I’m on a slow cooker kick.  I’ve always said it’s the working girl’s best friend – but now I’m adding “new Mom’s best friend” to the list of reasons I love mine so.   Here’s a simple, yet elegant, recipe perfect for those cold winter nights. I adapted this Wine Braised Short Ribs with Mushrooms and Thyme recipe from the one out of the Williams-Sonoma cookbook.  Of course, I made mine gluten-free, but I also streamlined it and made it for the slow cooker.

First, I chopped up all the veggies I’d need — about six carrots.

One white onion.

One bunch of celery.

And 10-ish white mushrooms.

Mix them all together in the bottom of the crockpot with 2 teaspoons of salt and one teaspoon of pepper.

Next, season your short ribs with salt and pepper.  Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a skillet and brown the short ribs on both sides.

Place the short ribs on top of the veggies in the slow cooker, and pour half a bottle of red wine over the top.  Yum!

Sprinkle one tablespoon of dried thyme on top.

Put the lid on and set your slow cooker for eight hours.

Eight hours later, you get deliciousness!

*served on top of parmesan polenta.