6 servings TIME1 hour David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.Meaty mushrooms simmered with pearl onions, wine and carrots make for a rich, wintry Bourguignon-style stew. The quality of the stock here makes a big difference, so if you’re not using homemade, buy a good brand. If you’re a meat eater, beef broth adds a familiar brawny character to this dish, but mushroom or vegetable broth work just well, especially because the whole dish is rounded out with a tamari for depth. For the best flavor, use as many kinds of mushrooms as you can get, and let them really brown when searing; that caramelization adds a lot of depth to the sauce. Maitake mushrooms give this a brisketlike texture, in a very good way INGREDIENTS 6 tablespoons butter or extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed 2 pounds mixed mushrooms, such as portobello, cremini, white button, shiitake or oyster, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 10 cups) 8 ounces peeled pearl onions (2 cups), larger ones cut in half Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 large leek or 2 small leeks, white and light green parts, diced (1 1/2 cups) 2 carrots, thinly sliced 3 garlic cloves (2 minced, 1 grated to a paste) 1 tablespoon tomato paste 2 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 ½ cups dry red wine 1 ½ cups beef, mushroom or vegetable broth 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce, plus more to taste 3 large fresh thyme branches or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1 bay leaf 3 to 4 ounces chanterelle or oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 1 cup) Smoked paprika, for serving Polenta, egg noodles or mashed potatoes, for serving Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for serving Step 1Add 2 tablespoons butter or oil to a large Dutch oven or pot and set it over medium heat. When the fat is hot, stir in half the mushrooms and half the pearl onions. (If it doesn’t all fit in the pot in one layer, you might have to do this in three batches, rather than two.) Without moving them around too much, cook the mushrooms until they are brown on one side, about 3 minutes. Stir and let them brown on the other side, 2 to 3 minutes more. Use a slotted spoon to transfer mushrooms and onions to a large bowl or plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat with another 2 tablespoons butter and the remaining mushrooms and pearl onions, seasoning them as you go. Step 2Reduce heat to medium-low. Add another 1 tablespoon butter or oil to pan. Add leeks and carrot and sauté until the leeks turn lightly golden and start to soften, 5 minutes. Add the 2 minced garlic cloves and sauté for 1 minute longer. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then add wine, broth, 1 tablespoon tamari, thyme and bay leaf, scraping up the brown bits at bottom of pot. Step 3Add reserved cooked mushrooms and pearl onions back to the pot and bring to a simmer. Partly cover the pot and simmer on low heat until carrots and onions are tender and sauce is thick, 30 to 40 minutes. Taste and add more salt and tamari if needed. Stir in the grated garlic clove. Step 4Just before serving, heat a small skillet over high heat and add ½ tablespoon butter or oil. Add half of the sliced chanterelles or oyster mushrooms and let cook without moving until they are crisp and brown on one side, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with salt and smoked paprika. Repeat with remaining butter and mushrooms. Serve mushroom Bourguignon over polenta, noodles or mashed potatoes, topped with fried mushrooms and parsley. Featured in: The Meat Lover’s Guide To Eating Less Meat.