I got a slow cooker when I got married, but in one year’s time, I only used it once – disastrously. I tried it once when I was home all day to see how it cooked. I attempted to make rice pudding, but I had put in too much rice and too much milk and it overflowed. I had to dump it out into a big pot halfway through.

But somehow, I gathered up the courage to try it again – and in the past month, I’ve used it six times. Hence, I make this proclamation in front of the whole world – I love my slow cooker (and no, Ameir doesn’t consider it cheating, because he gets food out of the deal). I love the taste and texture of the food it produces. I love not having to cook when I get home after long days. I love the smell of deliciousness that greets me when I get home. *dreamy sigh*

I’m highly inspired by Stephanie of A Year of Crockpotting, who used her slow cooker every day for a year. As I make stuff, I’ll link to things that are inspired by her recipes.

This meatball stew was inspired by Stephanie’s adaptation of Simply Recipes‘ Albondigas recipe (meatball soup).

I made some meatballs, seared, and froze them for future use. I used the same basic recipe as I use for spaghetti and meatballs, but I added pureed chipotle-in-adobo to the mix. Just because I had some. I wanted to do frozen meatballs because I thought they’d cook much quicker than root vegetables, so I thought adding them to the slow cooker still frozen would give me more time. It came out to 12 meatballs, so I put half of them in here and saved half for something else later.

Basic slow cooker safety and operation:
– Do not put cold food in a hot cooker.
– Do not put hot food in a cold cooker (put it on warm while you’re preparing).
– High cooking is usually 3 -4 hours. Low cooking is usually 6-9 hours.
– Put vegetables in the first layer, meat on the second (veggies take longer to cook).
– The slow cooker doesn’t lose moisture, so when it’s done cooking, you’ll have either the same amount of liquid you put in, or even more b/c of condensation.

Click for the recipe! (more…)

Thanksgiving Dumpling Soup

A slightly different way to get rid of Thanksgiving leftovers – This is just going to be an idea more than an exact a recipe. I can’t remember exactly what I used, but I remember the chipotle was a really great kick.

Stock made from turkey bones
Shredded turkey, whatever is left over
One butternut squash, diced (about 4 cups)
Two carrots, diced
8 oz cremini mushrooms, choppped
One can diced tomatoes with juice
Onion, Garlic
2 or 3 chipotle peppers, pureed or diced finely
1 or 2 tsp adobo (from the can of chipotle)
Cumin, salt, pepper

Caramelize the onion, add the garlic towards the end. Add the butternut squash and carrot, saute till almost soft. Do the same with the mushrooms a few minutes later. Add the shredded turkey and mix it around with the other flavorings. Add the cumin, salt, pepper, chipotles and adobo. Mix in the tomatoes and broth and let it simmer until the squash and carrots are soft.

Dumplings – these were a bit hard, so I’m open to suggestions for another method.

1 cup flour, 1 egg, dried herbs, salt, pepper

Mix the egg and flour and seasonings till it forms a sticky, eggy dough. Break of little rounds of it and drop it into boiling broth. They’ll float to the top when done.

Ohh, this was a good one! The chipotle peppers give this soup a smoky smooth flavor. It’s a nice departure from the normal corn chowder. But, beware. The first bite of the soup isn’t spicy, so you might be tempted to add more chipotle. Be ye warned – it gets progressively spicier as you eat it. In the end, I felt feel somebody kicked me in the tastebuds. And I liked it.

The fish tacos couldn’t be easier. Why? They’re made of fish sticks! Gasp! Cheating! I know. Fish tacos from frozen fish sticks? What? But they taste so good, and they’re so quick. All you have to do is fancy them up a little with some salsa.

Recipe here: (more…)

This is a very hearty, scoop-it-into-a-bowl-and-get-some-crusty-bread stew which can be made completely vegetarian or a little different by adding lamb or beef. I got it from Elise at Simply Recipes. I think it tastes best when the eggplant, tomatoes, mint, and peppers come from your own garden (or your father-in-law’s).

This stew, as Elise explains it, is beautifully layered, and when each layer of flavor stays in tact, you get different punches of flavor as you eat. You serve it in the same dish that it cooks in, to preserve the layers. However, it also works well layered into a big pot and then just scooped into bowls to serve.

(more…)

Greetings! World Tour 2008 was great, even though we were exhausted. It truly was a whirlwind – we spent 4 days in Saudi Arabia, 4 days in Syria, 4 days in Pakistan, and the rest in transit. I’m going to post some pictures of Syria and Pakistan on here a bit later.

In the meantime, I wanted to share this beautifully misspelled menu item for sale in Medina. There’s not much to be said about it – the picture says enough. Want some?

This is a simple, homey soup with just some basic flavors – not a lot of fancy herbs or spices, just the basics. Onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and the vegetables. And with a simple shortcut, its super quick.

Leeks look like an overgrown scallion and have a mild oniony taste, so you don’t have to start by sautéing onions for this soup…unless you just really like onions. Leeks are a little quirky to work with – the bottom part of a leek, the white part, is grown underground, so the dirt gets inside the layers. With leeks, you cut first, then submerge in water and rinse very well to get the dirt all out.

I used leftover mashed potatoes that I had frozen to make this. The mashed potatoes had spinach and mushrooms in a buttermilk alfredo sauce (this one), so if you wanted to make it the full “Potato, spinach, mushroom, and leek soup” (which I highly recommend), just sautee the mushrooms and spinach along with the leeks.

Recipe here (more…)

This recipe is now featured on KeyIngredient.com! Seeeee?

Also known as “Why Is It So Cold In The Spring In NC” Soup or “We Just Had A Huge Barbeque on Saturday, What Will I Do With All The Leftovers” Soup.

This whole week is rainy and cold. It doesn’t make sense, so I decided to make stew. Yes. Stew solves all problems, including what to do with all of the leftovers from Ameir’s graduation barbeque. These will all be very imprecise measurements, since I was working with leftovers from the fridge. The stew is a combination of guacamole, roasted corn, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and shredded leftover chicken. It came together so quickly, in less than 20 minutes! It also stores well and tastes better the next day.

Recipe here: (more…)

One year ago: Genius Solution to Pollution and Awakening

I love soup, and while tomato isn’t my favorite kind, I get a hankering for it every now and then. When that hankering occurs at midnight, the only thing you can do is grab a can of Campbell’s. *Ick.* I know, I was desparate. I tried to make it better by adding some oven-roasted tomatoes and using milk and chicken broth to dilute it instead of water. Okay, but not great. I had a lot leftover, and I needed something delicious and nutritious while studying for Criminal Law. (yes, yes, I am studying. The Rule of Lenny…uh…Lenity, and all that.)

I’m not sure if this is a jambalaya or just an extremely saucy risotto made with extra-diluted creamy tomato soup-broth. Anyways, it’s very filling and very good and very easy. It took me about 30 minutes maximum from kitchen to sofa, not including the 5 minutes it took me to make the marinade and the 1 hour where the stuff was soaking in the marinade.

Click here for recipe (more…)

This was the perfect dinner on a cold Friday night after a long, long week at school. We curled up watched old LOST episodes with bowls of this spicy, gingery chicken and vegetable braise lushing over rice. Okay, so lushing is not a word, but it somehow describes this meal. This one’s a keeper.

I’ve been wanting to try braising ever since I read a techniques article in Cooking Light a few months ago. So when I found the perfect ingredients in my fridge for an Asian-inspired dish, I decided to try it. Braising the chicken breast was nowhere as complicated as I thought it would be, and it made the chicken very flavorful and soft. I was just learning this technique, so I made it with one half of a chicken breast (cut into two pieces, one each for Ameir and I). It was actually enough for a very filling meal because of all the vegetables and rice.

To braise, you lightly brown the meat first, remove the meat from the pan, and cover the meat with some foil. Then add the vegetables to the same pan, deglaze with the stock, then simmer, then add the meat back and simmer. I added a middle step and simmered the stock with the vegetables before adding the meat. The liquid should not cover the meat, only come up the sides. Also, the key is to only simmer the meat – cooking it slowly is what gives it flavor and softness.

Click here for the recipe (more…)

Ugh….Ameir was a bit fluish and allergy-ish today (surprisingly, he got allergies before I did this year) and I was just plain exhausted. We had rice and stuff in the fridge but we both wanted something soupy.

I took out chicken to defrost so I could make chicken noodle soup, but as I looked at the frozen chunk of chicken, I thought, “I can’t do this today.”

I wanted something quick, easy, and flavorful that reminded me of the yummy shrimp dumpling soup I had at Ayesha’s. This soup was born!

The best parts of this soup are the ginger and the chili sauce. These strong spices clear up your blocked sinuses and the hot broth just feels great after a long day. I mixed chicken and vegetable broth for this, but you could really use whatever kind you wanted. The key is simplicity.

By the way, this gingery-spicy-soy broth also makes for a delicious asian risotto. With the leftovers of the broth, I just mixed in some already cooked leftover white rice and let it cook together, stirring, until it turned into risotto. Not authentic, but fast.

Click for recipe
(more…)