Slow Cooker Sundays

June 7, 2014

SPICY Chicken Pozole (modified from a WW recipe)

Ingredients (Serves 6 or more - about 5 WW points per serving):

3/4 Rotisserie Chicken from the Grocery Store (Bone and Skin Removed - I use all the dark meat & one breast to make this soup, then save the other breast for lunch)

4 cups low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 fresh Jalepeno (chopped, de-seeded)

1 canned chipotle pepper (chopped, de-seeded)

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 Chayote (cubed, skin & core removed) Note: I LOVE chayote, but it's not necessary to the recipe

1 Red Bell Pepper (chopped)

3 cups canned or fresh maize (drained)

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

1 tbspn tomato paste

2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp ground herbs de Provence

Salt & Pepper to taste

Throw Ingredients in Slow cooker on low until the smell makes you so hungry you can't stand waiting anymore. I usually aim for 4 - 6 hours to develop flavors.

TOP WITH: a squirt of lime, chopped-up avocado, crema, cheese, and/or cilantro to cool it down.

Note: Pozole can get SUPER SPICY, you may need to add water about 3 hours in to thin out the spice. Remember, the hottest part of the pepper is the seeds. De-seeding, or cutting around the seeds, of the jalepeno & chipotle will cut the heat considerably; as will going with less garlic or less onion. Also, you may want to eat this soup with bread or tortillas.

January 27, 2013

Not-Tuscan White Bean &Chorizo Soup

Ingredients: (serves 4 - 6)

2 Cupsish Canned Cannellini (or similar) Beans (these will break down and make the soup creamy)

1 Cupish dried White beans (these will plump up and add texture)

1 Container Chicken Stock with Tomato (sin grasa)

1 tablespoon Tomato Paste

3 slices bacon (lightly fried with 1/2 an onion before putting in Slow Cooker)

3 Cloves Roasted Garlic

1 Shallot

1 sprig of Rosemary (or more)

2 links Argentinian Chorizo

salt & pepper to taste

(Baguette)

Note: This is still cooking while I type the recipe. It might be un-delicious. I want to write this down before I forget because the smell in the house right now is awesome. This recipe is a combination of recipes I found at CK kitchen, SkinnyTaste.com, and the blog"My Life on a Plate" by Keeley Powell.

UPDATE: This recipe is SO DELICIOUS it's going to be my new winter-time go-to!

I couldn't find canellini beans, so I got some canned Spanish white beans and the small dried local white beans which I soaked for 3 hours before cooking.

- Soak dried beans for a few hours (in filtered water if you live in a developing country)

- Roast whole head of garlic in the oven (chop off top, drizzle with olive oil, roast)

- Lightly fry bacon with onions. Do NOT fry until crispy. Drain on a paper towel.

- Add shallots to the Slow-cooker

- add dried beans (now slightly hydrated) to the slow cooker

- add de-greasified bacon & onions

- add 3 cloves of roasted garlic, reserve the rest for later

- add canned beans

- top with sprig of rosemary

- pour in carton of chicken stock and gently stir in tomato paste, without upsetting things to much

- turn slow cooker on high. Walk away and grade papers for a few hours.

- turn slow cooker on low

- add pre-cooked (you might have boiled, grilled or microwaved it already) Argentine Chorizo or other mild-flavored sausage

- stir well

- walk away and type your blog post

- taste. Salt & pepper if necessary (my bacon was extra salty, it did not need salt, I added a 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper instead). Top with sprig of rosemary. 

- Slice up the baguette and spray slices with olive oil spray because WW has had enough of you and your sausage and bacon and calories today.

- Smear roasted garlic onto the bread

- Toast in the oven until bread is a little toasty and garlic is soft and warm.

- Feel pampered.

December 2, 2012
Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:
2 Medium-sized Butternut Squash
1 head of garlic
1 Large Onion
1 Carton of Chicken Stock
Spices (Rosemary, pepper, salt, whateverfloatsyourboat, etc.)

- Roast two cut-up butternut squash (cut into large chunks) with butter and garlic for about an hour in an oven turned to 'on' (I live in countries where ovens are 'on' or 'off' and temperature gauges mean nothing)
- In a ramekin, roast a whole-head of garlic (top cut off and replaced with a pat of butter) in the oven at the same time as the squash

- Boil a cut-up onion on the stove

Once done, and squash is cooled, separate the flesh from the skin and put a few chunks in the blender with a bit of the onion and garlic, a bit of chicken or turkey stock, and some spices (I like rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and salt). Blend. Add more everything, blend. Add more, blend. Until it's all creamy and wonderful. Once everything is blended, add a tablespoon of butter or two tablespoons of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and blend.

Pour through a strainer into the crock-pot.

Cook on low until delicious.

December 9, 2012

Apple-Jack Daniel's Pork Tacos!

This is actually a recipe I've been playing with for a while. I'm still perfecting it, but here's what went in the pot today:

1 pork loin, fat-trimmed, cut into medallions & browned in the fat from...

1/2 pound of chopped-up bacon, that was slightly cooked before the pork was browned

3 Apples (Gala or other red baking apples), peeled and cut into large chunks

1 Onion

Sprinkle of Brown Sugar

2 tsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp apple vinegar

1 shot of Jack Daniel's Whiskey

Put in Pork on Bottom of slow cooker

Top with onions and apples

Top with Bacon

Top with Butter

Pour liquids over top

Cook on high for about an hour, then stir and turn to low (I only have 2 settings on my slow-cooker).

Cook on low for hours and hours and hours until the pork gets stringy and delicious and the onions and apples are cooked down.

Serve with whole-wheat tortillas, avacado/guacamole, salsa verde, fat-free sour cream, and shredded Oaxaca or Manchego cheese.

makes LOTS.