Butternut Squash Soup

In my ongoing quest to have more than one favorite soup for my work lunches, I looked around for another butternut squash soup. I have a couple of requirements for my lunches: they need to be mostly vegetables, full of flavor, and stick with me through the rest of the work day. I found this recipe and asked Kent to make it up this weekend. It's a big hit, especially the chickpeas on top. And it's a slow cooker recipe. Although we usually use dried beans rather than canned, in this case the canned chickpeas were cheaper than dried. Isn't that odd?

The chickpeas stayed crispy when stored in a covered container; don't combine them in the soup ahead of time. You'll miss out on a great texture combination.S

Soup ingredients

• 2 small butternut squash (about four pounds), peeled, seeds and fibers removed, and diced (about an inch cube)
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4 C chicken or vegetable broth 
• 1 T ground cumin

Chickpeas

• 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 t smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Soup

1. Place the squash, bell pepper, carrots, and onion in a large slow cooker. 
2. Add the broth and cumin.
3. Cover and cook on high until the vegetables are soft and beginning to dissolve into the liquid (for us, it took about six hours). 
4. While the soup cooks, follow the directions below for the chickpeas.
5. When the vegetables are soft, use an immersion blender to puree the soup until mostly smooth (leave it lumpier if you prefer it that way).
6. Top with the chickpeas and serve immediately.
7. Enjoy!

Chickpeas

1. Place the drained chickpeas in a colander and let sit for about an hour.
2. Line a baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels and place the chickpeas on the paper towel for about another hour.
3. An hour before the soup is done, preheat the oven to 400°F. 
4. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil.
5. Add spices and shake until the chickpeas are evenly coated.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the chickpeas in a single layer on the parchment paper.
7. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the chickpeas are crispy, about 40 to 50 minutes. Shake the baking sheet every 10 minutes to ensure even baking.
8. Remove from the oven when done.

Chickpeas after baking

Chicken Enchiladas

When our younger son and his family came to visit in January, we knew we’d try a new recipe out with them. They are foodies and love to try new things—plus since they’re a family of five, we knew we could make the recipe and have only a few leftovers. As it turned out, we didn’t which was fine by us.

You make the dish in two stages—the first stage is in the slow cooker and can be done well ahead of time. Then you assemble the enchiladas and briefly bake them. Using the slow cooker for the chicken and sauce means you can shred the chicken in the sauce. That makes assembling things easier, and it’s easier to eat, too.

Slow cooker ingredients:

• 2 T unsweetened cocoa
• 2 adobo chilies in chipotle sauce, diced
• 1 batch enchilada sauce
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Slow cooker directions:

Bear paws shred like a champ

1. Mix the cocoa, chilies and enchilada sauce together. 
2. Place the chicken thighs in the slow cooker and top with the wet mixture.
3. Cook on high for four hour or on low for eight hours.
4. Shred the meat while it’s still in the sauce (Kent likes his bear paws for shredding).
5. Divide in half; after the mixture cools, put half into a freezer bag and freeze for future use. Continue on with the recipe for the reserved mixture.

For the rest of the dish:

• About 2 cups shredded cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese
• 12 to 14 small corn tortillas

Assembling the dish:

1. Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.
2. Grease a baking dish or use cooking spray.
3. Put about half the meat mixture in the baking dish.
4. Place tortillas flat on the meat mixture, and top with about half the cheese.
5. Repeat to create a second layer.
6. Bake until bubbly, 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Spicy Vegetable Soup

You control how spicy this soup is—if you like it hotter, dice the adobo peppers finely and use two or three. If you don’t want it hot, then use one and either don’t dice it at all or cut it into large pieces. The heat comes from the seeds in the pepper and when they get diced, they get hot. The adobo sauce isn’t (or shouldn’t be) hot; it’s just flavorful. I’ve also found that the Lacostena brand is hotter than the Hernandez brand. I prefer Hernandez for the flavor.

As written, this soup makes about eight to 10 servings, depending on how much water/broth I add.

Ingredients:

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (we use fire-roasted)
28 ounces chicken broth or water or a combination
2 C frozen corn OR one can corn, drained
1 pound carrots, peeled and diced
1 pound celery, diced
1 small or ½ large white onion, diced
3 or 4 small red potatoes, diced
1 to 3 adobo peppers, diced or a packet of taco seasoning
1 can pinto or black beans, drained

Directions:

• Saute all the vegetables, beans and potatoes in a skillet (I use a bit of canola oil) until the onion and celery are softened.
• Stir in the beans.
• If you are using the taco seasoning, sprinkle over the vegetables and stir. Cook just a bit longer til bubbly. 
• If you are using the adobo peppers, add to the skillet and stir. 
• Put the vegetables in the slow cooker and add the tomatoes and broth.
• If needed, add water to almost fill the slow cooker. 
• Cook on high for about eight hours.

Go here for nutritional information per serving.

Sunday Dinner Pot Roast

I never actually made pot roast as a Sunday dinner but you could, very easily. Actually you can make this for dinner almost any day you have about 30 minutes of prep time in the morning. Your slow cooker does the rest.

Ingredients: 

2 ½ pounds beef or chuck roast
2 T flour
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (I prefer white onions)
6 to 8 baby bella mushrooms, quartered
1 C carrots, peeled and diced into large chunks
4 cloves garlic, put through a press
1 sprig fresh rosemary or 1 t dried rosemary
Several sprigs of thyme—strip the leaves into the slow cooker OR 1 t dried thyme
2-3 T tomato paste
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes; reserve some of the juice in a small bowl
2 C red wine, like Merlot (boxed is fine)

Directions:

• In a sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat.
• Put the roast into a large plastic bag along with the flour. Keeping the bag closed, shake the bag until the roast is lightly coated with the flour.
• Sauté the roast in the pan until browned on all sides.
• Meanwhile, put the onions, carrots and garlic into your slow cooker.
• When the meat is browned, place it on top of the mixture in the slow cooker.
• Add the mushrooms to the sauté pan and sauté until done.
• Put the mushrooms in the slow cooker.
• Add the herbs.
• Add the tomatoes and all the juice except what you’ve put in the small bowl.
• Stir the tomato paste into the reserved tomato juice and then add to the slow cooker.
• Cook on high for about six hours or on low for eight to ten hours.
• Cut the meat into pieces and serve with the juices and veggies and possibly the roasted potatoes.

Slow Cooker Pork

This recipe is loosely based on a couple of recipes I found online. I'd gotten a boneless pork loin but wasn't feeling the love for my normal recipe so I looked around and cobbled something together. I served it with plain, shredded cabbage and it was amazing.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin
4 to 5 cloves roasted garlic
3 bay leaves
1 t sage leaves
1 t rosemary leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup brown mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup beer

Directions:

• Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, not including the cranberries or garlic
• Add the brown sugar, mustard and honey to the bowl and mix well
• Pour some of this mixture into your slow cooker and put the pork on top
• Top the pork with the remaining mixture
• Sprinkle the cranberries and garlic around the pork
• Add the beer
• Cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours or until you can shred the meat easily with two forks
• Shred the meat and serve with shredded cabbage or cole slaw if you prefer.