Remembering Veggies

December 29, 2010

One of the most surprising gifts I received for Christmas was from my brother in law. He's 18 and perhaps the biggest fan of my chocolate chip cookies. And he shocked me with an awesome crock pot!

I've been wanting a crock pot for the longest time, so I am very excited to find some new recipes to try with it.

Here are a couple that are at the top of the list (they are heavy on the veggies because it feels like a million years since I've had any!):

Slow Country Green Beans



2 pounds fresh green beans, ends snapped, broken into two or three pieces
1 yellow onion, cut in fat wedges and separated
1 ham hock
1 15-ounce can of stewed tomatoes, broken into pieces
1 teaspoon of fennel seed)
1-2 cups water
salt & pepper

Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker, cover and let come to a simmer. Adjust heat to maintain slow simmer, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed. After several hours, remove the ham hock and cut the meat into pieces and return it (along with the bone and any large pieces of fat, if you like) to the pot. Some time later, season to taste. Cook for about 10 hours or until beans are almost buttery.

All Day Boston Baked Beans



1 lb or 500g bag of small white beans (called navy beans or cannellini beans or haricot beans, depending on where you are)
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 chunk of fresh ginger
4 Tbs. molasses, or 4-5 Tbs. dark brown sugar
1 chunk of smoked bacon or ham
2-3 bay leaves
2 tsp. salt
Several grinds of black pepper
1 tsp dried mustard powder, or 1 Tbs. prepared mustard (brown or Dijon style..whatever you have around)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
water

Slice the onion. Smash and roughly chop the garlic. Peel and grate the ginger.

Put all the ingredients into the pot. Pour in water to about 1 1/2 inch / 4 cm above the level of the beans. Mix well.

Set your oven temperature to 250°F / 120°C, or your crock pot / slow cooker to around 200°F / 93°C. (If you have a Rival crock pot, this would be the LOW setting.) Put your pot in or turn it on, depending on what approach you're taking. Set the timer to 6 hours. At that point, check on the pot - the beans may be a bit hard, or not, depending on how dry they were to start with. Usually I find it needs at least 8 hours for the beans to get really tender and sort of caramel-colored. Add water as needed if it looks dry. (If you can't be there to check at the 6 hour mark, just add more water to start with so it doesn't dry up.)

Three Bean Vegetarian Chili



2 bottled roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1 large minced onion
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups organic vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups butternut squash
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

Preparation:
Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours. Garnish with sour cream and green onions before serving.


*I found these recipes with the site foodblogsearch.com. I just typed in "crock pot" and came up with so many recipes to cook in the crock pot. Did you know you can even do cupcakes in the crock pot? Sounds risky!