Just Baking in the Slow Cooker.

February 18, 2013 by betterwithsprinklesblog 41 Comments

Hello friends!

I hope your weekend was lovely. And if you have today off, I hope it’s enjoyable as well!

I’m on my reading week, so I actually have the entire week off from classes – but I will be working, I can guarantee that. Woot grad school!

So let’s talk about my weekend, shall we?

If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen my excitement over what I discovered on my way home:

The variety store that is half a block away from my house sells these. Why am I discovering this after I’ve lived here for 6 months?! I had a vanilla coke obsession as a kid, so the fact that these still exist make me so, so happy. I try not to overdo it on pop, buuuut…considering that I walk past said variety store 2-4 times a day, this will be happening once in a while.

For dinner, I made up the lobster tails I had originally planned for Valentine’s Day (the picture of which got eaten by the camera). I made them the same way I did on New Years, and served them with quinoa and green beans. Delicious.

Eric and I had decided that we were going to exchange gifts on Saturday, but he sprung mine on me Friday night.

so…do you think I like chocolate much? I’ve got two Aeros, two Caramilks (all in large size), two packs of Reese’s, a Mr. Big, gummy bears, and Werther’s Chewy Caramels. I think the chocolate stash is pretty set for a while.

And here’s what I got him:

Chocolate and alcohol. We’re all about the vices on Valentine’s Day, apparently.

I’m not a huge whiskey fan, but this stuff is pretty delicious. I might make him share a little!

Sushi Date

My handsome date and I went for all-you-can-eat at Sushi Eight, our favourite sushi place in town (it also helped that we got a buy one get one free coupon in the mail earlier in the week).

(hello, bright lighting directly above my head and staticky hair. Winter, please go away)

Any sushi experience should start with seaweed salad, in my opinion.

And sashimi should go in there too.

We also split an order of veggie tempura to start.

Before dinner, I decided that I was going to order us rolls that we had never tried before. We tend to gravitate towards the same things…so, that wasn’t allowed this time. I picked all new ones for us, including some of the more creative offerings on the menu.

First up was a Shrimp Crab roll: shrimp tempura, crab meat, eel sauce. I had actually ordered this as a hand roll, but I didn’t care enough to correct them.

Next up:

• Toronto roll (on the left): cream cheese, surf clam, eel, avocado, crab meat.
• Special Sushi 8 roll (middle): shrimp tempura, eel, crab meat, avocado, tobiko.
• Eel special roll (right): spicy crab roll topped with eel, avocado, tobiko and eel sauce.

Brantford roll: deep fried roll with red snapper, crab meat, cucumber, tobiko, eel sauce, spicy sauce.

We both agreed that the special eel roll was our favourite – but, I always gravitate towards eel (notice how it appeared in 3/5 rolls). I’m pretty sure that has become my favourite item when I go out for sushi – salmon would be my second choice. The Toronto roll was pretty fabulous too, I loved the cream cheese addition.

Neither of us were big on the Brantford roll – there was just too much going on there! The deep fried aspect didn’t really do much for me; it just felt unnecessary.

We both definitely had to be rolled (HA!) out of there when we were finished. So full, so delicious.

Sunday

Sunday, typical Sunday. I went to the gym, did some reading, did some cleaning. Annnd…I baked. Sundays just feel like baking days, don’t they?

But I wanted to try something different. I got a Crockpot cookbook for Christmas, and the last few recipes are all things I never would have thought to make in a crockpot: desserts (pudding cake and cobblers) and drinks (lattes, mulled teas). The very last one was for a banana walnut bread, so I decided to test it out.

I made a few alterations to the recipe – I subbed out two tablespoons of butter for applesauce (because I ran out of butter), used 3/4 whole wheat pastry flour, reduced the sugar a bit, and subbed the walnuts for chocolate chips – because banana bread just needs to have chocolate chips, in my humble opinion.

It turned out pretty good! The one side turned out a bit crispy, but the flavour is definitely there. I don’t know if I would make banana bread this way all the time (because when I want banana bread, waiting 40 minutes to an hour in a regular oven in long enough. 3 hours is a tad painful) but it was fun to try.

Dinner was quick and easy:

Oktoberfest turkey sausage with ketchup, honey mustard and banana peppers on a toasted whole wheat bun and a side salad that I topped with balsamic and olive oil (seriously, I love those oils and vinegars as salad toppers). Yum.

Even though it’s my week off, I’m not planning on going home at all – but, my parents are going to come down to visit and treat us for dinner. I’m always excited when they make the trip! I’m also planning to hit up a new-to-me gym this morning. The gym I attend at the university is closed for the holiday; but I was told yesterday that the Y a few blocks from me allows students to have 2 trial passes. I’ve never been inside, but it looks nice and I’ve heard good things. I’m excited to check it out.

Have a great day!

<— What did you get up to this weekend?

<— Have you ever made anything unconventional in a slow cooker?