Jessica's sweet potato chickpea peanut stew - an easy winter meal

This recipe (from my friend Jessica) comes together so fast, is made in one pot (or crock pot), requires little chopping, and brings together delicious flavors. A real winner I keep making over and over since she first shared it with me. If you have some ginger, garlic, and a sweet potato on hand, you can probably make this with stuff you have in your pantry.

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or about 2 cups from frozen)
• 1 sweet potato, cubed (I used 2)
• 1 1/2 t. curry powder
• 1/2-3/4 t. garam masala (depending on how spicy you like it)
• 1 t. cumin
• 1 T. minced ginger
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• dash of cinnamon
• 1 14 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes, in juice
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 2 c. vegetable stock (or 1 if using crock pot)
• 2 T. natural peanut butter
• 1/2 c. red lentils, drained and rinsed (can substitute quinoa, if desired)

Combine everything in a soup pot, bring to a boil, let boil for about 15-20 minutes, then put on low and simmer for about 1 hr. It's finished when the potatoes are nice and tender (and falling apart). If you have a crock pot, turn it on high for an hour, and then let it cook on low for 2-3 hours (or low 4 hours).

ropa vieja inspired beef stew in the slow-cooker

Michael was feeling nostalgic for his Miami roots the other day...so we made a slow-cooker beef stew with Cuban flavors inspired from "Ropa Vieja". We used stew meat instead of flank steak because 2 lbs of flank steak was something like $30 (what?!).  The recipe is based on the Cuban-Style Ropa Vieja from Saveur. We served it with brown rice and some Cuban-style black beans. Michael gave this his stamp of approval, said the flavors were right.

ingredients:
2 lb. stew beef, cubed 
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 poblano pepper, thinly sliced
6 oz. tomato paste (small can)
1 T cumin
1 T dried thyme
1 T dried oregano
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
½ cup dry white wine
2 cups beef stock
1 (16-oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
½ cup halved, pitted green olives
3 tbsp. capers, rinsed and drained
¼ cup roughly chopped cilantro

instructions: 
1. Brown the meat in two batches in a bit of oil on the stove. Add the onion and cook until starting to get soft, deglaze with the white wine. (I added everything for a second to toss it before adding to crock pot, see photo above.) Add everything to the slow-cooker except the olives, capers, and cilantro. Cook on low about 6-8 hours. Mix in olives and capers last, garnish with cilantro. (Lazy version: you don't have to brown meat first - you can just add everything to the slow cooker.)

how to make beans in the slow cooker

The New York Times recently had an article One Pot of Beans, Four Dinners. And I was just thinking about writing a post about making beans in the slow cooker anyways. It's more economical and tastes better (and is healthier) than canned beans. Make one bag of dried beans, and then freeze what you're not using in 1-2 cup batches. I've done this with garbanzo beans and black beans so far and both turned out really well. Here are some recipe ideas, and tips for making beans in the slow cooker.

Slow cooker beans
This technique works with any beans except lentils. 

1. (optional): Soak beans overnight. Some people say this makes the beans easier to digest. So if you think of it the day before, soak the beans first by rinsing them and then covering with a few inches of water in a big bowl in the fridge.

2. (If soaked: rinse and drain.) Add beans to slow cooker, covered by about 2 inches of water, plus 1 teaspoon of salt. (optional: add aromatics such as a bay leaf, onion, garlic, or herbs)

3. Cook on low about 6 hours. If you soaked them, they might be done a bit earlier, so check around hour five.

4. Cool and then store.

Meal Ideas with Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas)
Make this bright orange winter couscous from Ottolenghi
A garlicky pasta dish with sage and chickpeas
A raw carrot and chickpea salad with moroccan spices

  

Meal Ideas with Black Beans
This black bean quinoa salad with mango and lime tastes super fresh
Make a nice beef stew with black beans 
Try vegetarian tacos: black bean and sweet potato filling

  

slow cooker pork carnitas braised with dark beer and chipotles

This is an excellent base for many tasty meals, and an easy formula for making tender, pull-apart pork in the slow-cooker. I turned on the slow cooker before leaving the house today, and then came home and made tacos for dinner. Yum.

formula for slow-cooker carnitas

meat + spices  + liquid --> slow cooker = magic

spicy beef stew with beans and green pepper (Ada Mollenkamp's Smoky Black Bean Chili)

I made this stew twice: once on the stove, and once in the crock-pot (which I am starting to use a lot more). I have to say I liked the one I made on the stove better...must be the caramelization of the vegetables... but it's hard to argue with the ease of the crock-pot. I browned the meat while I was chopping all the other vegetables, and then in it all went. And hours later - dinner. Magic. This recipe is from Ada Mollenkamp's Keys to the Kitchen, which I have also recommended as a good graduation gift. It's a good cookbook - I've really liked everything I've made from it.

Be warned: it is a little spicy. Only add one chipotle pepper if you're worried. Or serve with a dollop of sour cream and you'll be fine.

the slow cooker.

With fall on the horizon, I decided I finally wanted to buy a slow cooker. I was really surprised to find you can find ones for around $20 with super good reviews on Amazon. Then this week I have been coming across the slow cooker everywhere - it seems to be that time of year.

Things I am excited about trying with the slow cooker:
 - obviously, meat braises and stews and soups
 - jam and fruit butters
 - cooking dried beans (links here (Kayln's Kitchen) and here (The Kitchn)
 - making curries (I can't wait to try recipes from Quick and Easy Indian Cooking)
 - rice pilafs (also just rice...)

Also, there are entire blogs devoted to cooking with the slow cooker:
 - Slow Cooker From Scratch (compiles from-scratch recipes from multiple blogs)
 - A Year of Slow Cooking (author of 365 Slow Cooker Suppers and Make it Fast, Cook it Slow)
 - Healthy Slow Cooking (lots of vegan recipes)
 - 365 Days of Slow Cooking (author of 365 Days of Slow Cooking)
 - Slow Cooker Adventures  (focus on gluten-free recipes)
 - Slow Cooker Queen (has a lot of vegetarian recipes)
 - The Crockin' Girls (with categories like "fresh-crockin'"

Lots of these are written from the "busy mom" angle, but busy grad students - and everyone, really - need some recipes they can leave to sit for a few hours.

Anyone else have favorite slow cooker recipes?

fragrant lamb tagine with prunes and almonds

This recipe comes slightly ill-timed...as it's a great hearty, spiced winter stew, and today is the first day in Ann Arbor that truly, truly feels like spring. (Please, be here to stay!) Anyways, it's so fragrant I can't wait to eat it anyways. It's a recipe from David Tanis's Heart of the Artichoke. Tanis describes visiting Morocco and tasting this dish, "on top of the world" in the sand dunes of the Sahara. It's good, but I found that it had a bit too much sweetness. I would maybe reduce the golden raisins and prunes to 1 cup total when making it again, and adding some lemon juice and cilantro.