
Supplement your slow cooker with a Dutch oven and you’ll have the convenience of set-it-and-forget-it-meals on lockdown! Winter calls for comfort food and one of these heavy pots will get everything from succulent braised meat to crispy-crusted bread onto your plate with minimal effort. Enjoy these 22 terrific recipes!
1. Beef Brisket Pot Roast: Simple to make and simply delicious, this is a recipe you’ll want to commit to memory and make often! (via Simply Recipes)
2. Slow Braised Italian Meatballs: Braising meatballs in the oven instead of simmering them on the stovetop means there’s no need to watch the pot for hours on end. (via Chez Us)
3. Chicken Pot au Feu: A twist on a classic French one-pot meal, this version using chicken in place of beef is light and chock-full of veggies! (via The Healthy Foodie)
4. Osso Buco With Beer, Olives and Gremolata: Make this over-the-top recipe over a campfire the next time you go glamping. (via Family Spice)
5. Cassoulet au Canard: Love duck confit? You need to make this rich cassoulet immediately. (via Saveur)
6. No-Knead Bread: Flour, yeast, salt and water — those are the only ingredients you need to make this nouveau classic loaf at home! Baking it in a hot Dutch oven is the key to achieving an impressively crusty exterior. (via Babble)
7. Spicy Roasted Clams With Andouille: Flavor-packed clams with a short list of all of the right ingredients — garlic, spicy sausage and wine. You won’t believe how quickly these are ready to eat! (via The Weather in Cascadia)
8. Pork Roast With Apples and Onions: The braising liquid is reduced after cooking to create a sweet, apple-y glaze, the perfect accompaniment to fork-tender pork shoulder. (via The Pioneer Woman)
9. Four Hour Lamb and Provincial French Beans: Leg of lamb is accompanied by tons of garlic and creamy white beans to create a dish that’s perfect to serve all year long. (via A Feast for the Eyes)
10. Short Ribs Bourguignon: Beef bourguignon gets even more indulgent by using succulent short ribs. (via Smitten Kitchen)
11. Dutch Oven Cinnamon Rolls: Know anyone on the fence about camping? Make a promise that you’ll bake up a batch of these cinnamon rolls over the fire on your next adventure, and, maybe, just maybe, that’ll sweeten the pot a bit. (via Julie Buckles)
12. Baked Mushroom Risotto: Hands off! Instead of stirring endlessly, bake your risotto instead. (via The Kitchn)
13. Pineapple Braised Pork Roast: Fans of ham-and-pineapple-topped pizza will fall in love with this pork roast. (via The Healthy Foodie)
14. Djaj Mqualli: No need to pick up a tagine to make this chicken, olive, and lemon Moroccan stew. It can be made just as well in a Dutch oven. (via Saveur)
15. The Miracle of Five Hour Caramelized Onions: A heavy-bottomed pot over a diffuser is the key to making these long-cooked caramelized onions. (via Food Orleans)
16. Homesick Texan Carnitas: Skip the local taqueria and make carnitas at home! (via Smitten Kitchen)
17. Teochew Style Braised Duck: This richly-flavored Chinese duck is a throwback to one of the author’s favorites. (via The Chronicles of Ms I-Hua and The Boy)
18. Short Rib Ragu: Serve this flavorful ragu atop polenta for a bowlful of stick-to-your-ribs warming goodness. (via Beantown Baker)
19. Dutch Oven Huckleberry Peach Cobbler: Boxed biscuit mix means you’ll be digging into this cobbler in no time! (via Completely Delicious)
20. Honey-Glazed Chicken With Quinoa Stuffing: Roasting chicken in a Dutch oven is a revelation. Stuffed with a souped up quinoa dressing, this bird deserves to take center stage on the dinner table ASAP! (via Canuck Cuisine)
21. Beef and Guinness Stew: Bookmark this recipe for St. Patrick’s Day for a more traditional Irish meal than corned beef and cabbage. (via Food Republic)
22. BBQ Pulled Pork: Homemade, spicy-smokey (and paleo-friendly!) barbecue sauce is the key to creating this irresistible pulled pork. (via The Healthy Foodie)
Are you team Dutch oven or slow cooker — or do both vessels have a place in your kitchen? Share your tips, tricks, and tasty recipes in the comments!
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures