Chili in the crockpot

It’s finally Fall. Time to break out the crockpot.

Yummy food. No work. Lots of leftovers. What’s not to love?

 

Chili

• 1 chopped onion
• 1 cooked chicken breast (optional)
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can garbanzo beans (pureed- they will never know it’s even in there)
• 2 C cooked lentils
• 1 large can pinto beans
• 1 large can dark red kidney beans
• Add chicken broth as needed.
• Add chili seasoning to taste. (depends on what brand you buy)
• 2 tsp cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

 

Dump it all in the crockpot. Cook on high for 4 hours, or until the onions are done.

Eat.

Freeze the leftovers for quick dinners later.

Happy Chicken Soup with Rice!

Chicken Soup with Rice … one of my favorite books!!

Go here to watch the Video.

It’s raining. It gets dark in early afternoon this time of year. Soup weather is here.

Chicken Soup With Rice

Step one:

Cover three chicken leg (thigh and leg) parts with water. Boil, then simmer 1 hour. Let cool. Strain liquid through strainer into bowl, refrigerate overnight. Take meat off the bones, discard skin and bones. Chop and refrigerate cooked meat.

Chop carrots, zucchini and onion. Cover and refrigerate.

Step two (the next morning):

Plug in the crockpot. (Don’t ask me how I know this part)  Add veggies and cover with stock. Heat for two hours.

Add:

chopped meat.

2 C cooked rice

One package of spinach leaves- chopped.

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 tsp italian seasoning

1 stock cube (if desired)

Optional: thicken the broth slightly with 4 T “GF flour blend”  mixed with a little broth, blend into soup in the crockpot.

Set crockpot to high, continue cooking until you are ready to eat. I like a good biscuit with this soup too. Go for it.

 

Soup Soup Soup

This is great for a rainy cold weekend lunch. Guess what we are having today? It’s great over a bowl of rice, too. (SOME!!!)people at my house insist on meat in their diets… I could care less and don’t really eat meat. So this is good either way. Sometimes I just get out two giant pots on the stove and make both versions at the same time.

Freezes great.

Veggie Veggie Soup

• 1 lb chicken thighs – cut into bite sized pieces (optional)
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 box of Pacific chicken stock
• 3 peeled and chopped carrots
• 2 peeled and chopped potatoes
• 1 C frozen chopped spinach
• 1 1/2 C frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 can cut green beans
• 1 peeled and chopped zucchini salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 T oregano
• 1 T Italian seasoning

Cover chicken bits with a little water- 2 cups?maybe. simmer until cooked through. Add all the veggies and chicken stock. Add seasonings. Simmer an hour, or until the carrots are cookedto your liking.

Tornado Watch Soup

We are under a tornado watch for the rest of the afternoon. I am making soup.  

Tornado Watch Soup

• 1 pound of browned ground pork, turkey, whatever
• 1 large onion , chopped
• 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 4 zucchini, peeled and chopped
• 4 C chopped baby bok choy leaves
• 4 C chicken broth,  add more as needed
• 1 vegan boullion soup cube
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp salt

Place all in a large crockpot. Set to “high” for 5 hours.

Add 1 C cooked rice at the end. Stir and serve.

Crazy new cornbread

No corn in the cornbread… what? Well, yeah. And it turns out fine. LOL. And it’s sooooo perfect with the chili I made (see recipe for that under the soup tag)

I used to make a batch of that handy Krusteaz Honey Cornbread about once a week. I was addicted to it. And of course now I know why. I am allergic to everything in the mix.

So this is the new standby, yummy and very cornbread like, enough that I am even considering this recipe as the base for my cornbread stuffing. Whoa. This one earns a gold star.

“Not Corn”cornbread

• 1 egg (replaced with 1 T golden flax meal + 3 T HOT water)
• 3 T sugar
• 3 T palm shortening
• 1 C coconut milk
• 1/3 C potato starch
• 1/2 C arrowroot starch
• 3/4 C millet flour (or sorghum flour if you want more “grit”)
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp vinegar

 

• 1 T baking powder
• 1/4 tsp soda

Mix everything except the baking powder and soda on high speed for a minute. Then add in the BP and Soda. This will react with the vinegar in the dough to make it rise. Quickly put batter into an oiled 8 x 8 pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Cut into squares and pour on the chili.

No Egg. No Gluten. No Soy. No Dairy either. Wow.

Pea soup

Not only are the clouds blanketing the whole neighborhood as “thick as pea soup” … I made some too, with the leftover ham from Christmas dinner.

There is no recipe- other than throw it in there and wait an hour. The general idea is to brown a chopped onion in a tablespoon of oil, with 3 cloves of chopped garlic. Then chop up some ham and throw that on in there too to warm up and stew around and get all steamy with the onions. Then I added 4 cups of dried split green peas, covered them with water and tossed in about a cup of chicken broth that was left in the fridge. I know.. I know.. measurements! please!. Sorry. not this recipe. It just seems to figure itself out. I also cubed a large potato and tossed it in. I grated a large carrot into the soup for color – and it cooked so much it disappeared. Great if you are trying to hide carrots in their food I guess.  Not so great, if you are going for some color contrast. Oh well. It’s thick and soupy. And it goes really well with the “wonder bread” shaped and baked like biscuits.

mmmmmm. winter soup and rolls.  Now I need a nap.