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Yum's October Must Haves

partysugar — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:00:02 -0700

Happy October! Although I can hardly believe both Summer and September are over, I'm fully embracing Fall and all of its deliciousness. From pumpkin carving parties to Halloween bashes, there's a lot to do! To get you in the mood for tricks, treats, and cool-weather foods, I've rounded up some items I can't live without. Here's what you must have to survive the next 31 days.

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Do You Use Your Slow Cooker in Warm Weather?

YumSugar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:45:47 -0700

Since a close majority of you enjoy slurping soup year-round regardless of the temperature outside, I'm wondering how you feel about the slow cooker. Although it's ultraconvenient and low maintenance to cook with, do you swap out the slow cooker for a barbecue grill during the warm-weather months?

Tasty Tacos With Chile Verde

YumSugar — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:15:59 -0700

Over the weekend the weather in San Francisco was exceptionally nice; it was the perfect time to enjoy a delicious homemade Mexican meal with icy cold beers and a few wonderful friends. I had a couple days to plan, so I opted to make a slow-cooked chile verde, which combines the complex flavors of melt-in-your-mouth pork, sauteed onions, tangy tomatillos, and a variety of roasted chiles. Prepping all of the ingredients takes a couple of hours, but the work and patience required to make this dish are worth it. I served the moist scrumptious chile verde on corn tortillas with cilantro, sour cream, and fresh lime. To get started on this distinctive Mexican dish, read more.

Chile Verde Tacos
Original Recipe

Ingredients

5 poblano chiles
5 anaheim chiles
3-4 pounds pork butt
1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
12 tomatillos (roughly 5-6 pounds)
1 cup homemade chicken stock or store-bought chicken stock
1 jalapeno, roughly chopped (optional)
1 jar prepared salsa verde (optional)*
12-20 corn tortillas
8 ounces sour cream
1 bunch cilantro
2-3 limes, sliced in wedges (optional)

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Place poblano and anaheim chiles on a cookie sheet. Roast the chiles on all sides. Be careful the chiles can burn quickly. If there are sides that are too hard to roast in the broiler, use metal tongs and the open flame of the stove to finish the roasting process.
Let peppers cool slightly and use a knife or paper towel to slowly peel the skin off of all the peppers. Set aside.
Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown all sides of the pork about 3-4 minutes per side. Place the pork in a Crock-Pot.
Reduce heat to medium and saute the onions and garlic in the pork fat until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Add to the Crock-Pot.
Remove the papery covering on the tomatillos. Place the tomatillos in a food processor. Add the skinned poblano chiles and anaheim chiles. Puree until smooth. Add to the Crock-Pot.
Add chicken stock to the Crock-pot. Simmer in the Crock-Pot on low for 10 hours. Add jalapeno, if desired and cook for another 2-4 hours until the pork falls apart. You might need a fork to break apart the pork. Add the salsa verde, if you need more liquid. You can cook this for shorter amount of time but I think the longer it cooks the better it tastes.
Heat tortillas in a pan or oven. Serve the tortillas warm with the pork and sour cream, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.

Serves 6-8.

*I prefer Herdez, which can be found in your local grocery store in the Hispanic food section.

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Sunday Slow Cooker: Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

YumSugar — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:00:32 -0700

Tonight, make a low-maintenance dinner that you and your family can still get excited about. Here, classic Italian-American meatballs get a modern twist with the help of ingredients such as dark meat turkey, roasted red peppers, and smoky paprika - and the ridiculously convenient slow cooker.

Add this to your favorite pasta for a complete meal. Get your hands on a soon-to-be family favorite when you read more.

Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
From Every Day With Rachael Ray

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
One 14.5-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
One 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
2 tablespoons paprika
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 pounds ground dark meat turkey

Directions

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, 7 minutes. Transfer 1 1/3 cups of the onion mixture to a large bowl; let cool. Reserve the skillet.
Using a food processor, puree the tomatoes and roasted peppers. Add the puree to the skillet and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the paprika and season with salt and pepper; transfer to a large slow cooker, cover and set to low temperature.
Whisk the breadcrumbs, egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper into the remaining onion mixture. Mix in the turkey. Form 1 1/2-inch meatballs. Add the meatballs to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 hours.

Serves 6.

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Sunday Slow Cooker: Vegetable Stew With Dumplings

YumSugar — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:00:33 -0700

Hand me any soup with dumplings, and I'll devour it; I simply love them that much. Not quite bread, not quite noodle, dumplings are the perfect chewy bite of comfort - especially when served with a myriad of different vegetables.

Aside from the slow cooker doing all the work, and the delectable dumpling aspect, the beauty of this dish is its versatility: substitute zucchini for green beans, or fresh, in-season morels for cremini mushrooms. To make a variation that you love in your slow cooker, read more.

Vegetable Stew With Cornmeal Dumplings
From Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

3 cups peeled butternut or acorn squash cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 14-1/2-ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 15-ounce can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 9-ounce package frozen Italian green beans or frozen cut green beans
Paprika

Directions

In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine squash, mushrooms, undrained tomatoes, Great Northern beans, the water, garlic, Italian seasoning, and pepper.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.
For dumplings: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, parsley, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, milk, and oil. Add to the flour mixture; stir with a fork just until combined.
If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting. Stir frozen green beans into stew. Drop the dumpling dough into six mounds on top of the stew. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover and cook for 50 minutes more. (Do not lift lid while dumplings are cooking.)

Serves 6.

Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories 288, Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 2g, Cholesterol 37mg, Sodium 442mg, Carbohydrate 45g, Fiber 7g, Protein 12g,

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Sunday Slow Cooker: Kielbasa Stew

YumSugar — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:00:03 -0700

Make the most of the rest of your weekend by playing hooky and celebrating the luck of the Irish rather than laboring over a Sunday meal.

Using cooked pork sausage not only cuts down on your meat prep time, but it also provides a satisfyingly smoky depth to the other elements of the stew, such as carrots, cabbage, and chicken broth.

As an added bonus, the bold spices of the sausage pair really nicely with any full-bodied beer. To see the two-step recipe, read more.

Kielbasa Stew
From Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

4 cups coarsely chopped cabbage
3 cups peeled, cubed potato
1-1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 pound cooked kielbasa, sliced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 14-ounce cans reduced-sodium chicken broth

Directions

In a 4- to 5-quart slow cooker combine cabbage, potato, and carrots. Top with kielbasa. Sprinkle basil, thyme, and pepper over kielbasa. Pour chicken broth over all.
Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 7 to 9 hours or on high-heat setting for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours.

Serves 4 to 5.

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Reader Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

YumSugar — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:00:30 -0700

My girlfriends are always asking for recipe recommendations, but they have pretty high demands. They usually want something that's effortless, delicious, healthy, comforting, and inexpensive all at the same time. Thankfully, with the help of one reader, I know what my next suggestion will be.

According to TeamSugar member mellie_608, it's debatable whether these golumpki are Swedish or Polish, but what can be agreed upon is that these stuffed cabbage rolls - seasoned with tomatoes, lemon, Worcestershire sauce, and a tad of brown sugar for sweetness - are incredibly juicy and tender. To see the recipe, which calls for the use of a slow cooker, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member mellie_608

Golumpki - Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Fix it and Forget it - Feasting with your Slow Cooker
Page 122, "Swedish Cabbage Rolls"

This is a version you make in the slow cooker. They don't look pretty, but they are yummy! Many cultures have their version of these. I call them by the Polish version to stay true to my fiance's heritage. This particular recipe actually calls them Swedish and the preparation uses browned meat instead of raw. I've done both and used this version today to save myself some cooking time.

Ingredients

12 large cabbage leaves
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 cup cooked rice
8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Directions
Immerse cabbage leaves in boiling water for about 3 minutes or until limp. Drain.

Combine egg, milk, onions, salt, pepper, beef and rice. Place about 1/4 cup mixture into the center of each leaf. Fold in the sides and roll ends over the meat. Place in slow cooker.

Combine tomato sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the cabbage rolls.

*If you like more sauce I would recommend doubling the sauce, which is what I did this time and it turned out great.

Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Serves 6.

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Sunday Slow Cooker: Irish Lamb Stew

YumSugar — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:00:44 -0700

If you're looking to get into the St. Patty's Day spirit with a hearty Irish dinner, you're in luck: There's no easier way than to make this rustic Irish lamb stew. Not only does it require little to no preparation work, but you can also step away from the stew as it cooks low and slow in a crock pot.

Eight hours later, you've got a festive meal that will pair perfectly with a tall glass (or two) of dark Irish stout. To see the recipe - which is beyond basic - read more.

Irish Lamb Stew
From Eating Well

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 3/4 pounds white potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 large leeks, white part only, halved, washed (see Tip) and thinly sliced
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup packed fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

Combine lamb, potatoes, leeks, carrots, celery, broth, thyme, salt and pepper in a 6-quart slow cooker; stir to combine. Put the lid on and cook on low until the lamb is fork-tender, about 8 hours. Stir in parsley before serving.

Serves 8.

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Sunday Slow Cooker: Chicken Rarebit

YumSugar — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 06:00:36 -0800

If you're in search of a dramatically different recipe for dinner this Winter, take a stab at Welsh rarebit, a classic British dish made of bread topped with a melted cheese mixture.

This contemporary rendition not only makes use of a low-maintenance crockpot, but also incorporates bacon and chicken to add flavor and substance. To get the crowd-pleasing recipe, read more.

Chicken Rarebit
From Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

1-3/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 14- to 16-ounce jar cheddar cheese pasta sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 large onion, halved crosswise and thinly sliced
6 pumpernickel or rye buns, split and toasted, or 6 slices pumpernickel or rye bread, toasted and halved diagonally
4 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled (optional)
1 tomato, chopped (optional)
Kosher dill pickles (optional)

Directions

Cut chicken diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices; set aside. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, stir together pasta sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add onion and chicken slices.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 to 2-1/2 hours.
To serve, spoon chicken and sauce mixture over bun halves. If desired, sprinkle with crumbled bacon and tomato. Serve with dill pickles, if desired.

Makes 6 servings.

Calories 340, Total Fat (g) 12, Saturated Fat (g) 4, Cholesterol (mg) 102, Sodium (mg) 823,
Carbohydrate (g) 21, Fiber (g) 3, Protein (g) 36.

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Must-Read: Slow and Easy

YumSugar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:00:16 -0800

If you've seen my Sunday Slow Cooker series, you probably know by now that I consider the electric slow cooker indispensable for convenient, low-maintenance cooking. Naturally, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of Slow and Easy: Fast-Fix Recipes For Your Electric Slow Cooker ($15.61), by the Los Angeles Daily News food editor, Natalie Haughton.
Haughton has penned five other cookbooks, including The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever, so she's clearly spent a lot of time with her Crock-Pot. To find out what I thought of the book, read more.

Pros:

The introduction has helpful information from choosing and getting to know your slow cooker to which foods are most forgiving and which are most demanding.
There's a wide range of recipes, from smoky roasted cashews to gingerbread for dessert, and although the the book contains over 250 recipes, it's surprisingly light.
A "cook's notes" sidebar proves helpful, explaining nuances such as the differences in types of paprika available at the grocery store.

Cons:

The book contains no pictures.
If you don't have interest in a slow cooker, then this book isn't for you.
Many of the seafood recipes require adding in the protein near the end of cooking time, which requires more attentiveness on your part.

Recipes: The recipes cover just about everything. Here are some that caught my attention:

Caponata, Edamame Cheese Dip
Shrimp Chowder, Vegetable Stock
Artichoke Pasta Sauce
Shortcut Lasagna
Mac and Cheese
Turkey Molé
Shrimp Veracruz Style
Beef Lettuce Wraps
Tagine of Lamb With Apricots
Asian-Flavored Quinoa With Broccoli and Chard
Spanish Pistou
Blueberry Coffee Cake
Green Pepper Jelly
Flourless Chocolate Torte

Imagery: None.

Overall Rating: If you're a fan of the slow cooker (and aren't bothered that it doesn't contain pictures), then this informative yet innovative slow-cooker guide would be a useful, go-to book to add to your repertoire.