Slow Cooker Chicken with Grand Marnier

Adapted from  Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Kindle

As always, I skipped all the prep steps.  I use my slow cooker for times when there's no time!

This was described as a recipe that's good enough for elegant party fare.  I can vouch for the fact that it smells really good!

The author explains that Grand Marnier is a combination of Cognac and bitter oranges grown in Haiti.  The dish cooks up especially sweet as the alcohol is cooked off.  Glazed walnuts are supposed to be added as a topping, but (besides forgetting to prepare them), I felt the dish was sweet enough to use plain walnuts.  I served it over farro, which is a perfect grain to soak up the sauce.

That makes for a lot of protein between the chicken, farro (10 grams per serving) and walnuts, so feel free to omit the nuts or use just a small portion of chicken per serving.

6-8 servings, chicken breasts shredded

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted briefly in microwave - optional
4 large chicken breasts - I used boneless, skinless
8 cloves garlic
2 large onions, cut in half and sliced into half-moons
2 cups red bell pepper strips (2-3 peppers)
1.5 tsp salt or more to taste
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
1 cup Grand Marnier (it was delicious with this, but probably can do with a little less)
1/3 cup glazed walnut halves (or plain)


Directions:

1) Coat the bottom of the slow cooker with the melted butter.
2) Place the onions and red pepper in the slow cooker.  Put the chicken on top (skin side up if using skin).
3) Sprinkle with the salt and pepper.  Pour the Grand Marnier over it.
4) Cook on HIGH 4.5 -5 hours until chicken is tender and cooked through.  Before serving, I chose to pull the chicken apart, as shown above, so it can soak up the sauce.
5) To serve, place grain on plate, cover with onion and pepper, the top with chicken and sprinkle with a few walnuts.

Cucumber Soup with Watercress

Adapted from  myherbsmag.com

I had a few extra cucumbers from my Hungry Harvest take this week.  I saw this recipe and thought it was a simple, low calorie way to use the cakes without having to eat endless salads.  I always like to try new herbs, and watercress is something I don't recall cooking with before.  It reminded me of the taste of wasabi arugula that we grew last summer.  It has quite a bite to it, but was very mild when combined with the cucumber.  In fact, I added several dried spices to liven things up a bit.

To decide about the herbs, I worked with this as I often do - I spoon off a mini portion of the soup for testing.  Then at different spots, I drizzle a bit of the herb I want to try, taste it, and decide whether that herb gets added to the big pot.  Then on to the next and the next.  For instance, I tried nutmeg, but it didn't seem to add anything, so I moved on.  After several spices, it was still too bland, so I added paprika.  I could have gone with cayenne or chili, but the paprika worked well.  Some days I'm more brave than others! This dish can probably take on any favorite taste you'd like to give it.

Here's tonight's result:

Ingredients:
2 salad cucumbers
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 leek, outer layers removed, the rest soaked in water then rinsed to remove dirt
3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1/2 cup of fresh watercress
1/4 cup of fresh basil
1/2 tsp salt to taste, depending on sodium in broth
1/4 tsp pepper
Mixture of your favorite spices - I used a light sprinkle of oregano, garlic powder, and savory, then finally added some paprika for a little kick.
Dollop of plain yogurt, optional

Directions:
1) Put up the broth to heat through.
2) Wash, peel and slice the cucumber lengthwise.  Then remove the seeds with the edge of a spoon and slice into pieces.
3) Slice the leek and let it simmer in hot oil.  Then add the cucumber and mix together for 2-3 minutes.
4) Pour in the hot broth and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until tender.
5) Remove from the heat, add most of the watercress, all the basil and mix with a handheld mixer until smooth.
6) Tasting as noted above, add salt, pepper and spices to taste.  Top with a dollop of yogurt if desired.
I'm curious to try the leftovers to see how it would taste cold.

http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/apple-crumble-stuffed-acorn-squash-carla-hall

apple crumble in acorn squash

Slow Cooker Ratatouille

Adapted from:    http://www.food.com/recipe/ratatouille-in-the-crock-pot-52757

I received my first produce box from www.hungryharvest.net and there was one big beautiful eggplant.  Roasting eggplants has not been my favorite to prepare (it's ok if someone else bothers with it).  So I looked for a slow cooker recipe so there'd be no piercing, roasting, scooping, etc.  And I was able to use the red peppers and cilantro from the box.

As I mentioned in a previous slow cooker post, herbs get faded out in this method of cooking.  If you're changing from a traditional stovetop recipe, you usually need to triple the herbs needed.  Fresh herbs especially lose their flavor.  Since I prefer to use fresh rather than dried spices,  I added them to this recipe by putting in a 1/4 cup of basil at the beginning, and another 1/4 cup when the dish was finished and just waiting on 'warm' to be eaten.  I also added plenty of cilantro, a sweet potato and a few scallions ... just because I had them.  I was concerned this time because I've never filled my slow cooker close to the brim.  Since these ingredients don't expand like grains that I use in other dishes, though, I thought I'd be safe.  In fact, the cooker was only half full by the end!

Think of this as a slow cooker version of stir fry to use up any extra veggies. The sweetness of the 1 teaspoon of sugar and the tomatoes and Vidalia onions went a LONG way.  This was really good - and the house smelled great!

Ingredients (think of these as a rough guide):

2 large sweet onions, cut in half and sliced
1 large eggplant, sliced, cut in 2 inch pieces (skin on)
1-2 sweet potatoes
2 small zucchini, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 large green or red bell peppers, de-seeded and cut into small chunks
28 oz can diced tomatoes with their juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (optional)
1 teaspoon dried basil (I used 1/2 cup of fresh basil- half added at the beginning, half at the end)
1/4 cup cilantro (optional - also half at the beginning, half at the end)
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano (I prefer ground, but flakes are fine)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
1⁄4 cup olive oil
red pepper flakes, to spice it up

Directions:

1) Layer half the vegetables in a large crock pot in the following order: onion, eggplant, zucchini, garlic, green peppers, tomatoes.
2) Next sprinkle half the basil, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper on the veggies.
Dot with half of the tomato paste, if using.
3) Repeat layering process with remaining vegetables, spices and tomato paste.
4) Drizzle with olive oil.
5) Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 9 hours.

Refrigerate to store.
May freeze up to 6 weeks.

Ratatouille hungry harvest 2/14/2017

Slow Cooker Moroccan Turkey Stew

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/slow-cooker-moroccan-turkey-stew-recipe2.html