Slow Cooked Chicken Chili

So, I got a crock pot. (aka 'slow cooker' if you want to use the term everyone seems to be trying to use to pretend like these things aren't the same appliances that reminds everyone of the 70s). I'm excited, because I like soups and stews and the kinds of thing you can make in one, and the idea of having dinner waiting for me when I get home is awesome. So, I've been trying a few things (and created a few definitely non-bloggable things along the way), but here's my first official recipe (drumroll please)...

This recipe came from Savory Spicy Sweet, which was also the source of the awesome Balsamic Lentils, and apparently she got it from Pink Parsley. Here it is, with my modifications:

2 chicken breasts, completely frozen
2 cans white beans (drained, rinsed)
1 can black beans (drained, rinsed)
1 can chopped tomatoes (juice and all)
1 small chopped onion
2c salsa (I used medium, if I were you I'd use spicy since it was diluted)
2tsp cumin
1sp salt
1tsp red pepper (more/less depending on salsa)
1 red pepper, chopped

Put chicken, beans, tomatoes, spices, onion all in the slow cooker- I was doing this on a Sunday afternoon, so wanted it done in about 4 hours- so, I cooked it on high. If you wanted it longer, just cook it on low as the other recipes do (for what its worth, I'm sure this would be fine cooked slowly on the stove, but in that case you might want to do things like not use totally rock solid frozen chicken).

When about an hour is left, take the chicken out, shred it, and then put it back in. When you do, add the peppers. Also, do a seasoning check.

Serve with cheese, avocado, tortilla chips, whatever floats your boat. As you can see in the picture, I had mine with some beer bread, which I am now obsessed with. In addition, the original recipe had pepperjack cheese in it, which I think might be good, but I didn't have any, and I kind of liked that one of the benefits of the slow-cooking approach here is that there was no added fat.

It was delicious! I highly recommend it!

Pancake Time!

You know, sometimes you just want pancakes.

These pancakes are easy, pretty guilt-free, and yummy- what else can you ask for? It also makes a perfect sized batch, and doesn't require boxes of mix or any of that extra stuff that I never seem to have around at the exact moment I'm craving these.


The stuff:
1/4c oatmeal (NOT steel cut oats)
1/4c cornmeal
1/2c nonfat yogurt
1 egg white (or one egg)
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
cinnamon

optional:
blueberries (just dump the frozen ones in there, still frozen)
half a banana
chopped nuts
vanilla
anything else you can imagine

What to do with it:
Basically, mix everything up in a bowl. Heat up a skillet/griddle, with some butter-like substance (I use Earth balance). I divide it up into 4 pancakes, because they fit on my griddle, but these are substantial! Cook on a fairly low temperature- when bubbles appear in the middle of the pancakes, flip. Cook until they're brown and done.

I topped them with Cranberry-apple butter from Trader Joes, because I freaking love that stuff. But, you could also use syrup, jam, microwaved frozen fruit which becomes kind of juicy, peanut butter, or whatever else it is you like on your 'cakes. One note- this doesn't make tons, but it is easily pancakes for 2- the pancakes in the picture are from an (approximately) 3/4 batch, and it was still a lot. But, you could easily freeze any extra ones if you wanted. Or, just eat a lot of pancakes, they're not that bad for you anyways!

These are really good- they kind of have a multi-grain like vibe to them, and especially if you load them up with delicious fruits and things, they're much more filling and substantial than plain pancakes... try them, they're good!

Chickpea Tomato Quinoa

Have you gotten on the quinoa bandwagon? (I believe the bandwagon left the station sometime circa 2005, so this is not new news, but I'm still on it so here you go).

Basically, its awesome for you. Its a complete protein. Its high in fiber and protein. And, its yummy. So, there you go. This dish is the perfect package for the quinoa- its hearty and tasty and you could take it in a lot of directions and run.

(the picture turned out badly, so you get this extra jazzy version to make up for it).

-some olive oil
-1 onion, chopped (mine was very small, and it was fine)
-.5tsp cumin
-2 tablespoons corriander/cilantro seeds, smushed a bit with the back of the spoon to break them up
-red pepper flakes
-3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
-1tsp salt
-1c quinoa (I get mine at Trader Joes near the pasta)
-1 can chopped tomatoes (unsalted), including the liquid
-1 and 1/2c broth (I used chicken, you could make it vegan with veggie broth)
-1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained

Heat the oil and brown the onions. Once they're pretty brown, throw in the garlic, the corriander, cumin, red pepper flakes (to taste), and salt and cook for a few minutes. Then, toss in the quinoa and heat it up for a few minutes. Put in the tomatoes, chickpeas, and broth. Let it boil for a minute then turn it way down and cook for 20 minutes.

This is delicious! And, you can see I've served it with my beer bread, which I am still completely enamored with.

Beer Bread

Oh man oh man oh man!

I'm always trying to figure out some miraculous fast way to make bread at home. I have tried things like this whole artisan bread in 5 minutes a day kick people were on, I've tried other fast and easy tricks. And, let me tell you, I have made a lot of bad bread (see Exhibit A. it was not delicious. it looked like a giant cow pattie. it did not look like the picture on the internet. neither did any of the rest of the ones I made).


Exhibit A.

BUT. This, this might be the answer. And, of course, the answer involved beer.

This is suuuuuuuuuper easy:
1 bottle beer (I used Sierra Nevada IPA because thats what I had)
3c flour
.5tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
1/3c sugar

Stir it up. Put it in a loaf pan. Let it sit for like half an hour to an hour if you have time. Put it in the oven at 350, and bake for about 1 hour. If you want, 3/4 of the way through you can spread butter on the top of it.

Check this out! Its not deformed!


And check THIS out... (DRUMROLL, PLEASE...)

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

(ps. if you have self-rising flour, use that. just skip the salt and baking powder)

Stealthy Joes

I love sloppy joes... they remind me of summer, and vacations, and sitting around the table with my family laughing. Unfortunately, I do not actually really like beef, which as you may remember is a pretty core component of your standard joe.

There are a lot of recipes for lentil based sloppy joes out there, and, as you may remember, I really really like lentils, for both their diversity and their budget friendliness and also, because they have no fat and are super high in protein and fiber. Here is the recipe I went with....


1c lentils- cook in 4c water (or 3c water, 1c broth) until soft
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic (or some of the pre-chopped stuff)
1-2tsp oregano
red pepper to taste (I bet you need more than you think)
1 tsp salt
1 16oz can tomato sauce (I like 'em saucy. some people might use less)
4oz tomato paste
2 tblsp brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard (or, if you're me and your mustard was elderly and questionable, some mustard seeds, vinegar, tumeric and salt to make some fake-out mustard. why don't I own mustard powder when I feel like I have every other spice known to man? the world may never know)

Basically, brown the onions, peppers, and garlic. Add the spices, then put in the cooked lentils, tomato products, mustard (or bastardized mustard), and sugar. Let it all get to know each other for a while. Then, serve it over the carb of your choice (see below)

You could use any kind of bun, bread, or even rice. If you're wondering what I used (not having any regular bread products on hand), its a paratha a layered Indian flatbread thats super delicious. Unlike my previous flatbread making attempts, I bought this frozen at the Indian grocery and am completely happy about it.

Chicken/Rice/Butternut/Spinach... ROUND TWO!

Ok, so I last posted about a yummy tower of brown rice, butternut squash puree, a chicken/pepper/onion mixture, and spinach. I had leftovers, and wanted to eat them, but... making the whole tower all over again and heating up all the parts just seemed like too much work. Plus, it was cold out. Plus, I wanted soup.

So, enter round two... soup!

Basically, I took some chicken broth, tossed in the puree, the chicken mixture, a few spoonfuls of rice, and some more of the spinach (along with some red pepper flakes and smoked paprika to kick things up a notch) and let it simmer. It was sooo goood!

The lesson here is, think outside the box a bit with this whole leftovers thing. Getting to have all the flavors in a whole new format can really revive them!

Butternut Squash and Spinach and Chicken and Rice and mmmmm...

All right, all right, I know that I may have kind of overdone it with the butternut squash this winter, since its come to you already in the form of pizza, and pasta, and strange wheatberry concoctions... but THIS is totally different, and totally delicious, and you should totally try it (plus, I can't be blamed for the squash this time, the meal was the inspiration of my co-chef).

Anyways, this is a rendition of one of those fresh prepared meals at Trader Joe's, which are usually really good. It was inspired by that, then helped along by this recipe, which is pretty similar. SO, here is our version...
The stuff:
2 chicken breasts (I used frozen)
1 red pepper, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
some garlic
1 butternut squash
1c brown rice
fresh spinach leaves
some chicken broth
sage (I used dry, fresh would be good too), salt, pepper, olive oil
(red pepper flakes, optional)

What to do with it:
Squash
-Peel and cube one butternut squash. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast at 400 until all nice and soft and browned.
-once its done, put it in a food processor or blender with some additional spices, and about half a cup of broth (or, whatever amount you need to put in to get it to blend it)

Rice
-cook 1c brown rice in 2c water (add a little onion, and spices, if you want)

Chicken
-Coat chicken with olive oil, pepper, salt, and sage- defrost. cut into chunks.
-Brown onion and a little garlic
-Toss in chicken. When the chicken is almost done, put in the red pepper slices
-Pour in some chicken broth, to make a little light sauce. Toss in the red pepper if you'd like it.

Spinach
rinse and prep some baby spinach leaves. you might even chop them very coarsely

Putting it all together..
Make a little bed of rice, top with butternut squash, chicken/onion/pepper mixture, and top the whole thing off with the spinach.

This was nice because it was warm and the sage and squash and everything make it nice and comforting, but at the same time it wasn't too heavy, and the fresh spinach was really a nice addition... when you stir the whole thing up together it becomes yummy and unique. Try it!

(ps. I liked the chicken, but if you wanted to veggie-fy this, I'd recommend taking some white beans and cooking them with garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and sage and using them instead of the chicken- if you did that, it would actually be vegan).

(UPDATE: ok, so it seems that the good people at Trades Joe's may actually season the squash with Indian-style spices rather than sage. I think that might give it the little kick this needs and will probably try it next time)

Tumeric Scramble

Today, I was reading an article on "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating". Although, actually it turns out I'm eating a lot of them. Except beets. Beets are gross.

At any rate, one of them is tumeric, and as you may remember I am the new owner of half a pound of tumeric. I use it for curry-type dishes, but the article suggested mixing it into eggs. I love eggs on the weekend, so figured why not.

Basically, I browned a bit of onion in olive oil, tossed in some frozen spinach, and added eggs (well, really, part egg whites, and 1 whole egg), salt, pepper, and tumeric.



You can tell there is something in there because the eggs are a bit more yellow that you'd think, given that they're mostly egg whites. (one of my secret favorite things about tumeric? if you squirt it with cleaning fluid, if it gets on the counter, it changes from bright bright yellow to bright red). These were really good, the flavor was subtle, but it really added a little something extra to the eggs... this is the kind of thing secret recipes are made of! try it!

TRIUMPH!

I really seriously can't contain myself. Today I got up, and what did I see on the ground, my little lime!


He's pretty much full sized, and its the right time of year so... I think I finally successfully raised at least one lime off of that tree to 'adulthood'. Of course, now the problem is that I have to think of the best possible thing to do... its a lot of pressure! My immediate thought is obviously margaritas. Unforunately, he was an only child, so it would be a very small margarita. So, I have to think of as many awesome things as possible that just need a spritz of lime (and zest). Stay tuned!!!