You Say You Want a Revolution….

Layer upon layer upon layer

A quinoa one, that is. Quinoa has been a super food winner for the last couple of years, and I’ve been on that bandwagon since living in Chile, where it has always been a commonly found staple food, and for good reason – it tastes great, is easy to cook, is suitable for those with wheat allergies, and of course is extremely good for you.

There is a plethora (I just wanted to use that word cos’ it’s a cool one!) of quinoa cookbooks around these days, and I eagerly scour through every new one that comes in at my work. The recipe below is adapted from Cabbage Crockpot Casserole, from Patricia Green & Carolyn Hemming’s new cookbook, Quinoa Revolution.

I don’t usually go in for crockpot recipes that involve a heap of pre-preparation – I do like to just throw it all in – but I had plenty of time on this day so was happy to brown the mince before putting it in the crockpot, and it was simple enough to do. Everything else is just layered over the top and then it is switched on and ignored for the day.

I don’t feel the passata on the top added anything really, so next time I will just leave that top bit out – it doesn’t really mix in through the rest, and just stays as a layer of tomato “paste”, when you serve it. Just tinned tomatoes is enough I think.

Layered Beef Casserole

1 tbsp olive oil

500 gms minced beef

1 brown onion, cut into wedges

4 slices rindless bacon, fat cut off, roughly chopped

3/4 cup red quinoa

1 green capsicum, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 green cabbage, roughly chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

400 gm can diced tomatoes

700 ml bottle bought passata

Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok, and saute the beef for a couple of minutes, stirring to break up lumps, until lightly browned. Drain in a colander and if it is a fatty mince, rinse through with hot water.

Place meat in crockpot. Place all other ingredients on mince, layered in the order given.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH 4 hours.

If desired, serve with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable, or salad and garlic bread.

Serves 4-6

I don’t think this wins a lot of points for looks, but the flavours are great.

Happy Fooding!

Crockpot Chicken Casserole

The weather in Perth has been crap lately! Whilst bushfires and awful heat is raging on the East coast, here the warm weather just won’t properly start. We get a couple of warm days full of promise, in fact yesterday got quite warm, but the nights are still freeing and then the cold and rain comes back. It’s really been awful, and I am soooooo over wearing Winter clothes. I am hanging out for shorts and little Summer dresses! It is quite weird, as usually our heat has already started and the East is still getting the cold….not the other way around.

As with clothes, the weather is still making me feel like stews and soups, to go with being cosy inside listening to the rain pouring down (we had the wettest September here since 1930, and October has been wetter than normal too).

This warming comfort dish was not intended to be blog material…..I just threw the stuff in the crockpot thinking well it won’t be anything to write home about, but I’ll be at work all day and it will be great to come home to something cooked. No one to eat it but me, so if it’s not exciting it will still be nutritious and give me some leftovers as well.

I was pleasantly surprised! The chicken was tender and literally had fallen apart, so there is no need to cut it into chunks beforehand – just throw it all in. You could double it for a larger family meal too.

Chicken Casserole

600-700 gms skinless chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat

400 gm can cream of celery soup

1/2 cup chicken stock

6 baby potatoes

2 carrots, peeled & cut into chunks

1 large brown onion, cut into wedges

1 large red chilli, finely chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tbsp plain flour (use gluten-free cornflour if you are GF)

Place the chicken, potatoes and carrots in crockpot. Mix the soup, stock, onion, chilli and cracked pepper together in a bowl, and pour over the chicken.

Cook on LOW for 7 hours.

Blend the flour with a little cold water, into a smooth paste. Add this to the crockpot and give it a stir.

Cook for a further 1 hour.

Serves 3-4 depending on whether you serve it with side dishes or not.

Happy Fooding!

Turkey Talk

I do love Christmas. Yes, I know it’s only September…..but David Jones‘ Christmas Shop opened in the last week of August, and for me that’s the “Christmas time is here” green light! And yes, I’ve done some present shopping already, but that’s cos’ I am a super nerd and do it all year round, with a permanent gift ideas list on my computer.

I spent last Christmas in Melbourne with family, but at the last minute before I flew East, I picked up a Coles brand frozen turkey breast roll on special, thinking it might be good if I have the opportunity to host a late Christmas dinner (or Christmas in July even). Said dinner never eventuated, and this week I have been trying to whittle away at what’s in my freezer, in order to give a it a darn good de-frosting.

I found the turkey and one morning this week before work, suddenly thought omg I wonder if I could cook this in the crockpot, from frozen? These breast roll things are cookable from frozen, in the oven, so I thought why not try it in the crockpot. I looked up a few websites and forums, and opinion is divided about whether you should or shouldn’t do this – but I figured I would just give it a go and if it wasn’t cooked properly I would just throw it away – I really did need to use this turkey up after so long (although the use by date is next Feb, which seems a long time to me – 14 months from date of purchase).

I removed the plastic wrapping and placed foil over the top of the turkey’s foil tray. I then placed it in the crockpot with 2 cups of water in the bottom. The turkey was a 1kg sized one (not huge but remember it’s all meat, no bone or waste, so does actually go a long way) and I cooked it on LOW for 9 hours. When I came home from work, I took it out and let it rest for 20 minutes, and it was perfect! Possibly it was even overcooked a bit, but because of the way it was cooked, it was not dry at all and really was melt-in-your-mouth stuff.

I am really glad I now know this works well, as it is always good to have lots of alternative cooking options at Christmas when everyone is sooooo busy, and the oven is often in use for other things.

Happy Early Christmas Fooding!

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

Don’t be fooled by the title above and the ingredients below – this actually does not taste sweet! I think the soy sauce counter-balances the juice and sugar, making it just right.

Simple and tasty, this recipe is based on one of those random facebook postings that you get, designed as a sort of ad but giving you something to entice you into clicking the link. There are a lot of those popping up in people’s feeds lately I’ve noticed – not just recipes, but also a lot of home-remedy cleaning tips. I never click on the links, but I do sometimes write down the recipe ideas, and this one worked really well.

Definitely use thigh fillets here and not breast, as it will be way too dry with breast.

Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken

1 kg chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of any fat/skin

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup light soy sauce

cracked pepper

1 tbsp cornflour

2 tbsp cold water

1 cup sugar snap peas

Combine chicken, pineapple juice, sugar, soy sauce and pepper in crockpot. Mix well and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours.

Blend cornflour and water then add this and the peas, to the crockpot. Stir to blend and cook for a further 1 hour.

Serve with black rice, yoghurt & naan bread if desired.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Beef Stroganoff

I’m eating meat again at the moment, although not much, and I couldn’t resist trying this delightfully simple crockpot Beef Stroganoff recipe from Best Recipes, on the weekend. I love this recipe site, and this beef dish will now be a firm favourite. Not only was it easy, but it tasted fabulous and the consistency was perfect – rich and creamy just like a stroganoff should be.

I did it on LOW so all up it was 8 hours cooking time – the 5 hours they say at the top of the recipe is if you cook on HIGH.

This definitely serves 6 as the recipe states, and could actually serve more if you have it as part of other dishes – great for a party buffet. I didn’t bother cooking pasta and green beans, as suggested, because I knew it would be very filling and there’s only me to feed – I just had a little black rice with mine. I have lots of leftovers in the freezer now!

Happy Fooding!

Barley Risotto

I’ve been quiet….I’ve been away in Brisbane at the Koala Convention embroidery conference…..I’ve been busy working a lot……and life just takes over sometimes.

I also haven’t been cooking much, or at least not cooking things I haven’t already shared with you. I did make this yummy barley risotto in my crockpot last week – the recipe is from a magazine and was not stipulated for slow cooking, but I wanted to throw it in before I went to work and see how it turned out. It was pretty good actually, and certainly very easy. The only downside was, the leftovers weren’t that satisfactory – I had a serving cold for lunch, and a serving heated up for dinner, and in both cases it was kind of gelatinous. I have no idea what’s in barley that makes this happen but anyway it wasn’t the best from a texture/presentation point of view. Tasted okay though and certainly the original cooking was great.

Barley Risotto

1 leek, thinly sliced

1 cup pearl barley

4 cups chicken stock (I use Massell brand which is vegetarian, gluten-free etc)

2 small or 1 large zucchini, chopped

1 bunch asparagus, chopped

100 gms green beans, cut into 3cm pieces

cracked pepper, to taste

grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Add all ingredients to crockpot except parmesan.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve in individual bowls topped with parmesan to taste.

Happy Fooding!

Mulling Over This One….

This Mulled Pork recipe looked excellent on the face of it – anything that calls for a whole bottle of red wine can’t be bad! I did enjoy it; however, the meat was too dry, particularly with the leftovers the next day. The flavours were fabulous and my flat smelled amazing – lots of citrus and red wine and cinnamon and cloves in the air – it was quite Christmasy in fact!

The dish is adapted from a recipe from More Than a Schnitzel, a German cookbook recently acquired by my library. I will make this again quite happily, but use beef instead of pork – slow cooking for 8-10 hours is just too much for pork, in this instance. Venison would probably be good with these flavours, but might also dry out I suspect.

Mulled Pork

1 kg diced pork

750 mls red wine (I used a Merlot)

2 1/2 tbsp brandy

juice and zest of 2 oranges

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 tbsp brown sugar

6 cloves

1/4 cup raisins

1 tbsp beef stock powder

4 apples, sliced

3 onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tbsp cornflour

Place all ingredients except cornflour in crockpot bowl, and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours (or leave overnight in fridge).

Place bowl into crockpot base and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. About an hour before serving, mix the cornflour with a little cold water and blend to a smooth paste. Add this to the meat and stir through.

Serves 4-6

Happy Fooding!

Crockpot Vegetable Chilli

Healthy and filling, this slow cooker chilli is the perfect example of the ‘chuck it all in and turn it on’ philosophy that slow cookers are all about. To me, a slow cooker should be about convenience, so the recipes where you still have to saute things on the stove first etc are just not my idea of fun. I want my crockpot to serve my needs, and this chilli suits the slow cooker ideal so well. Plus, it tastes great!

Vegetable Chilli

2 medium zucchini (OR 1 large eggplant), chopped

1 green or red capsicum, chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled & chopped

2 celery sticks, sliced (optional – include leaves as well)

2 brown onions, chopped

425 gm can chopped tomatoes

425 gm can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 tsp chilli paste

2 tsp cumin, ground

225 jar salsa (hot)

140 gms tomato paste

425 gm can corn kernels, drained

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve with rice or tortillas.

It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Happy Fooding!

Tangy Lemon Chicken

Ready to turn on

Recipes with unusual ingredients often catch my eye, so this VERY easy crockpot chicken dish from A Year of Slow Cooking was something I really had to try – it is very economical, so I figured if it was a disaster I hadn’t wasted too much money on special purchases.

The blog this recipe is from, is apparently so well known in the US now that the blogger, Stephanie O’Dea has released several books of her crockpot recipes – good on her! I’m sure we would all like to become famous, a la Julie & Julia, but as my most recent “income” from my blog was 16 cents, it isn’t going to happen for me just yet lol.

The surprise ingredient of lemon flavoured jelly crystals (jello in USA) was what caught my eye – I thought hmmmm this could be supremely good or supremely bloody awful!

In fact, the end result was something in between:

Good – super easy, very economical (I used 10 drumsticks, cooked from frozen as per the instructions), and meat very tender.

Not so good – quite fatty tasting, no “lemon” flavour, and the meat fell off the bones to the extreme, so was difficult to serve out of the crockpot without it falling to bits before it got to the plate.

8 hours later….

Overall, I’m not sure of the point of using the jelly crystals, as they didn’t bring anything to the dish, and in my low-fat opinion the 3 tbsp of butter on top of the fat that comes out of a drumstick anyway, made the dish too oily. I like the concept, but it didn’t quite work for me. 10 out of 10 for simple though!

Happy Fooding!

Please Go Away Winter

I tell you, I am so over the cold weather. Actually I was never into it in the first place, but this is the coldest Winter since I arrived here 3 years ago – and I hate it.  I need warmth, and my tiny place is like a freezer all the time, even with the heating on – on sunny days it is actually warmer outside – the place just never warms up.

SO……I am still in crockpot mode and have been raiding all of the local libraries, reading every slow cooker recipe book I can find (and there are LOTS as crockpots are very “in” at the moment) to get different ideas for mucking about with.

This is a combination of a pork and a chicken recipe, because I liked the flavours of both so I just mixed it all up! Definitely use chicken thigh fillets here, as breast fillets will be soooooooooooooo dry. This is adapted from two recipes in Stephanie O’Dea’s More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow cookbook (Stephanie has a slow cooking blog that she has turned into two successful cookbooks).

Teriyaki & Apricot Chicken

8 chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of skin/fat

1 large red capsicum, cut into large pieces

2/3 cup apricot jam

1/4 cup teriyaki marinade (try to find one without too many nasty artificial flavourings/preservatives – I used this Masterfoods one)

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp fresh thyme

cracked pepper, to taste

Place chicken and capsicum in crockpot. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over chicken; stir to mix well. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. Serve with rice or green vegies.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!