ORANGE CHICKEN-SLOW COOKER

I wanted to test my new slow cooker which is about half the size of one I bought several years ago.  I made this recipe using four kinds of vegetables.  You could substitute or add other vegetables including green beans, carrots or an oriental frozen vegetable mixture.  Instead of using chicken, you could use beef.  I added more chicken broth than needed and I did adjust the recipe to reduce the amount required.  To thicken the liquid, I added some corn starch mixed with water to the slow cooker at the end.  To brighten the dish you may want to use a red or green pepper.  I used a yellow pepper.  I served the chicken with rice.  Both the DH and I enjoyed this dish.

Just dished from the slow cooker.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 coloured pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
3 large chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce or soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp orange marmalade
1/4 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Splenda
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp gry ground ginger
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Place the vegetables on the bottom of your slow cooker.  Add the chicken.  In a bowl or large glass measuring cup combine the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.  Pour the mixture over the chicken and vegetables.  Set the slower cooker to low and cook for 5 hours.   Serves 4.

You can serve this over rice, pasta, quinoa or couscous.

Adapted/modified from '200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes' by Dana Carpender

VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP

In my previous post I wrote about the pressure cooker/slow cooker that I bought.  After using the pressure cooker to cook 1.5 cups of dry mixed beans, I then made a vegetable bean soup.  Dry beans when cooked, double in volume.  The soup turned out great and both the DH and I enjoyed it.  Using the pressure cooker was a much quicker method to make the soup and I didn't feel that the taste was compromised.  You can also add different vegetables than the ones I have included here.  For example,  instead of using fresh potatoes, I used leftover mashed potatoes.

All of the ingredients have been added and new ready to cook.

I am going to sample the soup.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large carrots, chopped
1 large handful of fresh green beans, chopped
1 large potato, scrubbed or pealed, chopped finely
1 - 15 ounce canned tomatoes or 6 frozen or fresh tomatoes
1 tbsp chicken bouillon flavouring
6 to 8 cups water
3 cups of cooked beans
1 to 2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried thyme

DIRECTIONS:

Using a pressure cooker

Add the oil to the cooking pot and saute the onion, garlic and celery for 7 minutes.  Add the carrots and cook for another minute.   Turn the saute option off.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the cooking pot and combine.  Set the machine up to cook as a pressure cooker and set the timer for 15 minutes.  If you don't have a saute option with your machine, you can saute the vegetables in a separate pan before adding them to the pressure cooker pot.  You can add salt and pepper to taste after the cooking is done.

Using a soup pot

Heat the oil on medium high heat and saute the onion, garlic, celery for 7 minutes on medium low heat. Add the carrots and cook for another minute.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 75 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6 to 8.

PRESSURE COOKER/SLOW COOKER COMBO

Who would have ever thought?  Combining a pressure cooker and a slow cooker and creating one pot with different cooking systems.  Furthermore, it is electric instead of a stove top model.  Besides being a pressure cooker and a slow cooker, you can also saute vegetables or meat before using the pressure cooker or slow cooker options.  To test out my new gadget, I decided to first cook beans.  After cooking the beans, I would use them to make a bean vegetable soup.  The recipe will follow in my next posting.   The beans turned out fine.  I first soaked them overnight before pressure cooking them in the morning.   I set the timer for 27 minutes and the challenge was that the bean mixture included nine different beans which were not all equal in size.  Some beans were over soft and other beans needed an extra minute or two of cooking.  I knew that cooking them in the soup would finish the cooking time.

Growing up my mom used a pressure cooker for a number of things including cooking beans and roasts.  When I asked some of my friends if their moms used pressure cookers when they were growing up at home, they responded yes.  They were all stove top models, heavy to lift and didn't have the fancy   extras that today's models have including timers.

The other advantage of this new gadget is that the slow cooker is a smaller one than the one I have.   The stand alone slow cooker that I have is in some ways too big for most meals.  I am looking forward to trying out new recipes for fast and slow cooking.

The box with all of the descriptions. 

What the gadget looks like. 

ROAST BEEF + YORKSHIRE PUDDING

It has been many years since I have made yorkshire pudding with roast beef.  Having friends in over the holidays prompted me to make this instead of cooking a turkey.  I also decided to review some of my 'bible' cookbooks to review cooking a roast and see if I needed to alter the gravy recipe.  I am more use to making turkey gravy than beef gravy.

I did learn or relearn a few things in reviewing the cookbooks.  For example, cooking a roast at 325 degrees F is okay.  You don't need to cook it at 350 degrees F.  The fat layer on the one side of the roast should be facing up when placing the roast in the roasting pan.  I have sometimes place the fat layer on the bottom of the pan when putting the roast into the pan in the past.  It pays to use a meat thermometer to know when the roast is ready, particularly if you are wanting to cook it to a medium level.  Letting the roast sit for 15 minutes, when taken out of the oven, and covered with tin foil, does make a difference.  After that you can carve it.  The heat from the inside of the roast does move to the outside and the juices get sealed in the roast.  The roast was cut from the sirloin and it was one of the best roasts I have made according to DH.  Of course I did use all of the tips I learned from reading the 'bible' cookbooks.  The yorkshire pudding turned out amazingly well and many compliments were made on the taste and texture.   The gravy turned out fine and went well with the meat, yorkshire pudding and mashed potatoes.

The DH carved the roast.

Gravy being made.

Yorkshire pudding in the basket.   

Yorkshire Pudding

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium size mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk.  Mix well.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.   If you are finished cooking the roast, add some of the fat drippings to a 12 cup muffin tins.  If you don't have drippings you can add a little bit of olive or canola oil to each cup.  Place in the oven and let the drippings or oil heat until it is smoking.  While the muffin tins is in the oven,  add the egg mixture to the flour.  Combine the batter well.

Add the batter to the muffin tins and fill each tin about half full.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.   Makes 12 individual puddings.

If you want a more savoury flavour, you can add dried herbs to the flour before you add the eggs.

CHICKEN WINGS

I prefer to make my own marinated chicken wings versus buying them already prepared and frozen from the grocery store.  It does require planning ahead to have both the ingredients on hand and making them in advance of supper so that they have the time to marinate.  If the batch marinating is really more than what you need for supper and leftovers, you can freeze the uncooked marinated chicken wings in the zip lock bag for future use.  I baked the chicken in the oven but you can also grill them on the bbq.   The package of meat that I bought included both wings and drumettes.  I like the combination of these two.  

Wings and drumettes marinating in a zip lock bag.

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 - 3 lb chicken wings and drumettes                 

salt and pepper

1-1/4 cups ketchup

1/2 cup (125 ml) chicken broth

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup white wine or white wine vinegar or rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1-2 tbsp BBQ sauce or Heinz 57

4 tbsp honey or brown sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or a couple of dashes Tabasco sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large zip lock bag and marinate the chicken wings/drumettes for approximately 3 hours in the refrigerator.   If you have the time, flip the bag over every hour or so.  Remove the wings/drumettes and gently shake off any excess sauce.

Grill the chicken on the barbecue for approximately 10 minutes on each side.  You can also bake them in the oven at 400 degrees F for approximately 15 to 20 minutes on each side.

Adapted/modified from www.grouprecipes.com

MUD AND SHOES

I am amazed at times what my seven year old yellow lab will get into or do.  He is a happy go lucky guy, always smiling and up for adventures.  Late summer we took him for a walk along a creek system close to our house.  You can always count on Shane to find goose poop, mud or dead critters.  On this excursion he found mud.  He trotted into a dry mud bed that had bull rushes and I am sure had a lot of good smells.  When he bounded out of that dry mud med and we saw his legs and feet, we knew that some bathing was going to happen.  The following pictures show the before and after results.

Prior to washing his feet and legs. 

Soap and water.

The end result = clean legs and feet.

I never leave shoes lying around the house as Shane can't be trusted to leave then alone.  The most recent shoe sampling occurred by accident.  One of the cats got into the coat closet that also has shoes. The door was left slightly ajar and the DH forgot about closing the door after the cat wandered out of the closet.  Voila, the dog decided to sample one of my shoes.  These were not new shoes nor inexpensive and I was still wearing them on a frequent basis.  I know that Shane will continue to have a shoe fetish for as long as he lives.  We do have several things in common - we both LOVE shoes.

For all of the things he can get into, he is a beloved dog, always happy to see us, loyal and always ready for doing things and being involved.  This past fall Shane had a health issue.  He has glaucoma which we didn't know beforehand and within two months of being diagnosed, he had to have his eye removed.  We got it diagnosed early but the medication did not slow down the damages that glaucoma creates.  He is doing really well and the removal of his eye was harder on us than him. 

POTATO PANCAKES (LATKES)

There are a number of ways you can make potato pancakes.  Some people like the potatoes to be grated while others prefer them to be pureed.  I like them to be finely grated or minced, they still have texture but they are not chunky or appear to be long and stringy.   I used a small food processor which allowed me to get the texture I wanted by not having to deal with large batches.  I doubled this recipe, used about 10 potatoes and had three frying pans going at once.  I found that if I skimped on the canola oil for frying, they took longer to cook and didn't brown as nicely as those cooked in oil.  I like to eat the pancakes with both applesauce and sour cream.  I served these pancakes to a group of 10 people as part of a meal and everyone enjoyed them.

Pancakes cooking in the pan.

Ready for the table.

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium onion, cut into chunks
3 eggs
4 large baking potatoes, peeled or scrubbed, cut thin small chunks
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup flour
canola oil
applesauce and sour cream

DIRECTIONS:

Place onions in a food processor and chop until it is minced.  Empty into a large mixing bowl.  Add the eggs to the processor and blend.  Add eggs to the mixing bowl.  Depending on the size of your food processor chop the potatoes in batches.  Don't overchop them as you don't want them to be pureed.  Add the potato batches to the mixing bowl.  Add salt and pepper and the flour to the mixing bowl and combine well.  

Heat about 1/4 cup of oil in a nonstick pan.  On medium high heat, add the batter by the tablespoonful. Flatten them with the back of the spoon. Cook until brown and crisp, turn over and cook the other side. Place the cooked pancakes on paper towels to absorb the excess oil.  Cook the batter in batches.  You may need to add additional oil in between the batches.  Makes 16 to 20 pancakes.

BAKED COD WITH VEGETABLES

This recipe is simple as it requires not many ingredients, you can add different vegetables and just requires a baking dish to cook the food.  I used cod but other fish could be used including salmon, red snapper or halibut.   I also used minimal herbs and spices and you could add other herbs based on your preferences.  Both the DH and I enjoyed this meal.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound red potatoes, unpeeled, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 glove garlic, minced
handful of fresh dill, chopped or 1 tsp dried dill
1 pound, cod, snapper or other firm fish cut into 2 inch chunks

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Combine the potatoes, onions, oil and salt and pepper in a medium size baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Stir mixture once while baking.

Stir the tomato, garlic and dill into the potato mixture.  Top with the fish.  Increase the heat to 400 degrees F and bake, covered with aluminum foil for 25 minutes.   If the fish is not cooked, cook for additional time.  Serve the fish and vegetables with the juice from the baking dish.  Serves 4.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

BEEF STEW

After listening to a friend talk about a stew she made one night, I decided I needed to cook a stew on a recent weekend.  The end result was a tender and delicious stew.  The stew didn't contain any potatoes.  I made some mashed potatoes as a side dish and the mashed potatoes were a good accompaniment to the stew.   The DH enjoyed this meal.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 lbs beef stewing meat, cubed
3 carrots, chopped into small pieces
2 stalks celery, chopped into small pieces
1 medium size rutabaga, peeled, chopped into small pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 glass red wine or cooking wine
1 cup beef bouillon
 salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:

In a medium size frying pan, heat the oil and add the meat, onions and garlic. Brown on medium heat.  To a large soup pot add the browned meat and onions, the vegetables, wine and bouillon.  Heat to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer for two hours.  Serves 6.

CAULIFLOWER AND CARROT PUREE

Instead of making soup one sunday afternoon for weekday lunches,  I decided to make a cauliflower and carrot puree.   To the puree I added sauteed onions and mushrooms.  I enjoyed having it as part of my lunch during the week.   When reheating your serving it in the microwave, you could add grated cheese to it.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cauliflower cut into small chunks
2 carrots, sliced into pieces
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
6 mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium size pot, add the cauliflower and carrots to water, bring to a boil and cook on medium high  until tender.  In a separate frying pan, heat the oil and add the garlic, onions and mushrooms.  Cook on medium low until the onions and mushrooms are soft.  Set aside.

Drain the cauliflower and carrots and mash using a potato masher, food processor or hand held blender.  Puree until smooth.  Add the onions and mushrooms to the puree.  Season with salt and pepper. Combine.  Serves 4.