Wordless Wednesday: Honey Cashew Homework Fuel

Slow Food

I recently needed to have dinner cooking while I was at the school volunteering in the late afternoon, and so I cooked up this keeper in the crock pot. It was originally from Allrecipes.com, but I've altered it so heavily, that it is now my own creation. And, there are no photos, because we scarfed it all down before evidence of the dish could be created.

Enjoy!!

Arroz Con Polo Limón

3 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or thighs
2/3 c. lime juice
4 c. chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. sea salt
4 Tbs. butter, melted
4 c. uncooked instant brown rice (= one box of Minute Rice - brown)

Put the chicken in the slow cooker; pour in the lime juice and chicken broth, add the garlic, cumin, pepper, and butter. Cover, and cook until the chicken is tender. Stir in the rice during the last 20 minutes of cooking time.

Cooks on Low 8-10 hours, on High 4-6 hours, or on High 2 hours if you pre-cook chicken in the microwave on 1/2 power for about 15 minutes, before adding to the slow cooker.

Serve with cubed avocado, diced onions, salsa, green chile sauce or sour cream on the side, fresh fruit, tortillas and a simple salad.

Pies, Applesauce & Cookies... oh, my!

We made crock pot applesauce today, and Erik & Solomon cubed nearly all of the apples for it (after I peeled, cored, and sliced). We did 11 apples (since there was some snacking going on), and followed the recipe for the rest. Delish!
Pumpkin pie made with pumpkins from South 47 Farm (cut the pumpkins in half, horizontally, and baked at 475-degrees F in about 1/2-inch water in 9/13 baking dish until fork-tender, scrape out, then puree the pulp), frosted sugar cookies we did with Abby & Ben, and our crock full of applesauce fixings.
Basic Frosting for Sugar Cookies

2 Tbs. butter
3 tsp. vanilla
5 c. powdered sugar
5-6 Tbs. milk
4+ drops any color food coloring

In a small bowl, beat the butter, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in the milk one tablespoon at a time until a good spreading consistency is reached. Stir in food coloring to desired shade. Decorate cooled cookies, and set on waxed paper to harden.

Seasonal Inspiration...

Madeline came home with this recipe today. I knew they'd made applesauce last week since each kid brought an apple for the recipe, and they sorted, counted, then peeled and chopped them, but I didn't realize that it was a crock pot recipe. All Madeline had said was that they couldn't eat it yet because it was still cooking. Now that makes much more sense.

So, here's the recipe, and it's delicious!

Crock Pot Applesauce

10 large apples (peel, core and slice; kids can easily use a cutting board and a butter knife and cut the apple slices into chunks)
½ c. water
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ c. sugar

Put all the ingredients in your crock pot, cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours
or low for 8-10 hours. When done, take a potato masher and mash. Can be served warm or cold—refrigerate remaining sauce.

Fast Slow Food

Pulled pork sandwiches are a favorite of Joel's. Actually, I love them too, but they take awhile. Enter the crock pot. I forget to use my crock pot because I'm more of a see-what's-in-the-fridge-and-make-up-something-for-dinner gal. Either that or I plan something fairly elaborate and new. But, the crock pot is one of those great tools that does work for you while you do more interesting things. Other tools I love for this are the dishwasher, wash machine and dryer, microwave, self-cleaning oven, etc. If I had something that could mop for me that would be amazing. Ooh, or a self-cleaning toilet. Now, that would rock!

So, in the spirit of ease (and because I forgot to pick up a couple ingredients in the original recipe, which basically made homemade bbq sauce) here's my new Pulled Pork recipe (modified greatly from Cooking Light):

2 lbs. pork sirloin roast (cut into three slabs)
3 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. ground chipotle chili (Penzey's)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup Guinness barbeque sauce (had it in the fridge)
A couple squeezes of ketchup
1/2 Tbs. cumin
1/2 Tbs. dry mustard powder
1 clove crushed garlic
Several glugs of malt vinegar
Several glugs of Worchestershire
3 T. molasses

Coat the pork in the chili and sugar. Add all other ingredients to the crock pot, stir and add the pork on top. Cook on high setting for about an hour, then on low for 7 hours. When done, shred pork with two forks and stir into the sauce in pot. Pile on good crusty rolls with your favorite toppings (Sliced red onion, pickled peppers, etc.)