Planning for Freezer-to-Slow-Cooker Prep Day

I'm planning a slow cooker prep day with some lovely ladies, we're calling it "Slow Cooker Palooza".  We're all busy moms who would like healthy meals that don't take a lot of time, so we're going to take advantage of our freezers and slow cookers. We're getting together to share the work in preparing ingredients for slow cooker meals and freeze them in gallon bags.  Then, 24 hours before you want to make the dish, put it in the refrigerator to defrost so it's ready to go the next morning.

We're going to start off our day by going grocery shopping together at Costco. Natalie is a member, so we're taking advantage of that. And Heather has a new house with a big kitchen so we'll do all our prep work there. I'm going to bring over all of my measuring devices, cutting boards, knives, etc., and the recipes and labels for the cooking instructions.

But before we get to that part, we need to narrow down the recipes we're going to make. We're not getting together until next month, but I've been planning for a while since that's just the sort of gal I am.

The Prep

I've selected some healthy recipes from my online bookmarks and my Cooking Light slow cooker and diabetes slow cooker cookbooks. I'm not diabetic, but if you can find diabetic recipes that don't use artificial sweeteners, they're usually pretty healthy since diabetics need to watch their carbohydrate and calorie intake.

I'm aiming for

• Slow cooker recipes that are healthy.
  Low calories, full of veggies if possible, and no cans of cream-of-something soup.
• Ingredients that freeze well.
  Apparently raw potatoes don't freeze well at home.
• Effortless dishes that don't require much if any prep in the morning before you throw it in the slow cooker or when you get home at night.
  Who has time for that! I want to be able to come home, maybe throw some steam-in-the-bag veggies in the microwave and make some pasta, and that's it.
• Dishes that can cook all day unattended.
  I found tons of great sounding recipes that cooked quickly in 4-6 hours or needed some attention after partially cooking, but we don't have that luxury.
• Variety. 
  I want to change up the protein, ethnicity/flavor (don't want all curries!), and type of dish (not all soups) so we don't get bored. 

Natalie, Heather, and Martha need to help me narrow down the recipes since we have to make dishes their families are going to eat!

The Contenders

Beef

• Mongolian beef from Who Needs a Cape
• Peppered steak from Saving You Dinero
• Classic beef stew from The Best Diabetes Slow Cooker Recipes - with beef, onions, celery, and carrots.
• Greek beef stew with onions and feta from The Best Diabetes Slow Cooker Recipes - with beef, onions, spices, tomato sauce, and feta cheese, served with pasta or mashed potatoes.

Pork

• Salsa verde pork from Saving You Dinero
• Pulled pork sandwiches from Saving You Dinero 
• Char siu pork roast from Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight! - pork shoulder with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ketchup, garlic, etc.  Serve with rice and steamed veggies.

Multiple Proteins

• Sausage jambalaya from Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight! - featuring chicken thighs, andouille sausage, and shrimp.

Shrimp

• Sweet potato coconut curry with shrimp from The Best Diabetes Slow Cooker Recipes - with sweet potatoes, shrimp, and coconut milk and lots of spices and green curry paste.

Chicken

• Chicken tortilla soup from Natalie Hodson 
• Spicy Asian apricot chicken from Crystal & Co.
• Fajita chicken from This Mama Cooks! Add frozen peppers & onions, salsa/rotel, serve with black beans on the side and corn tortillas.
• African peanut stew from my blog.   Replace the chicken with chickpeas for a vegetarian version.  The stock is in a can/box and added when putting all ingredients in slow cooker.
• Slow cooker artichoke pasta from A Year of Slow Cooking. As written this is vegetarian, but I would want to add chicken.  Could make this most from cans rather than freezing the ingredients, substituting a can of fat-free evaporated milk for the cream. 
• Indian-style chicken with pureed spinach from The Best Diabetes Slow Cooker Recipes - with chicken thighs, diced tomatoes, and spinach along with lots of spices.  We'd probably only chop the spinach or keep it whole to make it easier.  I've got an immersion blender though, which would be quick to puree the spinach.

Vegetarian

• Moroccan ragout with poached eggs from The Wimpy Vegetarian - this isn't a slow cooker recipe as written, but could easily be adapted.  Add eggs when you get home and cook for maybe cook 20-30 minutes with lid on.
• Sweet potato chipotle soup from my blog.  The stock would be separate in a can/box and added when putting all ingredients in slow cooker.
• Red lentil curry and carrot stew from Slender Kitchen. 
• Vegetable curry with lentils and spinach from The Best Diabetes Slow Cooker Recipes - with carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, lentils, and spinach along with a variety of spices and coconut milk.

Of course I'll post our experiences to let everybody know how it went!

Menu Plan: Week of October 28

• Monday - I'm going out for Moms' Night Out at the new Korean place in town called Sol's on the Square.  They don't have a website yet, but here's an article about it from Isthmus, the local independent weekly paper.  Husband Jeff and Sonny D will probably have sandwiches or pizza.
• Tuesday - Happy National Oatmeal Day!  I'm going to celebrate by having oatmeal for breakfast, like usual.  I celebrate National Oatmeal Day every day of the year!  I wanted to feed my family oatmeal for dinner in some way so I was going to make oatmeal waffles, but we're going with chili instead since some of the fresh ingredients need to be used up. So chili plus cornbread. 
• Wednesday - I've got PiYo class, so we're in for another quick dinner.  This time we're having turkey sausage (looks like ring bologna), with mac and cheese and Cali blend veggies.
• Thursday - This is Halloween, which is also my step-brother's wedding anniversary.  Happy anniversary, Daryl & Theresa!  I'm taking the afternoon off for trick-or-treating with Sonny D and we'll have a slow cooker meal of beef tips and noodles (similar to beef Stroganoff) with roasted Brussels sprouts.
• Friday - I wan to go out for a fish fry at Wilson's Sports Bar with Husband Jeff's parents since we've talked about it for a long time. I consider it one of the top couple fish fry places in town.   It might be my #1 since it's cheap and good and they've got cod, which is becoming more difficult to find.  The other place I like a lot is Chico's Villa Tap, which has great fish but is a bit more expensive. 
• Saturday -This is National Family Pajama Night!  That doesn't really affect dinner, but I was thinking we could get into our PJs early and hang out in front of the fireplace all night.  Maybe we'll have breakfast for dinner to continue the pajama theme, or have something cozy, like soup. 
• Sunday - We've been trying to plan this for a while, but I think we're finally going to make it to our friends Brian & Kristen's house for dinner.

Vegan All The Way: Tempeh BBQ Sandwiches

I like tempeh (fermented soybeans) a lot.  Husband Jeff will eat it and says it's ok, but recently he told me definitely prefers something else.  I said we could give it one more try and if he didn't like it after this BBQ tempeh recipe, I would only make it occasionally and offer him a different variation.

Inspiration

Oh My Veggies BBQ tempeh sandwiches
Vegansaurus tempeh steaming instructions

Ingredients

• 1 package tempeh (we use Trader Joe's organic 3-grain)
• your favorite BBQ sauce (We use local favorite, Smoky Jon's)

This is a multi-part recipe that involves planning ahead.  First you need to steam the tempeh.  Then marinate it.  And then finally heat it up in the BBQ sauce.

Our favorite tempeh, Trader Joe's organic 3-grain.

Cut tempeh into pieces and steam or boil for 15-20 minutes. The tempeh seemed to puff up a bit after steaming.  You can do this step ahead of time, I did it over my lunch hour, but you could even do it a day or two ahead.

Tempeh in the steamer, before steaming.

Marinate for a couple hours in your desired sauce.  I used the same BBQ sauce we were going to cover it with later.

Marinated and cooked and sauced tempeh.

Then when we got home, we dumped the container of marinated tempeh and some additional BBQ sauce into a skillet and heated it up over medium heat until it was warm.  I served this on hamburger buns.

Verdict

I liked it a lot and I think I won Husband Jeff back over into liking tempeh. Sonny D loved it and ate several pieces.

The flavor of the BBQ sauce didn't really seem to permeate the tempeh during the marinade step, so next time I would marinate in something more liquidy like a soy sauce and vinegar combo, etc. It might be neat to use some taco seasonings to make strips for fajitas.

No Yeast? Make Pizza Crust with Beer!

I found this recipe for pizza crust that uses beer instead of yeast and was intrigued.  I know you can make a quick beer bread this way, but figured pizza was a little different. I'm up for trying it!

Inspiration

The Healthy Everythingtarian four-ingredient pizza dough

You can make this dairy-free by skipping the cheese or using a vegan cheese.  You can make it vegetarian or vegan by your choice of toppings.

Ingredients

• 3 c. flour (I used a combo of 2c. bread flour and 1c. whole wheat because I ran out of bread flour)
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• sprinkle of herbs
• 12 fl oz. beer

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients and slowly add the beer.  Once you've mixed it a decent amount with a spoon, you'll want to take off any rings or your watch and get your hands in there to finish combining the ingredients.

Dry ingredients plus beer.  I used Capital Lake House, a local brew from Madison.

Add about 1/4 cup of flour on the counter and kneed the dough until it comes together smoothly. 

You can then roll out the dough or pat it into a pan.

Patted the dough into my 13x18 half-sheet pan

Bake the crust for 10 minutes without any toppings to ensure it's not soggy later.

Then remove the crust from the oven and add your sauce and toppings.  For the sauce we used part of a jar of marinara.  Husband Jeff hates when I use spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce on our homemade pizzas, he says there's a big difference but I disagree and also hate to waste an open jar!  For toppings we used seasoned ground beef, green olives, and black olives.

Only a little shrinkage after the par-bake. Time to add toppings!

After adding your toppings, put it back in the oven for 15-20 minutes to finish cooking. 

 This is my slice, I added mushrooms!

Verdict 

I really liked how it was quicker than a standard yeast dough.  There's no way I could have made a homemade yeast pizza crust on a weeknight without lots of complaining from the family. 

There was a subtle beer flavor but it wasn't too strong, which is good because I don't really care for beer.  It really complements the flavors on the pizza.

The only drawback was I felt the crust was way too thick, close to 1/2 inch or more.  Next time I would only make half of the recipe but make it in the same pan for a thinner crust.

This doesn't make a chewy crust, it's more like a soft bread, but that's what happens when you don't use yeast and you're skipping the rising steps, so there's no gluten developed.

Menu Plan: Week of October 21

It seems like this will be another quiet week at our house but we're gearing up for Halloween next week. 

• Monday - I'm going out with a friend so Husband Jeff and Sonny D are on their own.  They've got sandwich fixings, so maybe that's what they'll eat.
• Tuesday - I've wanted to make cornmeal pancakes for a long time (close to a year!), so I'm finally going to give it a shot. 
• Wednesday - I've got PiYo exercise class this night so I'm going to take advantage of pre-cooked ground beef from the freezer to make a quick Mexican beef over polenta and salads.
• Thursday - I want to try chicken thighs made into Italian chicken roll-ups (normally a chicken breast recipe) and salads. If there's time, I want to exercise with Husband Jeff at our local community rec center. 
• Friday - I figure we'll probably have leftovers to eat from Wednesday and Thursday.  If not, I'm sure we can drag something out of the freezer/pantry or go out to eat.
• Saturday - We're going to a birthday party that has a Halloween theme so maybe I'll be able to convince Sonny D to dress up in his costume.  We've got fish in the freezer so I browsed my bookmarked recipes and decided on an Indian green curry crispy fish with rice.
• Sunday - We might attend Halloween at the Zoo during the day if we're on a roll with the Halloween activities.  Fro dinner I want to make Asian black pepper caramel shrimp with rice.

Vegetarian for All: Chickpea Pesto Soup

I made up this soup for a work potluck event.  I wanted it to be vegetarian so anyone could eat it. I don't really have any photos other than the onion and garlic sauteing, but picture a red soup with chickpeas and some green pesto on top. 

If you leave out the pesto or make it without cheese, this can be vegan.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 15 oz can tomato puree
• 8 oz water
• 2 15oz cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 2-3 stalks celery
• heavy shake of your favorite herbal blend (I use Penzey's Mural of Flavor)
• salt and pepper 
• 1/4 cup pesto (I used my own that I froze)

Saute the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes.  Add all of the rest of the ingredients through the salt and pepper and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  When you're ready to serve, add the pesto on top.

Verdict

Simple but hearty.

This was so thick that I would call it more of a stew.  I liked the flavor, cooking in the slow cooker is so nice for developing rich, complex flavors.  

Maybe next time I'd add barley, not because it was missing but mainly because I have some that I want to use up.  To do that, cook the barley separately so it doesn't absorb all of the liquid of the soup and add it in towards the end.  You could cook the barley in chicken stock or with a bouillon cube to add flavor.

Neat Ways To Use Fruit Preserves

Since I made and canned my own wine jelly and pepper jelly this season, I loved this article about 15 uses for fruit preserves.  The pepper jelly I made would make a great vinaigrette on an Asian-inspired salad and an excellent cracker spread when poured over a block of cream cheese.  The wine jelly might be great mixed with pancake syrup for an intriguing topper for pancakes or waffles.

Slow Cooker Fabulous! Chocolate Steel-Cut Oats

Following my success of making steel-cut oats in the slow cooker overnight, I decided to give it a whirl with the ultimate comfort breakfast, chocolate. 

Inspiration

My own recipes of cranberry-orange steel-cut oats and ginger-pear-apple steel-cut oats

Ingredients

5 servings, 152 calories

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 1/3 cups water
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla
• Heavy shake cinnamon

Directions

Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low overnight (6-8 hours). 

Before cooking.

In the morning you'll have thick, tasty, hearty chocolate steel-cut oats.

The next morning.

Verdict

I sometimes make chocolate oats as a single bowl, but I've never made a whole batch like this. I was a little afraid that I wouldn't have enough ideas for what to mix in and I'd get bored with the flavor, but I totally loved it.  My favorite mix-in was raisins, it like a bowl full of Raisinets candy!  The pear was a little overwhelmed by the powerful chocolate flavor, so next time I'll stick with raisins and maybe some diced apple and peanut butter.  Banana would also be good.  I also love spicy Mayan oatmeal, with a dash or two of cayenne and a heavy dash of cinnamon.

I think steel-cut oats in the slow cooker is going to be my go-to oatmeal/porridge recipe for the fall and winter.  Making a large batch for several days and waking up to the scent of breakfast is so comforting.

I Love My Sunrise Simulator

I have to mention my sunrise simulator that I got on eBay.  I completely love it, it's a total sanity-saver for most of the year when you're getting up before the sun.  Both models are devices that you plug into the wall and then plug a standard lamp into it. 

I have model 205, it's really simple, you plug a lamp into it and 8 hours later it starts simulating sunrise by gradually brightening.  It takes 30 minutes to complete the process for the light to be fully on.   For the weekend, I ensure the lamp is turned off since we sleep later those days.  The only thing is that you have to remember to turn the lamp back on if you turn it off.  I typically wake up before it's fully on and then I turn the lamp off so Husband Jeff can keep sleeping.  So each evening (or after Jeff is up) I need to make sure to turn the lamp back on so it will come on the next day. 

There's also model 308, which is a little fancier.  Looks like it's programmable by day of the week.  Oh, and has a battery backup, which is nice since mine resets if the power goes out and you'll find that it now doesn't wake you at the proper time. 

But I still recommend a standard alarm as a backup… and getting enough sleep in the first place.  :)

No Panko? Use Rice Krispies!

breaded and baked eggplant

The other day we were planning to make eggplant parmigiana and realized as we went to put it together that we were out of panko (crispy Japanese bread crumbs). In a flash I remembered something I probably read somewhere, use Rice Krispies! It's similar to the old-school cornflake breading on pork chops and chicken breasts.

We used the last little bit of the panko bread crumbs (almost dust there at the bottom) from the nearly-empty container and added about 1/2 cup of Rice Krispies and some seasoning. Then we crunched them up with our meat tenderizer, but you could also use the bottom of a drinking glass. It worked like a charm! We were able to bread the slices of eggplant and enjoy our delicious dinner.

I recommend using Rice Krispies as a replacement for panko or regular breadcrumbs, they give a light texture and are gluten-free!

Menu Plan: Week of October 14

It's a quiet week in our household. 

• Monday - spaghetti-on-the-board for my father-in-law's birthday (Happy birthday, Ken!)
• Tuesday - roasted veggies with hummus and salads for Husband Jeff and I; pizza burger and pesto pasta for Sonny D. After dinner, we're talking about exercising at our local community rec center together. 
• Wednesday - Mac and cheese and hot dogs before my PiYo class
• Thursday - Husband Jeff wants to grill and I'll make roasted potatoes with creamy sauce. 
• Friday - visiting family
• Saturday - visiting family 
• Sunday - visiting family, super-easy can of soup and bagels when we get home.

Ginger-Pear-Apple Steel-Cut Oats

I used the same basic formula as the slow cooker cranberry-orange steel-cut oats I made previously (1 cup steel-cut oats: 3 1/3 cups liquid).  I had only a single pear to use up but I figured it wouldn't be enough fruit for the 5 servings this recipe makes since I typically use half a pear in a single bowl of oatmeal, so I added a cup of applesauce for some additional fall flavor.

Ingredients

5 servings, 163 calories each (not small servings, either!)

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 3 1/3 cups liquid (I used water b/c I didn't think pears went well with almond milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 pear, diced
• 1 4 oz cup unsweetened applesauce (one of those little individual cups like you might put in a kids lunch)
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

Directions

Starting out - raw oats and diced pear.

Put all in ingredients in the slow cooker (I used my small 5-quart one) and stir.  Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.  

More pear and steel-cut oats.

I started mine in the slow cooker at 9 p.m.and it was ready at 6:30 a.m. the next morning. 

Cooked porridge.

Verdict 

This breakfast ushers in fall!

The base recipe is totally my go-to breakfast these days.  Previously I wasn't a fan of steel-cut oats because my cooking method didn't make them very "porridge-y", but making it in the slow cooker overnight works so well.

I didn't use enough ginger, you could barely taste it, but it wasn't bad either.  I would increase that to a full teaspoon of dried ginger or use fresh ginger from a tube (get some, it's totally worth it!).  And I don't think it was enough unsweetened applesauce to really add much apple flavor, next time I would add the cup of applesauce plus a chopped apple. 

Since I added fresh fruit, I felt there was enough liquid since the fruit gives off moisture, but for any recipes where you're not adding fresh fruit, I would increase the liquid to 3 1/2 cups. 

Slow Cooker Cheese Tortellini

I wanted to try this recipe since it was so easy. 

Inspiration

Crystal and Company crockpot ravioli

I had some frozen artichoke hearts that had no other purpose, so I added them to this dish.  I also threw in about 1/2 cup frozen shredded zucchini.

Ingredients

serves 5

• 1 package frozen ravioli or tortelli (mine was about 20 oz.)
• 1 jar pasta sauce (24 oz)
• any veggies you might want to add -- zucchini, artichoke hearts, carrots, bell pepper, mushrooms, spinach, chopped tomatoes

Throw the frozen pasta and sauce and any veggies you want in the slow cooker and cook on high heat for 3 hours or 6-8 hours on low.  You can also add shredded cheese for the last 30 minutes. 

pasta and sauce

Verdict

Quick, but not that great.  How hard is it to boil pasta and heat up sauce anyway?

I wish I had paid more attention to how this needed to cook, it was supposed to be 3 hours on high, which equates to 6-8 hours on low.  Luckily I used my small slow cooker and it was in there for probably close to 5 hours, and they were done.

I thought it needed a bit more water since it was rather thick when it came time to serve.

This wasn't anything fabulous, but I don't know if it was the tortellini (we've never had them before) or the cooking method. We all ate it, but it wasn't like we were clamoring for the leftovers.  I served this with salads and steamed carrots and it made 5.5 servings -- 2 adult servings and 1 toddler serving plus three servings for leftovers. 

Another Canning Project: Pear Butter

I'm not sure where I got this idea, but I decided I HAD to make pear butter and can it, so I started to do research.  First of all, I wasn't really sure what pear butter really was.  I had heard of apple butter, it's a preserves-type product that you spread on toast, but I didn't know what made it a "butter".  I still don't know the real answer, but my guess is that it's thicker than applesauce, and that's about it. 

I bought the pears from the Sunday morning farmers' market, they came from Healthy Ridge Farm in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  The farmer recommended using Bartlett pears rather than any other variety since those are cheaper and since you cook it down, you would lose a lot of the finer qualities found in other pears.

It was a relief to make pear butter since it doesn't involve pectin and jelling like my pepper-lime jelly and wine jelly canning projects.  

Inspiration

The recipe I used is a cross between two recipes, the one for the low-sugar content and the other for the cooking method and spices.

Farmgirl Fare low-sugar pear butter 
Crockpot Ladies crock-pot vanilla spiced pear butter

about 7 pounds of pears.

As I finished prepping my pears and adding my spices to the slow cooker, I was checking back to the recipes and had a panicked moment when I realized I hadn't peeled my pears and ALL of the other recipes called for peeled pears.  This was at the point when all of my pears were in the slow cooker in small chunks, which would be kind of difficult to go back and peel them all now!  I had originally planned to leave the peel on mine so they would have the healthy fiber included, but I didn't realize every single recipe used peeled pears or ran the pears through a food mill, which I didn't have.   I decided to put on a brave face and go with it, and it turned out fine.

Ingredients

makes about 8 half-pint jars

• 7 pounds Bartlett pears, cored and diced (I didn't peel and it was fine)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

I cored my pears with my melon ball scoop, which worked great, totally recommended. 

Cut up pears, cinnamon, and vanilla in the slow cooker.

I knew this needed to cook for a long time, so I prepped my pears before bed and cooked them from about 9 p.m. on Friday until about 10 a.m. on Saturday. Then I mashed the pears with a potato masher.

Cooked pears the next morning, before mashing. 

For the next few hours I left the lid cocked to the side to allow the moisture to evaporate so it could thicken.  Then I used an immersion blender to whiz it up to smoother texture.

Mashed with a potato masher and pureed with an immersion blender.

By the afternoon I figured it had been cooked down long enough, so I tasted it, added the brown sugar, and proceeded with canning it.  One reminder, it will thicken as it cools, so you might want to stop a little before the final thickness you want. 

Final product, finished pear sauce.

I won't bore you with the canning details, but it went smoothly using my pressure cooker as my canning vessel since I used half-pint jars, which are too tall for the pot I used for canning jelly.

Filling jars with my "new" canning funnel my mom got at an auction.  So handy!

I also used my new canning funnel, which helped me make less of a mess than the last couple times.  I only had to clean off the rim of one jar before adding the lids. 

Lids soaking in the hot water.

Verdict

I still don't know what pear butter truly is, but whatever this stuff is, it's fabulous!

I forgot that my cinnamon is the Tung Hing cinnamon from Penzey's, which is quite strong.  This was more cinnamon-y than I expected when I tasted it, but I had no way of fixing it.  It ended up being ok in the end because after being refrigerated, the flavor is more muted and it's excellent.

We tasted it warm from the slow cooker and it mainly seemed like applesauce, but later we had a spoonful on some vanilla ice cream and it was like apple pie ala mode, soooo good!  This made me wonder if applesauce would be good on ice cream, haven't ever tried anything like that, but it makes sense. 

Menu Plan: Week of October 7

On October 1, Husband Jeff and I started a 30-day plank challenge. It's a way to get improve your core muscles and see your personal progress.  Well, both of us admit we're not really progressing a whole lot, we end up holding our front and side planks for about the same amount of time each day.  Last night I pushed myself to hold it for a little longer than before, but this morning my lower back was a little tight, so I might have gone longer than I could really handle properly. One good thing about this challenge is that I don't mind doing it because it only lasts a couple minutes. 

---

Here's our menu plan for the week.

• Monday - BBQ tempeh sandwiches (I think we're finally going to have this dish!), eggplant parmigiana (featuring eggplant from our garden), and green beans from the farmers' market
• Tuesday - beer crust pizza with toppings of hamburger, chopped up vegetarian pizza burger (we've got a lonely one hanging out in the freezer, might as well use it), and black olives, along with roasted Brussels sprouts from the farmers' market
• Wednesday - I've got PiYo class so I'm going with my favorite quick dinner, breakfast-for-dinner.  We'll have scrambled eggs, turkey breakfast sausage, hashbrowns, and Trader Joe's vegetable melange.
• Thursday - stuffed bell peppers (from the farmers' market) with pesto pasta (featuring basil from our garden)
• Friday - dinner out somewhere
• Saturday - a quick frozen pizza since we've got a busy day.
• Sunday - home-frozen chicken tikka masala with brown rice

Cranberry-Orange Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker

Check out the neat inside of a cranberry!

I think about oats a lot and I love new oatmeal ideas.  I even follow a blog called The Oatmeal Artist.  Lauren blogs great ideas about new oatmeal flavor combos, and she's definitely more daring than I am since she eats savory oatmeal.  This oatmeal recipe doesn't come from Lauren's blog, but I think this is one she might be interested in.

I liked this multi-serving of steel-cut oats made in the slow cooker, typically how I roll when I'm making oatmeal, several servings in one big batch.  
I've tried to make overnight steel-cut oats in the slow cooker once before, but it didn't work out.  That was my fault, I didn't know the right setting for cooking and they were raw still when I woke up.  So I was a little hesitant to try the concept again, but it was great!

 Inspiration

Jennifer's Kitchen Cock-pot Cranberry Oatmeal

The original recipe used orange juice concentrate, but I needed to use up a carton of orange juice, so I replaced both the water and concentrate with orange juice.  And it only called for 1/3 cup chopped cranberries, but that didn't look like enough to me since I really like tart cranberries in my oatmeal.  So I kept pouring out more cranberries and chopping them until it looked like the amount I wanted. 

Measuring out some OJ.

Ingredients

serves 4-5

• 1 1/3 cup orange juice
• 2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
• about 3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries (I would use even more next time)
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Check out that curdled almond milk! 

Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for about 8 hours.  I started mine before bed and it was certainly ready in the morning.  I would actually look into adding a little more water next time because I wouldn't have wanted to cook it any more, it was quite thick.   

Divide the cooked oatmeal out into five bowls or containers. 

I eat my oatmeal with a "float" of 1 Tablespoon of non-dairy creamer and 2 Tablespoons of almond milk poured on top.

Verdict

Deliciously tart and creamy! Need more now!

I was a little uncertain about mixing orange juice and almond milk since the acid in orange juice will curdle even non-dairy milk, but the taste was great.  The orange juice and almond milk mix was similar to orange sherbet, so it was super yummy.  I would even make this again without the cranberries, and maybe add some canned mandarin oranges.  Or both!

The tart cranberries were the perfect balance between the sweetness of the orange juice.  I'm glad I increased the cranberries, I would go with even more the next time I make this, and I will definitely make it again soon.  I think my next batch of steel-cut oats in the slow cooker will be apple-cinnamon with chopped almonds or maybe a creamy orange-pineapple using crushed canned pineapple.

I was originally planning this would only be 4 servings and I was afraid that this wouldn't be a large enough to keep me full, but once I saw it cooked, I decided it was actually going to be big enough to make 5 servings, and I was happy with that decision.

Baba Ghanoush: Take 2

Let me start off by saying this dish isn't the most appealin-looking. When I pulled it out the other day, Husband Jeff asked if I was eating cold ground beef.

My first batch of baba ghanoush was fine, but the sesame oil made it taste "too Asian", so I wanted to try again.  I made this recipe with more eggplant from our garden.

Inspiration

baba ghanoush

Rachael Ray roasted eggplant dip

I didn't change anything other than the amount of eggplant (I used what was ripe at the time) and the cooking method since the original cooked it whole. 

Ingredients

• 3 small-medium eggplant
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp lemon juice (I use bottled)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

 Do NOT cut the eggplant into rounds, it will be a complete pain in the butt to try to remove the skin after it's roasted.  I ended up having to cut it off each individual piece.  I recommend you cut the eggplant into quarters, top to bottom. 

Roast the eggplant at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes on a cookie sheet.   

When the eggplant is done, scoop it out of it's skin and put it into a food processor along with the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. 

Eggplant dip

Verdict 

Decent, but kind of bland. I might prefer the Asian version instead. 

I think next time I would increase the amount of vinegar, lemon juice, and garlic to give it more punch, it was rather boring.   Maybe it could use some hot sauce?  Or smoked paprika?  I always think of baba ghanoush as the eggplant version of hummus, so maybe it would work well with hummus flavors like roasted red pepper?

I like having this for a morning snack at work or to supplement my lunch or dinner.  I have it with slices of bell pepper, so it's a good way to eat veggies. 

Creamy Lemon Chicken in the Slow Cooker

While grocery shopping I bought a package of chicken thighs because I knew I would be able to make them into something, but I didn't have anything in mind.  I did a little research and bought a lemon so I could make this recipe.  I love dinner made in the slow cooker!

Inspiration

Crystal and Company Crockpot Lemon Chicken

I only had 1 pound of chicken but the original recipe used twice as much, so I halved most of the ingredients except the lemon juice and heavy cream.  Well, actually I replaced the heavy cream with evaporated milk to lighten it up.  I added some cornstarch to thicken the sauce since I wanted it to cling to the pasta.

I always think lemon dishes aren't lemony enough, so I zested my lemon into the slow cooker with my rasp before juicing it to get the maximum lemon flavor in this dish.

I added a bay leaf since some similar recipes included one and I've got quite a few.
 

Ingredients

I had 5 chicken thighs in my package so I'm counting this as 5 servings but it was definitely more than that since the thighs were so big.

• 1 onion, cut into wedges and separated
• 1.5 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper
• 2Tb Dijon mustard
• Zest from one lemon
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (I used juice from 1 lemon, maybe closer to 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup chicken stock (I used 1/4 tsp paste with 1/4 cup water)
• 1 lb chicken (I used boneless, skinless thighs)
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 1 bay leaf

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• 1/3 cup evaporated milk 
• 1 Tb cornstarch

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• 7 oz pasta (I only made 5 ounces for our family, 2 ounces for each adult and 1 oz for the Sonny D toddler belly, and it wasn't enough for all the leftovers).

Directions

onions and garlic.

Put the onions and garlic in the slow cooker, lay the chicken on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the Dijon mustard on top of the chicken breasts.  Add in the chicken broth, lemon juice, tarragon and bay leaf.

Beautiful green tarragon.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Cooked chicken.

Mix the evaporated milk and cornstarch in a small cup or bowl.  Remove chicken and bay leaf from slow cooker (I pushed the mustard and spices off into the liquid) and discard the bay leaf. Add the cornstarch slurry and mix well.  Turn up heat on slow cooker to activate the thickening properties in the cornstarch.

Make the pasta as indicated. When the pasta is done, hopefully your sauce will have thickened.  My slow cooker is small and the heat comes from the bottom rather than the sides like the big ones, so it is perfect for smaller meals like this. 

Finished chicken with pasta. 

Verdict

Super-tender chicken and interesting, creamy-tangy sauce.  

I liked the flavor a lot.  It tasted sophisticated, I guess that's the flavor of the tarragon.  I didn't even know I owned tarragon, but there it was in the pantry.  That plus the mustard and the lemon made a great complex-tasting sauce.   

We all enjoyed eating this and had leftovers for several days. 

It was a little tedious to put the mustard and spices on the chicken and I don't think that did anything, so next time I would stir it all together.

This would make a perfect freezer-to-slow cooker recipe.  That's where you put all of the ingredients into a zipper bag and freeze it until you're ready to make it.  Then take it out the day before and let it thaw in the refrigerator and in the morning throw it in the slow cooker before you leave for work.  I haven't made any freezer-to-slow cooker recipes yet, but it seems like an excellent idea. 

Next time I wouldn't mind adding artichoke hearts, carrots, and peas so there are some veggies in this meal, but it was easy enough to make separate vegetables on the side.

Wrap It Up: Breakfast Fajita Enchiladas

This recipe doesn't come from any website, I made it up as I went along.  I called them breakfast fajita enchiladas -- "breakfast" because they've got scrambled eggs and "fajita" because there are peppers and onions. 

Make them dairy-free by leaving out the cheese.  If you want to add meat, add shredded chicken or ground beef.  Or breakfast sausage to keep the breakfast theme.  

Ingredients

• 7 eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, optional
• 1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 4 oz. can chopped green chiles
• 1/2 cup frozen pepper stir fry (peppers and onions)
• hefty handful of spinach, sauteed
• 20 oz (two 10 oz cans) green chile enchilada sauce (you can use red if you prefer)
• 13 corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded cheese

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whip up your eggs and scramble them over medium-low heat until just barely done.  You'll finish cooking them in the oven, it'll be fine. 

Colorful enchilada filling.

Put the scrambled eggs through spinach (and any other veggies you want) and half of the shredded cheese to a large bowl and stir in a couple tablespoons of enchilada sauce to keep it moist. 

Add a couple of tablespoons of enchilada sauce to the bottom of your baking dish.  I went with three smaller baking dishes so I could freeze one after it was done cooking. In another one of the baking dishes, dump most of the rest of the enchilada sauce, you'll use this to dip each your tortillas before filling them. 

Tortillas filled and rolled.

Dip each tortilla into the enchilada sauce on both sides, place a moderate amount of filling into the tortilla, roll it up, and lay it seam-side-down in the baking dish with enchilada sauce on the bottom. Repeat dipping, filling, and rolling the tortillas until all the filling is gone. 

Drizzle the remaining enchilada sauce on the tortillas to ensure there are no dry spot.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the enchiladas.  If your baking dish has a glass lid, use that, otherwise cover with aluminum foil. 

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and everything is hot.  Remove from the oven let them sit for 5-7 minutes to cool down.  By waiting a bit, you prevent them from being super sloppy when you take them out of the pan. 

Top with sliced black olives and taco sauce.

Finished enchiladas.

Verdict

Tasty Mexican-inspired dish, I would love to start my day with these!  

These were so good!  Husband Jeff and I love Mexican food and could eat it several times a week, but Sonny D doesn't go for it.  I couldn't even tell you what Sonny D even ate for dinner when we had this, I only remember eating these and enjoying them a lot.  I was excited to have the leftovers for lunch and I quite possibly might have not pointed them out to Husband Jeff so he wouldn't take them. 

Making Good Use: Roasted Zucchini

I originally bought zucchini to make a dessert with it.  I tried a chocolate chip bars with zucchini and it was pretty much a disaster, so I'm not even going to share that recipe.  Not good.  And I don't think it was the recipe's fault, it was my cockiness in thinking I knew better than the recipe.  I thought there was too much flour in the recipe, so I didn't add it all when I was putting the dough together.  But then it ended up too wet and took forever to bake.  I tested it with a toothpick to see if it was done and it came out clean, but later when I cut into them, it seemed like they were still too wet and not really done.  Sometimes I'm right in my adjustments and then other times I'm woefully wrong.  Oh well.

So, I had a couple zucchini that I needed to use and I figured I would go with a recipe that didn't rely heavily on ratios that I could screw up.

Inspiration

The Gingered Whisk garlic roasted zucchini

I originally wanted to make a gratin recipe but it called for sour cream, which we didn't have, so I moved on.  I chose this recipe of roasted zucchini, which is simple and satisfying.  I wanted to add some thinly sliced onion, but I completely forgot it in my rush to make dinner.

This can be dairy-free if you skip serving it with Parmesan.  I don't think it's required anyway, just a nice way to add a little more flavor. 

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• herbs, spices (I used Sunny Paris seasoning and marjoram)
• salt & pepper

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Put all of the ingredients in the bag and mush it around until everything is well covered. 
 

Ingredients lineup.

Dump everything out on a greased baking pan. 

Lay it out in the pan.

Roast for 15 minutes, then flip and stir.  Roast for another 12-15 minutes. 

Zucchini before going into the oven.

I served it with some freshly grated Parmesan.

Zucchini out of the oven with grated Parmesan. 

Verdict

Good way to eat a boring vegetable.  

I liked this, but Husband Jeff and Sonny D wouldn't try it. I ate it for several meals, and after the first day it got pretty spicy from the black pepper.  I didn't think I used that much, but it was surprisingly peppery.