Favourite Slow-Cooker Recipes

As fall drew to an end, I decided to do a post on my favourite slow-cooker recipes, to get everyone into the mood for some comforting winter food.  And here we are, almost the end of January... better late than never, right?

Cooking for me this winter has really only meant using my slow cooker, for the most part.  Time is a precious entity these days and I love how you can whip together a healthy and delicious meal in under 30 minutes when using your slow cooker.  I also love coming home to a delicious smelling house.  And, not having to race to get everything ready last minute, as the kids scream from hunger!

These recipes are my favourite slow-cooker recipes, in no particular order.  I also have a slow-cooker tag on the left side of my blog, if you want to check out others.

I apologize for the quality of some of these photos.  This was way before I knew anything the manual settings of my camera or even knew what the word white balance meant ;)  I promise you, however, that these recipes are delicious, even if the photos of some of them are not the most appetizing.  

Mexican-style chicken with cilantro and lemon

Easy chicken tacos made with shredded chicken

Comforting shredded beef

Polynesian chicken

Chickpeas in curried coconut broth

Red lentil and carrot soup with coconut

Lamb keema

Thai chicken thighs

  
Easy cabbage roll casserole

Creole black beans

South American black bean soup

What are your favourite slow cooker recipes?

Vegetarian Korma

My brother-in-law made this for us for dinner while we were staying with them over the holidays.  More on that shortly.  

This recipe is absolutely delicious.  A new absolute favourite of mine.  One of the best recipes I've made in a long time.  But let's face it... hot dogs and canned corn don't really count as a recipe.  Well, they do in my new world.  Which is why I haven't blogged many recipes lately...

I served this to company this weekend, along with Brandi's delicious avocado and cranberry salad, and got rave reviews.  Even though I kind of messed it up while making it.  

Ya see... I have this issue with reading recipes.  Or more with NOT reading recipes, I should say.  You'd think I'd learn from past mishaps.  But nope.  I still dive right into recipes without fully reading them until it's too late.

My brother-in-law suggested I parboil the potatoes before adding them in.  Oops.  Should have done that.  Slipped my mind.  I ended up needing to leave this to simmer forever.  You might also want to throw the carrots in with the onions, as I find that they took a long time to cook as well. 

Also, my brother-in-law mentioned that the potatoes mush down and tend to blend into the sauce.  That didn't happen at all with mine.  I used red potatoes.  I am clearly not a potato connoisseur as that waas not the right choice.  But they were on sale.  What's a girl to do?  I guess next time I'll try plain old white potatoes and see how that goes.

The recipe also says to grind the sunflower seeds.  Which I had thought I'd read.  But when I went to make it, I couldn't find the word "ground" anywhere in the recipe.  I read it twice.  I swear.  As it turns out, that little word "ground" was sitting right in front of the words sunflower seeds.  Go figure.  It was only once I had thrown in the whole sunflower seeds that the word "ground" jumped right out at me.  Oops.  I prayed for the best and it turned out just fine.  Mine obviously had less smooth of a texture than my brother-in-law's, but it was still good. 

My next attempt to make this will be in the slow cooker.  With some meat.  Maybe chicken or lamb???  But this is absolutely fantastic just as it is.

1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, cubed
4 carrots, cubed
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced
3 tbsp. ground raw sunflower seeds (or cashews)
1 (4 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garam masala
1 C frozen green peas
1/2 green bell papper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped 
1 can of coconut milk
1 bunch fresh cilantro for garnish 

1.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the onion and cook until tender.  

2.  Mix in ginger and garlic and continue cooking 1 minute.  Mix potatoes, carrots, jalapeno, sunflower seeds and tomato sauce.  Season with salt and curry powder.  Cook and stir 10 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

3.  Stir peas, bell peppers and coconut milk into the skillet.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro to serve.

Serve with rice or quinoa - quinoa is particularly idea for its protein content, given the lower protein content of this dish.

Difficulty level: moderate  

Serves 4 - 6 people 

This recipe is freezer friendly if you leave out the potatoes.       

Inspired by: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegetarian-korma/
 

Best.Chili.Ever

Yes.  I'm still alive.  But it's been awhile...

My maternity leave is over in one short week.  

WHAT????  

I know!!!!!  Where did the year go????????????

You guessed it... I'm heading back to work.  
 
In fact, I've sort of already started back to work in a sense.  I've been seeing just one client a week over the past month, but spending countless hours speaking with potential clients, preparing for evaluations, and organizing my materials that have been virtually untouched for over a year.  

And to be honest, I'm feeling super overwhelmed by it all.  

I gave myself a good month with both kids in daycare, prior to starting back to work.  My thought had been that I'd just relax, get things organized and just recover a bit from the stressful years we've had with the kids.  I thought I was being all smart and the like, giving myself a kid-free break before going back to work.  Unfortunately, I guess I hadn't realized quite how much work needed to be done before I actually started seeing clients.

And despite only seeing one client right now, I feel like I'm already having a hard time managing everything.  The house is a complete disaster (and our cleaning lady was here just yesterday!!!), I haven't cooked anything novel in weeks and I feel like I'm always getting back to clients waaaaaaaay later than I said I would.  If I don't actually forget to call them back entirely.

This was so not me in my previous life.

Lately, our days have been the type where, day after day, I've been scarfing down a bowl full of black bean soup, the crusts from my kids' bread and the tail end of a banana that they haven't finished for lunch.  I'm just now understanding why people eat the same things over and over and over again.  We've been living on a steady diet of black bean soup and red lentil and carrot soup with coconut.  In fact, I have a batch of the latter brewing in the crockpot upstairs as I type this.  Good thing both of my kids will now eat these soups :)

Last week, I ran to 6 different appointments between myself and the kids and next week I have 7 appointments and daycare is closed for a day.  The prospect of trying to juggle all of these appointments, all the while seeing clients and having enough time to do my paperwork is stressing me out more than I'd like to admit.  I can't quite figure out where the time is going to come from or how I am going to be able to make enough money to help pay for all of the kids' therapy.  My mind is constantly whirring and I'm having a hard time quieting it down these days.  Needless to say, I've been a bit of a stress ball lately and have been thinking I need to get back to some hard core yoga...

All that to say that my blogging is taking a bit of a back seat.  As is my cooking.  And that's ok.  If we eat soup for the rest of winter, we will survive.  My hope is that as I transition back to work, things will miraculously become a bit more manageable, as we settle into a new groove.  At least, that's what I keep telling myself... ;)  I'll try to post when I can, but I also have to prioritize other things in my life right now.  So check back when you can, but I probably won't be updating as often as I have been in the past little while.

Enough now with my life rant.  Time for a delicious recipe. 

I've been wanting to make this recipe for awhile.  Pretty much since last winter, when my kinesitherapist, Hilary gave it to me.  I finally got the motivation I needed to actually go ahead and make it a few weeks back when I accidentally left 6 pounds of ground beef defrosting on the floor in front of my freezer.  Luckily, I found it before it was too late to salvage it.  And I spent my weekend making this chili, mom's spaghetti sauce and my mom's delicious lasagna recipe, which I need to get around to posting one of these days.  Sooooo not what I had planned to do with an entire weekend, but I can't say that I mind having the freezer stocked with some gluten- and dairy-free meals for us. 

Though I love, love, love my mom's chili recipe, I have to admit that I find this one to be just as good.  Which says a lot because my mom's is pretty darned good.  This one has a bit more of a bite to it, which I love.  The mixture of the adobo peppers, beer and the addition of cumin gives this chili a wonderfully different flavour.

Now, I have this little issue with any recipe that calls for any form of hot peppers.  I somehow cannot, no matter how hard I try, avoid getting them in my eye.  I thought I had outsmarted the hot peppers this time.  I didn't touch the peppers at all - I took them out of the jar with a fork, cut them with a fork and knife and scooped them into the chili with a fork.  No hands involved.  And I thought I was completely safe.

Until I took my contacts out a little while later.  Holy #$%?!!!!!!!  Just a little tip to my readers: you should wash the pot in which you cooked the chili with gloves on...

Best Chili Ever

olive oil
2 1/2 lbs. ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, buffalo or a mixture) (I clearly made mine with beef - baha!)
2 C diced onions
2 C diced bell peppers (I used red and yellow)
1 tbsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp. diced chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (found in the ethnic aisle) 
2 29-ounce cans tomatoe sauce
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 29-ounce can dark kidney beans
11-12 ounces dark beer (Hilary used Guiness; I used La Messagère, gluten-free beer)
2-3 bay leaves
1 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. ground cayenne red pepper
2 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. finely chopped dark chocolate (or 70% cocoa)
2 tbsp. instant coffee grounds
chopped cilantro

Note: make sure that you have a really big pot for this recipe.  I used the biggest one I have and still ended up having to split it between two big pots.

1.  In a large pot over medium high heat, sauté the ground meat in olive oil until cooked.  Drain the meat and set aside.  

all 6 pounds of beef, that I fried up and split between different recipes

2.  In the same pot, sauté the onions and peppers until soft, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and chipotle peppers and cook for another 2 minutes.  

3.  Add all remaining ingredients, except the chopped cilantro.  

be sure the chili isn't too close to the top before adding the beer, as it foams a bit

4.   Add the meat to the mixture.  

  
5.  Loosely cover the pot with a lid and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally for 1 hour.  Remove the lid and continue to cook for another hour.  Allow it to simmer a bit longer if you'd like the sauce thicker.  

6.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove the bay leaves.  Stir in the cilantro.

Serve with grated cheese and additional chopped cilantro and enjoy!

We love scooping this up with some delicious Neal Brothers organic blue tortilla chips with flax (the green bag) that we've found at our local health food store.  They're to die for!

Makes 10-12 servings.

Difficulty level: moderate

Mexican-Style Chicken with Cilantro and Lemon

As fall knocks on our door, my kitchen is abustle with all sorts of freezer-friendly dishes and treats.  Chloé has been in full-time daycare for two weeks now, as I prepare my return to work.  The countdown is on:  26 days and 16 appointments left until I officially return to work...

I have been taking advantage of my free time this week to stock our freezer full of dairy-free and gluten-free food, now that we're on this new diet.  In passing, we gave up on our freezer challenge.  With all of our recent therapy costs, we decided that it was best to not get into any more renovations just now.  Which means that I can cook to my heart's delight!!

Earlier this week, I whipped up some delicious peanut butter cookies (and threw in some chopped peanuts this time to boot!), a vegan mac and cheese, these gf peach muffins, a new smoothie and pudding recipe, plus another twist on the banana soft serve - all of which I will post shortly.

Tomorrow's plans include a lasagna, red lentil and carrot soup with coconut milk, another batch of my delicious new super-powered granola bars (yes! we've eaten all of them AGAIN!), gf biscuits to go with the soup, a gf apple tart and... if I still have time... a batch of South American black bean soup.  Whew... just typing this out exhausts me.  But it'll be nice to have meals and treats in the freezer when I'm working and too busy to make anything.

I also made a batch of this Mexican chicken earlier this week.  Fall has gotten me back into pulling out my beloved slow cooker.  Beloved because most recipes are super quick and delicious.  And there's nothing better than coming home to a delicious smelling house when you've been out all day.

1/4 C raw pumpkin seeds
2 tsp. cumin seeds (I just used ground cumin and it worked fine)
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 lbs. chicken pieces, skin on breasts, removed from legs and thighs
2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed black peppercorn
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
1 to 2 serrano chilies, chopped
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 C cilantro leaves (you can use the stems here too)
1 tbsp. lemon zest
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 C condensed chicken broth (undiluted)
finely chopped cilantro and green onion
lemon zest

1.  In a skillet, over medium-high heat, toast pumpkin and cumin seeds, until pumpkin seeds are popping and cumin has released its flavour.  Transfer to a small bowl and set aside. 

2.  In the same skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and brown in batches.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker stoneware.  Reduce heat to medium.  (Yeah... I skipped this step... no time...!).

3.  Add onions to pan and cook, stirring until softened.  Add garlic, tomato paste, salt, pepper, oregano, chili pepper, cinnamon and cilantro and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Transfer contents of pan to a food processor.  Add lemon zest and juice, chicken broth, pumpkin and cumin seeds and process until smooth.

4.  Pour sauce over chicken and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours, until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a fork.  When ready to serve, garnish with cilantro, green onion and lemon zest.

Serves 4 to 6.

Difficulty level: moderate  

Taken from: The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes

Carrot and Coriander Soup and Cacciatore Chicken

So I went a bit crazy and bought 10 lbs. of carrots a few weeks back. Which I suppose is quite a bit for only two people to eat... I just couldn't restrain myself. They were $3.99... so that explains the abundance of carrot soup recipes I've been making lately. Luckily, I've yet to hear complaint from my husband about the lack of variety of vegetables lately.

This soup freezes well, though you may have to run it through the blender again with a bit of stock once it has thawed. Be sure that the carrots are cooked enough before blending, otherwise it won't blend into a nice purée. Also, you can substitute vegetable stock for a vegetarian version. Don't make the mistake of using ground coriander instead of fresh, as it is not at all the same thing. I used a ground lemon peel bought in the spice aisle of the grocery store instead of fresh lemon peel, as I rarely have fresh lemons around and that worked well.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. carrots, peeled and chopped
3 3/4 C chicken stock
few sprigs fresh coriander
1 tsp. lemon rind
2 tbsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste



1. Soften the onion in a large pot. Add chopped carrots, chicken stock, coriander leaves, lemon rind, lemon juice and seasoning to taste.

2. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, occasionally checking that there is enough liquid. When the carrots are really tender, blend or liquidize and return to pot, then check seasoning.

3. Heat thoroughly again and sprinkle with chopped coriander before serving.

Chicken Cacciatore

This is recipe that I used to make whenever I had people over for dinner in undergrad. It used to be my 'fancy' meal, as I was really just learning to cook. I rarely make it anymore, but it's a good recipe and freezes well. I usually use boneless skinless chicken breast, though I'm sure you could use other cuts of chicken as well.



1/3 C all-purpose flour (or whole-wheat)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 lbs. chicken pieces
1/4 C margarine (butter browns too fast)
1 C chopped onion
1 small green pepper, chopped
10 oz. (284 mL) sliced mushrooms, drained
7 1/2 oz. (213 mL) tomato sauce
14 oz. (398 mL) canned tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. basil
grated parmesan cheese, sprinkle

1. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a plastic bag.

2. Put 2 or 3 pieces of chicken at a time. Shake to coat. Brown margarine in frying pan or large heavy Dutch oven. Remove chicken as it is browned.

3. Add onion and green pepper to pan. Sauté until soft. Add more margarine if needed.

4. Measure in next 9 ingredients and stir.

5. Add chicken. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Cover and simmer slowly for about 35 to 40 minutes until tender.

Serves 4 to 5 (though I find it makes much more).