Tag Archives: crock pot cooking

Soup People

Posted on October 22, 2014 by AnnieRie

Some are. Some aren’t. We obviously are. Considering the number of times I have blogged about soup.

Particularly, a good quick soup.

Like bean soup, without all the preparations I used for the one above.

This one was simple. Because. It is cold and rainy. I didn’t feel like roasting a chicken today as I was out of the house too much.

But, I have my trusty pantry.

You know. You can pull a couple of cans of beans. Today I used the cannellini beans. Two cans. I had chicken breasts cooked.

I always have chicken in the freezer, from my two sources. Every week I find a day to bake or poach chicken breasts. To have them ready for lunches or dinners. They get eaten quickly.

Then, a little flavor. Today it came from a box of Pacific condensed cream of mushroom soup. And, a couple of cubes of my latest pesto. Right out of the freezer.

Dump it all in a crockpot. With a little bit of water. Dinner in a few hours, with no stirring or pot watching. I did tonight’s batch on a high setting. It was perfect after two hours in the pot. Served with some naan. And a salad. And, of course, a glass of Linden chardonnay.

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Butcher Shops

Posted on October 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

The place to find the best tastiest cuts of meat, to round out the other items in my freezer, and to make winter cooking so much easier.

Like today. A perfect crock pot meal. From beef short ribs, purchased at Wayne Nell and Sons. We took a field trip this morning. To visit a new to us Amish market, for comparison. To hit an orchard or two. And, to check out the main supplier of meats to our Friends and Farms basket.

I was on a mission. For ham hocks. Lamb. And, kielbasa. I found two of the three at Wayne Nell. And, on the way home, at Mt. Airy Meat Locker. I found the lamb I wanted to use for a number of winter specialties.

The Amish Market was our destination for lunch. After we checked out an orchard and the butcher. We found the market to be good, but not as large as the Shrewsbury market.

When I came home, I took the lamb and made six vacuum packs for the freezer. As for the short ribs that ended up in the crock pot, they just looked so good I had to buy them.

This was a simple crock pot meal. Put in the pot at 1 PM on high. Dinner at 6:30. One can black beans. One onion. A large bunch of spinach. Browned ribs and some dry rub. A little salt and garlic powder.

Go watch the Orioles beat Detroit. Sit down to a lovely meal. Served with a very impressive Delaplane Cellars meritage style wine.

An interesting wine which includes tannat. Not a common grape grown in the area. Soft, elegant. A great complement to the beef and beans.

Between our chicken share from the CSA, the protein in the Friends and Farms baskets, and a few well spaced trips to family owned butcher shops, I can keep the freezer stocked without having to buy factory farmed meats.

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Posted in Day Trips, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, Food, local businesses, Locavore, real food, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Stuffed Peppers

Posted on September 27, 2014 by AnnieRie

One of the first things I did with the large lovely peppers in this week’s Friends and Farms basket. I decided to wait a few days and show what I made, using what we get in our weekly selection.

What it looked like going into the oven.

My half, at lunch today.

I had made chicken with rice the other night. Had some rice with mushrooms left over. Had some leftover beef short ribs with greens, red pepper and onions, too. Mixed it all together and stuffed the largest pepper. Not your traditional sausage stuffing, but it still came out very tasty.

As for the rest of this week’s food, here is the compilation, and where it is going, or has gone.

Starting with protein and dairy. The yogurt has been opened and used to make honey mustard dressing. The eggs, already in a five egg frittata yesterday. It was served with dinner last night, half of it. The other half is Monday’s lunch. Spare ribs will probably be tomorrow’s dinner. Sausage in the freezer until I need it for a pasta dish on Wednesday or Thursday.

The rest of our individual share. Heirloom tomatoes from southern Maryland. A couple of honeycrisp apples from Bear Mountain Orchards. Spinach. Hydroponic spring mix from Baywater Greens. A red onion. Baby bok choy. And two green peppers. One the star of today’s lunch.

Tomatoes are almost gone. They were served with a black bean soup I made overnight in the crock pot. The bok choy will go into a chicken stir fry. I am thinking of making creamed spinach using yogurt one night. Spring mix and red onion definitely salad material.

Apples are already eaten. It won’t be long before all this good food is prepared and served. I need to run up to check on the slow roasting mixed peppers that will be vacuum sealed and saved for chili this winter. That other green pepper ended up on the baking sheet, with those sweet and hot peppers from the CSA.

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Posted in Farms, Food, Friends and Farms, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, farms, Food, heirloom tomatoes, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Advance Planning

Posted on September 20, 2014 by AnnieRie

One of the side benefits of getting the Friends and Farms basket is the advance notice which lets me meal plan. About one week in advance the notice is updated on the What’s in the Basket page.

With this information, I begin planning what to do for lunches and dinners. Like this past week.

I knew we were getting Coho salmon. I planned tonight’s dinner to use it. I will be doing crock pot short ribs Tuesday night, since I will be out most of the day. Crock pot meals work well around here. Eggs, already there was a frittata last night. Why?

Because of this lovely rainbow chard I am still getting from my garden.

The other protein item pictured above came from the available items listed at our pick up site. The office in Columbia. I wanted to try the hot dogs for an upcoming picnic. They are from the main meat supplier to Friends and Farms. Wayne Nell and Sons. They sell Sechrist Brothers all beef hot dogs.

As for the rest of my basket, here is most of it.

Everything is there but the arugula, Which was off to the side and I forgot about it. Found it later. Thankfully hydroponic arugula can be revived easily. Just add water.

The broccoli is destined to be steamed for dinner tonight. The mushrooms, with CSA bok choy and chicken will be stir fried. The potatoes already became potato salad to use with the hot dogs. The eggplant, with the red bell peppers I got from the CSA will become my ajvar, to use for those quick dinners where I spread it on flatbread and grill it.

The tomatoes, sliced to be the salad with dinner tonight. And, the zucchini will become fritters tomorrow night. To serve with the chicken I made the other day.

I bake all the chicken breasts I get and plan meals around them. Maybe a chicken Caesar salad. Or the upcoming stir fry. I get three or four dinners a week from my basket.

I also get dinner to the table quickly by doing that bulk cooking in advance. Like Thursday when we got home late. A quick bake of a frozen flatbread. A slather of ajvar and a sprinkling of goat cheese. A green salad on the side. Voila. Dinner.

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Home Cooking!

Posted on September 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

That’s what I am doing today. Getting most of the CSA and F&F items cooked or prepped to make my week easier.

Like making crock pot cauliflower leek soup.

I know we can be pressed for time, and trying to put dinner on the table is sometimes close to impossible. That’s why lately I have been cooking on one day and just reheating for a number of dinners after long busy days.

I had three leeks hanging around in the refrigerator. Got a cauliflower in the CSA basket. Scallions from Friends and Farms. I always have almond milk in the pantry. A little chicken stock from the freezer. Salt, pepper, garam masala. Made enough soup for at least two meals. Or one dinner, two lunches.

After taking it out of the crock pot, I did mash it up a bit with a potato masher, to make it creamier.

I also dry roasted the beets, for salads all week. I took four chicken breasts and put them in the oven next to the beets and baked them. I now have chicken for salad. For dinner tomorrow. And, for a stir fry.

Dinner tonight. Another one of those frittatas I rely on. The half not eaten will be lunch early this week.

This one used a few of my tomatoes. The rainbow chard from the CSA. The top half of those scallions mentioned above. The last of the Scamorza from last week. Six eggs. Seasoned with a little Italian seasoning.

I have a real head start on eating well on the three days this week that we will be running around. And I made a major dent in the meat and vegetables delivered last week.

Still need to find a nice evening to make the edamame for an appetizer. And, to make hot pepper jelly with all those peppers we got.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Friends and Farms, LFFC, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, Food, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Using the Crock Pot to Preserve

Posted on August 26, 2014 by AnnieRie

Sounds like a strange way to preserve food, but my crock pot is a way to easily transform excess vegetables into freezer ready meals, soups, or simple ingredients to use all winter long.

I went looking through my pictures, and some of my best preservation techniques aren’t recorded anywhere.

Like this really simple one.

Caramelized onions. Fill your crock pot halfway with sliced onion rings. Melt about half a stick of unsalted butter. Mix the butter all over the onions. Put your crock pot on low for at least 10 hours, or better than that, 12-15 hours. I then let the onions cool and put them in my largest ice cube trays. Freeze them. Pop them out and store them in the freezer in a large container. Take out one or more whenever you feel the urge to have onions, on burgers, beef, potatoes, etc. They are easily cooked in a frying pan and used for all sorts of meals.

Spiced apples are another simple recipe. Take all the apples that will fit in your crock pot. Add some cider for moisture. Some cinnamon and sugar. A little nutmeg. Slow cook for 10 hours. I cool them and put them in pint jars. To make flavored yogurt. Fill a pie crust. Make a galette. They are happily resting in my freezer waiting to be used.

Soups. Stews. Stocks. All can be easily made in a crock pot. After one meal, the rest goes into pint jars or containers in the freezer. All winter long, I can pull out chicken corn chowder, bean soups, Tuscan bean soup. Even more. Any of the soups on my compilation can be frozen to use out of season.

This soup, my Grandmother’s tomato cream soup, freezes well. Or, like in the post, can be made with frozen tomatoes and stock.

What else can be made in the crock pot? So many ways to go, with fresh or frozen ingredients.

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Some Tips and Tricks for Food Preserving

Posted on August 23, 2014 by AnnieRie

A few random items from my food preservation program today. Things we discussed and things I forgot to mention. It was a very enjoyable morning for me, and I think all the attendees had a good time. I sent them home with herbs to dry, and a couple of them got “prizes”, like a cookbook.

Think Small

We talked about the use of ice cube trays to freeze fruit, pesto, butters and herbs. I use different sized trays for strawberry puree, mint in ice, chive butter, sage butter, basil oil, bacon fat (yes, bacon fat), blackberry or blueberry simple syrups.

I mentioned that I use those trays pictured above to make herb butters. Two sticks of butter, melted. Herbs cut in advance and placed in trays. Pour cooled butter over the herbs. Each segment of a tray holds one tablespoon of butter. Nice proportions to use for pastas, potatoes, eggs, gnocchi and more.

Freeze ingredients, as well as finished products. I freeze one cup packages of shredded zucchini to use for breads or fritters. I freeze carrots and celery leaves to use in soups and stocks. I freeze caramelized onions, just because they are awesome in so many recipes. Oven roasted cherry tomatoes. Oven dried plum tomatoes.

This way I can pull out a bunch of bags, pop them in the crock pot and make soup or sauce.

I freeze veggie scraps to make veggie broth. Carrot tops. Lettuce root ends. Celery root end. Onion skins. Green bean ends. Stems from parsley. Carrot greens. Possibilities are endless.

Keep those shrimp shells. Crab shells. Fish ends. Make fish stock from them.

Buy bulk turkey legs from Maple Lawn. Use them for soups. After making the crock pot soup, boil the living daylights out of the bones to get a small amount of very rich stock to use as a base for couscous or other grains or rice.

There’s nothing like the taste of these locally raised birds. So much flavor. I also use local chickens for stock, and buy smoked ham hocks to keep around for when I make bean soups.

I need to find some of my other recipes to add. But this is certainly a good start to using up the summer’s bounty and keeping it available to make winter just a little warmer.

Like cauliflower leek soup.

What in your freezer might inspire you this fall?

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On A Perfect Day

Posted on August 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

What is it with the weather around here? Every day just warm enough, with no humidity. It makes it hard to get anything accomplished. But, it does make it easier to work in the kitchen.

Usually in the summer, my food processing days are spent fighting the heat and humidity. Not today.

I even made soup. Potato leek soup in the crockpot. This picture is before the blending. I used about a dozen small leeks from my garden. A half dozen potatoes. Three small shallots. A pint of homemade chicken stock. Salt and white pepper. After about six hours in the pot, I pureed it all in the blender. It’s in a jar in the refrigerator, cooling down. I may freeze it, or I may have it for dinner next week.

I also made tomato sauce again. Since the onslaught of tomatoes never ends.

I used the roma tomatoes from the CSA. Take my advice. DON’T do it this way. I sweated the tomatoes in the same pan as I made the sauce. Splitting them open and letting them get warm enough for me to slip off the skins. This is a chunky vegetable rich sauce. I like these for short pastas. I had green pepper, shallots, leeks, garlic, carrots, zucchini and eggplant in this sauce. Yes, an eggplant, from here.

I roasted everything on this pan this morning. Then smashed up the eggplant and added it to my sauce. As a thickener. You know, you can use all sorts of things in sauces. No one will be the wiser. I ended up with two full pint jars for the freezer, and about 12 ounces in the fridge to be used for a pasta for dinner tomorrow night.

The tomatoes and peppers on that tray? Went into a pint jar and are in the freezer as well. They will make one awesome sauce sometime in the dead of winter.

Last but not least.

It’s sauerkraut time. I pulled out the crock and am making kraut. Cabbage and salt. That’s all it takes. And a cool dark corner.

Since I can’t find my cork top for the small crock, I ended up covering this with a clean dish towel. I put the saucer on top the cabbage. Weight it down with a jar. I moved it off to the far side of the kitchen where it stays out of the sunlight. I will have sauerkraut next week. But, let it ferment longer for better flavor.

I certainly did quite a bit today. How was your Friday?

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That New Page in My Book

Posted on August 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

My Preservation Page.

The work in progress as I get ready for my August 23rd event at the Howard County Conservancy.

It makes me pay attention to how haphazard my blog posts are. How I can’t just focus on one item or one recipe. Trying to show people what I have done to preserve foods. While feeling like I am herding cats.

Yes, I mostly freeze foods. But, I also dry them. And roast them. And slow cook them. And occasionally when I am feeling feisty, I actually can things. Like that awesome jelly.

Pineapple habanero, as a matter of fact. This year, the habaneros aren’t producing so there will be some jalapeno pineapple jelly made later this week.

In the mean time, I am doing nothing but processing tomatoes and peppers. Since I really am drowning in them.

Yes, I believe most horizontal surfaces in this kitchen are covered in some sort of tomato. Tomorrow, there will be oven roasted yellow plums. And sauce from Early Girl and Big Boy. And, tabouleh from the thousands (has to be that many) of the Supersweet 100s and the Sun Gold tomatoes in the big bowl on the counter.

The processing frenzy continues. I will be happy in February. Now, I am just frazzled.

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Real Food and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Locavore, real food, tomatoes. Bookmark the permalink.

Anniversary Weekend

Posted on August 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

Yes, 34 years have passed since that Saturday, in stifling heat and humidity, not conducive to wearing wedding finery, when we got married. No, I am not posting pictures of the wedding.

I will post at least about the celebration dinner we had this evening.

I slow cooked two tuna filets covered in my latest home made tomato sauce. It happily sat in the oven while I made all sorts of other goodies. Like this one.

My first ajvar (Serbian roasted red pepper, eggplant and garlic spread) of the season. This was served with crostini as an appetizer. There are also two jars of it. One will be going to an amateur radio club picnic later this month. The other one. On a day trip picnic to some new winery we haven’t visited yet.

For the wine.

We pulled out a Turley 2004 Petite Syrah from the stash in the basement. Absolutely lovely with the tuna.

For dessert.

Berry peachy frozen yogurt. The pops aren’t ready yet, but we did have two little containers that were a perfect size for dessert while finishing the wine. This mixture was made with the final package of last year’s frozen peaches, blended with three or four cubes of blackberry simple syrup. A cup of vanilla yogurt. Using up what was left in the freezer from Larriland picking in 2013.

Not a bad way to celebrate over a third of a century together. A leisurely meal on the patio. Savored after another big Orioles win. Now, while I type, I am slow roasting peppers to freeze. Up tomorrow night. Slow cooked caramelized onions.

Harvest, the fair, and our anniversary. All in the same week. I need a vacation.

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