Slow Cooker Ideas

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2012/07/16/diy-frozen-meal-packs-for-your-slow-cooker/

Freeze-ahead ideas for the slow cooker. A few of these recipes seem worth trying.

Beef and Bell Pepper stir-fry

This recipe is adapted from a recipe found on Chubbypanda.
Results

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Bell Peppers, 3, sliced into strips Onion, 1/2, chopped small Garlic, 2 cloves Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Sherry, 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil, 1 teaspoon Salt, 1 teaspoon	Beef, sliced into strips

Samosas au naturel

This recipe is adapted from a recipe found on samosa-recipe.com. I make just the filling and skip the pastry and frying.
Results

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Carrot, 1, diced small Garlic, 2 cloves, minced Onion, 1, diced small	Potato, 1, diced small Peas, 1 can, drained Cilantro, 1 Tablespoon, chopped small Garam Masala, 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon Chicken Broth, 1/2 Cup Salt, 1/2 teaspoon

Storing Fruits and Vegetables

One of the things I am continuously learning as I do my food preparation in advance is which fruits and vegetables I can prepare ahead and which I can't.

Here are two links I have found to help:

Divine Caroline
Farm Fresh To You

Menu for the Week of June 3

Beef and Bell Pepper Stir-Fry

Chicken Marsala Stir-Fry

Japanese Curry

Chicken with Fennel and Carrots

Samosa au naturel

Black beans and rice with Apple Salsa

Snacks:

Roasted Broccoli with Cheddar Cheese

Pork, Sweet Potato and Apple stir-fry

Results
I burned the sweet potato. I think next time steaming the sweet potatoes might help a bit. But still, I like these flavors together.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Sugar, 2 Tablespoons Water, 1/4 Cup	Pork, 1 medallion Sweet Potatoes, 2 Corn Starch, 2 teaspoons Apple, 1

Chicken w/ Asparagus III: Hakuna Marsala

My third take on this meal, after doing a lemon sauce and a hollandaise sauce, is a marsala sauce.

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Results
This is the best of the three Chicken w/ Asparagus recipes that I've done. The recipe still needs something, but it's getting closer to a nice regular meal.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Asparagus, 6 thick spears or 12 thin spears Garlic, 3 cloves Green Onions, 2	Chicken, 2 breasts Chicken Broth, 1 can Cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon Marsala Wine, 1/4 cup Salt Pepper Toothpicks or small skewers

Broccoli Beef: The Family Recipe

Results


Much better than the other recipe I did. A bit more gravy for this amount of broccoli might be nice. But I'll be revisiting this one again and again.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Ginger Root, 4 slices Ground Ginger, 1 teaspoon Garlic, 1 clove Soy Sauce, 2 Tablespoons Oil, 1 Tablespoon Broccoli Oyster Sauce, 1 Tablespoon Water, 1/2 Cup	Beef, julienned Cornstarch, 2 Tablespoons Water, 3 Tablespoons

Japanese Curry

Adapted From: The back of the Vermont Curry box.

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Results
This has quickly become of of my favorite recipes. The amount here tends to feed two of us for dinner and still have leftovers for three lunches when served with rice.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Onion, 1 Carrots, 2 Celery, 3 stalks Curry, 4 cubes Water, 2.5 Cups	Beef for stewing Potato, 1 Crock Pot

Chicken w/ Asparagus II: Sunday, Monday, Hollandaise

This recipe is adapted from a recipe found on Greg Cooks. I made a version of it in an earlier entry and thought that, this time around, I'd try a different sauce. I'm adapting about.com's Hollandaise Sauce recipe.

Additionally, I'm breaking from tradition and making this entire meal on what is usually my prep day. If it works well, I'll do a variant where I split the preparation like usual later.

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Results
This was okay. It turns out I'm not a big fan of Hollandaise sauce. I probably won't be making this particular variant again soon. I've done another variation with Marsala wine that I like better and will post the recipe soon.

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Ingredients

• Asparagus, 6 spears (these are thicker than the last spears, so I'm halving the number)
• Garlic, 3 cloves
• Chicken, 2 breasts
• Egg Yolks, 3
• Lemon Juice, 1 Tablespoon
• Water, 1 Tablespoon
• Salt, 1/4 teaspoon + to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Butter, 1 stick

Cashew Chicken

Results

This remains to be one of my favorite recipes and the proportions really worked out this time around.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Onion, 1/2 Bell Peppers, 2 Chicken Broth, 1/2 Can Soy Sauce, 3 Tablespoons Ground Ginger, 1/2 teaspoon	Chicken Breast, 1 Cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon Cashew Nuts, 1/4 Cup

Menu for the Week of Feb 26

• Japanese Curry
• Chicken w/ Asparagus III: Hakuna Marsala
• Broccoli Beef II: The Family Recipe
• Pork, Sweet Potato and Apple Stir-Fry

Chicken with Fennel, Carrots and Orange

Adapted From: The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, p. 255.

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Results
I wasn't a fan of the oranges in the meal, but I thought the rest of the flavors worked pretty well together. I'll definitely do this one again, but next time with no oranges.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Carrot, 1 Green Onions, 4 Onion, 1/4 Fennel Bulb, 1 Orange, 1 Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 Tablespoons Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Pepper, 1/8 teaspoon Marjoram, 1 teaspoon	Chicken Breasts, 2

Chicken Marsala Stir Fry

This recipe is an evolution of a recipe I liked from Simply Recipes.


Results
This is one of my favorites. It will be in rotation a lot. The only thing I'd change is that the asparagus taste was too strong for me. Next time I might toss the asparagus with salt and butter before adding it in.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Mushrooms, 1 pound Asparagus, 12 spears Onion, 1/2	Chicken, 1 breast Marsala Wine, 1/4 cup Butter, 1/2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano, 1 teaspoon or to taste Salt and pepper, to taste

Menu for the Week of Feb 19

• Chicken w/ Asparagus II
• Chicken with Fennel, Carrots and Orange
• Japanese Curry
• Cashew Chicken

Black Beans w/ Pork

This recipe is adapted from a recipe found on A Year of Slow Cooking.
Results
I've been experimenting with black bean recipes for some time now and haven't come to love any of them. The taste on this one is much closer to what I've been looking for. The texture, on the other hand... the beans are still too firm. I'm tempted to try a recipe where I increase the cooking time to 16 hours. Perhaps starting the beans the night before and adding all the other ingredients the morning I serve will have better results for the texture.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Morning Of
Black beans, dry, 1/2 pound Water, to cover beans (3 cups for me) Onion, 1 Garlic, 4 cloves	Chicken Broth, 3 cups Salsa, 1 cup Cumin, 1/2 Tablespoon Chili Powder, 1/2 Tablespoon Pork, 1 medallion

Chicken w/ Asparagus

This recipe is adapted from a recipe found on Greg Cooks.
Results
I loved the look of this meal. Pounding the chicken flat, rolling in asparagus and cooking seems fancy to me. So that part of the meal I'd definitely do again doing only two things differently: First, I'd sprinkle green onions on top of the white rice to add some more color. Second, I'd try to place the asparagus closer to the center of the chicken, the way I rolled it was off to the side.

The taste of the lemon sauce... wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. So, while I'd do the same concept in the future, I'd change the sauce.  The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook has a Carrot-Ginger Sauce (p. 239) that I'll probably try next time around.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Asparagus, 12 spears Garlic, 3 cloves	Chicken, 2 breasts Chicken Broth, 1 can Cornstarch, 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice, 2 Tablespoons Salt Pepper Toothpicks or small skewers

Roasted Broccoli w/ Cheddar Cheese

I have a bunch of broccoli laying around and don't have plans for it this week, so I went searching for broccoli recipes. The Barefoot Contessa has a recipe for Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli which I've modified here.
Results
This recipe is a win for the smell of roasting garlic alone. That, and it tastes pretty good, makes this a good way to serve excess broccoli.



For next time, I'd reduce the salt by half — down to 1/4 teaspoon. The recipe below was a bit too salty for me. Additionally, I might try a pinch of cayenne pepper powder on top to add a bit of spiciness.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Broccoli, 1 pound Garlic, 3 cloves Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 1/8 Cup	Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt, 1/2 teaspoon Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon Lemon Juice, 1/2 Tablespoon

Pork, Carrot and Sweet Potato stir-fry in Ginger Glaze

This is a recipe that I wanted to try after making the Pork and Cabbage with Ginger Sauce. Completely untested. It could be awful.

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Results
This was a very filling meal, with a few problems that would need to be addressed before I would cook it again. A future version would have:

• More Green. Maybe serving the recipe over a bed of lettuce would be nice?
• The sauce would be less salty. I'd reduce the Soy Sauce to 2 Tablespoons. I'd probably add more ginger, too.
• I'd cook the carrots longer. I like my carrots soft and these were still too crunchy. Next time around I'd add them at the same time I added the sweet potatoes.

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Ingredients

Prep Day	Day Of
Carrots, 2 Salt, 1/4 teaspoon Sugar, 2 Tablespoons Water, 1/4 Cup Ginger, Fresh, 1 Tablespoon Chicken Broth, 1/2 Cup Soy Sauce, 1/4 Cup Sherry, 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil, 1 teaspoon	Pork, 1 medallion Sweet Potatoes, 2 Corn Starch, 2 teaspoons Cooking Spray

Menu for the Week of Feb 12

• Pork, Carrot and Sweet Potato stir-fry in Ginger Glaze
• Chicken w/ Asparagus
• Chicken Marsala Stir Fry
• Black Beans w/ Pork
• Snack: Roasted Broccoli w/ Cheddar Cheese

Hummus w/ Sun Dried Tomatoes

Adapted From: About.com Hummus.
Results
I will be making this hummus again and again.

Broccoli Beef

Adapted From: The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, p. 333.

Results

The food tasted fine. I think I used too much Broccoli and didn't cut it uniformly enough, so the broccoli flavor drowned out all the other flavors. Also, I'm not much of a fan of the bell peppers in this recipe.

This is probably the last time I'll use this particular recipe. Next time I'll try modifying a recipe my family has been using for years.

Pork and Cabbage w/ Ginger Sauce

Adapted From: The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, p. 330.

Results

I can't say that this recipe turned out as good as I remember it and for me it might have been an issue with the cabbage being too firm. Part of the problem might be that I neglected to wash the cabbage before cooking, which I should remember to do in the future.

The carrots in ginger sauce were awfully good, though. I'm tempted to try a recipe of carrots, sweet potatoes and this ginger sauce, as that may be quite tasty.

Menu for Week of Jan 29

• Pork and Cabbage w/ Ginger Sauce
• Broccoli Beef

Lettuce Aforethought

In the past four years I've lost and regained 40 pounds, twice over, and I'm pretty certain that it's because I'm eating the wrong things once I reach my ideal weight. But the wrong things are easy and I am lazy. And so it's time for me to focus on eating right, instead of on losing weight.

So in December I sat down and thought: what do I need to lose weight and keep it off? How do I eat right  all the time and never be hungry? How do I deal with the fact that I'm not usually a big fan of vegetables? And what about how lazy I am? I certainly don't want to spend a lot of time preparing food when I get home from work, so how can I eat well and still do nothing but stare off into space when I get home?

Personally I decided to eat 1000 calories a day of "whatever" and an unlimited quantity of whole fruits, vegetables and beans which I can prepare in any way. So all foods are in, but meats, cheeses, nuts, processed foods, breads, cheesecakes, cookies, etc have to be counted against my calorie total. Apples, asparagus, black beans, etc. are free for consumption.

This leads me back to the basic problem that, after work, I don't want to be peeling vegetables, chopping and preparing foods. Any time over about 20 minutes is too much. Even 20 minutes is too much. And finally my fascination with cooking shows lead to a sage realization: if I prepped my food ahead of time, my only job each weekday would be to cook everything and toss it together.

This has worked for me for a month and I'm still excited with the quality of the meals that I've been cooking every day. The posts from here forward will detail the recipe modifications I've made to make this type of cooking work for me and the notes that I have made about how I'd like to modify the recipe in the future.

While I've scrounged and modified recipes from all over, many of the recipes you'll find are modifications of recipes from The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. I've really enjoyed the book and the section on stir-frys alone has given me weeks worth of meals (as you will see in the coming weeks.)

So, without further ado: here are the recipes I've followed, the mistakes I've made and the tips I've learned cooking in advance. Lettuce aforethought.