Summer Crockpot Recipe

August always seems to be the time that I begin to lose my passion for cooking on the grill. Maybe it is the sun going down earlier or the crisp air during my morning runs, but something shifts for me and I begin to find myself wanting to be in the kitchen cooking more. Then the afternoon sun and warmth smacks me back to reality and there I am with no dinner plan since I cannot imagine turning on the oven in this heat!

To the rescue comes the crockpot. When I think crockpot, I think winter storms and my house smelling amazing. However I looked at her differently this summer when I realized all that could be cooked in it with barely any heat or energy...not to mention coming home to a dinner while I'm beaching it for the day!

My favorite way to make organic chicken drumsticks is in the crockpot. They are cooked throughout evenly and retain moisture that is sometimes lost when baking legs in the oven. My mom always made them simple as to really savor the taste of the chicken rather than the seasoning.  My kids LOVE these and always ask for 2nds!

6-7 organic drumsticks/legs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

Place all drumsticks in crockpot. Evenly cover the chicken w spices listed above. Turn crockpot to High for 4-5 hours. Turn off and let cool for 10 mins before serving, enjoy!

Emily's Spaghetti Squash Favorite!

Spaghetti Squash is one of the best veggies to easily replace pasta in your diet.  Whether you are on the Paleo diet, eating gluten free, or just looking to reduce your consumption of pasta, Spaghetti Squash is one of the easiest substitutes!

 

 

It can be made in a variety of ways to meet your liking or recipe.  I'm going to share with you my tried and true, dinner party favorite as you know that we all need one stand by dish that not everyone else makes! Even my vegetarian friends love this dish and I either remove the grass fed ground meat and substitute tofu, or just remove the protein for them completely.  If you are creative in the kitchen, using this recipe as your base and building from there is encouraged and leave your comments below with your favorite variation!

 

This past weekend I ran out of my summer CSA crushed tomatoes in the freezer.  I make a huge batch over the summer and freeze them for later winter use.  Sadly, the supply is out and it is only January!  I will definitely be stocking up this summer and posting the easy, crockpot crushed tomato recipe I follow....but I digress.  So I ran out of tomatoes, went to my favorite grocer and they were out of crushed tomatoes in a box.  I'm not a fan of the taste of crushed tomatoes in a can so I hopped over to the produce section and picked up some organic roma tomatoes to make my own.

 

 

While the tomatoes were cooking in the crockpot, I turned on the oven to bake the squash.  While the squash was in the oven, I cut up the onions and sautéed them with the grass fed ground beef from Walden Local Meat.   

 

 

While the meat was going, I started shredding the Vermont Cheddar and Parm in separate containers.  Ikea makes these awesome shedders that go right into a container - and they come in a 2 pack!  At some point I sipped a glass of my favorite wine and kept cooking.  The result was a beautiful full dish of delish squash and happy New Englanders who dug us out of 30+" of snow.  It was a wonderful evening with delightful conversation about all the musings around us.  Below is a plated picture and recipe - bon appetite!

 

 Emily's Spaghetti Squash Favorite!

 

2 lbs. ground meat

1 onion/shallots

1 large box crushed tomatoes

2 cloves garlic - crushed

 

8 oz Vermont white cheddar cheese - shredded

2 oz or taste parm cheese - shredded

8 oz Breakstone's sour cream

 

2 medium sized spaghetti squashed

 

1 - Preheat oven to 400.  Wash squash and place in casserole dish to be baked in oven.  Pierce the squash like you would a potato so the pressure is released while cooking. I usually make 3-4 long knife cuts in the squash.  Bake for 40 minutes, rotate 1/2 way through.  Once done, wait to cool and then cut the squash in half.  Scoop out the seeds and then pull the squash apart with a fork.

 

2 - Chop onion and add ground meat to be sautéed.  The grass fed beef typically does not need any additional fat, but if you want to do the onion first, add EVOO to sauté.   Cook until meat is browned and then add garlic and tomatoes.  Continue to simmer while you wait for the spaghetti squash to finish.

 

3 -Shred the cheddar and parm in 2 separate containers as later the layers are done separately. 

 

4 - Layering time! Bottom to Top:

1/2 the Squash

1/2 Meat

1/2 of the sour cream

1/4 of the cheddar

 

Repeat 1x, except use all the remaining cheddar and sprinkle on the parm cheese as the last layer. 

 

5 - Bake for 30 minutes on 400, until the cheese has melted and begins to slightly brown - if you like it that way ;)

 

6 - Take out of the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.  This will give it a moment to gel and get the table set!

 

Enjoy!  I hope it sounds like a fun recipe because it is and once you make it once it will become your go to when you have all the ingredients.  Even non-veggie lovers have 2nds!

 

Em

 

Storm Preppin'

If you have not heard, the Northeast is in for a big one this week - snow that is!  No more talk about Tom's balls....we are on to the big news of 2+ feet of snow!  You know what the means right??  Prepping, cooking and baking now to get ready for the hours of snow fun ahead.  The Prepper in me is only slightly concerned that we may lose power during this storm.  Our next door neighbors have a wonderful fireplace, so we maybe camping at their house if things get bad.  Until then, I'm going to bake a few gluten free breads to be sure we all survive along with a few other goodies I will share.

My favorite new discovery is Pamela's Bread Mix which has a great recipe on the back of the package for a homemade gluten free breadmaker bread.  I've seen the Mix available before, but not until recently did I decide to give it a go.  I want to know what is in every single thing I eat.  Sounds excessive, but realistically, we should all know exactly what is in our food.  The more I can make and bake at home the more I will know.   But let's also be realistic, working full time, raising 3 children and being a wife is time consuming in and of itself these days, so finding short cuts where possible works as long as quality is not compromised.....(although, it would be fun to make homemade pizza again.)

On the Facebook page, I've linked this post with a picture of the bread after it comes out.  I tried making the bread as it calls for on the package several times now and have discovered it works well if your breadmaker has a 'rapid' or 1 rise setting.  Gluten free bread does not need the 2nd rise and the time I did try it on the regular bread setting it did not rise enough the 2nd time.  Prepping, following and baking the recipe all took less than 1.5 hours and 1.25 of those hours the breadmaker was doing the work - perfect! 

Here's the recipe from Pamela's - slightly modified for my breadmaker and preferred taste:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups Pamela's Gluten-Free Bread Mix
• 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast or 1 yeast packet
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• warm water

Directions:

In a Bread Machine

Setting suggestion - Rapid Bread, 2 lb loaf, Dark Crust.

 

In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup, heat 2 cups of water in the microwave until warm, not boiling (2 mins on my microwave).  Add 1/3 cup oil, add 2 eggs and pour all liquids into bread maker.  Then add bread mix and yeast last. Start machine and scrape down sides and corners of pan after dough has been mixed for about 6 minutes.

After baking, remove from pan and let cool before removing paddle and slicing.

 

Simple Summer Dressing

My little daughter loves all things farm fresh.  Red Leaf Lettuce, brussell sprouts, lavendar, you name it.  Recently, she started eating my salad, right out of the bowl....dressing and all.  If a kid will eat my homemade dressing, it should be shared with everyone.  I do tend to improvise and make the quantity that I need based on the day and week..so here goes:

Whole Grain Mustard - Cilantro Dressing
Using a Tablespoon as your measure for each serving of salad, i.e. 4 servings of salad, multiple this recipe 4x.

1 Tablespoon Whole Grain Mustard, I prefer Trader Joe's
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Tablespoon EVOO
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of freshly chopped cilantro
Salt/Pepper to taste

Shake in your favorite dressing container - I love the Bonne Maman jars!
And serve - refridgerate extra up to 5 days.
Bon appetite!

Energy Efficient Cooking

Cooking and baking are one of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday.  Since having kids though, my time is quite limited as to how much time I can spend in the kitchen.  I have tried Once a Month Cooking, batch cooking & freezing, raw recipes that require little prep and on and on.   I've combined all of these techniques into something that works for our family and minimizes the amount of energy used.  Most recently, with my gluten allergy and intolerance, figuring out "what's for dinner" has become even more important to me so I know that I can share in the family dinner time without having to worry if I can or cannot eat it.  However, when I talk to other friends and co-workers about their kitchen strategy, most do not have a plan or barely know how to articulate how they get it done.  Here is what works at our house and maybe taking pieces of what works for us, will help you have a more effective and efficient cooking and baking experience.

First, I review the latest farm share delivery and center our meals for the week around that.  I also consider what our family/work schedule is for the next two weeks to see if there will be any large gaps of time away from the family, for either my husband or I.  If there are gaps, I plan to make larger batches of what I'm cooking to put 3-4 meals in the freezer that can easily be defrosted.  Then, I find the circular of the grocery store with the most sales and that will compliment my farm share well.  This process takes about 15 minutes, but in the long run of planning, it's the best time spent.  To have a general plan about what is for dinner, takes away the stress on the evenings when an unplanned activity arises.

Once I have all the ingredients I need to make several meals, I start the prep work.  If I need to shred zucchini, beets and onions, I use the food processor near the sink and get to work.  I think about the order of shredding the vegetables, as the onions will leave a taste on the blades and container that I may not want transferred to the zucchini, if it's going into a bread.  After everything is chopped, diced, shredded and sliced, I put together the meals that I've been preparing for.  Then I set everything on the counter and let it set.  It must be an old tradition from my grandmother, but I feel that giving the food the time to absorb the new state it is in, gives it a moment.  Figuring out the spacing in the oven sometimes takes some time.  If I've prepped 6 dishes and only have room for 4, I try to minimize the length of time the oven needs to be on to save energy.  Maximizing how many dishes I cook at a time, reduces the amount of time the oven is on.  I have also found that turning off the oven earlier than a recipe calls for allows for the food to cook internally (of course, this only works if you've already pre-cooked the meat in a lasagna for instance).  Using my slow cooker also reduces the amount of energy and electricity used in our kitchen.  I recently made a gluten free lasagna with zucchini and rice lasagna noodles in the slow cooker.  It was absolutely awesome, cooked while I was at work and there was minimal prep involved as I was already shredding zucchini for a bread and was batch cooking turkey meat to use in multiple dishes.  Although the rice lasagna noodles called for pre-cooking the noodles, I placed zucchini on each layer of noodle so the moisture from the zucchini would soak into the noodle.  The dish was so great, the kids asked for 2nds!

Here's a link to a handy list of energy efficient cooking tips:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030578_cooking_baking.html

Happy Baking!