Pots & Plots

It is crock pot central in my kitchen today.  It’s Sunday, and I’m trying to get some batch cooking done so that I have something healthy to eat for lunch the next couple of weeks.  The name of the game is veggie type soups.  I’ve already got a batch of my Crock Pot Tomato Soup going in my 3 quart crock pot (which freezes beautifully, I’ll have you know).  Now I’m going to try an experiment to see if I can make good French Onion Soup in a crock pot, caramelized onions and all.  French Onion Soup is a big favorite of mine (though my onionphobic husband won’t touch it).  There’s nothing better on a chill winter day than a piping hot bowl of it with some nice crusty cheese toast floating on top.  Delish.  Now, this isn’t as Fix It And Forget It as most of my crock pot recipes, but the end results are worth it.  So without further ado…

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter (or in my case, Smart Balance Omega Light, extra virgin olive oil flavor)
• 6 medium onions, sliced thin
• 1 Tbsp granulated white sugar
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste (if you have it–you can make it without, but it’s better with)
• 3 cups of beef broth
• 1/2 cup wine (dry red or a white–I actually used Nick Faldo’s Sauvignon Blanc as it’s what I had on hand–it’s kind of a sweet wine)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Directions:

1. Go ahead and turn your slow cooker to high.  Add in the olive oil and butter and allow to melt while you’re slicing onions.  This process can be sped up by melting the butter ahead of time and pouring it in.
2. Are you weeping yet?  I’ve read tips about a zillion different ways to keep from crying over the smell of onions.  Stick a slice of bread up to the hilt of your knife.  Refrigerate the onions.  Wear swim goggles (I have actually done that).  So far, I haven’t come up with a way to stop the tears.   BUT for getting the onion smell off your hands when you’re finished, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water and then rub them all over stainless steel (in my house that’s the faucet or the sink…you could use a stainless spoon or something).  I have no idea why this works, but somehow it neutralizes the onion odor.
3. When fats are melted, add sliced onions and stir to coat.
4. Sprinkle the sugar over the onions and put the top back on.  Cook on high for 1-2 hours (until slightly brown), stirring occasionally.
5. Once the onions are caramelized, add in the remaining ingredients.
6. Allow to simmer on high for another three hours.

This freezes really well.  If you want to serve immediately, make up some crustini with gruyere or swiss melted on top.  Or you could make nice cheesy croutons to float in it.  It’s all good.  I usually freeze this in individual portions.  You can also take a portion and dump it in the crock pot over a roast.  Makes a fabulous gravy.

From a nutrition standpoint, the soup alone is only 96 calories and 4.75 grams of fat per serving (the batch makes 4 servings), so really not bad at all.

Okay, since we’ve established muffins are a good sort of portable breakfast for DH, I’ve been experimenting.  I wanted to add oatmeal and adapt my original Banana Bread recipe because it seems to hold him a bit longer.  Whole grains and all that.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup milled flax
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsps baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 cups mashed bananas (about 6 medium)
• 1 1/2 cup Splenda (or sugar)
• 1/2 cup applesauce (or oil)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray the muffin tins with cooking spray
3. In a large bowl combine flour, flax, oats, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
4. In another bowl, combine the egg, bananas, Splenda (or sugar), and applesauce (or oil).
5. Add wet mixture all at once to the dry.
6. Stir until just moistened (batter will be lumpy)
7. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans, about 2/3rds full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool on rack.

Hubby declared these definite keepers.
Makes 24 muffins.

Nutrition info:  I calculated this using the full fat/calorie version of stuff.  Each muffin breaks down to 166 calories and 6 grams of fat.  If you replace the oil with applesauce and the sugar with splenda, it works out to 117 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per muffin.  If you additionally replace the eggs with 1/2 a cup of egg substitute, it’s 114 calories and 1 gram of fat.  I don’t think that’s a big enough difference to merit the removal of virtually all fat.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium squash, jullianed (cut into fries)
• 1 medium zucchini, jullianed(cut into fries)
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup skim milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. If you have a baking rack that can go in the oven, place it on top of your cookie sheet.
3. Pour milk into a bowl.
4. Put breadcrumbs 1 thin layer at a time onto a plate.
5. Dip squash and zucchini into milk, then into breadcrumbs to coat.
6. Layer on baking rack.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.
8. If you don’t have a baking rack, flip the fries at 10 minutes.

Can be served with Parmesan cheese.  I frequently eat the whole batch as a meal.  Total calories are 310, 3 grams of fat.  If serving as a side, this makes enough for 2-3 people.

Okay, I’m on another experimental kick.  I’m trying to make some muffins for DH to take to work for breakfast without having to hit the grocery for the 800 things I’m out of.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Quaker weight control oatmeal: maple brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oatmeal (I used Scottish oatmeal, which is stone ground)
• 1 c. applesauce
• 1 lg. egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. double acting baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. cranberries, dried cranberries or raisins

Directions

1. Spray 12 (3 inch) muffin cups with Pam or use metal muffin liners.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F degrees.
3. Stir together the oatmeal, applesauce, milk, egg, and oil. Set aside.
4. Stir together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Make a well in the center, and add the applesauce mixture. Stir until well combined, but do not over beat.
5. Add raisins or cranberries if desired. Pour into the muffin tin. Each cup should be 2/3 full.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

The verdict:  Hubby said that these were pretty tasty.  I’m not an apple-cinnamon person myself, so we’ll take his word for it.  Each muffin (this makes 12 regular sized muffins) comes out to 125 calories and 4 grams of fat.  This could be further cut down by using egg substitute for the egg and replacing some (or all) of the oil with more applesauce. Given how my fat cutting attempts have been going lately, I’d try replacing perhaps half of the oil with applesauce instead of all.  In any event, these have a nice whole grain content with the oatmeal, so they should be pretty hearty as muffins go.

Well I’m having cravings for yummy baked goods tonight, and as I’ve been trying really hard to avoid making the cookies I REALLY want, so I decided to try making granola bars.  It was an experiment in healthy.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar Splenda
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/8 cup milled flax
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup craisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup peanuts (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 egg beaters
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar splenda, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, craisins, peanuts and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg beaters, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Don’t allow the bars to cool totally before cutting, or they’ll be too hard to cut.

The verdict: So yeah…these were revolting.  The lesson here is that you can’t take out all the fat.  And using all whole wheat flour probably wasn’t the best idea either.  I’d like to try some with peanut butter.  Maybe if I used half oil and half applesauce and replaced half the honey with peanut butter? Or all the honey with honey roasted peanut butter perhaps.  I’ll keep trying.

The holidays have been horrible on my sweet tooth this year.  I’ve had a barely controllable urge to devour anything and everything with sugar and butter this season.  Tomorrow is my official Holiday Baking for Gifts day, but I was still craving cookies tonight, so I threw these together.  I have a package of holiday M & M ’s that I separated into red and green (as I need the red for tomorrow’s project).  Since all I was left with was green and I’m trying to healthy it up a LITTLE so I don’t keel over in envy of other people’s full fat, full calorie everythings, I decided that Envy Cookies would be a good name.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsps of brown sugar Splenda
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 1 cup green M&Ms
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, wheat flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
3. Beat together Splenda, packed brown sugar Splenda, vanilla and butter flavored Crisco until well blended.
4. Add egg substitute and beat until well combined.
5. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended.
6. Stir in 1 cup of M&Ms.
7. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.
8. Cool slightly, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

I think this recipe is supposed to make about 3 dozen cookies but we all know that I never manage to make cookies without eating a lot of dough, so that’s a guess.  One thing I have noticed when baking cookies using whole wheat flour–they don’t flatten out all melty like regular cookies.  Personally, this isn’t an issue for me, but if it bothers you, just take a fork and flatten it down like you would peanut butter cookies.  The dough has a bit of an odd aftertaste, which is a good thing for me in this case, as I’m less likely to eat all of it.  The finished product tastes just fine.

I make no claims as to the authenticity of this dish.  I glanced at a handful of recipes online and eventually made this one up based on what ingredients I had on hand.  What started the whole thing was this package of “authentic English sausages” that came in our latest Angel Food shipment.  Now I lived in Scotland for a while, and I know I ate sausage while I was there, but I don’t remember how it differs from our sausage.  In any event, one classic pub dish I remember fondly is bangers and mash.  I can’t guarantee how close it tastes to what they serve over there, but it was a hit at our house.  Interesting.

Ingredients:

• 1 package English sausages (5 links)
• 4 good sized potatoes, diced (peeled if you prefer, but I like the skins in my mashed potatoes)
• 4 oz. fresh mushrooms
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 Tbsp margarine or butter
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

1. Add the diced potatoes to a pot with water and boil until tender (approximately 20 minutes depending on how fine the dice).
2. In a skillet, melt the butter or margarine.
3. Add the sausages and cook over medium heat, flipping when the casing browns.
4. When both sides of the sausage are browned, remove from skillet.
5. Add mushrooms to skillet and sautee them in the juices from the sausage.  This would also be an excellent time to sautee some onions, but remember I am married to Mr. Anti-Onion, so I didn’t use them.  Instead I sauteed them in olive oil and set them aside.  Remove to a plate.
6. Add the sausage back to the skillet and add the cup of beef broth to the skillet.  You’re going to braise the sausage until they’re cooked through.  Mine went about 15 minutes, flipping in the middle.
7. When sausage is cooked through, remove from skillet.
8. Add 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch to a bit of cold water and stir until smooth.
9. Add cornstarch mixture to the skillet. Return to a boil stirring constantly. Add 1 cup of beef broth and make a gravy.
10. Reduce heat to a simmer until thickened.
11. Slice sausage into chunks and add back to gravy along with mushrooms.
12. Drain and mash your potatoes with salt, pepper, butter, and milk as preferred.
13. Plate up with a layer of potatoes, then the sausage, mushrooms, and gravy. And the onions if you want (IMO they’re much better with onions).

DH and I have been doing Angel Food Ministries for a couple of months, which we’ve really liked. This month’s order had a package of Italian sausage, which is something I never buy, so I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with it. I finally decided that I’d do something with pasta because hey, pasta goes with all things Italian.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 4 links Italian sausage (about 1 pound)
• 2 roasted red peppers, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 oz. fresh baby bella mushrooms
• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken stock (if you make and freeze your sock in ice cube trays, this is 10 cubes’ worth)
• 16 oz. pasta of your choice
• fresh parmesan (optional)
• goat cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet.
2. Remove sausage from casing and brown in the skillet
3. Put cooked sausage into a colander (retaining a couple of tablespoons of grease) and rinse well. This cuts way down on the fat content.
4. To the remaining grease add onion and garlic and sautee until onion is transluscent.
5. Add all ingredients to your crock pot and stir well.
6. Cook on low for 6 hours.
7. Serve over the pasta of your choice and top with sprinkles of Parmesan or goat cheese.

I love hot chocolate. It’s one of my passions in winter. It’s also a favorite gift in a jar. Last winter I discovered Hershey’s fancy hot chocolate in Mayan (basically dark chocolate) and LOVED IT. But I can’t quite bring myself to pay the steep price regularly. But I’ve been in search of a really great recipe. None of them were quite what I was looking for, many calling for top of the line brand name ingredients that just goes against my frugal nature. So I wound up taking aspects of several recipes and creating this one. I went brand specific for the two most important ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder (this was the only Dutch process cocoa powder at Walmart)
• 1 1/2 cup Carnation Nonfat Milk Powder (and at $8.92 for the big one, I have pretty steep expectations)
• 1/4 fat free non-dairy powdered coffee creamer
• 1 cup Splenda (You can use sugar, I’m just trying to save some calories.  Granulated works fine but powdered is best)
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well and store in an airtight container. I haven’t exactly decided on the ratio of mix to water. Some say 2 Tbsps to 6 oz. of water, some say fill half the mug with mix and add water. You decide.

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.