Crockpot Recipes and Ideas

 

Some folks use their slow cooker all year and for very specific purposes. This small kitchen appliance is a life saver for those who can load it up with ingredients, head off to work, and come home at the end of the day to a ready made meal.

Want to know a secret?

Anyone can use it.

Want to know something else?

You don't have to make stew!

Yes, the whole idea of low and slow cooking means you are able to take otherwise tough cuts of meat and turn them into tender bites you can break apart with ease.

But a slow cooker or crockpot can be used for more modern recipes as well as some of Grandma and Grandpa's favorites. AND, you do not have to put it in storage with your winter coats - it can be a great tool all year.

Looking for an easy way to prep pork before you turn it into crave-able carnitas? 

Want to enjoy a jazzy jambalaya without hanging around in the kitchen?

Wondering how you can work more vegetables in your life? Try sneaking some butternut squash into your mac 'n cheese.

Click here for all the details and full recipes for the dishes above as published on the Zulily The Find blog.

Let me know what else you cook in your crockpot and how you are creating new dishes to leave you and your friends and family feeling Fed Well!

What's for lunch? Kid friendly Airfryer ideas and recipes!

 

What's for lunch?

What time is it when you child first asks this question? I know I start thinking about lunch right after I notice my coffee cup is empty.

Whether you have toddlers or teens, are home-schooling, or home for the day, at some point you are thinking about what to make for lunch. 

Tired of the pb&j, left-overs, mac & cheese? Want to make something warm and satisfying?

How about home-made veggie nuggets? Looks and feels like a chicken nugget but filled with veggie goodness and you are in control of the ingredients as well as the cooking.

Here's what you need:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup each boiled or steamed tender carrots, broccoli,       cauliflower - cooled
• ¼ cup of breadcrumbs for filling, extra for dipping formed nuggets in before cooking
• 1 large egg
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat Air Fryer to 400 F.
2. Combine vegetables, ¼ cup breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper.
3. Use a tablespoon or small cookie scoop to portion out veggie mixture into a ball then flatten into a nugget shape.
4. Coat nugget with additional breadcrumbs.

After lunch, head outside for recess and some fun. Grab some sidewalk chalk, bubbles, old containers for mud pies, or maybe it's kite season. Just get out there! Make some memories and have some laughs to help round out the feeling of being Fed Well!

For more quick and kid friendly Airfryer ideas, click here for my full blog on Zulily.

Family that Cooks Together: Empanadas

EMPANADAS

Guess what? Until fairly recently, I had never had an empanada. For those who are not familiar, they are a corn dough filled pocket of goodness that is deep fried and a cousin of all the other hand-held pocket pies like pierogi, ravioli, and even dumplings. While some of the specifics may be different, the basic idea is quite similar.

For those who want to recreate the savory, meat and potato filled empanada at home - I am going to list a basic outline of what we did, as a family, but I have zero exact measurements. This is also another example of mixing and adding things until they look right, taste right, or feel right.

What you will need:

Ingredients

• 2-pound chuck or rump roast
• Garlic
• Onion
• Green onion
• Beef bouillon
• Salt
• 4 - 5 potatoes
• 1 fresh, diced tomato
• Goya Sazón
• Corn meal for the dough
• Vegetable oil
• Water

Tools

• Large pot or deep fryer
• Cookie sheet
• Spider or slotted spoon
• Thermometer for the oil
• Cooling rack
• Large mixing bowls
• Sandwich bag cut open or large piece of plastic wrap
• Small skillet

The steps

1. Cook the meat in a large pot on the stove in water with garlic, onion, green onion, beef bouillon, "a lot" of salt.
2. Remove meat and set aside.
3. Boil potatoes in the same water until soft.
4. Shred the beef.
5. Prepare hogao (sort of like sofrito) of diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, and some Goya Sazón in a small skillet. Once translucent and fragrant, transfer to the pot with the drained, soft potatoes, and add the meat back in.
6. Prepare the dough by mixing pre-cooked corn meal with some Goya Sazón, salt, vegetable oil, and water (this is where you need an expert who can look at it and decide if it needs to be wetter).
7. Set up battle stations for assembly line style. Press out dough into small circles, place 2 large tablespoons of filling, fold over and pinch to seal then create pretty scallop edge with the side of your thumb.
8. Fry in oil brought to 350 degrees until the dough feels firm and crisp.
9. Allow empanadas to drain on rack over cookie sheet.
10. Enjoy.

As you might imagine, the process takes time and is not something that can be rushed.

The four of us working together were able to make more than 70 crispy pockets of deliciousness. Some were given as thank you gifts to friends and others were simply gifted to appreciative family.

We created a memory together, created good food together, and in the end, were all Fed Well.

Beef Stew - Oven, Crock Pot, or Other?

 

Beef Stew

One of my earliest food memories and one of very few memories of my paternal grandmother are of beef stew. 

I was sitting at the kitchen table as my grandmother was transferring her beef stew from a large pot into a bowl or other container to store it in the refrigerator. I was coloring and looked up at the wet, suction sound the gravy made as it had become sort of a pudding like consistency. To four/five year old me, the sound was negative and a bit gross.

"Ew," I said.

"Oh, no," said my grandmother, "It's not ew at all. It's delicious."

And the memory fades like a wisp of smoke.

Beef Stew is a classic with as many variations as our grandmothers had for tomato sauce. Not just in ingredients, but in the cooking method as well.

For me, it's all about a ceramic lined cast iron dutch oven placed in the oven with the lid on for hours - slow and low.

I like to coat beef with flour and brown on the stove, then add onions, carrots, potatoes and celery. Season generously with salt and pepper. Then - here is another area of great variability - deglaze the pan and add the cooking liquid. Sometimes beef broth, with and without a generous scoop of tomato sauce, or a bit of red wine in addition to the beef broth. Yesterday, I tried a better than bouillon product with corresponding amount of water. 

Sometimes I leave the potatoes out and serve over mashed potatoes. Sometimes I serve over egg noodles.

Yesterday, I had my 18 month old grandson help me assemble the ingredients to create a beef stew. I thought of my grandmother and how luck I am to be able to see my grandchildren regularly. I felt a surge of memories, thankfulness, and that Fed Well vibe I love. It's not just about the food, is it? That's what I've been trying to say.

What's your beef stew story?

Tik Tok Hacks for the Kitchen

 

Tik Tok. I thought this app was just a world of young 20 somethings dancing their hearts out to music I have never heard.

Nope.

Like all social media platforms before it, Tik Tok is now being overrun with people of all ages and interests (but yes, I do see a lot of dance videos - not that they are bad).

And, the best part?  I am learning Tik Tok hacks, whether they are shortcuts or tricks both passed down through generations or just created by someone with a bit of visualization and ingenuity.

My first? The salami rose in the photo. Perfect for charcuterie boards! You line the salami inside the top of a wine glass or champagne flute, then turn it over to release the rose, and look at that! A pretty way to present salami.

Next up - cookie sheets. Do you have a bit of yuck on the edges of your cookie sheets or underneath that never seems to clean? The answer? Put them in your oven, turn the self-clean feature on and that's it. When you return - sparkling clean cookie sheets.

Another way to peel hard boiled eggs. Place an egg in a glass. Allow the egg to shake back and forth in the glass for a few seconds. Remove egg and when you start to remove the peel, it should come off in a big chunk.

There are a bazillion more but these are the ones I was most excited to share with you right away! This app is perfectly okay for those of us who just want to watch a few videos, a bit of light escape, and then resume our regularly scheduled life. I was/am a bit addicted as a new viewer but for now, I am finding lots of tips for feeling and being Fed Well! Special thanks to Karla for encouraging me to jump into the deep end of the pool.

Chaffles, Kale Chips, & Keto Friendly Snack Recipes

 

Want to know a secret? I am not on a keto diet but I do enjoy a wide variety of foods and snacks so I will often check out styles of eating and see if I find some new recipes. Guess what? Keto friendly does not mean you have to eat a pound of bacon. It's about low carb, low sugar (carb) and I have to say, I love kale chips. I've already written about that in my Cooking with Kids post. (Try swapping out thinly sliced zucchini for the kale).

In my blog post for Zulily (click here), I list 6 easy recipes. The first is for Chaffles.  

CHAFFLES 

Simply combine the words “cheese” and “waffle” – that is the definition of a chaffle. Try this basic 2– or 3–ingredient recipe to begin, or customize it with your own add–ins (bacon? chives? walnuts or pecans?)

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 large egg 
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheddar are most popular) 
• 1 teaspoon of coconut or almond flour, if desired 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Combine ingredients in a bowl. 
2. Pour mixture into a greased and warmed waffle maker. 
3. Cook approximately 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown. 
4. Allow to cool before eating. 

And, like all great food ideas, you can build on this idea and create a snack that suits your mood. A dessert version is also available in the link above.

The latest trend I have seen on Tik Tok is to place a layer of cheese in a waffle maker, cook, open the waffle maker and add sliced pickles, then another layer of cheese and cook some more. Hand held, crispy, salty, sour, savory - however you want it and FAST! That's the thing about snacks right? You need it - right now!

That is why these things:

are still around and making money!

What are some of your snack recipes? What keeps you going and feeling Fed Well between meals?

Spaghetti Squash Recipes and Ideas

Can you really substitute spaghetti squash for pasta? Why not? Who rights the rules anyway?

For all the details on how to prep the squash and for three easy recipes including Spaghetti Squash Sausage Boats and Spaghetti Squash Shrimp Scampi, check out my Zulily post here.

Some other ways to work this vegetable into your pre-existing recipes, try:

1. Sub for pasta layers in classic lasagna.

2. Try it with chicken parmesan.

3. Go ahead and work it in to your alfredo, marsala, and carbonara dinners.

4. Top it with chili.

5. Use it as a gluten-free pizza crust.

6. Mix in a casserole with sausage, peppers, and onions.

7. Combine with barbecue sauce and create meatless sliders.

8. Plate as a base for your favorite fish.

9. Toss with roasted kale leaves, olive oil, and garlic and a sprinkle of parmesan.

10. Use in addition to pasta in your favorite dishes.

I wonder if you could use it to make a fritter or pancake in the same way you would use shredded potato? Maybe mix with a little flour and egg and try it in the waffle maker? Hmmmm. 

It's nice to have choices and variety and spaghetti squash can certainly be worked in to your regularly plated meals. AND, when you belong to the clean plate club like I do, you will have absolutely no guilt while feeling Fed Well!