Pots & Plots

The soup/stew (stoup as Rachael Ray would call it) was absolutely one of those inventive products of necessity.  About four years ago, my husband was down with pneumonia and his little brother was in town visiting.  This boy loves vegetables more than anybody I have ever seen.  Not wanting to leave D.H. for long, I was trying to come up with something to feed little bro with that I could make from what we had, which was a little bit of a whole lot of stuff.  I wound up dumping in some of virtually every vegetable in the house, some chicken, a can of cream of chicken soup, and creole seasoning.  Literally, everything but the kitchen sink.  The soup was a hit and this is now requested every time little bro comes to town. 

(Picture is coming)

Ingredients:

• chicken (dark meat is best)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2 red potatoes, diced
• 1 whole onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can of green beans, undrained
• 1 can of corn, undrained
• 1 palmful of lentils
• 1 palmful of white beans
• 1 palmful of black beans
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas
• 1/2 cup of lima beans
• 1/4 cup creole seasoning
• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Cook’s note: This is a very forgiving recipe and the idea is to use up those last bits of bags of frozen veggies or cans of random stuff or whatever leftover vegetables you have.  So don’t feel constrained by this list of ingredients. 

Directions:

1. Toss it all in a crock pot.
2. Add enough water to cover ingredients and give it a good stir.
3. Cook on low for about 6 hours.   
4. Serve with a crusty bread.

 (Yeah,I know, the picture isn’t much to look at.)

D.H. got on an apple kick for his lunches a while back, and just as I bought a 5 pound back of Granny Smith’s he decided he was sick of them. I left them in the fruit bowl for a while to see if he would change his mind. Nope. Rather than derail our healthy eating efforts, I opted to peel and core them all and make applesauce in my Crock Pot. I prowled around online to see if there was anything special I needed to do to make applesauce (namely, how much water I should use). Apparently I am the only person on the internet that doesn’t think cinnamon belongs in applesauce. Or sugar. I wanted unsweetened, undoctored applesauce because I frequently use applesauce as a substitution in baking and that simply doesn’t work if you add stuff to it. So I was on my own. This was the combination I went with:

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of apples, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8th cup Splenda (I broke down on this one because I’m using Granny Smiths, which are notoriously tart)

Directions:

1. Peel, core, and dice all your apples. Toss in the slow cooker.
2. Mix the water, lemon juice, and Splenda (and yeah, it did occur to me just now that that’s basically half a cup of lemonade) .
3. Pour liquid over the apples and give it a good stir.
4. Add your top and cook on low for 6-7 hours.

I have never been that big a fan of bratwurst.  The couple of times my hubby has cooked them, they tasted like giant breakfast sausages on buns.  I’m not opposed to breakfast sausage, but I don’t want it for dinner.  I’m more of a keilbasa kind of girl.  But last grocery trip he begged, so I bought a package of Johnsonville Beer and Brats.  This time, I didn’t make the mistake of letting him cook them.  I did some research and found that virtually every brat recipe I found called for simmering them in beer and onions before tossing them on the grill.  Well there was mistake number one.  Hubby hates onions and neglects to even use them for flavoring when they should be used.  We didn’t have any beer on hand, and I wanted hard cider, so hubby sugggested that we try simmering them in that.  The results were amazing.  (Sorry, no pic again.  They disappeared too fast).

Ingredients:

• 1 package of bratwurst sausages
• enough buns for all the sausages
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 12 oz. hard cider (I used Hornsby Crisp Apple–I’d be interested to know if just apple juice would work for this recipe)

Directions:

1. Drizzle the olive oil in a skillet and turn heat to medium high.
2. Slice your onions.  If you plan to put them on your brats, you might want to make some effort to keep the rings somewhat uniform, but otherwise, just a rough chop.  Toss them into the skillet when the oil is hot and quickly sautée until caramelized.
3. Add in the brats and the cider.  Bring to a bubble and reduce heat.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Pre-heat your grill.
6. Once the brats have been simmered in their cider and onion bath for 20 minutes, remove them to the grill and cook at low flame for about 3-4 minutes per side to crisp up the casings.
7. Serve on buns with desired toppings (I like mine plain.  Hubby likes mayo, mustard, ketchup, and cheese.)

Since we had some different beer in the fridge, I thought I’d try my hand at another variation. This one uses honey instead of sugar.  Sorry, the loaf didn’t survive for a picture.
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8 cup wheat germ
• 1/8 cup milled flax
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup honey (hint: if you spray your measuring cup with cooking spray, the honey will slide right out)
• 1 12 oz. bottle of beer (I used Budweiser American Ale)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly grease an 8 inch loaf pan.
3. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Slowly add the beer and stir until just combined.
5. Press into loaf pan.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to rack and cool for 10 minutes (if you can wait that long!)

This was pretty good, though I think I prefer the last batch I made better.  This would be improved, I think, by the addition of more honey.

We’ve been on a sandwich kick with the beer bread this week.  After some fantabulous grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, and swiss sandwiches the other night (which I will duplicate and photograph, I promise!), we polished off the last of the loaf with these burgers.  They were a bit messy to eat, as the bread’s a bit crumbly, but boy did they taste good!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground beef
• beer bread
• swiss cheese
• half a cup of fresh baby bella mushrooms
• 2 tsps olive oil
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• fresh ground pepper
• kosher salt
• sweet smoked paprika (this is my new favorite spice–the smoky flavor is AWESOME!)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle garlic powder,  onion powder, smoked sweet paprika, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper onto the meat.  (I am sad to say I didn’t measure–my meat actually started out in patties and I sprinkled a light layer of each spice and just a bit of salt and pepper over each before mixing well to incorporate).
2. Mix well with your hands.
3. Form into two patties.
4. Light the grill and preheat to 350 (if you use gas–if you’re a charcoal person–you know better than I).
5. Grill on each side 8-10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, slice your bread and cheese.  With about five minutes left on the timer, pop the bread, with the cheese slices on one side, into the oven at about 275.  Don’t worry about preheating.
7. In a small skillet, add the olive oil and turn to medium-high heat.
8. When oil is hot, add your mushrooms and sprinkle lightly with the same spices you used on the burgers.  Sautee for approximately 3 minutes or until mushrooms begin to slightly brown.
9. If you time it right, you should be taking the burgers off the grill by the time the cheese is melty and the bread toasted.
10. Assemble your burger with plain slide on bottom, burger, mushrooms, cheesy slice on top.  The cheese helps hold the mushrooms in place.
11. If you’re one of those people who eats all that other stuff on a burger, the rest is up to you.  I’m a purist. 

Dear Hubby recently played a show for Halloween for his folks. As a thank you, he and his band were paid in beer. Hence, we’ve got loads around the house, so I get to indulge in one of my favorite quick breads. It uses the yeast in a single can of beer to make it rise and it combines with the whole grains to make a wonderful, yeasty bread that rarely makes it to cool before disappearing in our house.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8th cup milled flax
• 1/8th cup wheat germ
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 12 oz. beer (different beers will give you different flavors–I tend toward light beers like Budwieser Select or Pabst Blue Ribbon)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly grease an 8 inch loaf pan.
3. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Slowly add the beer and stir until just combined.
5. Press into loaf pan.
6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to rack and cool for 10 minutes (if you can wait that long!)

Any dieter knows that yogurt is one of your best friends (well the fat free and low fat varieties).  Packed full of good bacteria and nutrients, yogurt is a powerhouse of a diet food.  We’ve all seen the ads on TV lately about how yogurt can regulate…things.  But let’s face it.  If you eat a single pot of yogurt a day (one of those 6-8 oz ones), you wind up spending quite a bit on the stuff in the course of a week.  And if multiple family members are getting in on the yogurt action–well it really starts to add up.

It never occurred to me that you could make yogurt at home.  I was first introduced to the idea when I read French Women Don’t Get Fat.  Willing to try almost any diet once, I went right out and picked up a Salton Yogurt Maker for about $20.  I liked the idea of making my own yogurt, both for cost effectiveness and so that I could control what got mixed in.

After some experimentation I came up with the following recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk
• 1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt (you’ll start off with store bought and thereafter use some of the yogurt you make as a starter; I prefer Stonyfield Farms Organic plain yogurt as it has the most active cultures)

Directions:

1. Pour the milk and powdered milk into a pot and heat over medium heat until just before boiling (about 200 degrees).  Stir often.  This scalds the milk and kills off any bacteria that would interfere with the good bacteria in the yogurt starter.
2. Allow milk to cool to lukewarm (100-110 degrees).  You can do this in the fridge (about 20 minutes), freezer (about 10 minutes) or just leave it sitting out (not sure how long–I’m not that patient).
3. Pour about a cup of the milk into your yogurt maker.  Add the 1/2 cup of plain yogurt and stir gently (don’t whip or beat it) to mix.
4. Add the remainder of the milk and stir gently.
5. Add the top of the yogurt maker and allow to process.  How long depends on how you like your yogurt.  The longer it processes the thicker it will get and the more tart it will taste.  I usually process mine for 8-10 hours.
6. At the end of processing you will see a sort of yellowish liquid rise to the top.  This is perfectly normal.  You can either drain it off (I usually do) or stir it into the yogurt.
7. Refrigerate until cool.
8. Serve with fruit, jams, peanut butter (my personal favorite), or any other mix in of choice.  Options for sweetening include Splenda, sugar, or honey.  For those of you who live where there’s a Whole Foods or fancy grocery, you may have other all natural sweeteners available.

A few notes:  Homemade yogurt is not as smooth as commercial yogurt, but that’s perfectly normal.  Be sure to save the last 1/2 cup of yogurt to use as starter for your next batch.  Over several batches, the starter will weaken and you’ll eventually want to purchase a new batch of commercial yogurt as fresh starter.  The yogurt can be frozen (though keep that 1/2 cup of starter out), though it isn’t going to have the same texture as frozen yogurt from the grocery.  One of these days I keep meaning to try it in the ice cream maker, but I haven’t yet.

For those of you who don’t want to purchase your own yogurt maker,  Stephanie has figured out how to make yogurt using your crock pot.   You can also google to find other recipes and methods, but this is the one that’s worked for me.

At last!  I have been trying for SEVEN YEARS to duplicate the sauce my favorite Chinese place uses for their lo mien.  Finally, courtesy of The Crepes of Wrath , I have a base for a good lo mien sauce.  I adapted her original recipe for garlic noodles and wound up making this three days in a row!

Ingredients:

• 7 oz. whole wheat spaghetti noodles
• 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil based margarine (I used Smart Balance Light)
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 2 tablespoons finely minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar Splenda
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/2 cup sliced fresh baby bella mushrooms
• 1/2 medium zucchini thinly sliced
• 1 cup sliced leftover steak, chicken, pork, or shrimp (optional–this dish is great with just veggies)
• 1 handful of chopped cashews

Directions

1. Boil your noodles according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile melt your butter or margarine  over medium high heat, and add zucchini, meat, and mushrooms.  Saute for 3-5 minutes or until zucchini begins to get slightly limp.
3. Meanwhile, mix the brown sugar Splenda, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce in a small bowl.
4. Add cashews, green onions and garlic to the skillet.  Sautee for about 1-2 minutes.
5. Add in your sauce and mix well.
6. Add noodles and mix thoroughly until well coated.
7. Serve immediately.

If you keep this vegetarian, it serves about 2.  If you add in meat, you can stretch it to feed 3.  Careful, these are REALLY addictive!