Invitation To Share Your Favourite Recipe In
“Tales From The Kitchen”

The Vision Paper is inviting our readers to participate in a special feature called “Tales From The Kitchen”. We are searching for the story behind your favourite recipe. When did you come up with the recipe? Did anything unusual or funny happen when you first tried it out? Why is it your favourite? Is there something mysterious about the recipe, or has it been handed down from generation to generation?

The response was tremendous to our request for stories about how readers met the “Love of their Life”, so we fully expect that we will receive some wonderful stories behind your favourite recipes. For example, everyone remembers the first meal or the first cake they ever made for their spouse or boyfriend. Perhaps you would like to share that story with us. The only thing we ask is that you include the recipe when you send it in, and please, please, please make sure we can read the ingredients properly. If anyone tries out your recipe, we don’t want disastrous results. You can fax in your recipes to 969-4490; email us at impvis@cyberbeach.net, or drop it off at our office at the top of the hill in Val Caron.

“Tales From The Kitchen”
Crock Pot Surprise

If you are looking for just the thing to cope with the hectic pace of life we all follow today, this is the recipe for you. After you spend a few minutes preparing the following ingredients, you can just turn on the slow cooker and relax. Put the cooker on in the morning before you leave for work and when you return dinner is ready and waiting for you.

At least that is what I thought when I left for work. It was the first time I was going to have my parents and my husband’s parents over for dinner together. Everything was perfect. All I had to do was arrive home from work, jump in the shower and wait for them to arrive. I even had it timed so that I would have twenty minutes to spare.

Imagine how I felt when I arrived home to find the crock pot cold. When my husband checked the fuse box he found the reason why. My special guests even arrived ten minutes early to find me almost in tears. After a few moments sharing stories of disaster which they themselves had encountered in the early years of their marriages, we all sat down to a wonderful pizza dinner, thanks to the quick delivery service of our local pizza shop.

As for the crock pot bean dinner, it has been served many, many times since without a hitch, and it always begins with the story of its origin. I hope you get to use the recipe yourself. It serves about 12 people, as long as the fuses don’t blow.

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with water to soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours.

2. Drain and rinse the soaked beans, discarding any anomalies, then place them in a 3 ½ quart stock pot.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the vegetable oil. Add the onions and the Canadian bacon. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are softened (usually about 5 minutes).

4. Add the garlic, thyme, and crushed red pepper to the mixture and stir in the skillet for about a minute more. Add the mixture to the beans in the crock pot.

5. Add the molasses or maple syrup to the crock pot. Pour in the ketchup, Worcestershire, and dry mustard. Stir to combine.

6. Add the boiling water to the crock pot. Add the bay leaves and cook on high, covered, for about 4 ½ hours, or on low-temperature setting for 10 or 11 hours.

7. Remove the bay leaves from the cooked beans and season with a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper.