one hundred and ninety-one

Ever since I got a slow cooker back in November, I have been completely obsessed with slow cookerizing some of my favorite Dutch oven recipes.  Goodbye burned bottoms, hello dinner being "finished" at 9 in the morning!  I am so enamored by my slow cooker, in fact, that I have spent a fair amount of time looking for slow cooker specific recipes.

Once I got over the fact that most of them are what I like to call "can heavy," I was struck by how many of the recipes claim to be easy to throw together before work in the morning--something I never fail to remind myself when I spend 45 minutes browning meat and cleaning and chopping vegetables in order to prepare them for their day in the slow cooker.  It wasn't until this weekend when I was freezing meat destined for slow cooker beef stew, however, that I realized the solution to busy morning prep work had been staring me in the face all along.

Oh yeah... You can freeze that!  (Or not.  This recipe is flexible like that.)

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

2 pounds stew beef

4 large red potatoes, scrubbed and cubed

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large onion, diced

3 cups green beans, chopped*

4 cloves garlic, minced

splash of vegetable oil

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp dark balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup beef stock

1/2 cup red wine (I used merlot)

additional salt and pepper, to taste

*If you want the green beans to look nice and bright in your bowl, you can use frozen green beans. Instead of adding them at the beginning, just mix them into your slow cooker an hour before serving; it also helps them maintain their texture.  Yum!

Freezer Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the potatoes, carrots, onions, and green beans, then boil for 3-5 minutes.  Drain and then immediately transfer to a large bowl of ice water.  Drain and then drizzle with vegetable oil or spray with nonstick cooking spray, then transfer veggies to two quart sized bags (gallon sized bags can be too big for the slow cooker) and freeze until ready to use, or up to one month.

Mix the beef, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.  Transfer the meat to two more quart sized bags and freeze until ready to use, or up to one month.

About ten hours before dinner, empty the contents of the bags into the slow cooker.  Add the bay leaves, beef stock, and wine.  Cover and cook on high for 8 hours.  Before serving, fish out the bay leaves.  Add additional salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar to taste, if desired.

No-Freeze Directions:

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the beef with a small amount of vegetable oil for about five minutes.  Add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high for 6 hours.  Before serving, fish out the bay leaves.  Add additional salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar to taste, if desired.

one hundred and eighty-three

Is it really Monday again already?  In fear of losing power, was spent playing video games, listening to music, cooking, finishing up some Samurai Sudokus (copied from the Washington Post by a lovely friend), and looking out the windows.  Of course, since we were fully prepared, the lights didn't even flicker.

Despite the power's awesome cooperation throughout the storm, however, I still had a terrible time sorting out food this weekend.  Between things not working out well (I'm looking at you, disgusting baked oatmeal that ended up being fed to the trash) and my whim-influenced food cravings (ahem, hollandaise sauce and garlicky chicken), the SNAP Challenge menu plan I posted last week got turned on its head.  Fortunately, we're still on track to finish the challenge, but with the following modifications to the remaining days of the plan:

Monday
Breakfast - ham, egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches oatmeal brown sugar muffins
Lunch - leftover stuffed baked potatoes or grilled cheese chili

Dinner - leftover beef and bean chili with fresh cornbread stuffed baked potatoes

Tuesday
Breakfast - leftover oatmeal brown sugar muffins
Lunch - leftover chili and cornbread baked potatoes

Dinner - white chicken enchiladas (using thigh meat)

Wednesday
Breakfast - egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches
Lunch - leftover enchiladas or grilled cheese

Dinner - beef and rice lettuce wraps leftover chili and fresh cornbread

Thursday
Breakfast - leftover muffins biscuits
Lunch - leftover lettuce wraps or enchiladas

Now, on to day four's foodstuffs and a recipe for a luxurious but SNAP friendly breakfast: eggs Benedict-ish.

SNAP Challenge - Day Four

 

Breakfast - eggs Benedict-ish (recipe below!)

Lunch - grilled cheese and tomato soup

Dinner - rosemary garlic chicken Francese with mashed potatoes and green beans

 

one hundred and seventy-five

My favorite thing about wintertime is not crackling fires, fuzzy scarves, or the serenity of falling snow.  It's not the holidays, or snazzy knee-high socks, or Macy's window displays, or even the release of the next season in The Simpsons DVD collection (which is saying something).  No, it's about the food.

Winter is the one time of year when we get downright primal about our food intake, gorging on savories and sweets as though we are in a perpetual state of preparing for hibernation, and it's something that I always take full advantage of when planning my meals for even the warmest of winter weeks.  From November until March, my menu plans are full of soups, chilis, stews, (did I mention soups?) and one of my favorite non-soup meals: chicken pot pie.

There's just one problem.  The only chicken pot pies I ever had as a child were (unbeknownst to my mother) eaten at my grandmother's house, which means they came from the freezer aisle.  I have never been able to enjoy a chicken pot pie made from whole ingredients, yet I can't bring myself to purchase premade freezer pies because, come on, they're freezer pies.  I was faced with a serious conundrum: give up pot pies forever or learn to like the "real" kind.

Since I'm a stubborn little monkey, however, I wasn't able to do either and ended up having to meet myself in the middle of the road.  Inspired by a source I normally ignore, the chicken pot pie recipe that follows combines an awesome homemade crust with a shameful quantity of store bought Italian salad dressing.  I know, I know.  It sounds terrible, but it really is comfort food at its finest--once you learn to ignore your inner foodie, of course.

one hundred and fifty-eight

Tell me, Americans, what comes to mind when you think of biscuits?  Is it the kind from the tube or the box, perhaps?  Or the sausage-egg-and-cheese filled ones from the drive through?  If you're lucky, maybe you're imagining your grandmother's or mother's baking powder biscuits--you know the ones that you can't seem to replicate in your own kitchen--but, as is often the case, most of us aren't so lucky.

For better or for worse, life today is fast paced.  Very few of us want to wake up early in the morning to cut butter into flour, roll out dough, and wait for it to bake (and those of us who do want to wake up early to make biscuits don't necessarily want to do it every single day).  Does that mean we should sacrifice convenience for quality and allow homemade biscuits to go the way of Jell-o molds?  (Hint: the answer is "no".)

By combining the luxury of a food processor or pastry blender and the convenience of ample freezer space, all you have to do is invest 30 minutes of your free time every couple of weeks in order to enjoy the awesomeness of fresh baked biscuits anytime.  The best part of this method?  You have the option of making the whole batch, or just one.  You know, for "quality control."

Honey and Buttermilk Biscuits

 

After vs. before baking.

4 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut into tablespoons

1 1/2 cups buttermilk, sour milk, or sour cream

1/4 cup good honey

If using a food processor: 

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in the work bowl.  Cover, then pulse three times to mix.  Remove lid, then add butter.  Replace lid and pulse until the butter is reduced to pea-sized clumps and is well incorporated into the flour mixture.  

Combine the buttermilk and honey in a 2 cup measuring cup and set aside.

Remove the little cup from the lid and replace the lid on the work bowl.  Turn on the food processor and pour the buttermilk and honey into the flour and butter mixture.  Allow to mix until the dough clings to the side of the work bowl.  

Turn out onto floured counter and knead until the dough is smooth, adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into an approximately 8 x 14 inch rectangle; sprinkle the dough with flour, then fold it into thirds.  Roll the dough into another 8 x 14 inch rectangle; sprinkle the dough with flour, then fold it into thirds.  Repeat a third time.

Roll the dough into a half inch thick rectangle, then cut into biscuits using a biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or cookie cutter.  Using the scraps, repeat the rolling and folding process described in the previous step, then cut into biscuits.  Throw away any remaining dough.

Place on a greased baking sheet and freeze for 2-4 hours, or until completely frozen.  Move biscuits to a gallon sized freezer bag for storage.

If using a pastry blender: 

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and give them a quick mix.  Cut in the butter until it forms pea-sized clumps and is well incorporated into the flour mixture.

Combine the buttermilk and honey in a 2 cup measuring cup.

Using a strong wooden spoon, stir the buttermilk and honey into the flour and butter mixture.  Mix until the flour is moistened and the dough is shaggy.

Turn out onto floured counter.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into an approximately 8 x 14 inch rectangle; sprinkle the dough with flour, then fold it into thirds.  Roll the dough into another 8 x 14 inch rectangle; sprinkle the dough with flour, then fold it into thirds.  Repeat a third time.

Roll the dough into a half inch thick rectangle, then cut into biscuits using a biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or cookie cutter.  Using the scraps, repeat the rolling and folding process described in the previous step, then cut into biscuits.  Throw away any remaining dough.

Place on a greased baking sheet and freeze for 2-4 hours, or until completely frozen.  Move biscuits to a gallon sized freezer bag for storage.

To bake:

Place the desired number of biscuits two inches apart on a greased or lined baking sheet.  Place the baking sheet in a cold oven (the biscuits will defrost as the oven preheats), then turn the oven on to 375*.  

Once the oven has preheated (or after 10 minutes), bake the biscuits an additional 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 16 3-inch (AKA huge) biscuits.

one hundred and fifty

In case you haven't heard, December is halfway over.  That means I'm in the clear to ask one of my favorite questions: what is your favorite part of the holiday season?  I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and assume your answer was neither "I love listening to Aunt Gertrude's traditional rehashing of the time she passed those kidney stones!" nor "Golly, I've been counting down the days 'til Mom and Dad crack open the eggnog.  I'm still wound up from last year's humdinger of a nog flog!"

Sure, the holidays may include familial togetherness and love and peace and all of that jazz, but the truth of the matter is that those gaieties are merely distractions from the main attraction: the food.  These winter holidays are one of the few times a year we, as a society, have collectively agreed to let loose and eat whatever we can get our hands on, our skinny jeans be damned. We devour cookies and turkey legs, guzzle gallons of gravy, and eat dressing like it's going out of style, because you can only get those foods during the holidays, don'tcha know?

But why?  Why may I only eat cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving?  Why do birds only come stuffed in the last two months of the year?  Yeah, I don't know either.  My New Year's resolution this year is a simple one: to make holiday food into everyday food.  Since I'm the organized sort, I'm getting a head start on my resolution by sharing an awesomely easy, superbly delicious way to enjoy chicken (or turkey) and dressing anytime... sans family brawls.

one hundred and forty-two

I've had my slow cooker for a little over two weeks now, which has been just enough time to fall in love with the contraption--and immediately fall into a state of confusion at the number of slow cooker recipes that rely on cream of whatever soup, or packaged soup mix, or soup seasoning, or... soup.  I was getting ready to give up and just throw everything into the slow cooker and call it a day, but then out of nowhere three words popped into my head: Home Ec 101 (shush, the 101 is hyphenated).  My go-to recipe index came to the rescue and I was able to get my roast on as planned.

Despite years of being one of Heather's squealing fangirls, I have a weakness: I can't follow a recipe.  Not even from a source I love and recommend.  No matter how good it may taste, no matter how classic it may be, there is not a single chef or cook that is safe from my modifications.  Most of the time, I would rely on my memory of the flavors of the finished product, rather than taking the 30 seconds to note any changes to the original recipe.

When others would ask for my recipes, I would direct them to the one that had inspired me, and would then sheepishly listen to the laments of my friends' failed attempts at "my" lime cookies, "my" roasted chicken, or "my" tortillas.  I would try to explain what changes I had made, but by that point it was always too late and the response would invariably be a short, "I'll just wait until next time you make it."

Now that I have a blog, however, I never fail to cook with a notebook at hand.  I taste, season, note, taste, season, note, until I'm almost too full for dinner (note that I said almost).  Why all of this strife?  Why not just post links to recipes and then say, "Add some rosemary and balsamic as needed?"  One word, my friends: content.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Gravy

Adapted from Home Ec 101's Wine Braised Pot Roast, this slow cooker recipe is super simple and super tasty--and the leftovers make awesome French dip sandwiches or stew!  Add some carrots and potatoes and you have a one pot meal!  The smell is almost unbearably delicious, so I recommend this meal for a busy weekend when you and your family won't be tempted to spend all day standing in the kitchen staring at your CrockPot.  (Not that I speak from experience.)

1 3-5 lb. roast (I used bottom round)

2 tsp kosher salt

fresh pepper, to taste

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 sweet onions, sliced

6 cloves of garlic, smashed

6 oz. red wine (I used a mini bottle of merlot)

2 bay leaves

2 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled

1-10.5 oz. can beef consummé

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar 

4 large carrots, cut into medallions (optional)

2 lbs. red skinned potatoes, cubed (optional)

3 tbsp corn starch mixed with 3 tbsp cold water (for gravy)

Trim any silver skin or fat from the roast.  Season the roast with salt and pepper.

In a large pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and olive oil.  Once the butter begins to bubble, place the roast into the pan, then wiggle it a bit to keep it from sticking.  Cook for three minutes, or until brown, then flip the roast.  Repeat the browning process on all sides, then transfer the roast into your slow cooker.

Reduce the pan's heat to medium, then add the onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes, or until the onions have caramelized.  Reduce the heat to medium-low if the onions are starting to brown too quickly.

Once the onions and garlic have caramelized, push them off to the side of the pan.  Add the wine to deglaze.  Remove the pan from the heat and dump the onions over the pot roast in the slow cooker.

Add the bay leaves, rosemary, beef consumme, Worcestershire, and vinegar to the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low for about 10 hours.  For a one pot meal, add the carrots and potatoes after about 3 hours and continue to cook over low.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker and allow to rest, covered, on a cutting board.

If you added them, use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetables.  Discard the bay leaves.

Turn the slow cooker onto high.  Whisk in the corn starch slurry and cook gravy until thickened, about 10 minutes.  Taste, then season as desired.

Serves 6-8.