Delicious Food And Beverage fan-Healthy Care And Tips

Crock pots are amazing (I neglected to mention them in my post about kitchen gadgets, they are definitely well worth the investment, plus they are on sale this time of year). My friends SK & JT recently bought one, and JT has been wanting to experiment with cooking chicken in it. JT, this recipe is for you!

Crock Pot Curry Chicken

6 baby yukon or small white potatoes
2 onions
1/2 lb peeled baby carrots
1/2 cup white wine
chicken or vegetable soup stock
1 whole chicken (2-3 lbs)
2 Tbsp light olive or vegetable oil
2 Tbsp curry powder (less if you don't like it too spicy)
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Wash and slice potatoes into thick rounds; peel and slice onions into thick rings.
2. Layer potatoes, onions and carrots to cover the bottom of the crockpot. Add white wine and soup stock until veggies are just covered.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together oil and spices.
4. Rinse out cavity of chicken to ensure there are no leftover innards. Remove skin if you like (although the skin helps keep it moist while it roasts).
5. Rub spice mixture all over chicken, both over and under skin.
6. Place chicken on top of veggies in crockpot. Cook on high 4-6 hours or on low 8-10.

Fun variations:

• Use a bag of peeled cippolini onions in place of regular onions.
• Make it spicy & sweet: Add 1 Tbsp apricot preserves or honey to the spice rub mixture.

The cost:
potatoes: .35
onions: .25
carrots: .99
chicken: 8.99
stock: 1.99

Grand total: $12.57; serves 4-8, depending on size of chicken; serve with my potluck rice pilaf!

I participated in a professional development program this past Spring, and I've stayed in touch with a number of other people from my cohort, especially those who live in my area. A fellow cohort member was in town from the West Coast for a conference, so I invited a small group over to my place for dinner.

It ended up being just myself and JK, but we had a great time regardless (although we missed you SG, JM and NK!). I was very happy with the dishes I made: London broil with fennel and red wine in the crockpot, curried spinach & lentils, cucumber and radish salad with ginger-lime dressing and sweet potato muffins.

Here's the recipe I made up for my crockpot London broil (and here you thought you were going to get a super-sized post with all of the dishes I made today--you'll just have to wait for the rest!). I was exceedingly happy with the flavor profile; the red wine, fennel and thyme melded together beautifully and the meat was succulent and tender.

Note: I had leftover red wine from Shabbat, but you could also use beer if you have that on hand, although it will have a bit of a different flavor profile.

Crockpot London Broil w/ Red Wine & Fennel

Ingredients:

2 onions
2 fennel bulbs
1 box cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned
2 cups vegetable stock
1 lb london broil
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fennel fronds
6 sprigs thyme

Directions:

1. Slice onions and fennel (white part only) into rounds and layer with mushrooms in the bottom of a crockpot. Pour soup stock over mixture.
   
2. Lay meat on top of veggie mixture. Pour red wine and sprinkle salt, pepper and brown sugar over contents of crockpot. Lay chopped fennel fronds and thyme sprigs on top of meat.
3. Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 10-12 hours.
   

The cost:
onions: .50
fennel: 2.85
mushrooms: 1.99
veggie broth: .99
london broil: 9.49
thyme: 1.69

Grand total: $17.51; serves 4-6

Cooking with crockpots (also called slow cookers) is amazing. You throw in a bunch of ingredients, turn it on, and a delicious meal is ready for you when you get home from work. It's almost like it cooks itself! Oh wait...it does :)

Since a bunch of us didn't have plans for Friday night dinner this week we threw together a potluck. I was in charge of making a main dish, and since I Shabbat is so early now I knew I wouldn't have too much time to cook. Hence, I decided to use my crockpot.

This is a dump recipe--throw everything in, stir it up, then let the crockpot work its magic. I wanted something hearty and hot (cold weather and all), but also wanted there to be substantial meat so I threw a London broil in on top of my stew. It cooked up beautifully, succulent and juicy (you can also just use stewing beef).

Crockpot Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 can chickpeas
28 oz can diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 cups beef stock
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 lb London broil  or stewing beef

Directions:

1. Pour all ingredients except meat into crockpot and stir to mix.
2. Lay meat on top of stew mix and push down until just submerged (if using stewing beef, stir into crockpot mixture).
   
3. Cook on high 4-6 hours or on low 8-10 hours.

The cost:
lentils: 1.00
onion: .45
carrots: .20
celery: .20
stock: 2.39
meat: 10.99

Grand total: $15.23; serves 6-8