Slow-cooked Mexican Stew

Monday nights are slow-cooker night in our home.
I must admit that for the first few years of owning a slow cooker I used it for nothing other than soup.
I am discovering that there is so much more than just soup that can be done in the slow cooker. I regularly make dried beans and love that on the high function it takes only 2-3 hours to cook them from scratch, even without pre-soaking if I haven't had the chance to do that.

Here's a way I make a complete meal that isn't soup:

SLOW-COOKED MEXICAN STEW

You'll need:
1 cup brown rice
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 onion
1 green capsicum
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 can tomatoes
2 cups vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon taco spice mix of choice

Chop all the vegetables and drain the beans.
Add all ingredients to slow cooker. 
If you have the option, saute the onion & garlic first. If not, don't worry because it will still work out and be delicious.
Cook on slow for 6-8 hours.

Serve.

The rice will fluff up to be lovely & thick. It will absorb all the liquid so that this isn't the consistency of a soup.

Orange Soup

I must admit that I don't really consider myself a pumpkin fan.....
but I do love pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin pancakes, baked pumpkin and of course, pumpkin soup. I guess that does make me a pumpkin fan then!!!
One thing I have come to learn over the years is that just because a pumpkin soup is called "pumpkin soup", when it contains more than just pumpkin it tastes even better!
Here's a combination I love. All the warmth and fullness of a pumpkin soup with just a hint of curry. 

PUMPKIN & CHICKPEA SOUP

You'll need:
1 onion
1 small sweet potato
1 carrott
1/4 kent pumpkin (or other pumpkin of choice)
1 can chickpeas
1 Tablespoon curry powder
1 Tablespoon brown sugar (can be omitted)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon vegemite (trust me it works!)
Approx. 4 cups of vegetable stock

Chop all the vegetables. Drain the chickpeas. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover with vegetable stock (amount will vary depending on your pot). You can make this soup thicker or thinner depending on how much stock you use.
Cook on low for 8 hours.
Once all vegetable are soft. Blend half with a stick blender.

You can also make this over a stove top. Just bring to the boil & then simmer til all the vegetable and soft.

Submitted for Meatless Monday A-Z: Yams (also known as Sweet Potato)

Slow Cooked Ratatouille with Sweet Potato and Butter Beans

I love ratatouille.... however without any starch I find it doesn't keep me full for very long.
The addition of the beans & sweet potato make this a complete meal.
And using the slow cooker means after a busy day we can come home to a complete meal all ready without having to add anything on the side.

Slow Cooked Ratatouille

1 onion
1 sweet potato
1 eggplant
1 capsicum
1 zucchini
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can butter beans, drained
1 teaspoons each dried thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary & marjoram
800g can diced tomatoes

Chop all the vegetables into reasonably sized chunks.
Add all the ingredients in a slow cooker & fill with enough water to cover (approx 1-2 cups).
Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.

I'm such a fan of simple meals like this! Easy doesn't have to compromise taste! 

 
Question of the day:
Are there any meals that are traditionally cooked in the oven that you've tried in a the slow-cooker?

Simple Green Split Pea Stew

For those nights when we need instant meals and we have the morning to prepare, I find the slow cooker is just so handy! 
This meal is so tasty and yet it's as simple as chopping and letting the slow cooker do the rest of the job for you.
 
Don't own a slow cooker - you can also make it over a stove top if you prefer - just bring all the ingredients to a boil and then simmer for 40 minutes.

SIMPLE GREEN SPLIT PEA STEW

Serves 4

1 cup green split peas - (if you have time soak overnight in 2 cups boiling water)
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons chili (optional- adjust as desired)
1 zucchini
1 carrot
1/2 large green capsicum
1 can tomatoes
1 can baby potatoes
2 cups veggie stock (either store bought or home-made) 

Chop all the vegetables to your desired size.
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and leave for 6-8 hours until everything has softened.
Remove bay leaves prior to serving.

Serve with warm bread of choice.

Question of the day?
Do you enjoy using a slow cooker?

WIAW - Split Pea & Leek Stew

Happy Wednesday everyone! :-)
I hope you've all had a wonderful day.

Its been a few weeks since I did a What-I-Ate-Wednesday Post.

Over on the peas and crayons blog, June is sensible snacking month. I find that winter is definitely a time of year when its easy to sit and snack, so its a nice reminder for me to be mindful that I'm only snacking if I really need to eat something. Today I had an apple when I was driving home from work at 6pm. I think that definitely falls into the category of 'sensible snacking'. 

Here's what I ate for meals during the day:

Breakfast - blueberry 'yogurt' and oats.

Lunch - mexican rice & beans with spinach on a grain wrap.

Dinner was Split Pea & Leek Stew - courtesy of the slow cooker!

I reckon I could just about call my WIAW posts "Slow-Cooker Wednesday" since our slow cooker is used almost every Wednesday. Its such a wonderful kitchen appliance for my late-home day! 

Here's today's recipe: 

Split Pea & Leek Stew

 

1 cup green split peas

1 leek

1 onion

2 potatoes

approx 1 1/2 litres of stock

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Chop the leek, onion and potatoes. Place in the slow cooker with the bay leaves and garlic. Pour over the stock (you'll need enough to just cover all the vegetables).

Put the lid on and set to high for 5-6 hours.

Remove the bay leaves prior to serving.

Optional: stir through a tablespoon of tomato paste if you like tomato flavoured stews!

 Delicious served with warm crusty bread.... but then again, what meal isn't!!! ;-)

I have been making our own stock lately. Its really easy to make and amazingly tasty. I don't buy veggies to make it because I find that the expense of doing that adds up really quickly. Instead, I save all our 'off cuts' - meaning the ends of carrots, capsicums, zucchinis, celery, beans, broccoli and any other vegetables that would otherwise be thrown in the bin. All the end bits truly make an amazing stock and I'm yet to find a vegetable that seems to spoil the stock! What a great way of making the most of 'all' the vegetable!!!
I just keep the pieces in a container for 5-7 days and then pour them into a large stock pot and cover with approx 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours. Strain the mixture and then its ready to use. The stock also freezes well.

Questions of the day:
Have you ever tried making your own stock?
Do you call it a "slow cooker" or a "crock pot"?

WIAW - Last week of the holidays

Well last week of holidays for all the lucky kiddies who get 6 weeks off....... but some of us are already back to work ;-)
Do you ever look back & think about how many things you took for granted as a child???

I prepared the slow cooker to do its job for me before I left for work this morning:

Breakfast was soaked oats topped with applesauce, flax seeds, raisins & cinnamon.

Instead of my standard lunch of salad at work I enjoyed some leftover kale & eggplant on brown rice. The picture truly doesn't do justice for how good this tasted!

Here's my snacks for the afternoon. I've been in love with nectarines this season! They seem so much more juicy and tasty compared to last year!

I was very grateful for the slow cooker when I had a 1 hour 50 minute drive home. To be greeted with this delicious soup was just divine! :-)
I did follow this lovely meal with a waffle and banana ice-cream, but I ate it too quick to get a pic in ;-)

You can add your post to what i ate wednesday by checking out the peas and crayons blog!

WIAW - Week 7 Unprocessed

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen last night preparing my meals for today.
I put them all in the fridge overnight to make my traveling day so much easier! 

Breakfast, lunch & dinner - all set!

Breakfast - mango soaked oats

Lunch - Salad with leftover chickpea and veg medley (recipe will be posted by the end of the week!)

And a treat at work that I like to call "spinach thing". I buy this from a pizza shop but its not really a pizza - just pizza dough wrapped around cooked spinach & onion & pepper. Soooooooooo tasty! 

Dinner - Slow cooker potato pizzas (recipe from John McDougall's lastest book - The-Starch-Solution).

What did you eat this Wednesday?
Join in the WIAW fun at the peas and crayons blog.

Adzuki Bean Soup

I love aduzki beans.
I wonder why they aren't as popular in cans as many other types of beans???

Thankfully they aren't hard to cook.
My favourite way to have them is in my adzuki bean burgers.
They are also really yummy in soup.  

For this soup you'll need:
1 x 800g tin whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup uncooked adzuki beans
1 leek
1 large brown onion

I use my slow cooker for this soup. You could do it on a stove top if you wanted to also.
I put the adzuki beans in the slow cooker and pour boiling water over them & leave it to soak overnight.
In the morning, I drain & rinse the beans & then place them back into the slow cooker along with the tomatoes, & the chopped leek & onion. I add about a cup of water.
Lid on & let the slow cooker do its thing for the next 8 hours on low.
I find this amount of time also works well for actually cooking the beans so its handy not to have to cook them separately first.
If you can stir the soup every 2 hours it will help the tomatoes to break apart - or else just do it at the end :-) They will be so soft that the side of a soup spoon will gently break the tomatoes into pieces that you can then stir through the rest of the soup.

I love my slow cooker - it makes Tuesday evenings wonderful! :-)

Serve in bowls with a sprinkling of dried oregano - or fresh basil if you have some on hand.

Super Simple Soup

Is that a tongue twister for you??? ;-)

Really though - it is super simple!
And that's why I love it.
I can quickly make this up on my lunchbreak & know that by dinner time I have a hassle free meal.

Simply chop up:
one large brown onion
1 large carrot (or 2 smaller ones)
1 large potato
1 parsnip
1 swede
2 stalks of celery

Put all the chopped vegetables into a slow cooker with a tablespoon vegetable stock & a litre of water.

Add half a cup of dried soup mix :-)
I love the McKenzies one.

Heat on low for 6 hours.
Done!

Yum!

Serve in big soup bowls and put some herbs on top if you want it to look a bit fancy (isn't that what restaurants do)! My choice is parsley.

Tempting Tuesday

Ever feel like cooking first thing in the morning??
I often do - I love having the smell of fresh baking fill the house first thing in the morning.
This morning it was zucchini bread.

Today's lunchbox:
I made mini zucchini bread muffins at the same time as I was making breakfast - they are for lunch with a lentil dip (mashed leftovers from last night's meal!). Snacks are grapes, dried mango * sesame snaps.

For dinner I used the slow cooker.
I made a leek & soygrit pie.
It was sooooo tasty! Simple put chopped onion, chopped leek, a zucchini, tin tomatoes & 1 cup soya grits in the slow cooker. Add enough water to just cover the ingredients & let the appliance do all the hard work for you!!!!! I took the lid off one hour before serving just to let some moisture evaporate and give the top a "crust".
It looked like a mess when it came out of the slow cooker, I'm yet to master how to serve from the slow cooker!

A super yummy mess!

DESSERT!!!!!! Yay my favourite time of the day!!!