Crock Pot Mexican Burrito Bowls (Can Be Vegan)

Cooking the beans:
1 pound black beans, picked clean and soaked overnight
1 onion, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
3 bay leaves
5-6 C. water or broth (more if want soupy beans; less if want drier beans)

1) Place soaked black beans into Crock Pot with above ingredients. Cook on high for 3 hours or until tender.

2) 30 minutes before end of cooking time, add 1 Tbsp. salt.

3) Remove cooked beans and cooking liquid from Crock Pot and reserve for later use.
NOTE: You can also use canned black beans and start as indicated below.

Cooking the other stuff:

Chicken breasts and/or thighs, chunked (opt., omit if vegan)
2 15-oz. can petite diced tomatoes
2 C. brown rice (brown rice holds up better than white rice when cooked in this way)
2-2.5 C. veggie stock, divided
1-2 fresh jalapeños, finely diced (optional, to taste)
1 heaping Tbsp. APB
1 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp. salt
2 C. frozen corn 
2 C. chopped zucchini 
2 C. chopped sweet pepper
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped 

1) Combine the chicken (if using), tomatoes, and spices listed above in the Crock Pot. Add enough stock to be sure the chicken is covered (about 1/2 C.).

2) Cover Crock Pot and cook mixture on low 3 hours, or on high for 1 hour.

3) Remove the lid and add the rice and another 1/2-1 C. broth, along with any of the optional ingredients you want to include.

4) Replace the lid and continue to cook on low for another 3-4 hours, or on high for 1-2 hours.

5) At the start of  the last hour of cooking, stir in the black beans, mixing everything well to ensure even cooking of the rice. Add more liquid if needed. Check the seasonings and augment as necessary.

6) Check and stir periodically during the last hour of cooking. It is done when the rice is tender.

NOTE: If you want it soupy, leave any excess liquid in--and even add some of the cooking rice from the beans, if desired. If you want it drier, leave the lid off once the rice is done to allow the liquid to cook off.

7) Garnish as desired. Chopped green onion, chopped tomatoes or salsa, avocado or guacamole are all yummy. Cheese and sour cream if not making vegan.

This recipe is heavily modified from an original that appeared on the kitchn.com.

Easy White Chili

Easy White Chili

Rating: 4.6 Stars

Servings: 8

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Description:

A very tasty, somewhat spicy, variation of chili that uses chicken. I like to serve it with sweet corn bread.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 cooked, boneless chicken breast half, chopped

3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

2 (4 ounce) cans canned green chile peppers, chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried oregano 

1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

5 (14.5 ounce) cans great Northern beans

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 10 minutes, or until onions are tender. Add the chicken, chicken broth, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and add the beans. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated thoroughly. Pour into individual bowls and top with the cheese.

View this recipe and others:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-White-Chili/Detail.aspx

Violette's Lasagna (Crock Pot Lasagna)

This recipe originally appeared in the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook as Violette's Lasagna, compliments of Violette Harris Denney in Carrollton, GA. Though we don't know her personally, that's still what we sometimes call it!  I have modified it slightly as indicated below.

8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
28-oz. jar prepared spaghetti sauce (I use Ragu.)
1/3 C. water
4-oz. can mushrooms (I hate them so I don't use them!)
15-oz. ricotta cheese (I use cottage cheese instead.)
2 C. shredded mozzarella
1 egg (opt.)
1/2 C. grated Parmesan (opt.)

I've added all kinds of "extras" to this recipe, thinking they'd be yummy, but it really is just delicious as it is.  No need to add sautéed onions or peppers or garlic or anything but what's listed to the red sauce.  I do usually add a beaten egg and grated Parmesan cheese to the cottage cheese mixture with the Italian seasoning.

1. Break noodles. Place half in bottom of greased slow cooker.

2. Brown ground beef in saucepan. Drain. Stir in Italian seasoning. (Again, I add that to the cottage cheese mixture instead.)

3. Stir meat into red sauce with water.

4. Layer half of red sauce, half of cottage cheese mixture, half of cheese over noodles.  Repeat layers.

5. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.  This will burn on the sides if you leave it too long--or even with this timing if you use a newer Crock Pot with the higher temperature calibration.  

Leigh Ellen's Crock Pot Mac & Cheese

This dish is wonderful for a potluck or large group.  The epitome of comfort food and devoured by all age groups.  I double the recipe and cook it for the 3 recommended hours.

8 oz. elbow/macaroni noodles, cooked
3 eggs beaten
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1 stick margarine melted
3 cups grated cheddar
2 teaspoons splenda

Mix eggs with milk, margarine and 2 cups cheese.  Add cooked macaroni and stir together.  Spray crockpot with cooking oil.  Put macaroni mixture in crock pot and cover top with last cup of cheese.   Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.  DO NOT OPEN CROCK POT

Enjoy!

Chili, Team-Fahs Style

Chili Team-Fahs Style

This makes a HUGE crock pot with plenty for dinner plus leftovers – After all, we’re cooking for 6! 

What you need:

1 large onion, diced (or more if you’d like)

1 pound lean ground beef

1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed

1 28 oz. can of Bush’s Baked Beans – choose your favorite flavor (I like Country Style and Onion.)

3 10-oz. cans Rotel or 2 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 14 oz. can dark red kidney beans (You can choose just the light or dark red kidney beans if you don’t like a lot of beans in your chili)

1 14 oz. can light red kidney beans

1 14.5 oz. can of tomato sauce

4 or more tablespoons of chili powder – depending on your taste

Crushed red pepper for kick (if you’d like)

Fixin’s  (To me, chili is just a vehicle for fixin’s!)

White rice (We love our chili over rice!)

Scallions/green onions or diced onions

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Cilantro (If you haven’t tried cilantro on your chili, please do!)

Diced jalapenos (Optional, of course, but so good!)

Fritos, if you’re really in the mood for a fun chili!

What you need to do:

1. Saute the onion in olive or canola oil, then add in the ground beef and sausage to brown.  Drain well.

2. Add all the cans of stuff!  You can simply add the cans of stuff to the meat in a deep pot, or you can transfer everything to a crock pot.

3. Add the chili powder and crushed red pepper, if you’re using it.

4. Heat to boiling, then simmer on low for half an hour or so, or cook in your crock pot until it’s piping hot – 4 hours on low, 6 or so hours on high.

5. Enjoy!

Aunt Kaarin's Moo Shu Pork

Yield: 20 moo shu "pancakes" (serves 10) - Not sure if this is accurate... will update after I make it.

1 2-lb. boneless pork loin roast, fat trimmed, quartered lengthwise
1 C. hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
6 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 1/2 cups bagged shredded carrots (I used the Cuisinart.)
1/4 C. sliced scallions
3 Tbsp. rice-wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
20 flour tortillas, warmed

Put pork, 1/3 C. hoisin sauce, and the ginger in a large slow-cooker.  Turn pork to coat.

Cover and cook on low 6-9 hours or until pork is very tender.  Turn off cooker.  Remove pork to cutting board and pull meat into shreds using two forks.  Return pork to cooker.

Toss cabbage, carrots, scallions, vinegar, and sugar in a bowl to mix.

Spread each tortilla with about 1 1/2 tsp. remaining hoisin sauce.  Top with about 1/3 C. cabbage mixture and 1/4 C. shredded pork.

Serve with hoisin sauce and chopped scallions on the side (optional).

This is also good with a side salad topped with oriental dressing.

Leftovers Turned Mexican Lasagna

This meal was the result of a creative use of leftovers.  If you want to try to recreate something like it, here's a description of what I did.  My friend Kathy ate some at our homeschool co-op where I served it for lunch, and really wanted the recipe.  So, here it is...

The first meal was homemade pintos and cheese.  (Recipe here.)  This is a staple in our home, near weekly, because iivo loves it and it is very cheap.

Also, for Evie's birthday, she wanted these burritos I used to make a lot when we were home for lunches.  I would turn the leftover pintos from pintos and cheese into refried beans by coarsely mashing them in a pot on the stove over medium heat and melting in some mozzarella or monterey jack cheese.  The burritos she requested involve those homemade refried beans with sauteed zucchini and onions (seasoned with SPG) on homemade whole wheat tortillas.

Those were the preliminary meals which resulted in that Crock Pot leftover meal, which was as follows:

I sauteed some finely chopped onions and peppers in olive oil and SPG.  Then I took the extra leftover rice and cooked it, fried-rice style, with that veggie mix and a little, little bit of chicken broth.  I also remember throwing in some very finely chopped leftover Hebrew National hotdogs we had from a grill-out earlier in the week, too, and some frozen corn.

I then took those raw ingredients and layered them, lasagna style, in the Crock Pot as follows:

sprayed with Pam to prevent sticking
placed a flour tortilla (store-bought, as it is exactly the same circumference as my Crock Pot)
spread it with a combination of some of the leftover homemade refried beans blended with some salsa (just enough to make it more spreadable)
a layer of the rice blend
a layer of sour cream mixed with chopped green chiles
a layer of grated Mexican/cheddar cheese mix

I then repeated those layers two more times.

I then cooked it all morning on low--about 4 hours, I guess.

Tango Stew

Veal Marengo - original recipe here
Marengo, à la [muh-RENG-goh]
A veal or chicken dish in which the meat is sautéed in olive oil, then braised with tomatoes, onions, olives, garlic, white wine or brandy and seasonings.
Sometimes scrambled eggs accompany the dish. It’s said to have been created by Napoleon’s chef after the 1800 Battle of Marengo.
2¼ lb. cubed stewing meat - veal, lamb, chicken, pork (use some bones)
6 Tbsp. flour
salt and pepper to taste
4 Tbsp. oil
1 C. onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 Tbsp. tomato paste*
1 C. diced tomatoes*
1 C. dry white wine
3 C. beef broth

1 C. white mushrooms, quartered
1 C. pearl onions (opt.)
12 – 15 Kalamata olives (opt.)
1/2 C. chopped fresh parsley, as needed

In a bowl, toss veal in seasoned flour to coat.
In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown veal cubes.
Transfer veal to a slow cooker.
In the same skillet, over medium-high heat, cook onion, garlic, tomato paste and tomatoes.*
Add white wine and reduce by half.
Stir mixture into the slow cooker and add beef broth.
Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.
Add mushrooms, pearl onions and olives.
Cover and cook on high for 15 minutes.
When meat is done, adjust seasoning and check consistency of sauce.
Stir in chopped parsley.
Serve over your favorite pasta noodles.
*We used a whole can of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz), a whole can of tomato paste (6 oz) and a can of Rotel diced tomatoes (10 oz). All these (except the last item) are in lieu of, not in addition to, the items of the recipe. For wine I took the cheapest Chardonnay. It hurts to take a real good wine for cooking, unless, of course, you're sipping while you're cooking.

Chicken With Pasta

6 to 8 boneless chicken breasts (I sliced them into about 9 big strips each breast)
8 oz cream cheese
2 C fresh mushrooms sliced (big slices)
1/2 stick butter
1 pkg dry Italian dressing (Good Seasons)
1 C White wine or white cooking wine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 box bow tie pasta

Cook chicken, cream cheese, mushrooms, butter, Italian dressing, wine and mushroom soup in crockpot on low for 8-10 hours, stirring occasionally (my new crockpot is SO hot that I only cooked it 4 hours on low and it was plenty!!) Serve over cooked and drained pasta.

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder

If you're looking for a "real" recipe, this is from a friend of a friend... I ate this at her house... It was delicious... Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder

In the meantime, I will say that yesterday I made up a very yummy soup that was similar. I was shooting for Crock Pot burrito filling, but it was rather soupy when I finally got home, so I just added some stuff and made it into soup. It was delicious.

Here's what I did, basically, just so I can remember and "get it down" before I forget. If you're game for "winging it," too, then you might want to give it a whirl.

Place 10-20 boneless, skinless thighs (or breasts, or whatever chicken pieces you want) in the Crock Pot with a canned beans (I would have used two, and I would have used black beans, but I only had one and it was pintos, so that's what I did), a chopped onion, minced garlic, and a jar of green salsa.

I put the chicken in semi-frozen, and cooked it all day long on low. When I got home I shredded the meat with a fork and then added a large jar (probably 8 cups or so) of homemade chicken stock, a large can of petite diced tomatoes, a can of hot Rotel tomatoes, some vinegar from the jar of jalapenos, some frozen corn, about half a cup of heavy cream, and various seasonings including Costco's organic no-salt seasoning (a staple around here), a few shakes of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, cumin, a good bit of Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt (the secret - I've since discovered - to my mother's delicious homemade turkey soup, and a must-have for successful seasoning of most homemade soups, if you ask me), and SPG (a homemade blend of equal parts salt-pepper-garlic salt that we put on absolutely everything).

If I were making this again, with purpose and deliberateness, I would use black beans instead of pintos and canned hominy instead of the frozen corn, since my family prefers those. Chopped celery would also be good in it.

I served it with grated cheese, sour cream, and salsa as toppings; tortillas (we were originally going to have burritos, remember?!) and corn chips were on the side.

Susanne's Pintos & Rice (VEGAN)

(a healthy, cheap meal... a weekly favorite for us... I usually double this recipe)

1 pound dried pinto or cranberry beans

1 large onion, diced

1 large bulb of garlic (10 or so whole, smashed cloves per pound of beans)

1 small fistful of sea salt

brown rice, cooked, for serving

cold veggie relish (diced crudités), for topping

pickled jalapeños, diced avocado, salsa (optional)

cheese and sour cream (omit for vegan!)

1) Soak 1 pound dried pinto beans overnight (at least) in water.  (NOTE: It is best if they just barely start to sprout, which they'll do after 12-18 hours of soaking. See below for cheater trick if you're short on time.)

 
2) After they've soaked, pour off soaking water, and bring beans to a boil in fresh water. Turn down and simmer until tender (a couple of hours) with the onion, garlic, and salt. (Conversely, you can cook these in a slower cooker on HIGH for 3 hours or so until tender, or throw them in your instant pot according to the recommended cooking time.)

3) Serve over whole grain rice (brown, brown basmati, or brown jasmine), topped with your choice of cold veggie relish (made of any combination of cucumbers, peppers, onions, celery, and tomatoes), salsa, jalapenos, diced avocado, chili vinegar. 

4) On the side we serve either Cheri's griddle cakes or tortilla chips.

For "homemade refried beans," coarsely smash the beans in a saucepan with some of the broth. Let 'em cook down and bubble a little, stirring often. Add Mexican seasonings to taste. We use these on tortillas as a common "everyday sort of lunch" instead of PB&J sandwiches. I just put this filling on a small fajita-size tortilla with some cheese (omit for vegan), roll it up, and line them up in my toaster oven to warm. Cold, washed romaine leaves on the side, and you're set.

*I may as well include the "cheater" method when you didn't soak them, overnight, because it works and I've used it in a pinch many times.  It is not near as healthy or easy on your digestive system, but you can take dry beans and bring them a boil, turn off the water, let them soak for an hour or two, then bring them to a boil again to cook.  It isn't best, but I do it when I have to!