Recipes, anyone?
It was my birthday a few days ago, and because I'm such a wild and crazy gal, I asked ZGuy to get me a slow cooker. So he did, and now I'm the new owner of a $19.99 red Rival 4-quart crock pot. Here's a photo of its white counterpart:
I am very excited about my crock pot. I' ve never used one before, however, so I need a little help. Specifically, I need recipes. Vegetarian ones. The guide that came with the crockpot consists primarily of meat-based recipes. I did buy two vegetarian slowcooker cookbooks yesterday, but if you know of any good recipes, please send them my way. Thanks!
I am very excited about my crock pot. I' ve never used one before, however, so I need a little help. Specifically, I need recipes. Vegetarian ones. The guide that came with the crockpot consists primarily of meat-based recipes. I did buy two vegetarian slowcooker cookbooks yesterday, but if you know of any good recipes, please send them my way. Thanks!
posted by zgirl at 8:25 AM
5 Comments:
Right on - happy belated birthday! I have an original - nay, vintage - red/orange one from ca. 1970. Love it, but a removable liner and a larger capacity would be nice...
I just used mine this week to make up a batch of boiled peanuts. Yes, I'm a southern girl. Get a pound of RAW peanuts in the shell, 1/2 cup of salt, cover with water, and crock it on high for 8 hours. Voila - a mighty tasty snack!
Have fun.
Happy Birthday-Season. Somewhere I have a recipe for veggie chili. I'll see if I can dig it up. (I don't use the crock as much in Arizona as I did when I lived in colder climes...!)
Okay, so here's the crock recipe for veggie chili I promised:
Vegetable Chili With Beans
INGREDIENTS:
•3 cups dry small red beans or pinto beans
•2 tablespoons olive oil
•1 large onion sliced thinly
•4 cloves of garlic minced well
•1 bell pepper, coarsely chopped
•2-3 stalks of celery, sliced on diagonal
•1/2 head of cabbage, coarsely chopped
•1/2 cup red unpeeled diced potatoes
•1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes undrained
•1 teaspoon chili powder or more to taste
•1/2 teaspoon cumin
•1/2 cup uncooked rice
•5 cups vegetable broth
•salt and pepper to taste
•grated cheese for garnish, if desired
PREPARATION:
Cook beans according to package directions, until tender. Drain. Put beans in slow cooker. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil or a small amount of liquid; saute onion and garlic until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add bell pepper, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, chili powder and cumin. Continue cooking, stirring frequently for 3 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Add rice and broth; cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 7 hours or until chili is thick and rice and beans are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with shredded cheese and sour cream if desired.
(I will also sometimes add hotter peppers—like jalapeno or serano or chiles—if I want a hotter dish.)
(Also--depending on the cooking times, you can get away with not pre-cooking the beans if you allow for a longer overall cooking time. I sort of just play this by ear.)
Most of my crock pot recpies are meat based, but here are 2 that aren't. Ivillage has the best list of Crock pot recipes.
Crock Pot Sweet Potatoes
5 Sweet potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
half a stick of butter
1 tablespoon cinamon
half a cup brown sugar.
Combine sugar and cinamon
Put sweet potatoes in crock pot
put pieces of butter all around
Sprinkle half of the cinamon/sugar on. Turn to low. Cook 2 hrs. Stir, Sprinkle the rest of cinamon/sugar on cook another 2 hrs and serve.
Crock Pot Hot Apple Cider
Gallon of Apple Cider (or as much as your crock will hold)
Whole Cloves
Apple
2 Cinnamon sticks
1 whole nutmeg
Put as many cloves as you can into an apple (Macs and granny smiths work best, but you can do this with any apple)
Work both cinnamon sticks into the apple as well
Put cloven apple and nutmeg into the crockpot.
Pour the cider over it.
It's ready when can smell it.
One cookbook I've recently found is "The Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook" - I can't vouch for it's lack of meat recipes, but there are lots of good things in there to try. It also includes a great primer for cooking with the slow cooker. Very useful I thought.
One piece of advise, though. I have the same crock pot that you do, and the author of the above book says never to fill the pot less than half full. But it's a HUGE pot. I have learned from experience and other people that it really IS ok. Otherwise, yuo'll feel like you can't cook unless you plan on feeding a small army.
Have fun!
Jill
(loved seeing you guys by the way! Congrats on your progress!!)
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