May 20: Vegetarian Sausage Rice

I forgot to start this recipe this afternoon before my nap, so I ended up waiting until it was too late to cook it in the Crock Pot. So I made it on the stove. I gathered up all the ingredients:

In a pot I put 2 chopped bell peppers, a can of kidney bans, a can of diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions, a chopped onion, a cup of sliced celery, 1/2 cup of water, 3/4 cup converted rice, 1 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, and 3 bay leaves. (I left out the tsp. hot sauce for the kids' sake). I cooked that on the stove top for about 20 minutes:

In a skillet I cooked 8 ounces of diced vegetable-protein breakfast patties with some olive oil for a couple minutes:

I added it to the rice, then deglazed the skillet with 1/2 cup of water and added that to the rice as well:

I let it cook for a few more minutes because the rice wasn't quite done yet. Then I added some chopped parsley, gave it a quick stir, and served it up:

This rice dish had a pretty good flavor. It seemed pretty healthy, too. The kids liked it, especially the "fake" meat. DH didn't try it because he had a meeting tonight. The breakfast patties were kind of expensive though. He told me next time to just buy regular sausage!

May 19: Autumn Herbed Chicken with Fennel and Squash

I made this recipe for dinner tonight, and I started it around 1pm. First I gathered up all the ingredients:

I started out my salting and peppering 6 chicken thighs, dredging them with a little flour, and browning them 3 minutes per side in olive oil in a large skillet:

I put the chicken thighs in the Crock Pot. On top I added a sliced fennel bulb, 1/2 cubed butternut squash, 3/4 cup walnuts, 1 tsp. dried thyme, 3/4 cup chicken broth, and 1/2 cup apple juice:

I cooked it on high for about 4 hours:

This is supposed to be served with rice or pasta, but I'm trying to eat low(er) carb, so I didn't make any. I did sprinkle fresh basil and rosemary on top after I took this picture. I was way too excited about this recipe. It looked like it was going to be great, but I was disappointed for a few reasons. It was very greasy... next time I think I will take the skin off the chicken thighs to cut down on the fat just a little. I didn't like the walnuts... I will leave those out next time. The fennel was undercooked... I should have cooked it on low for 5 to 7 hours. The dish was not very flavorful; I feel like it needed a little candying and maybe that's what the apple juice was for, but it got lost in the grease maybe. It did taste better once I put the fresh herbs on top. It could have done with a little salt too. Also, since I didn't make the rice, we could have done with more vegetables. I should have just put in the whole squash instead of leaving half of it out. Now I have to find something to do with 1/2 a squash! Maybe I'll try this again some day and it will turn out better if I follow my advice.

May 18: Chili Barbecue Beans

I've never made baked beans from scratch, but I guess there's a first time for everything. I started these pretty late last night. It was about midnight when I gathered all the ingredients. I had been letting the beans soak for 6 or 8 hours.

After soaking a cup each of great northern, red beans, and baby lima beans, I rinsed them and put them in the Crock Pot. then I added 4 cups of water, 8 crumbled slices of cooked bacon, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons minced onion, 2 beef bouillon cubes, a tsp. each of dried mustard , chili powder and minced garlic, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes and two bay leaves:

I cooked that overnight on low, about 8 hours. Then I added 1 cup of barbecue sauce and let it cook for another hour.

We had a potluck at church today, so I kept it on warm during the service. I tried them, and they were pretty good. Beans have never been my favorite, but these weren't the worst beans I've had! DH liked them, but he thought they were a little sweet. It was the perfect recipe for a potluck, though. They got eaten all up!

May 17: Cioppino

This is called Cioppino - it is a fish/seafood soup. I would not have known that from the name of it! I had to start this early before I went to my scrapbooking club because it had to cook for 10-12 hours. Here are the ingredients of the first part:

In the Crock Pot, I put 2 sliced carrots, a chopped onion, a chopped bell pepper, a pound of cubed white fish, a cup of sliced mushrooms, a can of beef broth, 2 cans of tomato sauce, a teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 tsp. each of pepper and oregano:

I cooked that on low for 10 hours. Here are the ingredients for the second part:

I added 12 oz. of cooked shrimp, a can of crab meat, and a can of clams, then cooked it on high for 20 more minutes to heat it through:

And we served it hot:

This soup was very delicious. The seafood was really cooked perfectly, not at all mushy like I thought it would be. The flavor was really nice too, like a good Italian dish, not super fishy. I would make this one again, although it was pretty expensive for all that seafood. It's a good source of protein and healthy veggies, though. I really needed that today after eating sweets and junk food all day!

P.S. I just glanced at the recipe and realized I forgot the garlic. That would have been good, but oh well - I'll try it next time.

May 16: Breakfast Berry Bread Pudding

This is a recipe that takes 3-4 hours to cook, so I couldn't do it overnight, yet it's supposed to be for breakfast. Well, I didn't want to get up at 4 in the morning to start it (although I could have since I was up feeding the baby, but that's neither here nor there), so we decided to just have it for dessert of lunch. So I started it at about 8:30am. I gathered up these ingredients and toasted a half cup of slivered almonds:

I mixed up 6 cups of cubed sourdough bread with a cup of raisins and the toasted almonds in a greased Crock Pot:

In another bowl I mixed up 6 eggs with 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1 3/4 cups milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla:

Then I poured the egg mixture over the bread mixture:

I cooked it on high for 3 hours:

I served it with sliced strawberries and blueberries and garnished it with mint leaves:

I had some bread leftover, so I ended up making a breakfast strata with bacon, cheese and eggs and the rest of the bread. We had that for lunch, and we had this bread pudding for dessert. I feel like we ate two times the bread pudding! This was really good, though. It had the perfect amount of sweetness. The berries are in season, so they were really sweet too. I think this would be great for a potluck brunch. I'll have to remember that.

May 15: Thai Chili Chicken and Noodles

Tonight I made this for dinner. I procrastinated because I wasn't feeling well (due to a glucose tolerance test I had to take), so I made this on the stove. These are the ingredients:

I browned some strips of chicken breast in olive oil in a skillet:

I mixed up a bottle of sweet chili sauce with 3 tbsp peanut butter and 3 cloves of minced garlic:

Then I coated the chicken in the sauce and poured a can of chicken broth over the chicken:

I covered the chicken and let it cook for 15 minutes, then I added 1/2 box of vermicelli and a cup of cole slaw mix:

I cooked that for 5 minutes and served it with chopped peanuts and bean sprouts for garnish:

This Thai food had a really good flavor, but I didn't cook the noodles long enough. They were kinda crunchy. But DH liked them that way. The kids thought it was too spicy. Next time I'll try to make this in the Crock Pot and see if the noodles soften up better.

May 14: Bacon and Onion Brisket

Here are the ingredients for the bacon and onion brisket from the "meaty main dishes" section of the cookbook:

To start this off, I cooked 6 strips of bacon that had been sliced lengthwise in a skillet:

I transferred the bacon to the Crock Pot, then seared the brisket in the hot bacon fat:

I transferred the brisket to the Crock Pot, then sauteed the onions in the skillet:

I transferred the onions to the Crock Pot, then poured on two cans of beef consomme:

I cooked it on high for 6 hours:

My dear hubby:

I put the meat on a platter and sliced it:

Then I served the meat on plates with bacon, onion, and broth on top:

This meal had a great flavor. We are trying to eat low(er) carb, so we didn't make anything to go with this meal, but it would have been great with boiled or mashed potatoes. I actually used the meat they had on sale at Aldi (top sirloin) instead of brisket. So I'm not sure I know what it is supposed to taste like. Next time I might try the brisket even though they are really expensive.