Enchilada Pie Take Two

See Katie's first try at this recipe a few months ago. 

http://slowcookinit.blogspot.com/2012/12/enchilada-inspired-polenta-pie.html?m=1

I followed her recommendations and used coarse

polenta instead. It was perfect. Patrick suggests 

making for breakfast with a side of eggs. Gotta get those chickens laying! 

Golden-Glow Stuffed Squash

For this recipe, I used an acorn squash that we grew in the garden last summer. The filling was simple, but tasty. Instead of white of brown rice, I used a red rice that has a bit more flavor. The squash got so soft that it fell apart as I tried to get it out of the pot. My crockpot goes to stay warm after the timer goes off, which is nice so that things stay warm, but when I don't get home for a few hours, the dish definitely gets overcooked. Yet another reason to get that timer that will delay the start of cooking. I forgot to take photos again, but here's the recipe.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, minced
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded & chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp turmeric
2.5 cups cooked rice
1 tbsp fres parsley, minced
1 tsp dried thyme or sage
Salt & pepper
1 large winter squash, halved & seeded
1 cup hot water

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrot & pepper, cover & cook until soft. Stir in garlic & turmeric, then stir in rice, parsley & thyme/sage and salt & pepper to taste. Mx well & spoon mixture into squash cavities.

2. Pour water into slow cooker & add squash halves, stuffing side up. Cover & cook on low until squash is tender, about 6 hours. Serve hot.

Bourbon-spiked Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is perfect for chilly spring nights. This was great right out of the crockpot, but the leftovers were too mushy & had a strange flavor. So maybe make it for a gathering? It could have been because I made it with pumpkin purée from a fresh pumpkin that I had baked & then frozen. I haven't quite figured out the exact spices to make the substitution for canned pumpkin.

4 cups cubed white or wheat bread
3 cups milk or vanilla soy milk
1 16oz can pumpkin
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

1. Press half the bread cubes into bottom of lightly oiled slow cooker.
2. In medium saucepan, heat milk until hot. Do not let boil. Remove from heat & set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla, spices & salt. Blend well, then slowly add hot milk, stirring constantly. Carefully pour half of the mixture over the bread, pushing them down to moisten them. Repeat with remaining bread & mixture. Cover & cook on low for 3 hours, until firm.
4. Turn off slow cooker & let pudding sit, covered, for 20 min before serving.

Arroz non Pollo

I don't always like vegetarian recipes that try to recreate a meat based dish. But it's been so long since I cooked with meat (since living at home in high school), sometimes I don't even know what the veggie dish is "supposed" to taste like.

I tried this recipe because a friend was coming over for an early dinner on a weeknight and ever since Patrick started working at Lotus Foods, we have tons of rice! If you have already cooked rice like I did, decrease the stock to 2 cups and add the rice at same time you add peas, salsa & olives. I slow cooked chickpeas the day before and made only slight changes to the recipe to fit what we had in the cabinet. Like I said, I don't remember what Chicken with Rice should taste like, but this recipe was super yummy and very hearty.

Arroz non Pollo

From Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

Serves 5

1 med yellow onion, chopped

1 small carrot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano (I used parsley)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp saffron threads (I used tumeric)

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice (I used half jar of pasta sauce)

3 cups vegetable stock

1 small red bell pepper, chopped

8 oz green beans, cut into 1-in lengths

1 1/2 c chickpeas or 15.5 oz can

salt & pepper to taste

1 c quick cooking rice

3/4 c salsa

1/2 c frozen peas

1/3 c sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives, drained

1. Saute onion and carrot in water until soft. Stir in garlic, oregano, cumin and saffron and cook 2 min longer.

2. Transfer veggies to slow cooker. Add tomatoes, stock, bell pepper, green beans and chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

3. About an hour before end of cooking time, stir in rice, cover and cook on Low until tender. See note above if you have already cooked rice.

4. About 10 minutes before serving, stir in salsa, peas, and olives and cover. Taste to adjust seasonings before serving.

Two-Mushroom Barley Soup

This soup made our house smell delicious! Last weekend we wanted to get some work done in the yard, so put this soup together in the morning. Like the title of the recipe indicates, there are two kinds of mushrooms. We used white mushrooms and 1 oz of dried porcinis. The porcinis add a nice rich woodsy flavor. We ended up using carrots, celery and thyme from the garden and homemade vegetable stock. It was perfect after a long day outside building wooden compost bins.

Wild Rice Pilaf with Peas, Lemon Zest and Tarragon

This was pretty good. I am starting to wonder if I need to invest in a timer because many recipes don't need but 5 - 6 hours to cook, but I am at work for at least 8 and many things are starting to burn around the edges. Or I may have to start 1.5-ing the recipes. This was very lemony in a good way. It went well with a veggie chicken cutlet for some protein. It was also tasty with a few sprays of braggs.

Millet and Burdock Root Stew

I had a hard time finding burdock root at the grocery store. Not because they didn't have any, in fact the Berkeley Bowl had it in two spots. It was just labeled "gobo" which I learned is it's Japanese name. The produce guy I asked took me to where it was, but I guess he also didn't really know what it looked like so we had to find the head produce guy before we found it. They then discussed making sure that the signs are labeled with both names. I'll have to check if they've updated them next time I go.

This is what it looks like - burdock root or gobo.

This stew was slightly sweet & nutty. It got really thick & the edges burned a bit. I think this may be because my slowcooker is really big and the recipe calls for a smaller one. It was still tasty even though it's consistency was more like mush. It might have also just cooked too longer. Next time I might add another cup of broth or water.

It doesn't look like much, but it was really tasty & comforting. It had lots of meaty mushrooms & the millet was the perfect grain.