Have you ever watched any of those cooking shows on TV and thought to yourself, WOW, if I had appliances and utensils and pot and pans like they have, I could cook like that too.

My kitchen has more gadgets and gizmos than most and at least half of them are gathering dust now. I just had to have a pasta machine when they first came out, and although it makes wonderful pasta, it was messy and had a lot of parts to clean when I was finished. The pre-made pasta at your local grocery store is just as good, inexpensive and can be stored for a long period of time.

Now my bread machine, I love more than ever. My husband won it through a sales incentive contest at his work. This was back when they first appeared on the market. We searched and shopped constantly for the ingredients to make the different recipes included with the machine. I even found a neighbor to give me some of her "starter" for fresh sourdough bread. Starter is that yukky looking stuff that you keep covered and have to feed every day to give it that good San Francisco sourdough taste.

After the new wore off, the machine sat in a corner for months until one day at the grocery, I discovered bread machine mixes. Now the bread machine has come out of retirement and serves up many different kinds of bread, yes, even sourdough, simply by opening a box.

I’ve told you in previous specials that my growing up years were less than ideal. My mother, God rest her soul, was a self professed "worlds worst cook". She never liked to cook, therefore, had no interest in trying different recipes. Her fried chicken was wonderful and she could bake a great tasting roast beef, but the rest of my diet usually consisted of TV dinners (which I cannot stand today) and tuna fish sandwiches. Everything else was fried in bacon grease with no spices at all, and usually came out tasting something like shoe leather, which made my father mad and her cry, not making for a very comfortable dinner setting.

When I first got married, my husband soon tired of fried chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches and roast beef. Through trial and error, lots of disasters, good friends and what little patience I’ve been blessed with, I’ve become a pretty good cook. Thanks to my mother-in-law I can even make good gravy….with no lumps !!! hehehehe

My most used appliance is my beloved crock pot. Every home should have one for busy people who don’t have time to cook, or for those of you who don’t like to cook.

One of our favorite recipes here takes very little work and is good enough for unexpected company. Just take any old cheap roast beef, throw it in the crock pot, sprinkle a little lemon pepper and garlic salt on it and add a can of french onion soup, turn it on in the morning and forget it till dinner time. Right before dinner cut some hoagie rolls in half, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and little garlic spray (found in the cooking spray section of your grocery). Put them under the broiler while heating a package of au jus mix. Mix the drippings from the roast with the au jus for added flavor. Shred the meat and put it on the rolls. If you have some Swiss cheese, add that and put it under the broiler for a minute. That makes the most awesome French dip sandwiches with very little work.

Another good one is put a whole chicken in the pot with a can of cream of mushroom soup, or any other cream soup that you prefer. At dinnertime all you have to do is heat up some noodles and veggies. Quick, easy and delicious.

We are big fans of ham and beans and cornbread here. I used to fix that when I had all day to stir and stir so that it wouldn’t stick to the bottom of the pan and burn…nothing worse than burnt beans…yukkkk !!!

Crock pot to the rescue again !!! The night before, soak Great Northern beans in water. Chop up any leftover ham and a big onion. The next morning add the ham and onions and two envelopes of dry Italian dressing mix, cover and forget it. Oh…turn it on first...Hahaha. Hint …those inexpensive boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix can’t be beat.

Now don’t get me wrong, I dearly love to cook and don’t mind standing over a hot stove when I have the time, but some short cuts that I have discovered taste just as good with a minimum of attention, so why "slave" if ya don’t have to?

The same thing with spaghetti sauce. If it didn’t cook all day, it just didn’t taste right. Shhhh…don’t tell my company this but…there are a ton of different ready-made sauces at the grocery. My favorite is Hunt’s garlic and herb spaghetti sauce. I fry some ground beef, drain it and add a can or two, depending on how many are here for dinner, heat some garlic bread, add a salad and presto, instant dinner that tastes like its been cooking a long time.

Wait!!! Make extra and mix the spaghetti and sauce leftovers together and save it. A day or two later, put it in a baking dish and sprinkle parmesan cheese and lots of shredded mozzarella cheese on it and bake it for about an hour. My kids call it "deep pan spaghetti" and they just love it.

Staples in my cupboard include different kinds of creamy soups, lemon pepper, garlic salt, garlic spray, Parmesan cheese and a few envelopes of Knorr sauce mixes and au jus mix. The Knorr garlic and herb sauce heated with milk and mixed with any pasta makes an excellent side dish, or add some cut up leftover cooked chicken for a tasty main dish.

I also keep a couple of those pre-made salad mixes in the fridge for when I don’t have time to fix a fresh one. The Caesar salad mix is our favorite.

How about some stuffed pork chops? Sound hard? Nah….Stove Top stuffing is the secret! You can use any cut of pork chops. Butterfly chops are good, but pricey. If you are using thin cut chops, lay four on a rack in a baking pan. Sprinkle a little lemon pepper on them (geez, I use a lot of that stuff). Prepare the stuffing but don’t let it set covered. Spread half of the stuffing on the chops, lay four more chops on top and spread the rest of the stuffing on them. Bake for an hour and a half. Serves 4. (Hint...We prefer the chicken flavor stuffing for everything.) If you are using thick cut chops, only use one layer.

You might try some of those scallop potato mixes using the microwave instructions. Quick and easy, and excellent side dishes.

Like I said before, I love to cook (not much on doing dishes though) but there is nothing wrong in cutting corners here and there and still serving up delicious meals in a limited amount of time.

If you have a time saving tip or short cut that you use, send it to me and I’ll share it in a future column.