Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup with Kale

Well, the snow just keeps piling up and I am OVER IT. I'm officially going on record as anti-snow. It may be pretty when it's falling, but once you've dealt with it for weeks on end, it loses its charm.

Since winter won't quit, neither will my winter comfort recipes. It was time to break out the slow cooker again for some soup.

Notes: The slow cooker is a winner again! This soup is hearty and exactly what you need on a cold winter night.

I used canned beans, but you could used dried beans as long as you soak them the night before. You can add those to the slow cooker with the other ingredients. Canned beans will fall apart if you cook them for 8 hours.

On ham hocks: you'll find them in the meat section of grocery store with the large hams and ham steaks. I would have liked a smoked one, but I couldn't find one. The one I got was a "country" ham hock, so it was salted. If you get one of these, DON'T add more salt to the soup. I used 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning and my soup was a bit on the salty side. I'd err on the side of caution and use your favorite salt-free seasoning. A nice mix of cumin, paprika, and garlic powder would be a good. Use some red pepper flakes if you want some spice. You can always add salt if you need to.

Ingredients:
2 15 oz. cans of cranberry beans or pinto beans
1 ham hock
5-6 celery stalks
5-6 carrots
3-4 cups of unsalted chicken stock
1 onion
1 small bunch of kale (I used Lacinato)
Seasonings of choice (easy on the salt, see note)

Directions:

Peel and slice the carrots. Slice the celery. Dice the onion. Put the onion in the bottom of the slow cooker and place the ham hock on top of them. Add in carrots, celery, and stock. Season to taste. Set the slow cooker for 8-10 hours on low.

When there is an hour left of cooking time, rinse and drain the beans and add them to the slow cooker. Remove the bones from the ham hock and break up the pieces of meat, discarding the fat and skin. Once the time is up, thinly slice the kale and stir it in. Let sit for 5 minutes and serve.

The slow cooker: the number one chill killer! Enjoy!

King Cake

See this beautiful creation? It is a king cake. A king cake is a traditional dessert made and eaten during the Mardi Gras season. When Scott and I lived in Louisiana, we would get one (or two) every year. They are just so delicious.

I have wanted to make my own from scratch for a long time and I decided this year was the year. I planned to make it for the Super Bowl and I set aside a whole day for baking. And what you see above is the result.

The recipe I used was an older one originally posted in the Times Picayune. You can find it here. I won't bother retyping it, since I didn't change a thing. There's a "cheat" at the end of the article using pre-made refrigerated crescent dough. But try the from-scratch version first. It's just more fun!

The only thing I did differently was the decorations. Instead of using food coloring, I found colored sugar and just sprinkled it on the icing.

Enjoy!

Sausage Gumbo

Scott and I have been very lucky to live may different places. We often play a game that you might call "Dream Town." Our "Dream Town" would be made up of all of our favorite businesses and restaurants from all the places we've lived. For example, Dream Town would have our vet from Louisiana, it would have our favorite breakfast joint (The Courier) from Illinois, and it would have the pizza parlor (Hillside Pizza) from Massachusetts.

One place that would definitely be on that list is Nina P's from Lake Charles. One of the reasons it would be on that list is because of the gumbo on their menu. Their gumbo was probably one of the most comforting foods I've ever had--it made you feel better on a chilly gray day in the bayou.

Since Mardi Gras is coming up, Scott and I are missing our favorite things from Louisiana, so I decided to make some gumbo this weekend. And since it's going to snow on Monday (again), I can't think of a better way to stay warm.

Notes: I have Tony Chachere's cookbook. It doesn't contain a recipe for sausage gumbo, so I read through all the different gumbo recipes and constructed a kind of hybrid from all of them.

It's likely that my roux was not dark enough. I was afraid of burning it. The gumbo we used to get in Lake Charles was much darker than mine. Also, I substituted carrots for the more traditional bell pepper because Scott isn't crazy about peppers. It still tasted great even though it's not 100% correct.

This is not a quick meal, but boy is it worth it. Make it on a chilly weekend and you'll have plenty of leftovers for the week!

If you wanted to make a vegetarian version, you could use red kidney beans or sliced fresh mushrooms in place of sausage. Just add them to the broth about 30-40 minutes before the 2 hours is up. If you add them at the beginning, they'll just fall apart.

Ingredients:
1 pound kielbasa
5-6 carrots
5-6 celery stalks
1 onion
1 small bunch parsley
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 heaping tablespoons of Tony's Original
1 quart of water plus 3 cups
1 stick of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
3 cups minute rice

Directions:

Start by prepping all your veggies. Peel and dice the carrots. Dice the celery and onion. Mince the parley and garlic. Slice the kielbasa

Melt the butter in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour. Let the roux cook until it's the color of milk chocolate (not dark chocolate). Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the veggies until they stop sizzling. Season with Tony's. Return the pot to the heat and add 1 quart of water.

Stir in the garlic, sausage, and parsley. Bring everything to a boil and then turn the heat back to a simmer. Allow the gumbo to simmer for 2 hours.

When the gumbo is almost done, bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a smaller pot. Stir in the minute rice, turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork when it's done.

To serve, put the gumbo into a wide-mouthed bowl. Use an ice cream scoop to make ball of rice and plop it right in the middle. Top with parsley or serve with file (if you can find it in your grocery store!)

Bon appetit, mais cher!

Q.E.D.: Pork Tacos with Diced Mango

I mentioned that we got a lot of leftovers out of our slow cooker pulled pork. So we decided to make some pork tacos. Of course they were amazing! It's hard for them not to be since the pork was so great.

Notes: The only thing I think I would have changed would be to add some lime zest to the cabbage/cilantro mixture. But I didn't have any limes.

I opted for the havarti cheese because I didn't want the cheese to overpower the pork. You can use whatever you like, but I wouldn't go with something strong.

If you haven't made slow cooker pork, you could use some rotisserie chicken from the store in its place to keep this meal Q.E.D.

Ingredients:

1 box of your favorite taco shells

2-3 cups of cooked shredded pork 

1/2 Nappa cabbage

1 bunch cilantro

1 mango

4-5 oz. of havarti cheese

Salt

Hot sauce (optional)

Directions: Heat the oven to the temperature you need for your taco shells.

Thinly slice the Nappa cabbage. For 6 tacos, you'll need about 1 1/2 cups. Finely chop the cilantro. Mix the cabbage and cilantro together in a small bowl, season with salt, and set aside. 

Dice the mango and set aside. Grate the cheese and set aside.

Warm the shredded pork in the microwave or in a pot on the stove while you taco shells are cooking. Add as much hot sauce as you like.

When the shells and pork are hot, assemble everything together. Serve the mango on the side or on top of the tacos. Enjoy!

Eat Food, Save Money: DIY Maple Almond Granola

The first post I did on eating food and saving money was about making your oatmeal from the big can rather than buying the individual packets.

For you granola fans out there, you should consider doing the same thing. If you shop in the economical bulk section, you can buy several cups of oats and nuts at once, which is pretty much all you need for making granola. If you make it yourself, you can make a lot more than you could buy in a box in the cereal aisle, which means you'll save money in the long run. Also, you can make whatever flavor combination you want.

Notes: Granola is more of a method than a specific recipe. I wrote this recipe with the stuff I used, but you can use what you want. Essentially, it's 2-to-1 oats to nuts (or seeds) ratio, sweetener, some oil to keep it from sticking, and whatever spices you like.

You can add some dried fruit after it's done if you like. Keep it in an airtight container on the counter or in the fridge. It'll keep a little longer in the fridge.

Ingredients:
4 cups of rolled oats (you can use any type of similar grain)
2 cups of raw sliced almonds
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions: Heat the over to 300.

Add the oats, nuts, spices, and salt to a bowl and stir to combine. Add in syrup, vanilla, and oil to the bowl and stir.

Pour the oats onto a greased or foil-lined baking sheet and spread out in one layer. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the granola is fragrant and darker in color.

Allow it to cool on the baking sheet. If you want clusters, let it cool completely and then break it up into the size pieces you want. If you like flakier granola, stir it a few times while it's cooling to keep it from clumping.

You can eat it like cereal with milk or you can serve it on top of some yogurt. Eat food, save money, and enjoy!

Eat Food, Save Money: Making Leftovers Less Leftover with Beef Stew Baked Potatoes

If you're learning to cook or trying to eat at home more often, that means eating leftovers. Now, I'm not opposed to leftovers. If you make something that tastes great, who wouldn't want to eat it one more time? But, leftovers can also be kind of boring. One way to get over the boredom is to use your leftovers in another dish. 

Enter beef stew baked potatoes. 

I made a big pot of beef stew in the slow cooker (I just realized I need to post that recipe). It was great and it made a lot, so we had leftovers for a couple of days. One day we ate regular leftovers, but the next night I topped a couple of baked potatoes with the beef stew. It doesn't seem like much, but even a little tweak like this can break the monotony. 

You could do this trick with pretty much any leftover stew you have. You could also do it with curry or stir fry, provided you don't have rice in either of them (that would probably be a bit too starchy). 

Ingredients:

Leftover beef stew (you need about two cups for two people, but if you have more or less, that's fine)

2 medium-sized baking potatoes 

Salt (optional)

Butter (optional)

Directions: Heat the oven to 400.

Prick the potatoes all over with a fork. Rub them with a little butter and salt (optional). Wrap them in foil and bake them for 1 hour and 15 minutes right on the oven rack. 

Right before the potatoes done, heat the leftover beef stew in a pot on the stove or in the microwave. When the potatoes are finished, slice them open and fluff the insides with a fork. Scoop the warm beef stew on top and serve. Enjoy some not-so-boring leftovers!

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Lisa over at 100 Days of Real Food is a genius and I am indebted to her forever for this recipe.

It. Is. Amazing.

I've been looking for more slow cooker recipes now that school has started again. It's so easy to just throw everything together before I go to work and when I come home dinner is ready!

I'm skeptical of meat in the slow cooker because I've had some bad luck with it. So I was nervous to try this recipe. But Scott loves pulled pork and he convinced me to do it. I'm SO glad I did.

Notes: This is quite literally the greatest slow cooker meat I have ever eaten.

If you get a pork butt or shoulder that's particular thick, you might want to cut it in two pieces. Mine was pretty normal, so I didn't do anything to it.

The pork doesn't have a sauce per se, so if you're thinking you're going to get a thick BBQ sauce like the bottled kind, you're barking up the wrong tree (or pig). You end up with really tender pulled pork with a great flavor, but it's not saucy. I dashed some hot sauce on mine and it was all I needed. The flavor of the pork is so great, you don't need much else!

You'll end up with plenty of leftovers, so plan accordingly. We're going to make pork tacos tomorrow night!

Ingredients:
1 3-3.5 pound pork shoulder or pork butt (I used bone-in)
3 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon of chili powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian herb mix
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
10-15 shakes of hot sauce (to taste)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion

Directions:

Take the pork from the fridge and let it sit out for about 30 minutes to come closer to room temperature.

Slice the onion into thick rings and lay them on the bottom of the slow cooker, making a layer for the pork to rest on.

Stir together all the dry ingredients (cumin, salt, chili powder, pepper, garlic powder, Italian herbs). In another bowl, stir together the wet ingredients (oil, vinegar, hot sauce, and honey). Put the wet and dry together and stir or whisk to make a paste.

Put the pork in the slow cooker and pour the paste all over the pork. Rub it in and then set the slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours.

When the time is up, shred the meat with a fork. Serve and enjoy!

Served here with roasted potatoes and lemon garlic green beans!