Coming Soon: Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Beans

In case you want to participate this week, here is Heather's pick for the week from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're skipping this Wednesday to go to the desert for Thanksgiving.  La Quinta here we come...

Week 6: Caponata

My week to pick - I decided to choose a recipe the old school way - from an actual cookbook on my bookshelf. I need to start using the cookbooks I own instead of looking for new recipes online.  Otherwise what's the point of owning so many cookbooks?

The downside of this method is that I can't post the recipe due to copyright infringement laws!  I chose Caponata from Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss.  It was really good!  Eggplant, celery, green bell pepper, tomato... and a few surprise ingredients.  Anchovy paste! Capers and olives, yum.

I'll loan you the book if you want to make it.  Andrew-my-husband-not-Andrew-the-author gave me this cookbook for Christmas last year.  It is not your typical crock pot cookbook - lots of variety and some prep work compared to the usual open cans of stuff to make chili or stew.  But based on the few recipes I've tried, I'm excited to try more.  In fact the caponata was so good that I forgot to take a picture until dinner was over and the scarce leftovers were put away.  So here's all that was left:

Week 5: Quinoa Chili

I was really looking forward to this recipe.  Until I was prepping on Tuesday night and I discovered how poorly written the recipe was.  For example:

It lists onion in the ingredients but never mentions onion again.
Ginger makes a surprise appearance in the instructions.
It calls for both "2 tbl minced jalapeno pepper" and "1/2 jalapeno pepper seeded"
What? I'm confused.

I had very low expectations.  I came home from work and peered into the crock pot with concern. Uh oh.  Looks too watery.  Isn't chili supposed to be hearty?  But it was good!  Really good.

I liked the texture of the quinoa and the chili was not too "soupy" as I first thought.  I realize now I left out the last step of adding soy sauce and molasses, probably because at that point I had mentally given up on the recipe and was already trying to figure out what we could eat.  I added some Maldon salt, Cholula and red pepper flakes. Andrew added shredded cheese to his.

Special shout out to mom for adding the water and quinoa and then starting the crock pot for me.  I was worried about letting the quinoa soak all morning before the cooking started.  Just another benefit to living next door to mom.  (Although hands down the best thing about it is the babysitting.  FREE babysitting!)

Another tip:  Take your contact lens out before slicing jalapeno.  Although it had been hours and I washed my hands repeatedly before removing my contacts, there must have been some extra strength jalapeno juice aka capsaicum on my fingers.  Because when I put my contacts in this morning there was some serious burning. I had to throw them out and use a new pair.   Google confirmed this is a common phenomenon.

I won't list the recipe here since it was so confusing but it can be found here on Savvy Vegetarian. It also gives stove top directions.  I might try that next time. I will definitely make this again, but I'll think of the recipe as a guide rather than a blueprint.

Week 4: Vegetable and Chickpea Curry

It was Heather's week to choose a recipe... and she redeemed herself after her first pick. This.Was.Delicious. I'll definitely make this again. This was the first time I used the HIGH setting on the crockpot and the shorter cooking time meant I ran home from work at lunch to start it. Well worth it though. Here's the recipe.
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Ingredients

• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1 1/2  cups  chopped onion
• 1  cup  (1/4-inch-thick) slices carrot
• 1  tablespoon  curry powder
• 1  teaspoon  brown sugar
• 1  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  serrano chile, seeded and minced
• 3  cups  cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 1/2  cups  cubed peeled baking potato
• 1  cup  diced green bell pepper
• 1  cup  (1-inch) cut green beans
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1  (14-ounce) can vegetable broth
• 3  cups  fresh baby spinach
• 1  cup  light coconut milk
• 6  lemon wedges

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and carrot; cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add curry powder, sugar, ginger, garlic, and chile; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Place onion mixture in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Stir in chickpeas and next 8 ingredients (through broth). Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add spinach and coconut milk; stir until spinach wilts. Serve with lemon wedges.

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My modifications:
I left out the serrano chile but later added red pepper flakes to my serving.
I used the teensiest bit of pepper in hopes that the kids would eat it. Baden's first reaction, "Does this have pepper in it?" I pulled out a potato and carrot bite for him and after promising dessert, he admitted it was good. But NO he did not want any more.
I used mushroom broth because I had some leftover. I added a spoonful of tomato paste because I was short on crushed tomatoes.
I forgot to serve it with lemon wedges but I suspect they would have added another layer of deliciousness.

Next time:
I'll make rice.  It was a bit soupier than I expected. It didn't bother me but a side of rice for others would be good.