Crockpot Cooking

Trying to keep my financial resolutions, I decided to start cooking meals to take to work again. Also, I love to cook and love to share my successes, and failures, with the blogging community.

Last night at 11pm I decided to throw off my warm blankets, and put something in the crock pot. I had been looking at this great recipe for Jambalaya, and although I wouldn't be putting it over rice, I thought that the flavors would go nicely together. Thanks to the vegetables, it's also quite healthy.

FYI - I was back in bed by 11:20pm. Gotta love that.

Crock pot Jambalaya
Posted by Dewey on the CookingLight Bulletin Board

12 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, 1/2" cubes (used 1lb. turkey legs)
2 green peppers, chopped (used 16 oz. frozen pepper blend and 2 zucchini)
1 medium onion, chopped (omitted)
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced (used pureed garlic)
14 1/2 ounces whole tomatoes, canned
1/3 cup tomato paste (subbed ketchup)
14 1/2 ounces fat-free beef broth, canned (subbed ½ water and ½ red wine)
1 Tbl dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp dried basil & 1/2 tsp dried oregano (subbed Penzey’s Pasta Sprinkle)
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (used ½ TSP)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (used ½ TSP)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb low-fat smoked sausage (omitted)
3 cups cooked brown rice


Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Add all ingredients except sausage and rice to Crock-Pot. Cover; cook on Low 8 to 10 hours (High: 3 to 4 hours). Add sausage last hour of cooking. If you want to include shrimp, add last 15 minutes of cooking. Stir in rice when ready to serve. 6 servings (big servings!)



This was REALLY good! Of course, I doubt it tastes anything like a real jambalaya (some of that is due to my changes) but it is a good comforting, healthy meal loaded with tons of vegetables!

By the way, I am submitting this for Gayle's recipe swap at http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/

What a long strange month it's been

I started this month (less than 2 weeks after I started my blog) committing to posting each and every day. I joined NaBloPoMo for the month of November - and miraculously was able to keep the blog posting up. I completed the challenge! And...I signed up for December's challenge.

I have met so many great bloggy moms in this past month (virtually) and feel like I'm really a part of a community.

Yesterday, a friend came over with her daughter to play. It was 1pm and no one had eaten so I decided to make lunch.

The way I cook my Thanksgiving Turkey is to boil it (with onion, celery, carrots and peppercorns), breast side down, for 2-2.5 hours, flip it breast side up, remove most of the broth, smother with mayonnaise, and bake at 350 degrees for another 1.5-2 hours (this was for my 17 lb. bird). The bird turns out amazingly juicy, and beautifully brown.

Anyways, I keep the turkey broth from the bird, to use instead of chicken stock. It makes the most amazing stock. And I had leftover turkey, of course. So, I decided to make the most amazing Tortilla Soup from, of course, the Cooking Light Bulletin Board. If you click on to the thread, you will notice that this recipe is #1 on the Most Popular threads archive. For good reason, too! I just swapped out turkey stock and leftover turkey for chicken stock and chicken breasts.

Since I was in a hurry to put this on before our friends came over, I forgot to take a picture of my ingredients. The picture of the final product is from today (I had 2 bowls left over).

According to my girl-friend, "If I cooked this for my husband, he would buy me lots of jewelry". That's sounds like a resounding thumbs-up to me :) And the perfect way to use up left-over turkey without most people realizing it is turkey.

Tortilla Soup
6 tablespoons vegetable oil [I used 2 at most]
6 corn tortillas, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 diced tomato
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock (I used turkey stock)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 to 6 cooked chicken breast halves, shredded (about 2 cups) (I used leftover Turkey)

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro, and onion. Saute 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in canned tomatoes and diced tomato. Bring to a boil and add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Add salt and cayenne. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and stir in turkey. Reheat.

Garnish with cheese, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla strips (we just used avocado).

Serves 6 (1.5 cup servings)

Happy Thanksgiving

I am extremely thankful:

For this country...
Where I am free to "Pursue happiness" no matter what my religious, political or moral beliefs are.
Where people voluntarily get in a Best Buy line at 2pm to be the first when the doors open at 5am the next morning - instead of standing in a bread line for hours to get food to live.
For the immigrants who came before me, who paved the way for my family to escape religious and political persecution.

For my children...
For reminding me that there is a fine line between sanity and absolutely frickin' nuts!
Who don't take me as seriously as I take myself.
Who remind me that it's OK to be sad and mad - by teaching them I reinforce these lessons in myself.
Who I love more than anything else in this world - and who infuriate me at the same time!

For the 16 lb. turkey...
Who gave his life so I may stuff at least 4 of the lbs. in to my face in one sitting, and then pick at at least 1 more lb. throughout the rest of the day.
Who is responsible for me laying on my back, with my belly looking at least 5 months pregnant.

For my friends...
Who I know will always be there, via telephone, text, email, facebook or blogger, for me day or night!

HAVE A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!