Lisa T's Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

I cannot take credit for this deliciousness. It is entirely the brainchild of one of my Auggie moms--the women who became part of my family when I became pregnant with Em and went looking for support online, nearly 15 years ago now. (Let's pretend I didn't say that, OK? Because it makes me feel very, very old. Almost as old as I actually am.) Thanks, Lisa T!

This is perfect for a cold, rainy, hailish day, which is what yesterday was.

(Happy now, @wondermama and @ejwillingham? If you're not, you will be once you try this out! And Kristen...it'd work just as well in a dutch oven cooked long, low, and slow either on the stovetop or in the oven.)

Lisa T's Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped
15 ounces chili beans
15 ounces black beans
15 ounces whole kernel corn
8 ounces tomato sauce
12 ounces beer
20 ounces diced tomatoes w/chilis
1 package taco seasoning mix (or, if you're me, just mix up a batch of Goodfountain's Taco Seasoning; the recipe is in the middle of that link)
3 whole chicken breasts, boned and skinned (I often double this; and thighs would work, too)
shredded Cheddar cheese, optional
tortilla chips, optional
sour cream, optional
cilantro, optional
whatever you might like to top this with, optional

1. Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend.

2. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients.

3.  Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.  (I tend strongly toward the impatient and am all about last-minute-ness. Hence, I generally set the slow cooker for high heat, cover, and cook for 3 to 3.5 hours, kvetching all the time about how long it's taking.)

4. Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Shred the chicken, then stir the shredded chicken back into the soup. Continue cooking on low for 2 hours. (Or, in the TC Has No Patience version of the recipe, continue cooking on high for half an hour or until you're ready to serve dinner.)

5. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, cilantro, some chopped-up onion, maybe some olives. Whatever you want!

6. Come back here and tell me how wonderful it was, so I can pass your compliments along to Lisa T.

Crockpot black-eyed pea soup for New Year's Day

For the past three New Year's Eves, I've had a pot of black-eyed peas soaking overnight.  Sometime on New Year's Day, between watching the Mummers Parade and football, I'll start making this soup. (It's a crockpot recipe - of course - so it's not like I'm slaving away in the kitchen.)

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is supposed to usher in good luck for the year ahead.  That's almost a bonus when it comes to this soup, which is one of my favorites.  It's filling and has a nice earthy taste.  I can't wait to make it this year.

Crockpot Black-Eyed Pea Soup
from Make It Fast, Cook It Slow, by Stephanie O'Dea (one of my can't-possibly-imagine-how-I-lived-without-it cookbooks)

Ingredients:
1 pound dried black eyed peas

1 pound spicy sausage (Stephanie used Aidells chicken habanero and green chile; I use Morningstar's vegetarian sausage)

6 cups chicken broth

1 yellow onion, diced

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced celery (I leave this out because I don't like celery)

4 cloves garlic, diced

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Tabasco sauce (to add at the end to taste)  (I skip this step)

Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (broken, discolored beans) in the morning.

Use a 5 to 6 quart crockpot. This will serve about 8 people. Dice the veggies, and dump them into your crockpot with the pre-soaked beans. Add sliced sausage. Pour in broth, and stir in Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6. Before serving, use a stick blender to smash up about 1 cup of beans. If you don't have a stick blender, scoop out 1 cup of beans, blend them in a traditional blender, and add back to the soup. Don't blend too much---just enough to get the broth thicker and creamy-looking.

Ladle into bowls, and add Tabasco sauce to taste.

Wish everyone at the table a Happy New Year before taking the first bite.  (OK, that's not in the recipe ... but it's what we always do.) 

Creamed spinach in the crockpot

Truth be told, I'm usually more fond of the Thanksgiving side dishes than the actual bird itself.  I am all about the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, the vegetables. 

Yesterday, my mom made an incredible creamed spinach dish that I just had to share, especially since I've been woefully delinquent on posting any recipes here.   (I don't have a photo of it, unfortunately.  It disappeared too fast, and my family doesn't understand the rationale or importance of photographing one's food.)

Even better, this creamed spinach is a side dish that can be made in the crockpot, making it an easy addition to your holiday table.  And even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, there's still post-Thanksgiving meals and Christmas for those who celebrate such, and New Years festivities.  This side dish would be a great addition to any of these holidays or your regular everyday meals.

Mom says she got it from one of her friends in the active-adult community in which she lives, so I apologize for not being able to give any more attribution than that.

2 packages of 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
2 cups of cream style cottage cheese (Mom used small curd)
1/2 cup of butter, cut up
1 1/2 cup of American cheese, cubed (Mom used only approximately a cup)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup flour (Mom used slightly less)
1 tsp. salt

Grease crock pot and combine all ingredients.  Cook on low 4-5 hrs. Stir occasionally, put in attractive bowl and serve warn.

Mom says she added a little whole milk and a little piece (about a quarter) of onion, and removed the onion before serving.

There were 6 adults and 3 children at our table and this was enough for all.

Ratatouille (in the crockpot)

I had a bit of an eggplant dilemma over the weekend.  You see, I have a bit of a habit of buying unknown-to-me-produce at the farmer's market.  The cuter the name and the cuter the item, the chances are great that it is coming home with me, even if I have no idea what I am going to make with it. 

That was the situation last weekend, when I purchased these at the farm:

The purple and white globe is apparently a Graffiti Eggplant, the long and narrow ones are Green Goddesses, and the short round ones are the adorably named Kermits. 

(C'mon, would you have been able to leave a Kermit at the farm?  Especially with the meat case just a few dangerous feet away?)

So they came home with me and there they sat, awaiting some decision from me as to what I would make. 

Over the weekend, I had ratatouille on my mind so I turned to Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook  by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. Sure enough, on pages 133-134, there's a slow cooker recipe for ratatouille, described as a regional vegetable stew from Provence.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, 1.5 lbs., peeled and cut into 1" cubes (I used the graffiti eggplant, one Kermit, and one Green Goddess because the graffiti wasn't what I would have considered large)

salt
1 medium sized yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium-size or large bell peppers (green, red, orange, or yellow), seeded and cut into big squares
10 plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or one 14.5 oz. can diced plum tomatoes, drained
2-3 cloves garlic, to your taste, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
5 zucchini or summer squash , ends trimmed and cut into thick rounds
1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, to your taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Put the cubed eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with salt.  Let stand 1 hour to drain.  Press out the excess moisture with the back of a spatula and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Combine the eggplant, onion, bell peppers, tomatoes, and garlic in the slow cooker. Pour over the olive oil and toss to coat.  Cover and cook on HIGH for 1-1.5 hours or on LOW for 2-3 hours.

3. Stir in the zucchini.  Cover and continue to cook for HIGH for another 1.5 hrs. or on LOW for 2-2.5 hours. The last hour, add the basil and season with salt and black pepper.  The vegetables will be cooked but will still hold their shape.

Some serving ideas mentioned in the book include serving hot with crumbled goat cheese sprinkled on top (this is what I did, especially since I can't resist any opportunity for goat cheese), at room temperature with lemon wedges and freshly grated parmesan cheese, or cold drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Serves 4-6.

"Fried" chicken (in the crockpot)

Summer isn't usually synonymous with crockpot cooking, but there's no reason for your slow cooker to collect dust when the temperature soars past the edges of the thermometer.  (Here on the hot and humid East Coast, there have been some days when it's even too hot to consider firing up the grill.) 

That's when the crockpot can be pressed into service, even for traditional summertime food like fried chicken.

In her cookbook Make It Fast, Cook It Slow, Stephanie O'Dea has a great recipe for "fried chicken" (her quotes) made in the crockpot.  It's a great recipe for these summer months for when you don't want to turn on the oven and don't want to step outside. 

Ingredients
cooking spray
1 tbsp. seasoned salt
1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
2 tsps. onion powder
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 c. flour (Stephanie used a gluten-free baking mix)
18 thawed drumsticks (or however many will fit into your slow cooker) *
4 tbsps. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

* When I made this, I was able to fit approximately 10-12 drumsticks in my crockpot. 

Use a 6-quart slow cooker.  Spray the stoneware with cooking spray.  Combine all the seasonings and flour in a ziplock freezer bag.

Add the chicken and tightly seal the bag.  Shake until the chicken is nicely coated.  Dump chicken into the stoneware. Add the melted butter.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for about 6 hours.

In her notes, Stephanie mentions that she likes to munch on these cold.  So do I.  That's an extra added bonus of making extra - one less summertime meal to cook on a hot day!

Spicy Garbanzos

You guys! I made this recipe twice in the last two weeks. But did I manage to take even one picture of it? Noooooooo. Of course not. Even though I knew I was going to want to write about it here. Even though I knew I was going to want to write about it here this week.

Sigh. Yes, that's what it's been like around here lately.

And so, for my penance, I'm going to give you more bang for your blogging buck and provide you with not one but two sorta-different versions of this recipe. The first is from the Weight Watchers Fast & Fabulous Cookbook; I used to make all it the time back some years ago when I was doing Weight Watchers online and found this book down in my mother's basement. I continued to make it long after I'd stopped doing Weight Watchers online (or anywhere else), because I loved it so much.

And then there's the second version, the one I "created" just last week when I realized I needed a quick, easy, slow-cooker-based vegetarian potluck recipe using the ingredients I had around the house. It was--if I do say so mayself--even better than the original. Or, at least, definitely just as good. But I warn you: It may be the world's least precise recipe ever.

So let's start with the one that uses measurements and such. You know, the one written by real recipe writers, and not harried mothers.

Weight Watchers' Spicy Garbanzos

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup diced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup chopped green bell peper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup water
Dash of hot sauce
12 ounces drained canned garbanzo beans
1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in saucepan; add onion and garlic, and saute until onion is softened.

2. Add green pepper; saute for five minutes longer.

3. Stir in chili powder and cumin.

4. Add tomatoes, water, and hot sauce; cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Stir in garbanzo beans, salt, and pepper, and let simmer, uncovered, until beans are heated through and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes longer.

Couldn't be easier, right? Wrong! This is easier.

TC's Slow-Cooked, Perfect-for-a-Potluck Spicy Garbanzos

3 cans of garbanzo beans (or more...or fewer...depends on how many people you want to feed)
1 big can of diced or whole tomatoes (whatever you have in your pantry)
Frozen corn
About a teaspoon or so of minced or chopped garlic (I use the premade stuff in a jar that I keep in the fridge for when I don't have time to chop and/or mince)
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Ground coriander (because I have a baggie full of coriander I ground myself from cilantro that went to seed in my garden; it's been in my freezer for I-don't-want-to-say-how-long, and I use it in whatever recipe could possibly support it; this one supports it nicely)
Hot sauce (my husband's all about the sriracha these days, so that's what I have on hand)
Salt (I use kosher in pretty much all my cooking)
Freshly ground pepper

1. Drain the garbanzo beans; throw them into the slow cooker.

2. Open the tomatoes; throw them into the slow cooker.

3. Dump a bunch of frozen corn into the slow cooker. I have literally no idea how much; I do it by eye, stirring the stuff around until it looks right.

4. Add the garlic, chili, cumin, coriander, hot sauce, salt and papper. Again, I do this entirely by eye--or maybe I should say by feel. I know I like a lot of cumin and coriander, for instance, and enough pepper so that you can taste it. I know that you need more kosher salt than you'd think, but that too much is not good. I know that my husband will add more hot sauce, so I don't have to overdo. That sort of thing.

5. If the whole mixture looks dry, add a little bit of water; you don't need much water when you're cooking in a slow cooker, though.

6. Cook on high for no more than three hours, if that long.

7. When I go to a potluck, I just take it in the crockery part of the slow cooker with me, and I'm done with it. When I serve it to myself at home, I like to put it over brown rice or sticky sushi rice...or, really, whatever leftover rice I have around so I don't have to go to the trouble of firing up the rice cooker. I'm all about the lazy.

I made these substitutions, by the way, so that I don't have to do any real prep work--no dicing or slicing needed. In fact, one of the potlucks I brought this to was at my workplace; I threw all the ingredients into the slow cooker in the morning in under five minutes, put the whole thing in my car, and plugged it in in my friend's office--where it cooked all morning long and was absolutely perfect when lunchtime rolled around.

So now I feel comfortable saying that it could not be easier. Also? It could not be more delicious.