Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:
6 sweet potatoes
4 cups broth
2-3 apples, sliced
1/4 tsp ground allspice

Directions:
Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Add to crock pot with apples, broth, and allspice. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Blend with an immersion blender.

This soup is very simple and also very delcious. This is perfect soup for during the week.

Adapted from Stephanie O'Dea's Make it Fast, Cook it Slow

Eggplant "Parmesan"

A delicious alternative to chicken parmesan

Ingedients:
1 26 oz jar pasta sauce
1 large eggplant
1/4 cup gluten free bread crumbs
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
Pout 1 cup of pasta sauce in bottom of stoneware. Wah eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Combine bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in dish. Brush both sides of each eggplant with olive oil and dredge in bread crumb mixture. Stack eggplant pieces in crock pot on top of pasta sauce. Pour remaining pasta sauce on top. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Serve over pasta.

Adapted from Stephanie O'Dea's Make it Fast, Cook it Slow

Sweet and Sour Pork

2 lbs pork chops, diced
1 10 oz jar apricot jam
3 tbsp soy sauce or substitute (see substitutions page)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp red chili paste
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 inch piece fresh ginger
1 whole jalapeno
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 limes

Directions:
Put pork in slow cooker. Add jam, soy sauce substitute, sesame oil, and chili paste. Add garlic, onion, salt, black pepper, and ginger. Toss in jalapeno pepper and cucumbers. Cover and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. Serve over rice and add a sprinke of lime juice.

I loved this recipe, but it was a little spicy even though I only used one jalapeno pepper. You should try this.

From Stephanie O'Dea's Make it Fast, Cook it Slow

Indian Curry

Ingredients:
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 inch piece fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
4 to 6 boneless chicken breasts
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 eggplant, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

Directions:
Combine spices, ginger, garlic, cocunut milk, and Tabasco sauce in bottom of slow cooker.  Add chicken, and flip to coat with sauce. Add garbanzo beans. Chop vegetables and add. Don't stir vegetables! Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours. Serve over rice.

From Stephanie O'Dea's Make it Fast, Cook it Slow

Chicken and Rice Soup

This is a really good substitute for chicken noodle soup. It is also a good way of cleaning out the pantry. From Make it Fast, Cook it Slow.

Ingrediens
2 cups blended vegetables (use whatever you have in the pantry)
1 cup cooked chicken
2 quarts chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup raw brown rice
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
kosher salt
black pepper

Directions:

Wash and trim vegetables and put them into blender. Place in slow cooker. Add chicken, broth, water, brown rice, herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Note: You can find herbes de Provence in the spice section of the grocery store or at the spice store.

Chicken and Rice Soup

Taco Night

So tonight was taco night at my house. Making tacos is very simple if you prepare it right. The first thing you need to do is brown the ground beef. I usually make between 1 or 2 pounds.  Cook the meat until it is brown and no longer pink. (You won't need to use oil because the meat will cook in its own fat)  Drain the fat. At this point it might be a good idea to start heating the beans and taco shells. Old El Paso makes excellent taco shells and refried beans. You can find them in the international food section. So anyway, start heating those. Then you will want to season your meat. I use a fajita seasoning from Penzey's Spices, but you can also make your own. Either way, you want to use about a tablespoon of seasoning and 1 tablespoon of corn starch. Add enough water to equal 1 cup. Give a quick stir and add to the meat. Stir until the mixture has been absorbed by the meat. Then add about 1 cup of salsa and stir. Allow the mixture to heat, and then your tacos are ready. We topped off our tacos with black bean and corn salsa, but you can use any topping you want.

Citrus Pork Fried Rice

So last week we made Hawaiian Pork and Greens. We ate all the greens, but we still had some pork. (Some people in my family don't like pineapples, so we left them out) I needed to use that pork, so I came up with a spin on my fried rice to do it. So I pretty much followed my usual fried rice recipe with a few small changes. I squeezed juices from 1 lemon, 1 lime, and 4 oranges. I cut up the pork and added it. Oh, and when I cooked the rice, I didn't use beef broth but instead just used water. I added the beef broth and the juices from the citrus fruits at the end and served it. It was so delicious.

Citrus Pork Fried Rice