Friday, March 21, 2014

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice is definitely NOT so easy. I suck at cooking. sigh.

This seemed so easy!!! But, alas, it was the mushiest, gloppiest, nastiest thing I've ever made. Don't put rice in the slow cooker - as my 20 month old said 'gross'. It DOES NOT LOOK LIKE THIS: 


Ingredients:

  • 4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves, without skin
  • 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup converted rice, uncooked
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 to 2 cups frozen green beans, thawed

Preparation:

Put chicken breasts in the Crock Pot. Add cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 cup water. Add 3/4 cup of rice and the chicken broth. Add green beans. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or until chicken is cooked and rice is tender. Serves 4 to 6...or... no one because it is groos.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotchicken/r/71c4.htm

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Vegetable and Chickpea Curry

Vegetable and Chickpea Curry the next day. Made spicier and over rice.

I made this, and it's okay. It's kinda boring, actually. With all those spices I thought it would be more nuanced, but no. In my own bowl I added as much curry power as it asks for in the whole recipe, then I added chili power and turmeric powder. THEN it had kick! My husband liked it, so a WIN in that department. When it was kinda bland and plain, my 17 month old liked the chick peas and potatoes, but not the spinach or rice - they have icky 'mouthfeel' for him at this age. That's as much WIN as I think I could've hoped for here.

Here's the order of things - I prefer a recipe I can just plow straight through instead of going back and forth from the ingredients list to the tiny paragraph - so here you have it:

- Chop a medium onion
- Chop whatever carrots you have in the house, preferably 2 or more
- Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over <low> heat. (LOW, not medium like the original recipe because I'm afraid of burning things and our range is crazy hot)
- Add onion and carrot to the oil and try not to burn it while you chop/add some more stuff:
- Add 1 tablespoon curry powder, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, pull out your grader and grade about 1 teaspoon ginger, mince at least 2 garlic cloves (I did 4 - the hubs is Italian! - and add to skillet), (I skipped the serrano chile because I wanted to try to feed this to a 17 month old. I understand this may be why I thought the recipe was bland); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Place onion mixture in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Stir in:
3 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled baking potato $
1 cup diced green bell pepper $
1 cup (1-inch) cut green beans $
1/2 teaspoon salt $
1/4 teaspoon black pepper $
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained $
1 (14-ounce) can vegetable broth.

Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours or until vegetables are tender. Add a bunch of spinach (I had more than 3 cups and it reduced to almost nothing in the recipe so add as much as you want) and coconut milk (or sour cream - I tried this later in the week and liked it better); stir until spinach wilts. Serve with lemon wedges (if desired).

The next day, add even more spices and serve over rice.


Ingredients List (copy/paste to your phone or write down what you need for your shopping list)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup (1/4-inch-thick) slices carrot
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
3 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled baking potato
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1 cup (1-inch) cut green beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (14-ounce) can vegetable broth
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 cup light coconut milk
6 lemon wedges - OPTIONAL

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/vegetable-chickpea-curry-10000000701091/