Sweet & Sour Chicken/Beef/Tofu

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is an excellent leave all day in the crockpot meal!

I have sort of based this recipe on THIS one and THIS one. If you want to make it with tofu GO HERE and follow some of the hints she has on making it. Otherwise, just slice or cut up whatever meat you like and go for it.

1 pound chicken, beef or whatever

(I usually use uncooked and let it cook all day, you can use already cooked, it won't take as long - cook till veggies are done!)

4-6 cups veggies, chopped or small slices

Bell peppers, carrots, broccoli are good choices, but be creative

1 onion, chopped

In a saucepan, mix:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup turbinado sugar or sweetener of choice

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

2-3 TB flour, cornstarch or arrowroot powder, dissolved in 1/2 cup water

Mix everything together and bring to a boil, should thicken slightly

Combine with meat and veggies throughly and place in crockpot. Or do as I do, and don't dirty something else, stir well once it's all in the crockpot!

Cook on low 8-10 hours or until meat and veggies are done.

Serve over rice and enjoy!

Lentil Confetti Salad

Lentil Confetti Salad

This is a yummy cold salad, perfect for warm evenings or lunches. The recipe is easily adaptable to veggies you have on hand or flavors you enjoy!

Dressing

4-5 TB balsamic vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar

3-4 TB olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/8 tsp pepper

1 tsp dijon mustard

Salad

1 cup dried lentils, cooked*

1 1/2 cups frozen corn,

(you can cook slightly if you like, I usually don't- it thaws quick enough I add to the salad and serve)

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced or coarsely diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup red onion, diced (green onion works too!)

2 TB fresh basil, chopped (mint is a nice variety too!)

Lettuce leaves, pita bread or tortilla to serve in

In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients, mix well and refrigerate

Combine cooked lentils*, corn, carrots, celery, peppers, onion and basil. Pour dressing over salad and mix gently but well. Refrigerate at least one hour to blend flavors.

Serve either in a "lettuce cup" or in a pita pocket or rolled a tortilla shell.

Makes about 6- 1 cup servings

*to cook lentils, soak 12-24 hours, drain off water and recover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer till lentils are cooked. Tender but not mushy! Maybe 20-30 minutes? Drain, rinse with cold water and drain well.

Credit for the original recipe, this is slightly changed, goes to a friend who got it from a Pillsbury recipe book a long time ago!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter over at Nourishing Traditions

Nut Loaves

Nut Loaves

2 TB oil

2 1/2 cups chopped onions (I don't usually use this much, maybe 1 large onion worth?)

3 large garlic cloves, minced

Saute above ingredients and mix with all below

1 TB bouillon ( I often leave out!)

3 cups fresh whole wheat bread crumbs (frozen work too!)

2 1/4 cups finely chopped walnuts

2 TB soy sauce

1/2 cup tomato juice (I have used a couple TB ketchup or tomato paste and added water to make 1/2 cup when I didn't have tomato juice on hand!)

2 eggs, well beaten

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Mix well - form into small "loaves" - mine usually look like a oval potato size. I will make a couple smaller ones for the kids, and a couple larger ones for adults. Makes maybe 12 loaves, depends on the sizes.

Bake on baking sheet, stone or 9x13 pan- GREASED at 350 degrees for about an hour.

NOTE: Cook your potaotes at the same time and save on energy!

These freeze well before or after cooking- to thaw, either leave on counter till mostly thawed and cook, or increase cook time to allow thawing. If already cooked, just completely thaw and warm. Oven is best, if you microwave watch them closely to avoid "over-cooking" - they can get hard in the microwave. Even 20-30 seconds is usually enough to warm up leftovers.

Vegetable Pasta Sauce

It was snowing yesterday.

I thought it was a good day for making soup.

I wanted to make my version of Campbell's Italian Wedding Soup.

I realized I didn't have the right pasta -

- after I thawed some chicken broth and my mini-meatballs.

So, I started making something that I wasn't sure what it would end up being.

I started with chicken broth in the pan, added the vegetables I had around and needed to use.

It ended up really good. Good enough to share :-)

And since it was a totally random and clean out the refer type dish,

it ends up being pretty cheap too!

Vegetable Pasta Sauce

1/2 head purple cabbage, sliced/shredded

3 red peppers, sliced

2 potatoes, diced large with skins on

1 head garlic, minced

2 cups chicken broth + water enough to mostly cover vegetables.

Mix everything in saucepan and bring to a boil and let simmer. Add water if needed. I let mine simmer for about 6 hours. I ended up with about 6 cups of cooked vegetables and broth.

Put everything in the blender and blend smooth.

Return to saucepan and add:

1 TB salt

1/2 TB pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp cumin

Add 1-2 cups cooked mini meatballs and about 2 cups fresh spinach (I tore mine slightly, but it mostly cooks down small so it isn't really necessary)

Heat everything through and allow spinach to cook down a little. Serve hot over pasta or rice or your choice of whatever :-)

Easily opt to leave out the meatballs or serve on the side to have a nice vegetarian option too!

I served it with this foccacia bread recipe I found on allrecipes.com - it ended up good and it really was a quick option for that evening when you didn't get around to making something that needed a long rise time. (Just FYI - I used 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour, eliminated the salt and rosemary on top and used dried basil and an Italian cheese mixture of shredded cheese on top, and cooked it my rectangle stone rather then a pan)

I really surprised myself at how tasty this was - it ended up looking like a tomato sauce, though slightly more brownish - has a little spice kick - and packed with good foods! Sorry - no pictures - my husband has the camera at the moment!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at Nourishing Gourmet!

"Refried" Beans

Spicy Refried Beans

(that I don't actually re-fry!)

2 1/2 cups pinto beans, soaked 12-24 hours

Strain water and replace with fresh water- enough to fully cover beans plus an inch or two

Add spices:

1 onion, minced

8 garlic cloves, minced

4 TB cumin

4 TB chili powder

1 TB sea salt

1/2 TB black pepper

1/2 TB cayenne pepper

Mix well with beans and water - Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down to simmer.

Simmer 6-8 hours - replace water as needed

I usually take the lid off the last hour or two and let the water cook down till the remaining water is enough to just mix in and smush with the beans. And I usually cook till the beans pretty much are mushable with a potato masher or firm spoon.

Mash/Smush/Blend beans to a pasty consistency - leave chunky if you like it that way!

If you would like additional seasoning you can add salsa at this point.

Or serve with a warm tortilla and cheese.

I enjoy adding Chipotle Tabasco Sauce to mine :-)

This is also a great crockpot recipe - after soaking put the beans and spices in the crockpot and let it cook. You typically do not have to replace water using this method, but it is also hard to cook off the water too :-) BUT, it works great when you aren't going to be home and the beans are ready to cook! Depending on your crockpot and whether you use high or low settings, it should take anywhere from 4-12 hours in the crockpot. I have also left them cook overnight....... :-)

The beans also freeze well. I will often cook up a large batch and then freeze some and use some during the week.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter over at Nourishing Gourmet!

As well as part of October Fest Carnival of Super Foods at Kitchen Stewardship!

Red Beans and Rice w/ Sausage

One of K's favorite side dishes is Popeye's Red Beans and Rice. I have been experimenting with a recipe trying to somewhat mimic it. This is what I have so far!

Red Beans and Rice w/ Sausage

Soak & cook about 2 cups of red beans, drain off most of the extra water

(Keep THIS in mind when you soak and cook red beans...........!)

In your crockpot - put in the beans (you want around 3-4 cups of cooked beans).

If you would rather use canned, use 2 cans.

Put in 1-1 1 /2 cups of dry, uncooked rice

(you could probably soak this first, but I didn't this time)

Add 4 cups of liquid - I used a combination of water and beef broth

Add 1 onion, chopped fine

Add 4-6 cloves garlic, minced

Add spices:

2 TB chili powder

1 heaping TB cumin (adjust this down for a little more mild spicy!)

1 tsp salt

1/2- 1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (can leave out, especially if you are serving little ones!)

2 TB dried parsley

If you like, add sausage. I used the large links, a mild Italian sausage. It would also be yummy if you cut these links into "rounds". I let the rice and beans start cooking for about 2 hours before I added the sausage, frozen.

(Because I knew we were going to be gone for the rest of the day and I didn't want it to over cook and my crockpot doesn't have a warm feature! )

This would also be a good vegetarian dish, just leave the sausage out!

Mix well and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. If you can check halfway thru you may need to add a little more water or broth as the rice cooks and absorbs most of the liquids. And really all you need to do is cook the rice and sausage, so once they are cooked you can serve anytime or turn to low and wait till dinner time!

Serve with fresh, homemade sourdough bread!

I let mine cook for a good 8 hours - we ended up coming home later then I had planned, so it was for sure done when we got back! Besides wishing I had had a way to add a little water a few hours earlier, it was still really good. The beans and rice were pretty mushy, but very flavorful and had a good spicy kick. If you don't care for too spicy, tone down the measurements above till you find a good flavor for you!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter over at Nourishing Gourmet!