Crock Pot Southwestern Three-Bean Stew with Delicious Toppings

It's been said a million times before, but I'll say it again for good measure: Slow cookers are are a busy person's best friend. With a teeny bit of planning and an idea or two, you can have dinner hot and ready for you when you come in the door at night. Though the charming Stephanie O'Dea (better known as the Crock Pot Lady of Crockpot 365) has found a way to cook nearly anything you can think of in her slow cookers, and I do love her recipes, I still think there are a few things that are especially good when cooked all day long, and both beans and stews are on this list.

This stew has pinto beans, chickpeas and 2 types of lentils, but black beans, navy beans, black eyed peas or almost any other bean would also be delicious.

This seems like a ton of ingredients, but if you keep yourself stocked in spices, the odds are pretty good that you will have just about everything on hand. Also keep in mind that you can buy "bean soup mixes" of assorted beans, so my measurements on the bean front might be totally irrelevant. All the better (and easier) for you! So this is totally open to adaptation. I also ended up adding some red pepper flakes at the very end because I was afraid of throwing in too much cayenne earlier in the day. And there's always Sriracha!

For this recipe you will need a 2 or 3 qt crock pot, and some understanding of how it cooks. Some machines will need slightly more or less liquid for a similar effect based on temperature and the fit of the lid, but I would say as long as you've used yours a few times, you should have a good sense of this. This recipe seems to make about 3 servings.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup dry chickpeas

1/4 cup dry pinto beans

1/4 cup brown lentils

1/4 cup red lentils

1 medium red potato, cubed-ish

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp taco seasoning, or 1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt, seasoned or regular

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1 envelope Saizon seasoning, cilantro and anchiote, made by Goya

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 jalapeno, diced and seeded

1 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth (subject to the behavior of your machine)

Cheese for topping (optional, but I used Monterrey jack)

1 green onion, thinly sliced

Fresh cilantro, to taste, torn

Tortilla chips (optional)

Directions:

1. The Day Before: Rinse, and soak beans in refrigerator, allowing plenty of room for them to expand (about 30% more space) and covering with at least two inches of water. Soak for 12-24 hours, changing the water at least twice in this period.

2. Place beans, spices, jalapeno, potato, garlic, and water or broth in the crock pot, and cook on "low" for about 9 hours. 

3. When beans are tender, serve and top with green onion, cheese and cilantro. Bonus points if you also serve tortilla chips for scooping.

The whole point of the crock pot is that you don't have to be home to check on it, but if you are, checking once in the afternoon will give you a better sense of how long it will really take. You can bump it up to "high" for a brief period if you need to, since most machines estimate that 1 hour on high is about equivalent to 2 1/2 hours on low. Handy! Though I don't recommend cooking it on "high" the whole time, since everything will get a bit mushy.

My verdict on this is "Good," but to me not great, since I think it could have used a bit more spice, but this is easily remedied. Use your favorite spices or try new ones, but if you ask me, the cheese and cilantro are crucial. Try this soup with some sliced avocado on top. Yum!

Quote of the Day: Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top. ~ Edward Abbey

Chipotle Tempeh & Black Bean Burritos

In the wonderful world of meatless cooking, tempeh has the firmest, "meatiest" texture of everything I've tried so far. In Indonesia, It's traditionally been made of soy, but these days you can also find a multi grain version, which also sounds interesting and is perhaps a food for another post on another day. But if you're not familiar with it, like I wasn't, soy or grain, it will look pretty weird (brick-like) to you. Tofu and tempeh are both made from soy, but tempeh is far higher in protein (a beefy 22 g per serving!) as well as fiber and other good stuff. I think it would also be delicious when grilled or in a stir fry, so I'm excited to have discovered another do-anything-you-want-with-it ingredient. With more deceptive seasonings, I think you could serve these and nobody would know that there wasn't any meat involved.

 I crumbled my tempeh and marinated it in some spicy chipotle dressing that I had on hand. You could use something similar, like a store-bought dressing or just some oil, vinegar and spices, but I certainly recommend whipping up a batch of your own. If you're anything like me, once you do, you'll be putting it on everything under the sun. With all the toppings, this recipe makes about 4-6 servings:

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 12 oz. package tempeh, crumbled (I used the brand Lightlife)

1 1/5 cups fully cooked black beans or 1 15 oz. can, rinsed and drained

1 13 1/2 oz. can tomatoes with green chilies or 2-3 plum tomatoes, diced and seeded, tossed with salt and pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder if you want (clearly this is the slapdash version that yours truly used)

If using fresh tomatoes instead of canned: 1/2 cup vegetable stock or broth

about 1/4 cup chipotle dressing

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

3 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped

multi-grain tortillas

Salt and pepper 

Olive oil

Your favorite toppings: Salsa, sour cream, guacamole, shredded lettuce, etc
(I used guacamole, taco cheese, and the tomato salsa mixture above)

Directions:

1. Toss your crumbled tempeh into a ziplock baggie with the chipotle dressing, or your oil-vinegar-spices marinade. Shake it up and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or as long as all day. (It soaks it all up, it's amazing).

2. In a saucepan, prepare your brown rice according to the package directions.

3. In a large frying pan, heat about 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, and cook the onion for about 5 minutes, or until transparent. Add garlic and cook for about 1 more minute, then add spices and salt.

4. Add tempeh and cook for about another 5 minutes, until it's lightly browned. Add black beans and canned tomatoes, if using, and let cook together for about 15 minutes. If you are using a fresh tomato mixture like I did, use it like a fresh salsa topping rather than cooking it with the beans, and instead add the vegetable broth at this time.

5. Spoon some brown rice into a tortilla, add the tempeh mixture and your toppings, and enjoy!

Assembly Phase 1

Phase 2: Fully assembled & super messy in the most delicious way

 These were definitely, definitely delicious, and I think that the chipotle marinade made a big impact on the final outcome. I didn't have any fresh cilantro on hand, but the cilantro in that dressing still came through. I was afraid they might be missing something without the canned tomato, but to my taste, I think this is even more tasty (and definitely more fresh-tasting) than the canned-version would have been. And don't get me wrong, I love tofu, but tempeh is much more "absorbent" when it comes to soaking up flavors. Combined with its substantial texture... What more could you want?

[And if you can find a decent quote about tempeh, I shall eat my hat.]

Cold Avocado Soup & Grilled Cumin Chicken with Grape Tomato Salad

Some of you may recall a recipe from the infancy of this blog that involved a rather fail-tastic creamy avocado salad dressing. Since the inspiration for that actually came from an avocado soup recipe I had seen about a week before, I am happy to say that I finally got around to making the chilled avocado soup that I have been longing for since then. And it's good. Really good.

I didn't change this recipe much at all, except making the executive decision that 1 1/2 avocados were needed, owing to their substandard size. I also used a small bit of onion instead of the shallot because somehow, between my grocery store and my home, I lost the darn thing. From Delish.com:

Ingredients:

1 medium avocado, peeled and pitted

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

1/2 seedless cucumber, chopped

2 Tablespoons plain yogurt (I used fat-free Greek-style)

2 Tablespoons fresh mint, plus 1 sprig

4 teaspoons lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons salt - I used 1

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 radish, chopped

1 cup cold water

Directions:

1. Place cucumber, avocado, shallot, yogurt, 2 tablespoons mint, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin and cold water in a food processor and process until smooth.

2. Chill for at least one hour before serving. Serve garnished with radish and remaining mint leaves.

My mother recently treated me to some lovely new place mats under the promise that they would soon appear on this blog. I'm sorry, Mom - Next time! <3

 I was surprised at how pronounced the cumin was, but it was certainly not overbearing. You could cut it down a bit if you want to but I think it adds a lot to the soup. We had a soup course (fancy, right?) with some French bread followed by the chicken with a bit of tomato salad. This is one of my summer favorites: Just some grape tomatoes, cut in half, with some sliced green onion, olive oil, salt and pepper and a little white wine vinegar. So simple, summery, and yummy - with room temperature tomatoes, of course.

 The chicken portion of this recipe is lifted from this recipe, which I originally served with grilled nectarine, blackberry-raspberry salsa and grilled polenta. What is it about the combination of cumin and grill-marks? Yum.

Quote of the Day: The avocado is a food without rival among the fruit, the veritable fruit of paradise. ~ David Fairchild

Also, I just learned that avocado pits, when thoroughly cleaned and dried, make excellent cat toys because of the irregular rolling motion caused by their lopsided shape. The more you know.

Edit: Despite the chicken, I've marked this as vegetarian due to the soup recipe.

Grilled Chicken & Polenta with Nectarine-Blackberry Salsa

"Grilled," in my case, means grilled in a grill pan on my stove, but if you're the outdoor-grilling kind, this would be equally tasty cooked al fresco.

I got this recipe from EatingWell.com, and except for cutting the whole thing in half, I really didn't change it. I just added a little green onion and upped the fruit ratio from two nectarines for four servings to two for two, and added about 6 or 8 raspberries, since they are one of my all-time favorite foods, and also a berry, so why not. I don't know what "coarsely chopped" means when it comes to berries, so I just sliced them in half vertically, and that worked out just dandy.

Yum.

I found the instructions from the original recipe to be written in kind of a confusing way, so here's my redo:

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 nectarines, halved and pitted

1/2 tube of plain prepared polenta

1/3 pint of blackberries, and a palm-full of raspberries

1 1/2 tsp. cumin

1 1/2 tsp. lime juice

about 1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1 green onion, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced

Hot sauce, to taste (I used 1/2 tsp Sriracha)

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, cumin, and a bit of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the mixture on polenta, and both sides of the chicken. Then cut the polenta into discs, about 1/2 inch thick, and rub a little olive oil on the cut side of the nectarines.

2. Place the chicken, polenta slices and nectarines on the grill, or in your grill pan. [If you are using a real-life grill, you should oil the grill rack before doing this.] Grill the polenta until hot and slightly charred, 3-4 minutes, then transfer it to a plate and tent it with tin foil to keep polenta warm. Grill the nectarines, turning occasionally, until tender, 6-8 minutes total. Grill the chicken until cooked and no longer pink inside, 6-8 minutes per side. Transfer chicken and nectarines to a cutting board. Coarsely chop the nectarines. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then slice.

3. While the chicken rests, combine the lime juice, hot sauce, and a bit of salt in a large or medium bowl. Then add the chopped nectarines, blackberries, cilantro, and green onion. Gently combine.

4. Serve chicken and polenta on a platter with salsa over the top, or individually.

I have to be honest about a couple of things. For one, my nectarines were tiny jerks. They were definitely ripe. They were slightly soft to the squeeze, fragrant, colorful... ripe. But when it came to giving up those pits, they were totally unwilling. So I ended up quartering my nectarines, in favor of mushing them into a pulp trying to remove the pits. I can't imagine that this made much of a difference to the dish, but still. Full disclosure. Also, because I know my taste, I used more cilantro - maybe 1 3/4 tbs instead of 1. I served this dish with just a little bit of green salad, but with all the fruit, you almost don't really need it.

This fruit salsa was super, super delicious. The combination of sweet and just the tiniest bit spicy is a fantastic combination. I would make this again with a variety of other main dishes. Also, grilling nectarines is a brilliant idea! (It wasn't my idea, so I can say that). Sometime soon I will serve warm grilled nectarines with whipped cream. And someday I will try the salsa sans the Sriracha and onion over waffles for a weekend breakfast. (Wow, that's a really exciting idea...)

I know that a grill pan isn't the same as the real deal, but if you don't have access to a grill, you should really consider getting one of these pans. You can get those satisfying grill marks, create crispy skin on your chicken and blacken veggie kabobs with the best of them. For this dish, the pan made a huge difference. Happy grilling!

Quote of the Day: Grilling is like sunbathing. Everyone knows it is bad for you but no one ever stops doing it. ~ Laurie Colwin, 'Home Cooking' (1988)

Black Bean Bowls with Brown Rice, Sweet Corn Salsa & Spicy Chipotle Dressing

If I had to choose a single favorite "fast food," it wouldn't be chicken nuggets, burgers, or even fresh, hot french fries. It would be just about anything from Chipotle. My main faves are the salad (usually with chicken) and burrito bowls, but the dressing is the thing I really crave. So tonight I thought I would try making a burrito bowl with black beans, a sweet corn and cherry-tomato salsa, and a chipotle dressing experiment all over brown rice.

 Altogether, you will need:

1 (dry) cup brown rice

1 can black or pinto beans, or about 3/4 cup dry, soaked overnight and cooked

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

1 cup fresh tomato, chopped and seeded

1 handful of fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 small can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (in the ethnic or Mexican food aisle)

1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice, separated 

1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped 

1 teaspoon cumin

1 packet (about 1 teaspoon) of Truvia, Splenda, or white sugar (or an estimated 2 tsp brown sugar)

White, apple cider, red or rice wine vinegar

White and pale green part of 1 green onion, sliced

1 or 2 avocados for slicing, or guacamole

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Beans & Rice
The black beans are super simple. I soaked some dry beans in the fridge overnight, and crock-potted them all day long on low. If you use this method, be sure to allow enough room in the soaking container for the beans to expand up to 50%, and cover with about two inches of water. Be sure to rinse your beans after soaking, and replace the water before crocking, again making sure there is at least enough to cover the beans with an inch of water.  When they're done, drain and let cool, then combine with about half of your chopped cilantro. I'll be honest, though: I'm just guessing at the "3/4 cup" business. I always make much more black beans than I think I will use in a particular recipe, because I love having some around for quick and easy salads with some chopped bell pepper, onion, cilantro and lemon juice, or some other concoction. This is a lunchtime life-saver.

If you're using canned beans, just rinse them super thoroughly before adding your cilantro and a little drizzle of olive oil. The rice, also, will be super easy: Just cook it according to package directions, adding a little salt and pepper. I like to serve everything on top of the rice, but you can combine the rice and beans if you prefer. I personally think that the rice should be warm, but you can serve the beans either warm or chilled. This might be dictated by your schedule, which probably means you're a busy person, in which case, look at you, hotshot! Good for you for cooking anyway.

Corn & Tomato Salsa
This is a fantastic way to use leftover corn-on-the-cob. Tomatoes have much, much more flavor at room temperature, so take them out an hour or so before making the salsa. For this recipe, you can use fresh or frozen corn, with any sort of fresh tomato that you have handy. If you choose frozen corn, add about a cup to boiling water and cook it for about two minutes. Drain and refrigerate for 10 minutes to a couple of hours before adding the tomatoes, depending on what fits best for your schedule. Combine the corn with a cup of chopped, seeded tomatoes, the green onion, a little salt and pepper, a small drizzle of olive oil and the teaspoon of lemon juice. Refrigerated, this salad-ish salsa will keep for a few days, but is definitely best when fresh.

Finally, the Dressing!

This is the fun part of this meal. I had never cooked anything with chipotle peppers, or adobo sauce before, but they are definitely the key to this recipe. I hear you can buy minced peppers in adobo. I used whole, but since I made this in a food processor, it didn't really matter. If you don't have a food processor or a blender, minced peppers are the way to go. Just whisk together a minced clove of garlic (instead of chopped), a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper, a couple teaspoons of vinegar, the powdered sweetener or sugar, cumin, and about a tablespoon of pepper-and-sauce mixture. You should finely chop the cilantro if you are using this method.

Some of you may be thinking, "Why would you put sugar in this dressing? Isn't it supposed to be spicy?", to which I would answer "Because I said so," and "Yes." Just kidding. I wouldn't say "because I said so." But yes, it is supposed to be hot. The sugar or sweetener enhances the flavor by slightly de-emphasizing the heat of the peppers, letting you focus more on the delicious flavorfulness of it. Isn't that handy?

I scooped up two whole peppers and the sauce mixture that came along with them. In a food processor, I blended the same ingredients as listed above. It was spicy. A bit TOO spicy. So I quartered a cherry tomato, added that, and blended a bit more, just to counteract the heat of it. (I'm sure everybody knows this by now, but if you eat something uncomfortably spicy, don't drink water! Drink milk, or eat a tomato or bit of bread to get rid of that burning feeling). This is a taste-as-you-go recipe, for sure. If you want more heat, add more pepper and sauce, or if it's much too hot, add more fresh tomato to mellow it out. It will be equally tasty either way. Similarly, if it seems too thick to you, add a bit more oil and vinegar. If you have a very basic vinaigrette around, you could also cut it with that, but I wouldn't want to introduce any new herbs to the equation.

I assembled this dish by spooning some cooked brown rice into a pasta bowl (or, paradoxically, "soup plates"), followed by the beans, then the corn salsa. I served the dressing on the side, on the off chance that it would pool menacingly with the brown rice, creating tiny whole-gran firebombs. I also served guac on the side, at which point I really wished I'd gotten tortilla chips. No matter! Chips or no, guac is a delicious addition. You could also serve this with some sliced avocado. Our grocery store had avocados in two states this week: Rock and Mush, so instead we picked up an all-natural packaged guacamole.

There is rice under there somewhere...

This is super delicious. Awesomely delicious. Deliciously awesome. I would never ask that obnoxiously ignorant question, "What DO vegans eat, anyway?!" because I have some idea. But more than that, I can tell you, this is what they/you ought to be eating. Along with everybody else. You could add some grilled chicken if you felt like it, but this is completely nutritious, satisfying, and hearty just the way it is. I hope you'll try it!

Brined Dijon Pork Chops, Crock Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes & Baby Spinach Salad

Yeah, that title is a bit of a mouthful. (Get it?)

I love terrible puns. The worse, the better. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.

Okay, but on the serious: I find pork chops very frustrating. My dad and his partner Kathy will insist - and I am sure rightfully so - that the pork available in stores today pales in comparison to the fatty, moist, flavorful pork of their youth. They may even tell you not to bother with it at all. (If you've tried my dad's crown roast, though, you would strongly disagree). But personally, I see it as a challenge to marinate, brown, and perfectly cook (generally braise) it into a tender and moist cut of meat. So far, I wouldn't say that I have succeeded, exactly.

I've cooked a few that were pretty tasty, but none that have been outstanding, and tonight's was no exception. What was different this time, though, is that I brined the two boneless chops for over 36 hours. Still, a tiny bit dry. (What's a girl gotta do?!) I lightly browned both sides over medium-low heat in a grill pan, then covered and let them cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. The meat retained the tiniest bit of sweetness from the brine, which was great with the dijon mustard that I marinated it in post-brining. I'm only partially clear on the science behind brining, so perhaps it was the combo of salt&sugar brine and mustard that inhibited its juiciness. It was a flavorful but still slightly dry result.

I can't really explain the odd pattern of the grill-marks...

The LIFE CHANGING part of tonight's dinner is the concept of baking potatoes in a crock pot. Who knew you could do that? Not me. At least, not until I read this. I skipped the limes and rubbed the spuds with seasoned salt, cumin and garlic powder. I also forgot to stab them with a fork before wrapping them up in aluminum, but they didn't explode, so all's well that ends well. Ours cooked on high for about 7 hours, but that's just as much because of my schedule as their actual required cooking time. They may have been done at 5 hours, but if they were, they surely didn't suffer for it.

These sweet potatoes came out PERFECTLY. The skin was crispy and the flesh was buttery soft with a slightly oozy sugary goop-glaze. This might have happened differently if I had stabbed them, but I'm not totally sure. Either way, I am very happy with both the result and the process, and when the craving strikes, you too can have a fully-loaded baked potato in the middle of summer without having to evacuate your overheated kitchen. My two-quart crock pot (the "baby" to the 5-quarter) snugly held two medium-large tubers. I was surprised how subdued the cumin flavor became though. Next time I will probably try a more varied blend of spices. Naturally, I served them with a little butter.

For color and "balance," I tossed some baby spinach greens with oil and my new favorite salad vinegar, the apple cider variety. This is such a simple thing, but the three components of this meal worked so well together that I think I will make sweet potatoes and spinach salad a more frequent combination. We were pretty happy!

Quote of the Day: “It is a solemn thought: Dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork” ~ Mark Twain

Crock Pot Falafel from Crockpot 365

I have Stephanie O'Dea, better known in some circles as The Crockpot Lady, to thank for many of my favorite go-to recipes. Between her adventurous cooking and frank reporting, her blog is pretty great.

And in my opinion, one of her best - and most surprising - recipes is falafel that you cook in your crock pot.*

 _________________________________________

 Stephanie's Recipe:

Ingredients

1 15oz can garbanzo beans (chick peas)

- 1/2 onion, chopped

-1 T dried parsley

- 2 cloves minced garlic

- 1 egg

- 1 t kosher salt

- 1/4 t black pepper

- 2 t ground cumin

- 1 t ground coriander

- 1/4 t cayenne pepper

- juice from 1 lemon 

- 1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs 

- 2 T olive oil (for the bottom of your crock)

Directions

Drain garbanzo beans. Dump them into a mixing bowl and smash them with a fork. Set aside.

Get out your blender or food processor. Blend together all of the spices, the onion, the garlic, the egg, and the lemon juice.

Pour on top of your smashed garbanzo beans. Use your fork to mix together, and add the breadcrumbs slowly until the mixture is wet and sticky but can be formed into balls nicely. I needed 3/4 of a cup of breadcrumbs.

Pour 2 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crock pot stoneware insert.

Form squished golf-ball sized patties of falafel. Dip each side into the olive oil and then nestle into your crockpot. It's okay if they overlap or are on top of each other.

Cook on high for 2-5 hours. You will know that the falafels are done when they turn brownish-golden. You can flip them halfway through the cooking time if you feel like it, but they will brown on top even without flipping.

 _________________________________________

My "mise." Silly little lemon juice container not pictured, because I feel kind of lame about it.

See? EASY. And honestly, out of sheer laziness I sent my chickpeas for a spin in my food processor until chopped instead of mashing them. I still do recommend mixing the ingredients in the order she describes, though. (I just dumped the chickpeas out after chopping and added them back in later). I use a Ninja Master Prep and apart from a somewhat annoying-to-clean lid design, I'm a big fan.

This is one recipe that I follow without messing around with it. Which is a pretty big compliment.

And by "not messing around," I mean that I only changed the following:

- I always cook with dry beans, so I cooked my chickpeas the day before. (Wonderfully, chickpeas don't need to be soaked). The equivalent of a 15 oz can is just under 2 cups of cooked chickpeas. Dry beans are MUCH cheaper by volume, and I hugely prefer soaking and cooking them to wondering exactly what goop my beans are canned in, and why they taste like nickels.

- I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of a fresh lemon, just because that's what I had on hand.

- Instead of the half onion, I used a bit of white and a bit of red onion, and instead of Kosher salt I used regular, for the same reason as the lemon juice substitution.

Happy little falafels cooking in my 2-quart crock pot.

I served them in wheat pitas with lettuce, tomato, and a quick tzatziki I made with fat free plain yogurt, a little lemon juice, dried dill, and salt and pepper.

Truthfully, I've never had "real" falafel - that is, the deep-fried kind. But, Brady insists that these taste just the same, except obviously not the fried part. Even better!

* If you want to get particular, "CrockPot" is a particular brand of the general appliance variety known as the "slow cooker." I grew up calling them all crock pots, so that's what you get. But whatever you call them, they are magical and fantastic, and definitely NOT just for soup.