Slow Cooker Cacciatore-Style Chicken

My sister picked this recipe out for us to make when she was down visiting last weekend.  I've already posted a recipe for chicken cacciatore in the past.  And though I love my old recipe and find it a bit more flavourful than this one, the one I am posting today fits much more with my hectic lifestyle these days. 

You basically just chop up the vegetables, throw them into the crockpot with the chicken and other ingredients and plug it in.  And if you happen to buy your mushrooms pre-sliced like I did, this really only takes minutes to put together.  You also get a good portion of yummy cooked veggies out of it.  This is so quick to put together than I've already made it a second time in the past week.

2 C sliced fresh mushrooms
1 C sliced celery
1 C chopped carrot
2 medium onions, cut into wedges
1 green, yellow, or red sweet pepper, cut into strips
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 chicken drumsticks, skinned (about 3 1/2 lbs)
1/2 C chicken broth
1/4 C dry white wine
2 tbsp. quick cooking tapioca
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 14-1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/3 C tomato paste

1.  In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker combine mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions, sweet pepper and garlic.  Cover vegetables with the chicken.  Add broth, wine, tapioca, bay leaves, oregano, sugar, salt and black pepper.  

2.  Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 7 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

3.  Remove chicken and keep warm (place in 200 degree Farenheit oven).  Remove bay leaves and discard.  If using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting.  Cover and cook 15 minutes longer on high-heat setting.  

4.  Serve with hot cooked pasta or rice.  To serve, spoon vegetable mixture over chicken and pasta.

Makes 6 servings.   

Difficulty level: easy 

Taken from: Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes.

Happy Valentine's Day: Healthy Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

When I first thought of Valentine's Day (albeit only 3 days ago), I had visions of making my kids heart-shaped pink pancakes for breakfast accompanied by skewers of various heart shaped fruits... 
of a wonderful, romantic, homemade dinner for my husband and I... and of delicious cupcakes for dessert, topped with heart-shaped fondant toppers.

And then reality hit.  My life is way too busy for all of this crap!

The thing is that this is what I LOVE to do.  In an ideal world, this is part of how we would have celebrated Valentine's Day today.  But my kids were none the wiser this morning, as they happily sipped their smoothies before leaving for daycare. 

There will be other years for this kind of craziness when my life isn't quite so crazy in and of itself ;)

The only thing from my above list that I managed to accomplish (sort of) was the cupcakes - without the fondant toppers. I ended up settling on some heart shaped candies that we happened to have here, instead.   

I found the recipe for this chocolate cake on youtube.  It is naturally gluten and dairy free and I loved the idea of sneaking some black beans into chocolate cake for my kids for some hidden protein and fiber.  Now, you're probably thinking that black beans in chocolate cake sounds disgusting.  I swear, you can't even taste them!!

This recipe is overall quite healthy.  It won't win any awards for being the absolute best chocolate cake you've ever tasted in your life.  It's not quite on part with the rich chocolate sour cream bundt cake that Katie made us for dessert on Valentine's Day last year.  However, this is healthy enough that it could be a regular indulgence. It is not very sweet tasting in and of itself.  But I found that after adding the icing, it had just the perfect sweetness.  Not that super sweet taste that many cakes have.

I got the recipe for the buttercream icing here.  To make it dairy (but not soy) free, I used Earth balance instead of butter.  However, I found that I had to add a ton more icing sugar than the recipe called for to get it stiff enough to pipe.  Maybe it is because the Earth balance has a different texture than real butter??  I also used some of the real vanilla we bought in Tahiti instead of the vanilla extract. Yum!

Healthy Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed1 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 egg

 
Blend in food processor or blender until smooth.

 
Mix in:

1/2 C sugar (I used coconut sugar, but regular sugar would be just fine too)
6 tbsp. olive oil or butter

 
Place 4 eggs in a mixing bowl

and beat for 3-4 minutes on high until they are fluffy.

Add the following to the beaten eggs, along with the black bean mixture and stir only until mixed:

6 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Pour batter into muffin tins.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 300 degrees Farenheit. 

I have superstar aim with my batter pouring ;)

Frost with buttercream icing and dust with coloured sugar.  Decorate with candies, if desired.
 

Enjoy!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

What Valentine's Day treats did you indulge in today?  Do you have any Valentine's traditions that you enjoy as a family?

Difficulty level: easy-moderate

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes.

Note: because of the black beans in the recipe, these tend to dry out quickly, so keep them in a tightly sealed container.  If you don't frost yours (and you will regret it!), place plastic seal directly on the surface of the cupcakes to help keep them fresh longer.

Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon

Cooking these days is coming down to either popping a roast or something of the sort into the oven (often unseasoned) and whipping up some quick potatoes/rice and veggies to match, or throwing often repetitive recipes into the slow cooker.  That is, when it isn't pulling hot dogs out of the freezer. Bleck.  

I've been getting a little sick of our standard slow cooker fare, so as our freezer stock started getting a bit low, I poked around for a few new recipes that I hoped the kids might, at least, eat in part.  It turns out that that didn't happen, but Jérôme and I both enjoyed this boeuf bourguignon.  In fact, boeuf bourguignon is one of Jérôme's favourite French dishes and he gave this recipe the thumbs up.

I usually keep half opened bottles of wine in the basement, to use in recipes such as this.  Now, I can hear you all gasping.  How is it possible that we ever have a bottle left unfinished?  Especially with a French husband???  

Well, it goes a little something like this.  Back in the days before we had children, we often ended up with half empty bottles that we then stored in the basement for cooking.  Now that we have little monkeys screaming all of the time, what happens is more that we open the bottle and drink so much that we feel guilty and then redeem ourselves by using the last cup in a recipe like this one here.  And by we, I just might mean me ;) 

Slow Cooker Boeuf Bourguignon

120g chunk of bacon or salt pork belly, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 lbs. stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes (I used pancetta that I had bought at Costco)
1 lb. mushrooms, whole or halved
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves or 2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 C all-purpose flour (I used a gluten-free flour blend)
1/2 C condensed beef broth (undiluted)
2 C dry red wine
1 bay leaf
zest of 1 orange
chopped parsley      

1.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add bacon or salt pork and cook until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel.  Drain off all but 2 tbsp. fat in pan.

 

 

 2.  Add beef to pan, in batches, and brown.  Transfer to slow cooker, using a slotted spoon.

 

3.  Add mushrooms to pan and cook until tops are lightly browned.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker stoneware.  Reduce heat to medium-low.  

4.  Add carrots and onions to pan.  Cover and cook until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.  Increase heat to medium.  Add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  

  
5.  Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add beef broth and wine and cook, stirring, until thickened.  Stir in bacon or salt pork, bay leaf and orange zest.

 

 

6.  Add mixture to slow cooker stoneware.  Stir to thoroughly combine ingredients.  Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours, until beef is very tender.  Discard bay leaf.  Just before serving, garnish liberally with parsley.

Serves 8.

Difficulty level: moderate  

Taken from 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes.

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce (with Veggies!) for Picky Eaters

When I started writing this post a couple of months back, I was super excited to have finally found a recipe that the entire family would eat.  Other than my red lentil and carrot soup with coconut, which I was getting so incredibly sick of, despite how delicious it is.

 

 Though I like pasta, I could easily live without it.  So I can't say that I was thrilled at the idea of eating spaghetti so frequently.   But the fact that my kids would eat it made me want to make this every single day, just to simplify my life.  I had finally found a meal that would keep everyone happy and hence, quiet, at meal time.  

look how much he ate compared to the
earlier photo - nothing short of a miracle!!!

Not only did this meal keep my kids happy, but it also got some veggies into them.  What could be better?  This is a one-dish meal, since it has carbs, protein and vegetables all mixed together.  Could life get any better?????  

Logan thought this was so good he had to
lick the leftovers off of his hands ;)

 
This recipe is an adaptation from my mom's fantastic spaghetti sauce.  I modified it a bit to sneak in a few extra veggies and to change the texture to be more picky eater friendly.

The recipe is not overly complicated, but there are a few steps involved and it then needs to simmer for a good hour.  So this is certainly not something you are going to whip up once the kids get home from school.  BUT, it makes quite a big batch and freezes wonderfully.  I divide this into family-sized portions and load my freezer with it.  This is our go-to meal on nights when I've forgotten to take something out, as it tastes just as good defrosted as fresh, defrosts quickly in the microwave and, of course, the pasta only takes minutes to make.

Now, there is certainly no guarantee that all picky eaters will eat this.  In fact, I'm sure that a lot of resistant eaters out there will not.  My kids have only very recently started mixing textures in their foods.  And I suspect that had we taken a different approach to our children's feeding issues, they still might not be trying foods such as these.  However, once your child is beginning to accept foods that mix different textures together, this recipe is a good one to try.

I should also address the idea of hiding vegetables in recipes.  You want to be careful about doing this with very picky and resistant eaters.  I do it now because my kids are too young to realize there is anything hidden.  However, if your child is old enough to notice little green specks here and there, you're probably best to not hide foods.  If your child finds food hidden in a dish where they are not expecting it, you are teaching them that they cannot trust what you tell them about what they are eating.  This will only make a resistant eater even more cautious to put something new into his/her mouth.   

One last thing before I share the recipe - I actually prefer the original version, as I like the chunks in the sauce.  However, I'll tolerate this thinner version as long as it keeps my kids eating!  If you have no picky eaters at home, I'd recommend you check out the original recipe here.

2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 bay leaf
2 10 oz. cans mushroom stems and pieces, including liquid
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 C finely chopped onion
2 carrots, grated
2 zucchini, grated
1 28 oz. can tomatoes, pureed
1 28 oz. can Bravo spaghetti sauce
2 5 1/2 oz. cans tomato paste
2 7 1/2 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. basil
1 tbsp. salt
3 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese  

1.  Using a food processor, chop the onion very finely and grate the zucchini and carrots. 

my sous chef

2.  In a large pot (the largest one you have), cook the onion, ground beef and bay leaf until the beef for a few minutes.  While cooking the ground beef, regularly break it down with a fork, so that it is broken into as small of pieces as possible.  Add the grated zucchini and carrot and cook until softened and beef is cooked.  Drain any excess fat.

 
3.  Purée the mushrooms (including juice) and juice in a blender until very fine.  Also (separately if your blender is too small) blend the canned tomatoes.   

 

4.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer steadily, uncovered for 1 1/2 hours, stirring frequently.   

To keep this both gluten- and dairy-free, I omit the parmesan and serve it over quinoa pasta.  For a soy-free version, replace the Bravo spaghetti sauce with your favourite spaghetti sauce.

Difficulty level: moderate

Yield: 13 cups