Crock pot! Mushroom and barley stew

I have a small, 4 cup crock pot, so this recipe is based on that size. Double for larger.

3/4 c barley
6 -8 mushrooms, sliced (I used Baby Bella's)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 veggie bouillon cubes
1 T red wine
1 t Worcestershire sauce
1T soy sauce
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh rosemary, medium sprig
I bay leaf
1-2 T olive or favorite cooking oil
4 cups water

Coat crock pot with a little oil. Put all ingredients into pot, stir. Cook at low for 8 hours. Smelled heavenly when I got home from work & class. I ate it plain but you could add more broth or water for a soup, serve with salad or sautéed greens. Gets thicker in the fridge (ie, sludge) so thin with broth or water for leftovers.

Crock pot! Black bean & sweet potato chili

1T chopped canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped (or 3 T cocoa+1 T oil)
2 t ground cumin
2 t dried oregano
1T chili powder
1/2 t cinnamon
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 15-oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn
1 green or other bell pepper, diced
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
Shredded cheese, fresh cilantro, lime, sour cream garnishes

Coat inside of slow cooker with cooking oil. Combine all ingredients in cooker, set on low for 7-8 hours. Serve with toppings in bowl, or in tortillas, or as part huevos rancheros, or with chips as a hot dip. Michelle & Corn loved it!

Homemade Granola Bars

these look great and pretty easy!

2012 Ree Drummond, All Rights Reserved

Prep Time:

15 min

Inactive Prep Time:

15 min

Cook Time:

40 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

12 servings

Ingredients

• 6 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for greasing
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups rice cereal
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped almonds
• 8 ounces milk chocolate, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, toss the oats with the canola oil, melted butter and salt. Spread the mixture out on 2 baking sheets and toast in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, shaking the pan twice and making sure they don't burn. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F.
In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, apple juice and molasses. Heat the mixture slowly, stirring until all combined. Stir in the vanilla and remove from the heat.
Toss together the toasted oats, rice cereal, wheat germ, pecans and almonds. Pour in the sugar mixture, stirring as you pour. Toss to combine; it will be sticky.
Press into 1 baking sheet (thoroughly greased with butter) and bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut pieces with a sharp knife and remove from the pan. You can cut them while they're still warm if that's easier.
Dip the cooled granola bars straight into the melted chocolate so that the top is plain and the bottom is chocolate-covered. Set on parchment until set, sticking in the fridge to hasten this along if necessary.

To build the blood, eat red foods!

I bought fresh dill and a baguette, and am enjoying with a homemade white bean hummus.

Red Cabbage and Beet Soup

Details

• Prep Time:
  16 min
• Cook Time:
  35 min
• Ready Time:
  51 min

Servings

4 servings

Ingredients

• One head red cabbage chopped
• 2 or three roasted beet roots can or jar beets will work too
• One onion
• One carrot
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• ½ bottle red wine

Directions

Put the onions, garlic and carrots in a food prep and blitz until you have crud now hot pot, olive oil sauté them until they have the rawness cooked out of them and they are soft but no color.
Now add the red wine and reduce to almost ¼, now add the cabbage, beets and veg stock and let cook for about an hour check for seasoning along the way. You can serve it rustic like this but I like to blend ¾ of it and add it back to the remaining soup so you still have some rough chopped cabbage for texture.
I serve it with a little Cumin Sour Cream (mix lemon or lime juice with sour cream and cumin to taste) and finish with a drizzle of olive oil. This is a truly delicious vegetarian soup that meat eaters would appreciate.

Minestrone soup

So delicious and easy. From Jennifer Jones' cooking class in Madison, Wi.

Crock and roll!

Just bought a small crock pot for the winter and found some great recipes on the web from applesauce to curry. Not your grandma's crock pot! Of course I still plan to try the traditional spinach artichoke dip recipe...

Greek Yogurt Salad Dressing

I was looking for a greek yogurt recipe that would provide a cool counterpoint to an Indian-inspired dinner of coconut rice (plain jasmine rice made with a combination of coconut milk and water, simmered with a pinch of salt and a cinnamon stick) with a chickpea masala (posted earlier on EWAP, here).

Most recipes I came across online focused only on greek flavors so I tried this recipe from Jesse Brune's website and it went quite well. I didn't add the salt or pepper and used ground garlic powder rather than fresh. It is rather thick, which I liked. I recommend adjusting the lemon juice to achieve your desired consistency, or add a little water to thin. I think it would be good thick as a veggie dip or sandwich spread, which I plan to do for lunches this week.

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:

• 1 c. Plain Greek Yogurt
• 2 tsp Olive Oil
• 2 tbsp Lemon or Lime juice
• 1 shallot, minced or 2 green onions (minus the stem), minced
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• sea salt + pepper, to taste

Cooking Instructions:
Simply place all the items in a mixing bowl and thoroughly mix with a fork or whisk.  Save the salt+pepper for last, so you avoid over salting… just gradually incorporate the s+p at the end – until the desired taste is achieved.