Crock pot curried red lentil, chickpea, and quinoa stew recipe

Another lentil recipe??  I know, I know, but this is so different from the soup with lentils that I just shared.  This, my friends (and I don't mean that in the John McCain way), is one of the two favorites from Sunday's soup night.  It combines several of my favorite foods: red lentils, chickpeas, and quinoa.  You really can't go wrong.  I adapted this for the crock pot because I was making four soups and only have 2 large pots (it's a good thing that I have 2 crock pots!).  It worked perfectly, and there wasn't much left at the end of the night.  I'm still working my way through the other leftovers, though.

This soup was hearty, and the tender lentils almost melted in my mouth.  But the chickpeas were there to provide some complexity in texture.  The spices were perfect - nothing overwhelmed the taste, and it had the perfect amount of spice for a crowd with varying tastes.  I think this is one of the few examples of a recipe that I won't change the next time I make it.  I'm submitting this to January's My Legume Love Affair, which is hosted by EC at Simple Indian Food.

Crock pot curried red lentil, chickpea, and quinoa stew (adapted from ZestyCook/Closet Cooking)
(Printable version)

1 Tbsp oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1" piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes
4 1/2 cups water
1 Tbsp hot chili sauce (I used Sriracha)
2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa*
1/2 cup cilantro, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium heat in a medium skillet.  Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until vegetables begin to get tender (about 8 min).  Add garlic, ginger, and curry powder, and saute for an additional minute.  Add this to a medium crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart, and it was almost too small) along with the lentils, tomatoes, water, chili sauce, and chickpeas.  Cook on high for an hour, and then cook on low for another 4 hours.  An hour before cooking is complete, add in quinoa.  At the end of the cooking time, stir in cilantro and season with salt and pepper.  Serves 6-8.

*You can substitute 1/3 cup uncooked quinoa, and add it to the crock pot at the beginning.  Add an additional 2/3 cup water.

Crock pot split pea, lentil, and sausage soup recipe

Welcome to soup week.  I'll try not to overwhelm you with them, but I have a lot to share.  I made several fabulous soups last week, including this one and the chicken and rice stew.  Then I decided that I should invite friends over for Sunday Night Dinner, and ended up making 4 more soups.  10 people, 4 pots of soup... you do the math.  I'm going to be eating soup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next week (no, I'm not exaggerating).  So first I have to share this amazing soup, and then I'll get to the two favorites from soup night.  And I'll try to throw some other things in there to keep you on your toes.

One of my favorite things about Kalyn's Kitchen is that she includes a lot of hearty, but very healthy, meals.  I have a ton of her soups and stews bookmarked, and this got my attention last week.  Unfortunately I thought I had far more split peas than I actually had, so I ended up using half green split peas and half brown lentils.  I liked the mix, though - the split peas virtually disintegrate, while the lentils maintain their shape and give the soup a little bit more texture.  The second I walked in my door, I was overwhelmed by delicious smells, and it tasted just as wonderful.  I love that this soup is very filling, which is exactly what I want on a cold winter day.

Crock pot split pea, lentil, and sausage soup (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)
(Printable version)

12 oz. chicken sausage links (I used a spinach and garlic version), diced
1 onion, chopped
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper (omit if you're using spicy sausage)
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup green split peas
1 cup brown lentils
3 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the diced sausage in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the sausage to a large crock pot (I used a 5 1/2 quart).  Then add the onion to the skillet and saute until tender (you may need to add a little bit of oil if the sausage didn't have much fat).  Stir in the red pepper, cook for another minute, and then pour onions into the crock pot.  Add carrots, peas, lentils, stock, and water to the crock pot, cover, and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serves 6.

Crock pot chicken and hominy stew recipe

My first memorable hominy experience occurred a few years ago when some friends from New Mexico made a large pot of pozole. I loved it, but apparently this didn't spur thoughts of making pozole myself or using hominy in other dishes. Several months ago, I was flipping through Lorna Sass's "Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way" and noticed the section on hominy. I ended up making her hominy with shredded chicken and peppers, and absolutely adored it. A few days after complaining about only having access to canned hominy, I came across the dried kind in Whole Foods while in Ann Arbor. It's been sitting in my kitchen since March calling my name. I finally answered.

Crock pot chicken and hominy stew (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann, and inspired to use tomatillo salsa by Worth the Whisk)

(Printable version)

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ancho chile powder

3/4 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup chicken stock

4 skinless chicken thighs - about 3/4 lb. (I used boneless, but bone-in would work too)

1 1/2 cups cooked hominy (see below for cooking dried, or use 1 can)

1 1/2 cups tomatillo salsa, either store bought or homemade

Combine first 9 ingredients (through stock) in medium crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart - don't use anything bigger unless you plan to double the recipe). Lay chicken on top of this mixture, and top with hominy and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. Use two forks to pull apart the chicken, and remove bones if you used bone-in meat. Serves 3.

Crock pot dried hominy (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

Soak 12 oz dried hominy in cold water overnight. Drain hominy and place in a medium crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart; reduce hominy quantity if you use a smaller one). Fill crock 3/4 of the way with water (don't go to the very top). Cook on high for an hour, and then low for 9-12 hours, until hominy is tender. Keep an eye on it in the last few hours of cooking, and add more water if necessary. When hominy is done, drain and let cool. Keeps refrigerated for a few days, or frozen for months (I froze it in 1 1/2 cup portions). Makes about 8 cups.

This was amazing! The flavors turned out perfectly, and I'm very glad that I used the tomatillo salsa instead of tomatoes. The chicken was so tender that most of it had fallen apart on its own. It's extremely spicy because my chili powder and salsa are on the hot side, so cut back on these or use mild ones if you're not a fan of heat. Or if you really want to make fire shoot out of your ears, add a chopped jalapeno to the veggie mixture... but don't say I didn't warn you. I loved the hominy in this, and I'm glad I have a freezer full of cooked hominy now (anybody have a favorite recipe???).

This concludes our July cookbook of the month adventure. "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" is a very solid cookbook with recipes that adapt a ton of types of foods for the crock pot. By far, my favorite recipes were this one and the squash enchilada casserole. Perhaps that proves the point that mexican flavors are very well suited to slow cooking. I also really enjoyed the mixed grain porridge, and made another version (with only mixed rice and oats) last week. That will definitely become a staple breakfast item because it's ready right when I wake up, and extremely delicious. The two veggie dishes that I made (roasted summer vegetables and napa cabbage with apples) were also very good, but the results weren't changed dramatically by being cooked in the crock pot. It's a nice method if you want to prepare things in advance and occupy yourself with something else while they're cooking, though. And finally, the chili with venison sausage was a solid recipe, and I can see myself tweaking it in the future. There are many more recipes in this book - lots more soups, chilis, beans, grains, breakfasts, meats, and even desserts - and it's a great starting point for beginning to use your crock pot.

Crock pot roasted summer vegetables recipe

Summer vegetables are most certainly my favorites. They're light and refreshing, and I simply can't get enough. I also can't stop myself from buying them, and my refrigerator is overflowing with veggies from my CSA share, my friend's CSA share (who generously gave me her veggies while she's out of town), and the various farmers' markets around town that I am drawn to even when I don't need anything. This recipe from the cookbook of the month sounded like the perfect solution.

Crock pot roasted summer vegetables (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

(Printable version)

2 red onions, cut into small wedges

2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into strips

1 large zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/2" chunks

1 large yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/2" chunks

1 pound yellow or green beans, ends trimmed

5 garlic cloves, peeled

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large crock pot (I used a 5 1/2 quart, and it was extremely full). Add oil, basil, and salt and pepper and stir well to coat all veggies. Cook on high for 2 hours, or until all veggies are tender (you may want to stir everything after about an hour). Stir in vinegar before serving. Serves 5.

This was delicious, and I can't stop eating it. I've become a roasting fiend in the last year, but using the crock pot was a nice alternative because it prevented the kitchen from heating up. It's also great because you can put a variety of vegetables in at the same time, even though they would have different cooking times in the oven. I will definitely be making this again soon, and can't wait to try out new veggie combinations.

Crock pot chili with venison sausage recipe

I've always been a big fan of chili, and Mom frequently made it when I was growing up. Sometimes we would eat it by itself, but frequently we used it to top baked potatoes. One of the reasons that I love chili is that you can throw virtually anything into the pot and, assuming you let it simmer long enough, it's delicious. While this version has sausage, I love vegetarian chilis too, and I also enjoy experimenting with a diversity of beans and vegetables. This time I happened to have about a cup of chickpeas in my fridge, so I threw those in. It's different every time I make it, which is probably why I never get tired of it.

Crock pot chili with venison sausage (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

(Printable version)

10 oz. hot bulk venison sausage (or any ground meat)

1 large onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups cooked kidney beans (or 1 can)

1 cup cooked chickpeas (or 1/2 can)

1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 cup chicken or veggie stock

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat until veggies are tender and sausage is browned. Drain off any fat, and pour this mixture into a medium-sized crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart one). Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, stirring occasionally if possible. Serves 4-5.

This was tasty, but make sure to start this on a day when you don't plan on spending much time in the house. It smelled so good while it was cooking that I ended up snacking all afternoon. I wasn't even that hungry by the time the chili was ready, but I definitely ate a bowl of it. I don't know that I liked it as much as the black bean and sausage chili or quinoa and black bean chili that I've made in the last few months, but it was still quite good (hmmm... perhaps I prefer black beans in my chili!). It's perfect if you're looking for a very traditional chili, and the recipe couldn't get any easier.

Crock pot mixed grain porridge recipe

I want breakfast the second my feet hit the floor in the morning. This means that I rarely make anything time-consuming because I simply don't have the patience (or the time) to wait for something to cook. This is where the crock pot can be a lifesaver. Simply put it all in before you go to bed, and you wake up to a perfectly cooked breakfast.

Crock pot mixed grain porridge (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

(Printable version)

1/2 cup steel-cut oats

3/4 cup wild and brown rice blend (or use any combo of rices)

1/2 cup millet

1/4 cup stone-ground grits

3 Tbsp flax seeds

5 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt

Combine everything in a medium crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart one) and cook on low for 8-9 hours. Serve with dried fruit, nuts, honey, or anything else that comes to mind. To reheat, add a splash of water or milk before microwaving. Serves 6.

When I woke up, I caught a whiff of toasted nuts (I think it was the smell of wild rice), and was excited to try it out. This might be my new favorite breakfast. I loved the combination of the grains, and the way that they almost melted into one another (particularly the millet, which could no longer be identified).

I'm submitting this to the Breakfast Recipe Blog Carnival to benefit Haiti, hosted by Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen.

Crock pot napa cabbage with apples

One of the things that I chose for my CSA share this week was a gigantic head of napa cabbage. This was the largest cabbage that I've ever seen, in fact. Rebecca, who runs the CSA, looked at me in shock when I took the biggest one. I assured her that if there's one thing I know how to eat, it's cabbage.

Crock pot napa cabbage with apples (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded (or as much as your crock pot will hold)

2-3 granny smith apples, cored and diced

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 1/2 Tbsp honey

salt to taste

Combine cabbage and apples in a large crock pot (I used a 6 quart). Combine vinegar and honey and pour over cabbage and apples. Then toss to combine, cover crock pot, and cook on low for 5 hours. Season with salt. Serves 5.

I've made cabbage with apples before, but this was slightly different because the cabbage and apples dissolved into each other and the vinegar gave quite a bit of tang. Actually, now that I think about it, the taste of this was a combo of the cabbage with apples and sweet and sour cabbage. It was quite tasty, and extremely easy... once I figured out how to wrangle my huge cabbage head.

Crock pot squash enchilada casserole

I originally had other plans for this month's cookbook of the month but, due to extenuating circumstances (that I will soon share), I decided to hold off on those for a while. Instead, we're going to change things up a little bit this month and try out some recipes from Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann's "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook." I haven't used my crock pot in a while, and it's time to change that. Although you can cook just about anything in the crock pot, I especially love it for things that get better with time, like soups, chilis, and casseroles. Slow and steady is definitely the way to go for those things, and that's where the crock pot reigns over all other cooking methods. Crock pots also use far less energy than ovens and don't heat up the room (and I'm hoping this will help me accomplish my goal of not turning on my A/C this year). This book includes a ton of delicious recipes, and hopefully these will help satisfy my comfort food cravings that have been plaguing me lately. The only downside is that crock pot concoctions do not tend to be very photogenic, so bear with me on that.

Crock pot squash enchilada casserole (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2" rounds

2 medium yellow summer squash, sliced into 1/2" rounds

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)

1 1/2 cups cooked kidney beans (or 1 can)

2 cups green chile sauce

6 corn tortillas, each cut into 4 strips

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

4 oz. queso fresco, crumbled

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Saute onion until it gets soft (about 5 min). Add garlic, zucchini, squash, oregano, and cumin and cook until squash and zucchini start to brown (about 7 min). Stir in corn and cook for another 2 min. Remove this mixture from heat and add in beans.

Spread 1/3 cup chile sauce in the bottom of a medium crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart one). Layer 6 tortilla strips, about 1/3 cup sauce, a third of the veggies, and a quarter of the cheddar and queso fresco. Repeat these layers two more times, and then top with the remaining tortilla strips, sauce, and cheeses. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours. Serves 5.

This is the perfect example of how crock pots can enhance your basic casserole. It was wonderful - easily one of my favorite meals in a long time. The squash and zucchini were falling apart, which is just how I like them, and all of the flavors melded into one. It had a little bit of spice, but was in no way "hot"; it was cheesy, but not overwhelmingly so. I'm already excited about the rest of the month!

Crock pot oatmeal (with oat groats): sweet and savory

This is my 100th post! Ok, I didn't plan this, but it is quite appropriate that this momentous occasion will be commemorated with a post about oatmeal. After never liking oatmeal as a child, I have become obsessed with this stuff in the past few months. One key change was switching from rolled oats to steel-cut, and that makes a huge difference in the taste (although now I even like the rolled kind). And I figured that while I was going for the more whole version of the grain, I might as well go whole hog and cook up some oat groats (uncut and unrolled oats - the equivalent of a wheat berry in the oat world). The unfortunate thing about whole grains is that they take longer to cook, but that's where the crock pot comes in handy.

Crock pot oat groats (adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kauffman)

1 1/2 cups whole oat groats, picked over

6 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt

cinnamon stick

Combine everything in a 3-5 qt. crock pot. Cook on low overnight (7-9 hours). If it's thinner than you like, remove lid and cook for a few more minutes. Discard cinnamon stick. Serves 5-6.

This was my first try at making oatmeal in the crock pot, and I will definitely be doing this again. It's incredibly easy and is ready the second you want it. I was worried about getting the consistency right, but this recipe worked out perfectly for my taste.

I was surprised how different this was compared to steel-cut oatmeal. It had a similar consistency (I love that you can distinguish the individual pieces of both types), but it wasn't as sweet or nutty as steel-cut. I ended up adding cinnamon and a bit of agave to my first bowl, and that worked great. But I started to think that this would be the perfect oatmeal for a savory twist.

Mark Bittman (of "How to Cook Everything" and "Food Matters" fame) made the news when he raved about eating oatmeal with soy sauce and scallions. I've been reluctant to try it, but these oat groats were crying out for something savory, so I gave it a shot (adding a couple of dashes of soy sauce and about 1/2 of a green onion, chopped). The conclusion: I'm addicted. This is fabulous! The only downside is that you're stuck with onion breath for the day (and even brushing my teeth doesn't seem to get rid of it). It's totally worth it, though.

You may have noticed that I've been trying to improve the blog over the past few days. This means that I've been digging through old posts, and it's amazing how much it has changed in just 100 posts. I'm still loving this (probably a bit too much), and I can't wait to hit 200!

Pan-fried chickpea salad

I read through hundreds of recipes a day (thank you, Google Reader!), and mark many to save for future adventures. Occasionally I get the urge to stop everything that I'm doing and make one immediately. That's what happened here... only I couldn't do it immediately. I cooked up a bunch of chickpeas last weekend, I happened to have a red onion around, I always have yogurt... what was missing? Leeks. I love leeks, so I figured that I should wait to make this until I could acquire one. After a quick trip to the store, I was ready to get cracking.

Pan-fried chickpea salad (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 can chickpeas (or 2 cups cooked)

1 leek, sliced thinly

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup chopped red onion

3 Tbsp plain yogurt

1 1/2 tsp curry powder

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet over medium-high. Add chickpeas and cook until they begin to brown. Add leeks and continue to cook until chickpeas are golden and leeks begin to brown. Add garlic, cook for another minute. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add remaining ingredients; taste and adjust as necessary. Serves 3-4.

Yummy! I had no plans for this fitting into a meal... I just wanted to satisfy my cooking urges. It's a good snack - I have to admit that I've snuck a few spoonfuls from time to time. It's unbelievably simple, and a great way to use cooked chickpeas.

Speaking of chickpeas, I often have trouble getting them tender when I cook them. This time I cooked them in the crock pot (on high for about 4 hours) while I had two other pots of beans going on the stove. I think they came out much better this way.

Butternut squash lasagna; braised short ribs; crock pot roasted cabbage and potatoes; wheat berry, rice, and mushroom pilaf; and fruit-sweetened candy

I love cooking at home because I don't have to pay for groceries, I get a lot more counter space, and I get to cook more things because the leftovers disappear more quickly.  But, I didn't cook as much as I thought I would because I was only really in town for about 5 days (despite being in FL for 2 weeks).  I did get to try several new things, though.

The first thing I made was a Cooking Light's butternut squash lasagna.  I was nervous because I didn't know how I would like the mix of flavors, but it was really good.  Next time I would use even more squash, and definitely a bigger pan (it overflowed a little).  The sauce was simple, but very tasty (even though I didn't use the fire-roasted tomatoes), and I can see myself making this for all types of pasta.

Next up was Christmas Eve dinner.  I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary, and what immediately came to mind was a dish that my friend Sam made a few weeks earlier - braised short ribs.  I sort of followed Cooking Light's recipe for braised short ribs, but also used Sam's instructions.  Basically, I sprinkled salt and pepper on the ribs, browned them on all sides, and set them aside.  Then I sauteed sliced onions, celery, leeks, carrots, and garlic until tender.  I then added about 2 cups of cabernet sauvignon, peppercorns, thyme, parsley, and a bay leaf and let that reduce until the wine had almost completely evaporated.  Then I added a few cups of beef broth and poured that over the ribs, adding more broth so that they were almost covered.  Then I covered the pan with foil and let it cook at 300 for 3 1/2 hours (at this point I picked up a piece of meat and the bone fell out).  It was really tasty and probably the most tender beef I've had, but not an everyday recipe (because of time and money).  I also made a mushroom, brown rice, and wheat berry pilaf from the Moosewood cookbook.  It was really tasty, and I can't get enough wheat berries!  Finally, I made roasted cabbage and potatoes from A Year of CrockPotting, but unfortunately I didn't know that the cooking temperatures on Mom's crockpot are way too low, so the potatoes weren't cooked.  I've made it again in mine since I got back to Michigan, and it was really good.

I also made some desserts sweetened with dates and fruit juice.  The fudge had grape juice in it, and that's all I could taste.  I didn't like it at all.  However, the peanut butter chewies were very tasty, and I'm sure I'll be making them again some time.

After that I didn't get much cooking done due to a lot of small trips to Atlanta, Gainesville, and Jacksonville (and because we had to eat up some leftovers!), but I'm trying to make up for that now.

Crock pot jambalaya and a roasted vegetable marathon (carrots, rutabaga, potatoes, cabbage, butternut squash)

I've done a lot of cooking in the last few days because starting tomorrow I'll be in the lab until at least 8 every night for the next 4 days, and I need to have leftovers ready.  This weekend I made chicken and shrimp jambalaya in the crock pot.  I screwed it up a little bit, but it tastes really good.  While it still had a little while to cook (according to the recipe), most of the liquid had been absorbed by the rice.  I wasn't thinking about the fact that maybe it was almost done, so I added more water.  Of course the rice had absorbed all that it could and I couldn't make any evaporate.  So, it turned out somewhat gummy, but the flavors are still great.  I think that my crock pot cooks faster than the one they used for that recipe book (the grits were done faster, too), so I need to keep that in mind next time.

Then yesterday I went crazy with the roasting.  I did a medley of root vegetables - carrots, rutabaga, and potatoes - tossed in olive oil, thyme, and rosemary.  That took forever to cook, but it's very hearty and is the perfect winter food.  I also did some green beans (a repeat of Thanksgiving) and some cabbage.  The cabbage is super tasty this way.  I cut it into small wedges, tossed it in olive oil and salt and pepper, and then poured some balsamic on it once it was cooked.  The only problem was that some of the outer leaves fell off of the wedges and cooked a lot faster than the big chunks.  They started to get burnt before the other was even tender.  Next time I'll probably separate all of the wedges a bit more.  I highly recommend trying this, but keep an eye on it and stir it frequently.

And today I roasted more butternut squash for the program's holiday party.  I forgot about the fact that my hand peeled all day after cutting up the squash for Thanksgiving, but quickly remembered when it got bad today.  After a few google searches, I found out that it's a very common reaction.  Perhaps next time I should use a glove while cutting it up.  Anyway, I thought I had made too much, but was excited to bring home leftovers.  Apparently I was wrong because it was one of the first things to go at the party.  Oh well, at least people enjoyed it!

Crock pot grits and green chiles, chili, and mashed potatoes (I mean cauliflower!)

I've been in the mood for comfort foods since I've been back in Michigan (and apparently also in the mood for foods starting with 'C').  It's all because it's been snowing a lot and dark by 4, and that leads to seasonal depression.

I've been dying to try out my new crock pot (thanks Mammom and Papa!), but I haven't been home for more than a few days since I got it.  It finally got a trial run on Monday.  I needed a recipe with a short cooking time because I didn't want to leave it on all day before I tested it out a time or two, but I couldn't stand the thought of waiting til the weekend to try it.  Luckily I found a recipe in one of Dad's books for green chile grits.  This was perfect because I got some local stone-ground yellow grits the last time I was in Atlanta, and kept meaning to cook some.  About the time the grits were done I added some browned turkey sausage slices.  It was so good (and still is!).  I'm not sure why, but things are always better when you cook them for a long time at lower temps.  I found a blog by a woman who made a New Year's resolution to use her crock pot every day in 2008.  That's quite excessive (although sometimes she uses it for non-food things), but she has some good recipes.  I'm excited to try some out!

Today I made some chili.  Al gave me his Chili recipe a while ago, so I finally got it out and gave it a shot.  I only made 1/3 of a recipe because I wasn't in the mood to invite the whole neighborhood, so here's the reduced version with my adjustments:

2 Tbl butter (I didn't use it - just coated the pot in cooking spray)

2 medium onions, sliced

1 lb ground beef (I used 3/4 lb because it worked out more conveniently)

1 can (20 oz) tomatoes (I used 28 oz can diced tomatoes)

2/3 can (6 oz) tomato paste (I used a whole can)

1 tsp salt (I used 1/2 tsp)

2/3 tsp MSG (no thanks)

1/6 tsp tabasco

1 Tbl chili powder

1 can (20 oz) kidney beans (I used 15 oz can)

Melt butter, add onions, and cook until tender.  Add ground beef and cook until brown.  Add everything else except beans, cover and simmer for 45 min.  Add beans and simmer 15 min.

It was good.  Probably not the best chili I've ever had (I may add a few more dashes of tabasco to give it more of a kick), but I'm still excited to eat leftovers.  Perhaps if I'd used the butter and msg it would have been wonderful.  I was excited to try out some of the ground beef that I picked up from the Amish people at my farmers' market (along with the sausage in the grits) before it closed for the winter.  They called it "lean", but the label just said "ground beef."  There was hardly any fat that came out when I browned it, so it must be extremely lean, but it had a really good flavor.  And the sausage was good too!

And finally, I made some mashed cauliflower today.  I boiled the florets until they were falling apart (about 20 min).  Then I let it drain for a while to get as much water off as possible, but it was still wet enough that I didn't add any milk.  I added a little bit of butter, salt, garlic powder (just for you, Dad), and cheese (I used Havarti because it was already grated, but I'm sure anything would be fine).  It is SOOO good, and I swear that it tastes exactly like potatoes.

Settle in for a lot more soup/stews and homey foods until the weather gets better (maybe around July??).