Here's a family recipe that never fails to put a smile on my face. It's a simple technique that relies heavily on one of my favorite kitchen gadgets-my slow cooker. The two-ingredient glaze recipe comes from my mom, who learned it from hers. You could play around with the mustard (grainy, dijon, etc.), but try French's classic first, it's delicious.

Glazed Corned Beef

Let your slow cooker do all the hard work for you!

Recipe courtesy of my mom, serves 4

Ingredients

2 lb. cured brisket
water
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon all spice, whole
1 tablespoon black peppercorn, whole
1/4 cup French's yellow mustard
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

Directions

Remove cured brisket from package, rinse under cold water and place in slow cooker. Add seasoning package that comes with brisket, plus bay leaves, all spice and peppercorns. Cover brisket with cold water, plus one inch. Set slow cooker to low for 9-10 hours.

Once cooked, remove brisket from the slow cooker. Let rest for 15 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven broiler to high. Adjust oven rack so that brisket sits about 5-6 inches below the coils. Mix yellow mustard with brown sugar in a small bowl.

Put the rested brisket on a foil-lined sheet pan. Spread glaze evenly over the brisket with a spoon and place under the broiler until glaze is starting to bubble and brown, 8-12 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

The glazed beauty right from the broiler.

Good for company but even better for a Sunday night meal with your family. This turkey with 40 cloves is an adaptation from the chicken dish that we enjoy from time to time. It's an easy enough technique-your oven does most of the work for you-and the results are STELLAR. Truly, stellar.

Usually we enjoy the chicken and accompanying pan juices/gravy with crusty bread. This time I made jasmine rice and my husband liked it even better. I mean really, what's better than rice and gravy? Give this little recipe a try and let me know what you think.

Turkey with 40 Cloves

serves 4

Ingredients

4 turkey thighs, bone-in and skin-on
2 heads of garlic, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
1/2 cup, dry white wine
2 lemons, zest removed and juiced
salt
pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Peel garlic (see Saveur's trick: http://www.saveur.com/article/Video/video-How-to-Peel-a-Head-of-Garlic-in-Less-Than-10-Seconds), remove zest in long strips with a vegetable peeler, and juice the lemons. Combine 1/2 cup olive oil, approximately 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup wine. Set aside.

Preheat an oven-safe skillet (it will need a tight-fitting lid) over medium high heat. Pat turkey thighs dry with paper towels and season liberally with salt and pepper. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to preheated pan and add thighs, skin-side down. Cook 5-7 minutes until well-browned. If the skin sticks to the pan, leave it to cook undisturbed for a minute or two more. It should release at that point. Flip over and brown the other side for 5 minutes.

Turn off burner and pour the olive oil, lemon juice, and wine mixture around the thighs avoiding the skin. Add lemon zest, and garlic cloves around the turkey thighs.

Cover and place in oven. Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking uncovered for 15 minutes. This will re-crisp the turkey skin.

Remove turkey from the oven, let rest for 15-20 minutes. Turkey can be de-boned for plating, if desired. Place the garlic and pan juices into a bowl for drizzling over the turkey.

We enjoyed our turkey with jasmine rice and lemon scented broccoli.

Prepping the ingredients for my Turkey with 40 cloves recipe