Fall Dinners from the Slow Cooker

Every fall with back to school and the return of fall sports schedules I struggle with dinners. I do love to use my crockpot, both for the sake of convenience, and for the comfort food meals that we all love as the weather begins to change. 

I just saw this post for 15 Fall Dinners from the Slow Cooker from theKitchn.com and thought I'd share. 

It looked like some new ideas, as well as some new twists on old favorites. 

The recipes included in the post are:

1. Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

2. Slow-Cooker Vegan Pumpkin Curry

3. Slow-Cookier Chicken Burrito Bowls

4. Slow-Cooked Bolognese Sauce

5. Slow-Cooked Brisket & Onions

6. Slow-Cooker White Chicken Chili

7. Slow-Cooker Sausage & Spinach Lasagna

*the only time I tried lasagna in the slow cooker, I did not love it. Not sure I'll try it again.

8. Slow-Cooker Chicken in Milk

*Hmmm.... We'll have to look at this one a bit. Sounds a little bizarre to me.

9. Slow-Cooker Black Bean Enchiladas

10. Slow-Cooker Korean Short Ribs

11. Slow-Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

*I enjoy a tuna sandwich, but have never made a tuna casserole. Not sure I'm up for this one either. Plus, the picture has peas. (YUCK!) I'll probably pass on this one.

12. Slow-Cooker Pork Carnitas

*This picture looks so good to me! And I love, love, love pork carnitas!

13. Slow-Cooker Celery Soup with Bacon

14. Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

15. Slow-Cooker Coconut & Green Curry Pork

I'll be sure to let you know what I try and what we think. Please do the same if you try any!

Mom's Chocolate Decadence Party

My Daughter's School does a silent auction each year where the big deal is what we call Great Gatherings. So I hosted a Mom's Chocolate Decadence Party, Thanks Bridget for the name. It was a 4 course chocolate meal. It was a lot of fun to search for recipes, try them out and come up with the finial menu. Of course I was luckily enough to have Katie and Regina to consult. Katie also created the Beef Tenderloin En Croute with chocolate- port sauce, she used her beef en croute recipe and the chocolate - port sauce from allrecipe.com, the cheese and chocolate plate ideas came from canada but I used local cheeses. I had originally planned dipped bacon, but found snap guide with the chocolate bacon roses, they looked great but were hard to get the middle of the bacon cooked all the way.  The only recipe I really created was the Balsamic Chocolate Brussels Sprouts.A week before the party Molly asked for Aunt Katie's Balsamic Brussels Sprouts, while make them I thought of the party and decided to melt white chocolate with the butter and coat them.

Appeitzers

Cinnamon-Cocoa Almonds

Cheese and chocolate plate 

Chocolate  bacon roses

Chocolate Strawberry Hummus

Salad/pasta course

Pear salad with chocolate vinaigrette

Chocolate pasta with cream sauce

Main dish

Shrimp in white chocolate

Beef Tenderloin En Croute with chocolate- port sauce (see above) 

Cocoa -cinnamon roast sweet potatoes

Balsamic Chocolate Brussel Sprouts (see above) 

Drinks

Chocolate peanut butter martini

Wine

Irish cream

Deserts

Salted Chocolate Pots with caramel sauce  

Chocolate Fudge

Chocolate for dipping served w/fruit

Chocolate Peanut Butter Martini

This winter, my husband, my friend Katie and I tried out a little fun with our favorite combination - chocolate and peanut butter (really, we all really really love it! Yeah, who doesn't...).  The result was a silky, smooth, delicious chocolate peanut butter martini. To. Die. For. 

I posted a picture of the martini on Facebook and got so many likes, comments and requests for the recipe, I had to share it! 

Place in shaker with ice: 

1 part Godiva Chocolate Liquer

2 parts Reese's infused vodka

1 part (or less if you don't like too sweet) pb simple syrup

Shake, strain into martini glass. 

mini peanut butter cup garnish (I actually used the dark chocolate ones from Trader Joe's. So good!)

**For Reese's infused vodka -- melt 1/3 cup Reese's mini pb cups in a double boiler. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of vodka. Pour into glass jar, store in freezer. Shake before using. You want it chilled before you use it.

**Pb simple syrup -- dissolve 1 c sugar in 1 c water, add 3/4 c pb and melt together over low heat. Heat until syrup consistency. Can store in a squeeze bottle or mason jar. You can strain this if you have any pb chunks in it.

As Katie noted is often the case with martinis, 1 is not enough; 3 is too many. Luckily, she could walk home.;) Seriously, this is a decadent, delightful treat. Cheers.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! ENJOYING SEASONAL COOKING

Yeah grilling weather!

After a long, cold winter, we are really embracing the beautiful, warm weather. Like so many, we are anxious to get outside and soak up the sun. Any excuse to be outside will do - whether is is sitting at the sports fields, or at home bike riding, gardening, reading or cooking -- we are doing as much of it as possible outside. Oh yeah, for us, this warm weather effects our eating and cooking, and tends to mean grilling, sandwiches and salads!

I thought I'd share a few of our recent grilling successes with you.

On Saturday, we enjoyed grilled steaks, 

Caprese Salad, Greek Salad and smashed baby potatoes. For the potatoes, I steamed some new baby potatoes, once they were soft, I tossed with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper. Then, I laid them out on a foil-lined baking dish, took my potato masher and lightly smashed each one. I placed in a 400 degree oven until the tops got slightly browned and crispy. So delish!

On Sunday, we enjoyed pork ribs. I finally feel like I got our ribs right! I sprinkled the racks with little Montreal seasoning, wrapped tightly in foil and popped them in the oven (275 degrees) for 2 hours. They were tender and fragrant. Almost  good enough to eat right then... but we waited. We grilled the ribs to get a nice char on them, basting with bbq sauce at the end of the cooking time. The ribs were awesome!

We paired the ribs with corn on the cob (really sweet and delicious for the first of the season!) and a Greek salad again (we seem to be on a bit of a kick!).

Grilled sausages, peppers, onions and portobellos

Monday was once again another beautiful day. I cannot resist fresh fruits and veggies in the warm weather. And growing up, warm days often meant "wedges" (or heros, subs, hoagies, sandwiches, whatever you call them). One of my Dad's favorites was sausage and peppers, so with a nod to Dad, that is just what we did. I started off some Mild Italian pork sausage and chicken sausage with tomato and basil in the oven, then finished them off on the grill. 


I tossed a variety of veggies -- mini peppers, portobello mushrooms and onions with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper and added them to the grill. Once I took the veggies of the grill, I drizzled them with a little balsamic glaze. We paired the grilled sausages and veggies with kale salad and cole slaw.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

In honor of Mexican Independence AND Taco Tuesday, today we enjoyed a household-favorite  -- Honey Lime Shrimp Tacos. 
For the marinade, I combined about equal parts honey, lime juice (I squeezed 3 limes) and olive oil. To that, I add the zest of one lime, minced garlic and a splash of tequila. Then I add in handfuls of chopped cilantro. I always add in handfuls of chopped cilantro. I went a little heavier on the lime juice and a little lighter on the oil. If don't want to use tequila, you could use white wine or broth. I choose tequila. Place shrimp in marinade and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. 

Marinating Honey Lime Shrimp

Take the shrimp out of the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Heat a grill pan over med-high heat. No oil is needed because of the oil in the marinade. Cook the shrimp on one side until they start to curl and get opaque in the center and pink on the edges, then flip over and cook on the other side. They get a beautiful caramelized color from the honey, but you do need to watch them or they will burn. These are great with any taco fixings or over rice or salad. Today, we served them with soft and hard taco shells, guacamole, black bean and corn salsa and a salad. 

I find with cooking I go in spurts, so my recent successes have inspired me, but I do not know what is up next for the week. I have some zucchini and green beans in the house, so it will likely be something with them. 

What are you making this week? Hope you are enjoying a little warm weather eating!

My hubby's artsy grilling photo

Three-Cheese Scalloped Potates

Scalloped Potatoes with New Potatoes

Update on Eileen's Scalloped Potatoes Post from a couple of years ago (Christmas Dinner):

I just made these potatoes with new baby potatoes. I sliced them thinly and layered with the sliced onion, cheese, flour, butter, salt & pepper as directed.

I used the cheese I had in the house, so mine was a combination of parmesan, cheddar and creamy toscana. It came out perfectly!

I am just sharing this to encourage you to play around with the recipe as much as want, or with what ingredients you have on hand. This recipe is wonderful and really versatile. 

Enjoy!

Glorious Grilled Lamb Chops

Glorious Grilled Lamb Chop. Yum.

As we always did at home growing up, I still tend to serve ham or lamb (or both, depending on the size of the crowd) for Easter. For one of the first times I can ever remember, this Easter it was just George, myself and the kids. We were traveling earlier in the week and had a few friends over for an Easter egg hunt and brunch on Saturday, so we decided to keep Sunday really simple and low-key, and it was wonderful!

Ingredients for lamb chop marinade.

We decided to go with grilled lamb chops for our entree. I haven't done lamb chops a lot, and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with them. I did know that I didn't really want to run to the store, so I wanted to just go with what I had in the house. I looked at a few recipes, and didn't have everything for any of them, so I decided to take pieces of a few and put them together. 

In then end, I mixed up a little marinade/paste of:

• the juice from half a lemon 
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic 
• 4-5 tablespoons dijon mustard 
• 1-2 tablespoon anchovy paste 
• and a little olive oil

Seriously, so easy. And so good.

Can't wait to grill these up.

Some of it I just eyeballed until it looked like a consistency I'd like. I rubbed this onto two frenched racks of lamb chops (about 2 lbs total) and refrigerated for a few hours. 

I took the chops out and brought to room temperature before grilling.

We (George) played around a little with the grilling technique. Overall, he grilled the chops about 20 minutes total, mostly over indirect heat. (A little note: For medium lamb, I read that when touching, it should feel like the tip of your nose. It was perfectly cooked!) Before taking them off the grill, he seared them on each side for a beautiful color. They were fantastic.

Halfway through the meal, Holland and George asked me to please write down what I did so we could have these again. (Here you go, Holland and George.)

Perhaps the highest praise of all, however, was when my 7 year old animal lover (who was not happy that we were eating little lambs) reached for her second chop. "I really don't like the idea of eating baby lambs," she said, "but this is delicious."

And that, my friends, is the story of our glorious grilled Easter lamb chops.

White Fish Simmered in Bruschetta Sauce

Tilapia Bruschetta

 Summer cooking for me is all about bright, fresh flavors and loads of veggies. This dish is easy, quick, healthy and so delicious! It became a fast favorite in our house. But it is so versatile that it quickly became a year-round fav, too!

Do not forget the nice crusty bread to sop up all that saucy deliciousness!

Choose any veggies you like!

This summer we discovered a new favorite way to enjoy fish -- it is quick, easy and delicious. I was pleasantly surprised to find as we moved into fall and now our frigid winter months, that the dish still pleases in all the seasons. What I thought would originally stay as a wonderful fresh summer meal, has proved that it can cross the seasons for us!
What you need:
white fish, I tend to do one fillet per person (we have used tilapia, mahi mahi, and cod, all are great)
chopped veggies (whatever you choose or have on hand)
bruschetta (homemade or store-brought)
white wine and/or broth
capers (optional)
Preheat over to 350. 
In a large skillet (oven-safe or wrap your handle in foil), heat a little olive oil and sauté your chopped veggies with a little chopped garlic (this is a great way to use up leftovers and/or whatever you have on hand). I love to add lots of veggies! The great thing about this recipe is that you can use whatever you like or whatever you have on hand. It is so versatile.
Put the veggies to the side and quickly brown the fish on each side.  Add brushetta and wine and heat. As liquid is boiling, add the veggies back in.

Just a few ingredients and easy steps = perfect meal!

Place in the dish in the oven to finish. Bake until the white fish is opaque (about 10-15 minutes). You can sprinkle the capers on or serve them on the side so people can top themselves.

Serve right from pan or over a dish of hot rice or orzo.

We like it with a salad and some crusty bread for sopping up the sauce. Enjoy!

Easy enough to be a staple, beautiful enough for company.