Crockpot Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

Sorry for the lack of posts!  I feel so crazy busy lately.  I think I forgot what it was like to balance life, work and classes since I took a 3-month break from my coursework, but now I'm back in and any spare minute here at home, I am reading a terribly dry textbook or writing really boring papers (this is my least favorite class).  Oh and there's the added time-sucker of this tiny face:

I now own a three-dog wolf pack :) And with a 3-month-old puppy, a 3-year-old scrruffball, and a geriatric hound dog, we're busy!

But, I'm never too busy for delicious food!  This recipe was for a few weeks ago when the fifth grade team put on breakfast for the school.  Each grade only does it once a year, but these 3 days are like Christmas.  We have noticed over the years that people really go for the hot dishes at these breakfasts;  you can make a gorgeous muffin or banana bread, but people just want a quiche and a casserole!  So I was trying to find something that was hot, vegetarian, and preferably in the slow cooker so it can cook overnight and be easy to transport to school.

One of my personal favorite dishes at these breakfasts is cheesy hash brown casserole; someone makes it for every breakfast and I always take seconds!  I wanted to make it, but worried about how to carry big dishes of it to work and keep it work on my commute.  Voila: enter crockpot cheesy hash brown casserole!  Sauce some onions in butter, then throw everything into the crockpot at night, turn it on, and wake up to this deliciousness.  Every last shred of potato was scraped up and eaten before lunchtime, and I doubled the recipe, so I guess we can assume it was a good one!  If I had to be picky, I would say that I still love the baked casserole a tiny bit more, but this is an excellent alternative when that is not a possibility.  I think I miss the crunchy bits.  I decided to throw some crushed corn flakes on top before I left for work to add a little more texture, and that made me feel better :)

I think next week is our next Friday breakfast... let's hope someone makes hash brown casserole, baked or slow cooked!

Recipe:

crockpot cheesy hash brown casserole
from Family Fresh Meals 
serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:
2 20-ounce bags hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups sour cream
1 can condensed cream of potato soup
1 tablespoon all-purpose seasoning (i.e. Mrs. Dash)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced onions
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

1) Over medium-high heat, saute onions in butter until translucent and soft, about 3 -5 minutes.

2) In a large mixing bowl, mix together hash brown potatoes, shredded cheese, sour cream, seasoning, salt and soup.  Stir until well combined.

3) Spray crockpot with cooking spray and place mixture inside.  Cook on low 5 - 6 hours.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders

This recipe freaks me out on a lot of levels, but with that said, it was a huge hit, so I suppose I have to share it.

First of all, it's chicken.  Enough said there.

Second of all, it uses lots of not-so-fresh foods, like a packet of ranch dressing mix, and a bottle of buffalo sauce.  Nothing homemade in there whatsoever.

Third of all, it makes your house smell like meal.  I like to use my slow cooker, but the smell of slowly-cooking meat is really my worst thing.

Okay I've done enough complaining (right, Laura?).  These slow cooker buffalo chicken sliders made Jesse and my family very, very happy.  Sometimes you just have to give the people what they want, and if they want meat without any trace of a vegetable, fine.  To appease my on misgivings, I made slider rolls from scratch.  They were absolutely delicious and easily doubled as dinner rolls (for me especially, since I wasn't eating the chicken!).  More on those in the next post.  But the chicken was flavorful, and... chickeny... and everyone loved it.  And it was super simple to make.  So, there's that!

Recipe:

slow cooker buffalo chicken sliders
from Plain Chicken
serves 8

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless chicken
1 12-ounce bottle Frank's Wing Sauce
1 1-ounce package ranch dressing mix
12 slider buns
2 cups cheddar cheese (optional; I left it out)
1/4 cup prepared ranch dressing

Instructions:

1) Place chicken, wing saue, and ranch dressing mix in slow cooker.

2) Cook on low for 4 - 6 hours.  Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred.  Return to slow cooker and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes.

3) When ready to be served, top slider buns with chicken and top with cheese and/or ranch dressing.  Place under oven broiler and broil until cheese is melted.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lasagna Soup

Although it is Tuesday, it's like a Friday for me.  It's Thanksgiving week!  That does mean, however, that even if I am not at school, there is still plenty of work to be done before I host the Compound Thanksgiving.  I cleaned my house after school and then I had lots of help whipping this place into shape.  Wait until you see my dining room and den.  It's all set up to have a sit-down meal for 34 people.  Susie helped with some decorating, Nick set up my new entertainment center, Kenzie and Mom set the tables and fancied the bar and dessert tables, and Jay and Ross helped move furniture.  I could not be prouder of this place I call home.  It's a beautiful, spacious, warm place, and I love it more than I ever did.

I'll probably be busy playing hostess with the mostest for the next couple days, but I simply had to share this soup with you before I disappear into the kitchen.  It's absolutely amazing, and might be a nice way to take it easy this weekend when you are turkeyed out and need a little detox from the rich, unhealthy stuff.  

It is the world's easiest soup: dump everything into the crockpot and 7 hours later, it's time to eat.  Of course, there is the step of cooking the lasagna noodles, and the mixing of the extremely not-optional ricotta topping, but still: this is super easy and soooooo good.  I made it one day when I was having my family and Allie over for dinner, and everyone loved it.  Allie even asked for the recipe.  I can't wait to make it again, if I ever have room in my refrigerator for regular groceries.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  It's been a tough year, but there is so much to be thankful for.

Recipe:

slow cooker vegetarian lasagna soup

from Foodie Crush

serves 10

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion

2 cups brown mushrooms, sliced

2 zucchinis, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

6 cups vegetable broth

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

12 ounces lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces

4 cups fresh spinach leaves

for ricotta topping:

1 8-ounce container ricotta cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1/4 cup basil leaves, chopped

generous pinch of kosher salt

Instructions:

1) Add the onion, brown mushrooms, zucchini, garlic, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, bay leaves, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and black pepper to the liner of a slow cooker.  Set it on low and cook for 7 hours (or on high for 3 1/2 - 4 hours).

2) Meanwhile, make the ricotta cheese topping.  Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3) Once the cooking time is done, cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions.  Add the cooked noodles and spinach; warm into spinach is wilted.  Ladle soup into bowls and top with a dollop of the ricotta cheese topping.

Slow-Cooked Black Bean Chili

I know that buying dried beans is cheaper than canned.  I know they usually have a better consistency.  I know that in reality it doesn't add many more steps to a recipe.  And yet, I confess to using canned beans 99% of the time.  It's not a bad thing, but it's definitely something I want to be better about.

This recipe helps with that, because it calls for dried beans from the start.  It kind of forces you to buy a bag of beans rather than open the cans!  It adds one step to the process: soak the beans overnight.  That's pretty easy enough -  no complaining necessary.

So besides black beans, this vegetarian chili also has onions, garlic, and baby portabella mushrooms.  Now my whole family hates mushrooms, so I may or may not have told them it was eggplant.  Unfortunately, they figured me out, and both sisters were seen picking out the minuscule mushrooms (I diced them to hide them).  The boys refused to come near it.  So I was left with a giant pot of super delicious chili that only my mother and I would eat.  Luckily Christy came to my rescue and took the leftovers!  She said that her whole family loved it, both on its own and served in tacos.  She finished off the last of it at work.  I was glad that it didn't go to waste, because this is a great little chili.  Plus, is anything greater than using a slow cooker in the summer?  No stove or oven necessary to heat up the whole house!  One more summer cooking tip to keep you out at the pool longer - most of the work for this recipe can be done ahead of time.  This includes the soaking the beans and cutting and cooking the veggies!

Recipe:

slow-cooked black bean chili
from A Couple Cooks
serves 8

Ingredients:
1 pound dried black beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 medium yellow onions
3 cloves garlic
1 pound baby portable mushrooms
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 tablespoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 quart vegetable broth
28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and sliced scallions for garnish

Instructions:

1) The night before making the chili, rinse and cover the black beans with water in a  bowl.  Soak overnight at room temperature.

2) Prepare the fresh ingredients (this can be done early and kept in the refrigerator).  Dice 3 medium onions, mince 3 cloves garlic, and slice 1 pound of mushrooms.

3) Saute the vegetables (also can be done early, or directly before on the day of making).  On the stove, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms.  Stir in chili powder, chipotle powder, and salt.  Sate for 5 minutes until onions are tender.

4) About 10 hours before serving, discard the liquid on the beans and place the beans in a large slow cooker.  Transfer the onion and mushroom mixture to the slow cooker with the beans.  Cover with vegetable broth and crushed tomatoes.  Cook on low 10 - 12 hours.  When ready to serve, garnish with cheese, green onions, and sour cream.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Okay so it's 80something degrees out.  March was 2 months ago, so St. Patrick's Day is a distant memory.   No one is craving corned beef and cabbage on a day like today, but I still have to share this recipe.  I had planned to make it for St. Patrick's day, but I had class that night, so it ended up being a couple of weeks later on a night when my lovely friend Courtney was visiting from Colorado.

I have lots of memories of my mom making corned beef and cabbage - or, as we Irish call it, a boiled dinner.  She puts it all in a pot and boils it away for hours.  I was interested in trying out a slow cooker method of cooking it all, so that it would all be done when I got home from work.  I peeled the carrots, chopped the onions and and scrubbed my baby potatoes the night before, so that in the morning, I could just throw everything into the slow cooker with some water and be done with meal prep!

When I got home, the meat and veggies were almost cooked and ready to go.  The last step is to lay cabbage leaves on top of it all to steam them for a couple more hours.  Then: voila!  Dinner.

I obviously only ate the vegetables, and Courtney sampled it all, and we both agreed it was a success.  It was definitely simple and easy, and nice to come home and have a meal ready!  My one change is that I think I would cook it for closer to 6 hours.  My meat was a little dry after the 8 hours of cooking plus 2 more hours of steaming the cabbage.  I think I would add the cabbage at hour 6 and then steam for 2 more.

In other news, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there - especially my own <3

Recipe:

slow cooker corned beef and cabbage
from Happy Money Saver

Ingredients:
1 2 1/2-pound corned beef roast
2 small yellow onions
10 medium carrots
10 - 15 baby medley variety potatoes
2 cups water
1 head cabbage

Instructions:

1) Rinse and prepare your onion, carrots and potatoes.  Peel and cut carrots into thirds and cut onions in fourths.  Peel and cut up potatoes if you're using russets, or just rinse if you're using baby reds or a medley variety.

2) Place onions and carrots on the bottom of a large slow cooker.   Next, remove the roast from packing, making sure to remove any seasoning packet that may be inside.  Place roast along with juices from package inside the slow cooker on top of the onions and carrots.  Season with the seasoning packet that it came with if you choose.  Add two cups of water.  Place potatoes all around the roast.  Cover and cook on high for 8 hours.

3) After that has cooked for 8 hours, take your head of cabbage and rinse it well.  Cut the head into fourths.  Open the slow cooker and place the pieces of cabbage right on top.  Cook another 2 hours to steam the cabbage.

Slow Cooker Refried Beans

What do refried beans taste like?  Not much.  They're just sort of mushy cardboard, to put it nicely.  Not that I am bashing refried beans: I use them all the time.  But I never noticed how bland and flavorless they are... until I made my own.

As I posted yesterday, I threw a Mexican dinner party where I made sopes (next post, I promise).  The carnivores topped their sopes with Mexican shredded beef, but I wanted to make a vegetarian topping for myself, so I decided to try out making my own refried beans.  Part of the reasoning behind this, besides wanting beans for myself, is that lots of canned refried beans aren't gluten-free for Maggie (what? Why is there wheat in our beans?!).  I figured making my own would be safer for Mags, more delicious for me, and frankly wouldn't take that much work, because I found a slow cooker recipe.  Plus, I always feel extra accomplished when I cook using dried beans.  So cheap, so easy - remind me again why I rarely do it?

The dried beans boil away for 15 minutes, and that's the hardest part of this recipe, frankly.  Then you just toss them into the slow cooker with water, onion, garlic, jalapeño (it just adds flavor; these aren't spicy at all), and salt.  That's it.  Forget about it for the next 4 - 6 hours while you make Mexican shredded beef in the meantime (or, I suppose you could make whatever you want!).

When they're ready, the beans and veggies get pureed in a food processor with some of the water they cooked in and a tablespoon of the liquid from pickled jalapeños (I thought that was cool).  Voila!  Refried beans.  This was such an easy recipe, with such a good end result, that it makes me wonder why I used canned refried beans, ever.  The next time I need them, luckily, I have a nice big container of them in the freezer (apparently they freeze really well!).

Even though I made refried beans mainly for my own vegetarian option, all the carnivores tried them too.  They ended up topping their sopes with both refried beans and shredded beef, which made me happy.  Everyone agreed they're much better than the canned version.  I love when I find a good, easy DIY recipe for something we never think twice about picking up in a grocery store.  Go buy a giant bag of dried beans for pennies and try this out.  Trust me.

Recipe:

slow cooker refried beans
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
makes 8 cups refried beans

Ingredients:
1 pound dry pinto beans (I used kidney), rinsed, stones and shriveled beans removed
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 jalapeño, seeded and membranes removed, chopped
1 tablespoon white vinegar, or same amount of liquid from a jar of jalapeños or banana peppers
salt to taste

Instructions:

1) Place the rinsed beans in a medium or large saucepan and cover with water by at least an inch.  Bring the beans and water to a boil and cover, cooking for 15 minutes (be aware that the beans will expand as they absorb water and cook, so make sure your pan isn't overly full to begin with or else you'll have an overflow problem; it's safest to start with a larger pot).

2) Remove from the heat and drain the beans.  Place the beans in the slow cooker and cover with about 2 inches of water.  Add the salt, onion, garlic, and jalapeño.  Cover and cook on high for 4 - 6 hours, or on low for 8 - 10 hours.

3) When the beans are tender, ladle out 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid and reserve.  Drain the beans and veggies in a colander until most of the liquid is gone but there are still a few drops (you don't want the beans bone dry).

4) Place the beans and veggies and 1 tablespoon vinegar or jarred pepper liquid in a food processor or blender.  If you need to do this in batches, make sure to split the vinegar among your batches).

5) Depending on how well you drained the beans, add about 1/4 cup liquid, more if needed, and process until the desired texture is reached.  Add more liquid if needed.  Taste beans and add additional salt if needed.

6) To freeze, let the beans cool and spoon the in 1 - 2 cup amounts into freezer Ziploc bags.  Press them flat, remove as much air as possible, and seal.

Slow Cooker Quinoa White Chili with Roasted Poblanos

I've lately become a fan of poblano peppers.  I always thought they were insanely spicy for no real reason, but they aren't.  In fact, when I made this chili, I was worried the whole time it was slow cooking that I wasn't going to want to eat it because it would be too spicy.

Everything else sounded great: quinoa for protein, not to mention cannellini beans, plus exciting spices like cloves, oregano and smoked paprika.  No tomatoes here: this is a white chili, with onions and green peppers, and of course, the roasted poblanos.

When it was done, I made other people taste test it first to make sure it wasn't crazy spicy - and it wasn't.  At all.  Poblanos get a bad rap, but don't worry: I am here to share them with you (be ready for more poblano recipes in the next few weeks!).  It was delicious!  It had a great flavor from the surprising addition of not-your-average-chili-spices and was filling and hearty without needing meat. I made this for Kenzie's birthday along with the buffalo chicken meatballs  so that there would be something for me to eat, but even though that was my thinking, lots of people were pleasantly surprised by this chili.  I think you would be too.

I apologize for being a bad blogger lately.  Life is insane.  Between taking 2 CAGS courses plus the SEI course, and life, and work, and feeling like I have an appointment every single night, I'm busy.  But that is no excuse, so I'm working on it :)

Recipe:

slow cooker quinoa white chili with roasted poblanos
from Oh My Veggies
makes 6 - 8 servings

Ingredients:
2 medium poblano peppers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced (about 2 cups)
1 medium green pepper, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
4 cups cooked cannellini beans (2 15-ounces cans, drained)
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed under cold water and drained
5 - 6 dashes Tabasco sauce (optional)
fresh lime wedges and other toppings such as sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, etc.

Instructions:

1) First, roast your poblanos.  Turn the oven on to the high broil setting and move the rack to about one-third of the way from the top of the oven.  Wash and dry whole peppers and place on a cookie sheet.  Place in the oven and broil for 2 - 3 minutes, until the tops are blackened, then turn carefully with tongs and continue broiling until most sides are blistered and blackened.  But watch carefully - ovens can vary greatly, so keep a close eye on the peppers and remove them if the start to smoke more than just a little.

2) Remove the blackened peppers from the oven and carefully tent a large pier of foil over the top.  This helps the peppers to "sweat" and will make the skin easier to peel off when it's time.

3) While the poblanos are cooling assemble the rest of the chili.  Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat.  Add the diced onions and green peppers.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 - 6 minutes.

4) Add the garlic, oregano, cumin, smoked paprika, cloves, and salt.  Cook, stirring, for none minutes.

5) Add a cup or so of broth and stir to make sure all the bits of flavor are scraped up into the broth.  Carefully pour into the slow cooker along with the remaining vegetable broth, cannellini beans, quinoa, and Tabasco if using.

6) Carefully peel the skin off the poblanos and remove the stem.  Remove the seeds for a milder chili; keep them for a hotter chili.  Finely dice and add to the Crock Pot.  Stir gently to mix all of the ingredients together.

7) Cook on low for 8 - 10 hours or high for 3 - 4 hours until the quinoa is tender and the chili is relatively thick.  Taste and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

8) Scoop into bowls and squeeze a lime wedge over each serving.  Garnish with additional toppings if desired.

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

I like to make meat dishes in the slow cooker, because it usually involves minimal touching.  This one has even less than some recipes that call for the meat to be browned in a skillet; you just have to rub some spices into it, like garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, and then throw it in the Crockpot and call it a day.  Well, not a day, but half a day (9 - 12 hours).  It gets slow roasted in beef broth until your house smells like beef.  Maybe some people like that?

The sandwiches get made with freshly caramelized onions and peppers, slices of melty provolone cheese, and whole wheat rolls.  Oh, did I mention that these sandwiches are low fat?  308 calories for a big, meaty, cheesy sandwich?  And that includes serving the sandwich with a little ramekin of the beef broth the meat cooked in.

Now here's the problem.  I didn't have a sandwich, obviously, but even as I was cutting the meat, I could tell it was pretty dry.  Luckily my meat eaters got to dip their sandwiches into the broth, so they didn't know how dry it was.  But it was dry, and I am not sure why that happened.  I agree that 9 - 12 hours felt like a long time to cook the meat, so maybe lean more towards the 9 hour mark.  Because Mark refuses to eat reheated meat and I don't eat it at all, the leftovers were given to Laura and she made quesadillas with them.  She agreed that it was dry.  If you try this recipe out, let me know what you think about the meat itself.

Recipe:

slow cooker French dip sandwiches with caramelized onions
from Skinny Taste

Ingredients:
for the beef:
3 -4 pound lean bed round roast, trimmed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dry)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dry)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 to 3 (14.5-ounce) cans low-sodium beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
10 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 large onion, cut into chunks
for the caramelized onions (makes about 1 cup):
1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 large onions, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
for the peppers (makes about 2 cups)
1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into strips
1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and sliced into strips
for the sandwich:
reduced fat provolone or mozzarella slices
whole wheat baguette or rolls, cut into 2 ounce pieces

Instructions:

1) In a small bowl, mix the garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Rub the spice mixture onto all sides of the roast, then place in the allow cooker.

2) Pour the broth into the side of the roast until it just covers the meat.  If the broth doesn't cover the roast, you can add water. Top with onions.  Add the Worcestershire sauce, peppercorns and bay leaf to the broth.  Cover and cook on low until the meat flakes apart easily with a fork, about 9 to 12 hours, depending on the size of your roast.

3) An hour before the meat is done, prepare the onions and peppers.  In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and salt and cook until golden, stirring often, reducing heat as needed if the onions are burning too quickly, about 30 to 35 minutes.  Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan if it becomes too dry.  The onions should turn golden and the flavor should be sweet.  Transfer to a serving bowl and then add the peppers to the skillet and cook, stirring often until soft, 8 to 10 minutes.

4) Remove meat from the slow cooker to a cutting board and shred with a fork or slice with a knife.  Strain the broth through a fine sieve, then place in a gravy separator to remove any fat.  Pour 1/4 cup broth into each small ramekin.

5) Preheat the oven to broil.  Split the bread open and top with 2 ounces of beef. Top with onions, peppers, and cheese and broil until the cheese melts.  Place on a plate with broth for dipping.

Apple Cinnamon Slow Cooker Pork Loin

The trouble with all these meat recipes now that Mark and I live together alone is that there are days when I have only one person's opinion to base blog posts off.  And so for this recipe, I am not sure what to say.  Mark didn't love it, but couldn't put his finger on why.  He just said it wasn't the best.  That's about the extent of what I got out of him.

It wasn't a regular recipe, but that was what I liked about it: you make slices in the pork loin and slide apple slices into the cuts.  Then it gets drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, and onions get laid on top.  That's it; set it and forget it.  I was intrigued by the sweet and savory idea, and of course by how easy it was.  I did notice that there was no salt, and I would probably add that next time (although there probably won't be a next time since Mark didn't love it and I won't be eating it myself).  I did pair it with some lovely mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts.

Again, I am not sure if this was a total fail or if maybe just Mark wasn't a fan.  I had no idea whether I should even share it!  I decided to let you be the judge yourself.  If you try this, please let me know if it's good or not!

Recipe:

apple cinnamon slow cooker pork loin
from Rachel Schultz

Ingredients:
3 pound pork loin
1 apple, sliced
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 yellow onion, sliced

Instructions:

1) Slice slits into pork loin horizontally about 3/4 of the way through meat.  Fill each slit with an apple slice and drizzle honey over the top.

2) Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Transfer pork to slow cooker.  Layer onions on top.

3) Cook on low 3 - 4 hours.  Serve.

Slow Cooker Barley and Chickpea Risotto

I was about to post another Halloween recipe -one that is most definitely Halloween and couldn't in any way be made to seem Christmas-y - but then Mark and I put up our tree tonight.  And we have the lights off, just sitting in the glow of the tree, and the glow of Elf on TV, of course... so the thought of blogging about spider cookies is just beyond what I can handle. I'm going to skip over it for now.  Hopefully next September I'll remember.  Will you remind me?  Spider cookies.  September.  Thank you.

Forging straight along: you know my new love for my slow cooker, and also my love for risotto.  I've made corn risotto twice since mastering the art of risotto, and each time, the pan has been scraped clean.  It's so delicious, and so much easier than I expected, but it is labor intensive.  You have to stand there stirring nonstop for at least a half hour.  I normally don't mind this, but it's definitely not a weeknight meal.

Another important note: I have probably 3 pounds of pearl barley in my pantry.  I have no idea why.  I am not even sure what recipes I needed it for.  All I know is that I bought it twice, and once it was from Wegman's where you fill your own bag and I got a little overzealous with my bag filling.

So put my love for slow cookers and risotto, and my overabundance of pearl barley, all together, and then imagine my glee upon finding a recipe that combines them all: slow cooker barley and chickpea risotto.  It has some great little surprises in there, too: chickpeas for protein (yes this was a full meal here, and then lunch for many days!), cauliflower, and carrots.  The secret ingredient is lemon juice that gets squeezed over the whole thing when it's done cooking.  It brightens all the flavors (like thyme and garlic) and ties everything together.  I happily ate the leftovers for days - it reheats beautifully.  Make it on a Sunday afternoon, be ready by dinner time (it's ready in 3 hours), and enjoy it for the rest of your hectic week.

Recipe:

slow cooker barley and chickpea risotto
from Foxes Love Lemons

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/4 cups pearl barley, rinsed
1 can (15.5-ounces) garbanzo beans/chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 1/2 cups less-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

1) Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add carrots, garlic, cauliflower, and onion.  Cook until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2) Stir in thyme and barley, cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

3) Transfer mixture to slow cooker bowl.  Stir in beans, broth, water, salt, and pepper.  Cook on high 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until barley is tender and most liquid is absorbed.

4) Remove and discard thyme sprigs; stir in lemon juice.  Serve in warm bowls garnished with cheese and parsley.

Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Kalamata Olives

Have I mentioned lately that I love my slow cooker?  Because I do.  It was about a month or so ago that I really discovered this, and lately my slow cooker (which lives in a cabinet with other appliances) has appeared on my counter more often than my food processor, blender, and espresso machine... combined.  I just love that you throw stuff in there and forget about it, and soon your house smells like food and it's time to eat.

Unfortunately for me, recently I am all about making meat in there, which makes everyone very happy but leaves me kind of hungry.  And can I be honest?  Sometimes having my house smell like meat cooking makes me want to vomit.  But hey, I do it because I love my carnivores.  And usually, slow cooking meat involves minimal meat-touching but has very successful results.  Therefore: slow cooker Italian pot roast with sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives.

One thing I struggled with for this recipe was the timing.  It needs to cook on low for 9 - 11 hours.  When on earth was I supposed to put it in the slow cooker?!  If I put it in before work, that would work, but the last thing I want to do is brown a roast in a skillet at 7 AM.  I could have done it the night before, I suppose, and put the meat in the fridge overnight to start cooking in the morning, but that would be dirtying a container with raw meat for no reason.  After work wouldn't suffice unless we felt like eating pot roast for breakfast (ew).  I finally decided to do all my prep work for it late one Friday night, and I cooked it overnight to have it ready for lunch the next day.  This meant waking up to a house that smelled like pot roast, which was absolutely repulsive.  You want to smell breakfast foods if anything on a Saturday morning, not beef and onions, but maybe that's just me.

Back to the pot roast.  You have to brown it, as I mentioned, which is not enjoyable, and then put it in the slow cooker along with wine, beef broth, and garlic, and dried spices like oregano, thyme, rosemary and basil.  Then you "nestle" (direct quote from the recipe... I love recipes with fun words like that) sun-dried tomatoes, pearl onions and kalamata olives around the roast, and go hang out for 11 hours.  Now, I am not a huge fan of sun-dried tomatoes, but they become more than bearable in this dish.  I know this because my mother absolutely hates them and I'm not sure she noticed they were in there.  They become super soft and lend some of their tomato flavor to the pot roast so that they aren't so overwhelming on their own.

This was basically a very easy and still impressive lunch, and my family loved it.  It was moist, flavorful with hints of saltiness and sweetness, and very tender.  In fact, it went over far better than the tiny brussels sprouts I had bought at the farmer's market the day before.  I made the mistake of admitting that most of them were full of tiny bugs and it took me an hour to clean the ones I was using.  Probably not the best way to get your family excited to eat their veggies.... oh well.  At least they had their meat.

My tablescape... ignore the tiny sprouts :)

Recipe:

slow cooker Italian pot roast with sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives
from Elly Says Opa

Ingredients:
1 beef chuck roast (about 3 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup red wine (optional)
1 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 10-ounce bag frozen pearl onions

Instructions:

1) Season the roast liberally with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high, and once hot, brown the roast on all sides.  Move to slow cooker.

2) Add the garlic to the skillet and stir until fragrant.  Add in the wine and broth, scraping up the browned bits.  Stir in the sugar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the mixture over the roast.

3) Nestle the sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and pearl onions around the roast.  Cook on low for 9 - 11 hours.  Skim off the fat and heat on high, uncovered, to thicken slightly if desired.

Vegan Crockpot Quinoa and Black Bean Chili

I've been on a slow cooker binge lately.  In fact, on Saturday, I used it twice.  In one day.  It helps that I am in love with my Cuisenart slow cooker (it's so big!  And you can program it to stop cooking after a certain amount of time and just keep your food warm!).  In fact, this chili was the first thing I made in my shiny new crockpot, which I got for my bridal shower back in June.  And I will be making it again.  Not only am I excited about my slow cooker; I am excited about this chili!!!!  4 exclamation points excited!  (I sound like an episode of Seinfeld).

Let's talk about the vegetables, first.  Black beans, red and green bell peppers, grated carrot, onion, garlic and corn.  This is no meat and tomato chili, my friends.  Lots of delicious vegetables in there, not to mention the flavor of chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin and oregano.  And then there's the quinoa.  You throw it in raw, and yet somehow it still cooks perfectly into little nutty bites of protein. It was a genius way to fix the fact that somehow I had three bags of quinoa in the pantry.  It helps to give the chili a little more texture, too.

I was really excited about this chili, in case you can't tell.  It's so easy: just throw everything in there and turn the slow cooker on.  You're eating chili in no time.  Mark was a big fan of this chili; as he usually does with chili, his favorite way to eat it is to dip into it with tortilla chips.  Whether you eat it out of a bowl (or a Tupperware - this reheats wonderfully) or off a chip, just promise me you will give this chili a shot.  You don't have to love quinoa, you just have to love flavorful, delicious chili!

One note: this recipe is vegan, so it calls for vegan toppings like a sour cream made of cashews (I'm not going to post the recipe for that, but if you are interested, click the link to the original recipe!).  You can do that if you so choose, but feel free to stir in real sour cream and cheddar cheese!  I actually found that the chili didn't need any toppings, but top to your heart's desire.

Recipe:

vegan crockpot quinoa and black bean chili
from Jessica in the Kitchen
serves 4 - 5

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
15-ounce can black beans
1/2 container 28-ounce diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 shredded carrot
1/2 onion, chopped
2 gloves garlic
1/2 small chili pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup corn kernels
optional toppings:
chopped avocado
chopped green onions
shredded carrot
cheddar cheese and sour cream

Instructions:

1) Add the broth, quinoa, black beans and tomatoes to the slow cooker.  Stir to combine.

2) Next, add the peppers, carrot, onion and garlic, and stir.  Then add the rest of the seasonings and stir a few times to combine.

3) Set the slow cooker to high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or on low for 5 - 6 hours.  For high, monitor the last 30 minutes, and for low, monitor the last hour.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I've got a few recipes to share today.  Can I say how much I love long weekends!?

First, yesterday I decided to make some lunch with ingredients we already had in the house.  I knew this was going to be a tough sell: it's a soup made out of spinach.  I love spinach, but my mother hates it, and I figured Rachael, who was the only other peson home at the time, wouldn't be a fan either.  But nevertheless, we had baby spinach, and lots of it, that I didn't want to waste, and we happened to have everything else I would need for this, so: witches' brew it was!  I realize this was a "Halloween" recipe since it makes a bright green soup, but hey, I'm only a couple weeks late!  And it's spinach and gruyere, so honestly, it couldn't be bad.

And me say this: I adore this soup.  It kind of tastes like spinach and artichoke dip, minus the artichokes.  But the cheese and the spinach made for the most delicious blast of flavor, not to mention the garlic, onion and potato.  The whole thing gets blended together - I got to use my immersion blender!  -so you end up with a creamy and amazing bright green soup that is quite filling.  Of course, as I expected, it didn't go over well.  Mom absolutely hated it, and Rachael said she felt like it would be  better as a dip (she hated the consistency).  And I am fine with this.  More for me!  I ate it for lunch yesterday and today and may or may not have licked my bowl.  If you like the taste of spinach and gruyere, and don't get freaked out if you are eating a bright green liquid, then please try this soup.

I went grocery shopping last night at 10.  Yeah, you know you're cool when you hit up Price Chopper at 10:00 on a Saturday night... after your book club meeting.  It was actually quite a pleasant experience.  The 24-hour grocery store is a fantastic invention.  Anyway I wanted to go last night because I had found a recipe on a blog that I follow that I wanted to try out, even though it is a meat dish.  Yuck, I know, but it was beef ragout, which I love to order when I go to Via (short rib ragout, but close enough).  I figured it would be pretty easy since it does not involve too much touching of the meat; the recipe uses the slow cooker.  I did have to take a gross roast out of the styrofoam container, and sear it in a pan, and I tried to hack off some fat, which was pretty upsetting.  Then the roast just cooks for 8 hours on low, with a mixture of tomato sauce, onion, garlic, broth, bay leaves, whole cloves, and cinnamon sticks.  Really part of the reason I wanted to try this recipe was that I was intrigued about tossing cloves and cinnamon sticks in with meat!  And I will say that the house smelled really good all day.  I served it on top of egg noodles, and with a side of salad, since there are really no vegetables in the ragout (who have I become!?) As for the final result... Mom loved it and said it took her a few bites to get acclimated to the mixture of tastes, but then she had seconds.  Kenzie really liked it too.  Rachael called it "cinnameat" and didn't like it because it was sweet.  I would have to say that it's not sweet, since it only had one cinnamon stick in there and nothing else "sweet," but I did not really love this either.  I thought the flavor was really good, but the texture of the meat wasn't what I wanted.  I don't really know what I expected - I guess I just wanted my braised short rib ragout from Via!  I thought it wasn't soft enough, or tender enough....I don't really know how to describe it except to just say, why the hell did I roast a beast and think I would enjoy it!?  No pictures of this one... just imagine shredded meat in a brown sauce over egg noodles.  Not the most photogenic of meals!

Then for dessert, I caved and made baked Alaska yet again.  Mom has been begging.  I still don't get the allure of this dessert, since it's mostly just ice cream with meringue on top, but my family goes nuts for it.   Mom claims that even though she doesn't love pistachio or cherry ice cream, that combination makes the best baked Alaska.  As always, it got rave reviews.  I did warn my family that I am getting a bit sick of making it every weekend, and perhaps they could like something with less parts, or something that's not one bowl of ice cream that I can't even partake of, but I don't see that happening too soon!

Recipes:
witches' brew, or cheesy spinach soup
slowcooker Greek beef ragout
baked Alaska

Cinnamon and Clove Day

Today I may or may not have taken the day off from work... we were out late last night at the concert, and so I planned on having a relaxing mental health day.  It ended up being a good thing that I stayed home; I had to help get Dad up, and then Mark came over and we grocery shopped, and made lunch, dinner, and dessert together!  It was relaxing in that I was not at work, but still quite busy - and I must not be cut out for mental health days, because I spent much of the day feeling guilty.

Marky was in charge of lunch; he made grilled chicken sandwiches with bleu cheese, onions and peppers.  This is his specialty and they were great.  While he worked, I set up the slow cooker for dinner.  I made cinnamon chicken.  It does sound weird, I know, but I like weird food.  The recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced carrots, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coconut milk, and tomato sauce.  Quite the strange mix.  I couldn't find coconut milk, so I Googled it and mixed cream of coconut with hot water.  Then I let it set for 6 hours. 

Mmm... potatoes!

I also made my personal favorite, mashed potatoes. to go with the chicken.  I added goat cheese, butter and milk.... extremely healthy.  But the chicken wasn't bad, so I figured it would even out.  They were by far the best part of the meal, but I am a mashed potato kind of girl.  And add goat cheese to anything, and I will be happy.  So this was perfect.

As for the chicken?  Well, I don't like meat, so as I always say, I am not the person to ask. I thought the texture of the chicken was a little too stringy, but the flavor was very good.  I liked the carrots.  Kenzie,  Nick and Mark were the only ones home.  Mark and Kenzie both ate a lot and said they liked it.  Nick did his bizarre "I-may-usually-eat-like-an-elephant-but-happen-to-be-full-tonight" thing and gave 75% of his serving to the dogs.  Apparently he "doesn't like cloves."  Kenz and I are fairly certain that he would not have even known there were ground cloves in it except for the fact that I was telling her the ingredients.  I'm getting very used to Nick whining about my meals, though, so this time I chose not to be upset and just be entertained by his story that he wasn't hungry since he ate a hamburger 7 hours earlier.

Frosting with a weird tip?

While Kenzie was at class tonight, I worked on a surprise dessert for her.  She is having a crappy day, and I know that she loves chai tea, so when I saw a recipe for chai cupcakes, I knew I had to try it. You have the option to make chocolate or vanilla chai cupcakes (or both!) with either Swiss meringue honey buttercream or whipped chocolate cinnamon ganache for frosting.  I decided to make the vanilla cupcakes with the chocolate frosting.  In a funny coincidence, both my dinner and my dessert have cinnamon and cloves in them (so ha, Nick)!  The cupcakes came out delicious: spiced and soft and great.  Then the frosting might be my best yet.  It only called for semisweet chocolate, heavy cream, and cinnamon, which I was intrigued by because of so few ingredients.  I had to simmer the cream and cinnamon, then pour it over the chocolate, mix it up, chill it for an hour, and then whip it.  Then of course I ruin everything when I try to frost the cupcakes and they end up looking ridiculous, but it tastes amazing.  As someone who is not big on sweets, I will probably bring one to work tomorrow for lunch :)  And hopefully they did their job and made Kenzie's crappy day a little bit better.

Recipes:
slow cooker cinnamon chicken
chai cupcakes

This is where I gave up and just smeared the frosting on...

The Crock Pot is my Friend

Last night before I went to bed, I got things prepped for dinner tonight.  This is a first for me, but I have realized that the crock pot is my friend.  I like that whole "set it and forget it" thing; it makes cooking more like baking, which I like so much better.  And Laura, my cooking guru friend from work, gave me this recipe and said that everyone raves about it.  So last night, I poured onion soup mix into a crock pot, put the pork chops into a zip lock bag in the fridge (they were individually wrapped and believe me, this step took a while), and took out a can of cranberry sauce (and yes, those are all the ingredients).  Then this morning, I put it all into the crock pot, turned it on, and dragged myself off to work. 

Mark's "minimalist" plate!

By the time I got home, the house smelled pretty damn good, and the pork chops were starting to fall apart!  Mom made potatoes and some green beans and carrots, and I made a gravy out of the sauce that was left.  I still cannot quiet get over how few ingredients there were in this, and yet how amazing it was - and also, the fact that it tasted neither like cranberries nor onion soup mix!  It ended up only being Mom, Mark and I for dinner, but all three of us really enjoyed it.  Mark and I were a little obsessed with the gravy and were sopping it up with some of my leftover focaccia bread from the pot luck lunch (don't get me started how much was left over... I will try not to be offended).

The recipe called for a beef chuck roast, but pork chops were cheaper, and Laura said she used a pork tenderloin so I figured it would be okay to use chops.  I still cannot get over the small amount of ingredients (and work!)  that this recipe required, and that is a very good thing for something that tastes so good.  I'd recommend this, and will probably be making it again when there are more than 2 people with me at the dinner table!

Recipe:
Slow cooker cranberry roast or pork chops

When Life Gives You Flat Cookies...

Well, I took a few days off from the kitchen, and I certainly made up for that today.  I don't think I sat down from 12:00 till 7:30 tonight!  I think I overdid it....

Today is a football game.  I think it's important, or something... I really could not care less.  Everyone was talking about it and I knew we were going to have lots of people here, so I planned all week on making a few things for today.  Little did I know that everyone else in New England also planned on cooking today!  Stop and Shop was absolutely ridiculous; there weren't even any carts left.  I had to use the old lady walker!  It was crazy.  But I needed my baby spinach and sweet potatoes for the chili-esque vegetarian meal that I wanted to make :)  It's called slow cooker honey beans with spinach and sweet potatoes...and that was my first task of the day.    It was also my first experience using a slow cooker!  It was a little scary, throwing everything in there and not stirring it... or doing anything... but the "leave it alone" thing appealed to me as someone who likes to bake.  While I was nervous at first, now I think I need to use the Crock Pot more often!  The only problem was that, in doubling the recipe, it took longer than the 6 hours that it was supposed to, but the end result was delicious!  It's a bit like chili because of the cumin, but the honey in it (and the sweet potatoes) gives it a hint of sweetness too.  Of course, Kenzie made full-meat chili, so not too many people have partaken, but my mom and grandmother both tried it and loved it!  Wahoo!  Lots of leftovers for tomorrow now :)

Then, my mom left to go visit my grandfather in the nusing home.  My uncle Gary came in to pick her up, and he asked how my cooking resolution is going.  I said it was going well, and he said he had seen my blog entry about the cinnamon raisin bread, and wondered if there was any left.  There wasn't, but I started to get the idea to surprise him after their visit with the bread!  It's not hard, but it does take a while because of the yeast.  I also had wanted to try this bread again, because it didn't look as beautiful and swirly as I had wanted it.  Well, round 2.... still not to beautiful or swirly.  But, on the bright side, the consistency of the bread is much better - lighter, fluffier.  It's still quite a hit, even if it isn't swirly  :)

Then came the part of the day that didn't go as well...the whoopie pies.  This was mom's request, which was okay, until she said that she wanted me to double it.  Normally that's fine, but we have the smaller-size mixer, and I knew that ingredients were running low!  I knew it wouldn't all fit in one mixer, so I would have to make two batches.  I had Kenzie pick up extra flour at the store, but didn't get to notice that I was going to need more cocoa powder.  Uh oh... I ended up being about 1/4 cup short on the second batch.  I figured that wouldn't matter too much... and, well, it matters.  Apparently.  I guess changing the ratio of wet - to -dry ingredients was a bad idea, because while the first batch looked nice and whoopie pie-ish, the second batch looked like whoopie pancakes :(  And you know me when I mess up  - I am horrified, grouchy, embarrassed, and depressed.  But, I tried really hard not to freak out, and so when Mom gave me the idea of making a trifle with the flat ones, I decided to give it a shot.  I broke up the flatties, layered it with chocolate pudding and extra whoopie pie filling, and, voila!  Whoopie trifle!  Nick and Ross have both tried it and gave it good reviews.  The whoopie pies themselves have been raved about.  So, even though they all may not have come out exactly as I wanted, I still made it work!

The Whoope Trifle!

So, life lessons that I learned today:

1. Don't try too many things at once... even with my newfound confidence, making cinnamon raisin bread, honey beans, and a double batch of whoopie pies is a little overwhelming!
2. Plan ahead... because you might think that 1/4 cup of cocoa powder won't matter, but it really does.
3. Make the best of things... as I like to say, when life gives you flat cookies, make a trifle ;)

Recipes:
Slow Cooker Honey Beans and Spinach
Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
Whoope Pies