Rice, Rice Baby

So it seems that when I called this Leftovers Lent, I wasn’t kidding. Did you ever have, like, 1/4 c of rice left in the bag and not know what to do with it? Now you know. Here’s a mix-up of congee and good old fashioned egg drop soup. The kids loved it, too.

Chinese Slow Cooker Soup

Whatever bit of rice you have left, <1c
Vegetable stock and/or water (see below)
1 t freshly ground ginger (we used more)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 t onion powder
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 c shredded cabbage
3 carrots, cleaned, peeled and shredded
1/2 c frozen kernel corn
2 T chopped cilantro

Pour rice into your slow cooker. Add enough stock and/or water to come up about 1″ over the rice. Add ginger, garlic, onion powder, and salt. Cook on high 3-4 hours. About 1/2 hour before serving, whisk eggs until light and lemon colored, then slowly drizzle eggs into soup while whisking. Add cabbage, carrots and cilantro. Reduce heat to low (I don’t know if this made a difference or not, but that’s what I did), and allow to cook for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

The less rice you use, the thinner your congee-like soup will be, but that’s not a bad thing. I think I had about 1/3 c of rice in ours, and it was just the right thickness. If you’d like your veggies softer, you can probably throw them in when you first turn on the heat. Let me know what works for you?

Lent 2014: The Leftovers Lent

No, this year’s challenge is not surviving on leftovers for 40 days (though that would be interesting). I started this blog as a way to get myself back in the discipline of writing on a regular basis: just once a week, I told myself, might get me back in the daily groove. Once a week for God, and maybe that would open up enough of a crack in the door for the writing grace to walk back in and spend a little time with me. The good news is that it worked.

The bad news for this blog is that my fiction career, piddling though it may be, is demanding what spare time I have.

But it’s still Lent. I still have to cook, and we’re still going Pre-VII-style meatless. The blogging of it, however, will be extremely limited. This year will be a “best of” with a few new recipes thrown in. For instance, in the event our mint comes back enough before Easter, I really want to make samosas with mint chutney.

For tonight, however, we’re pulling out a family favorite: Slow Roasted Potato Leek Soup.

No, that doesn’t look slow roasted to me, either. I had to hurry things along because the slow cooker was otherwise engaged first thing this morning making a batch of veggie stock. So, if you’re in a rush, you, too, can soften your leeks in butter then soften them some more with the diced potatoes in the recipe’s 2 c veggie stock before adding it to your slow cooker.

We’re serving it with our… Homemade Beer Bread

3 c flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 T salt
1 T sugar
120z bottle of beer
Optional: 1/4 c butter

Grease two loaf pans. Preheat oven to 400F. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and beer together and divide between loaf pans. Slice butter into pats and place on top. Bake at 400F for 35 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Lent 2013 Challenge Day 44: Good Friday Krabby Stuffed Potatoes

Outwardly, this seems luxurious for Good Friday: Seafood? Really? With white wine? When seen in the light of using stuff up in the fridge, though, hopefully the indulgence factor drops. I also based this on a family recipe that called for a can of condensed lobster bisque, but we’re aiming for from-scratch per the rules.

I had wanted to have some deep, meaningful reflections for the most solemn day of our faith year… but between choir practices and making sure Mr. M was equipped to manage a loud, squirmy preschooler through collective hours of Triduum doings… stuffed potatoes with salad it as good as it got. Humility can just show up in the form of a recipe without a reflection.

Wait. Did I just give a reflection in spite of the humility? Sheesh, you can’t even dress me up, much less take me out.

Krabby Stuffed Potatoes (prep time: 3 min + 15 minutes)

5 baking potatoes, scrubbed and baked in the slow cooker on low 6-12 hours
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 c white wine or vegetable stock
1 8oz can PLAIN tomato sauce
1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 c shredded sharp cheese
1/2 lb “krab” pollock seafood flakes

As your potatoes are baking in your slow cooker, melt butter over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk flour with salt and pepper. Sprinkle seasoned flour over butter, then whisk in wine/stock. Let that reduce over medium-high for about 3 minutes, then whisk in tomato sauce and cream. Once that’s all bubbly, fold in cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Fold in “krab” and heat through.

Cut potatoes open on their individual serving plates, then pour “krabby” stuffing inside.

Speaking of humility, it tasted way better than this picture looks.

And, folks, there you have it: a meatless, cheapo Lent for 5. I shall post our obligatory “I Learned Something Today” reflection sometime soon. Stay tuned, Mackerelsnapper fans. Erm, all three of you.

OH! Gluten-free friends? Corn starch for the flour should work.

 

Lent Challenge 2013 Day 43: Bread Alone?

Ah, the Lent Challenge.  Boy, that takes me back.  All of four days ago, we were still fasting and so busy with the Triduum that it took me until Easter Monday to finish the blogging of it all. Just as our Jewish older sibs get rid of all the chometz (every single crumb of leaven) in the house heading into Passover, we thought it would be kind of meaningful to use up all the bread in our house in anticipation of Good Friday.

Slow Cooker, you’re my hero!

Slow Cooker “Quiche” (prep time:  10 minutes)

8 c cubes of leftover breads (I say “breads” because we used everything we could:  naan, pita, rolls, leftover French bread, etc.)
2 broccoli crowns
1 onion
1 c chopped celery
1 c shredded mozzarella
1/2 c parmesan cheese
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c milk (if your “quiche” seems dry, add more milk until it is at least malleable)
1 t salt
1/2 t black pepper

 

Chop broccoli stems in your food processor first, then chop the florets, to make sure they’re all chopped evenly. Then go ahead and chop your onion in there, too.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl until well-mixed.  Spray your slow cooker liner with cooking spray.  Pour in “quiche” and cook on low 4-5 hours.

This makes an ENORMOUS batch.  It can be halved easily, but as this was an experiment, I don’t know how that would affect the cooking time.

Lent 2013 Challenge Day 42: Slowcooker Falafel. Seriously.

We had a perfect cucumber for making tzatziki. Oldest kid is a huge falafel fan. Alas, our 20 minute rule could not possibly permit for falafel… or could it? On a whim, I googled “crock pot falafel,” and God bless Stephanie at Crockpot365. She has a recipe for falafel! That was the feature of our meal last night.

See how golden brown those falafel got, all without deep frying?  I’m not going to kid us both and tell you they’re better than fried:  they’re not.  Seriously, these were just as good as baked and a million times faster.  All kinds of yum.

However, the meal as a whole is best made in installments. Because of the timing, I’m going to start you off with our…

Tzatziki Cous Cous (prep time: 3 min +5 min + 6 min)

1 1/2 c plain yogurt
1 whole seedless/English cucumber, ends trimmed off
juice of 1 lemon
1 T chopped oregano (we were out, so we used cilantro)
1 T chopped mint
1 T minced garlic (as usual, we used more–shocking)
1 t salt
1 1/2 c vegetable stock or water
1 c whole wheat cous cous
1 t butter or oil

Line a strainer with coffee filters and place yogurt over filters. Place strainer over a bowl and then place the whole contraption in a refrigerator, allowing the yogurt to strain for 4-10 hours. (If you have Greek yogurt, use that without straining, but on our budget, we are using just regular American, non-drinking, spoon-only yogurt).

Shortly before serving, cut your cucumber into thumb-length chunks and chop it in a food processor until finely diced. Add lemon juice, herbs, garlic and salt, and pulse to process. Add strained yogurt (discard whey in the bottom bowl).

Just before serving, boil stock/water and oil (in microwave for 5 minutes should do the trick. Add cous cous, stir, then cover immediately. Let sit for 5 minutes, then stir in tzatziki.

Top this lovely dish with Crockpot365’s Falafel. And feta crumbles if you have them.  I whipped our falafel together in less than five minutes, using the food processor. Some day, I’ll make these vegan with ground flaxseed as an egg substitute.

I did make what was supposed to be “suddenly pita,” but due to circumstances beyond my control (a. k. a. needy preschooler), I was not able to fit those into the 20 minute time frame, so they weren’t part of our “official” meal and instead became part of lunch earlier in the day.

Y’all know by now that if you’re looking for prayers and reflections on Holy Thursday, you probably need to look elsewhere on the #catholic tag.

If you’ve gotten this far, please pray for several special intentions for several friends and family members of mine, all going through tough, tough times.

Lent 2013 Challenge Day 40: It ain’t over ’til the fat lady makes chili.

“Mrs. Mackerelsnapper, didn’t you know that you’re not supposed to count Sundays in the 40 days of Lent?”

I did, actually.

“Then why are you calling today your 40th Day of Lent when Lent isn’t over yet.”

Oh, my dear reader, read more carefully. It’s the 40th day of the Lent 2013 Challenge. We are counting not days of Lent, but days of budgeting meatless meals for a family of five on $90/week. So, I am perfectly comfortable calling this Day 40. Tomorrow will be Day 41. Etcetera.

I do have a seedless English cucumber in the fridge that I had hoped to turn into tzatziki and make some “suddenly pita” along the lines of the recent delicious Suddenly Naan. However, here is it, Monday of Holy Week and we have had snow all day long. Pita and cold food just wasn’t gonna cut it. We need hot comfort food.

Slowcooker Vegan Chili (prep time: 5 minutes)

1 15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 c chopped celery
1 onion, finely diced
1/4 c red wine, beer or vegetable stock
2 T minced garlic
2 tsp chili powder (use something spicier for more kick, but we’re feeding kids here)
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
2 bay leaves

Dump it all in your slow cooker, turn to low, then walk away for at least 4 hours, as many as 10. Remove bay leaves before serving with some of these lovelies:

Microwave Vegan Corn Muffins (prep time: 5 mintues; cook time: 10-12 minutes)

1 T ground flaxseed + 3 T water, whisked together and set aside
2/3 c flour
1/2 c cornmeal
2 T white sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 c rice milk
1 T oil

Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Pour milk and oil into the bowl where you’ve premixed your flaxseed and water. Add wet to dry, stirring just until all ingredients are moistened. Spray a microwave-safe muffin pan (ours is silicone) with cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup half full and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a rack IMMEDIATELY (or else you end up with gummy muffins, speaking from experience). Repeat until all batter is used.

This recipe usually makes about 18 muffins. If you only have one micr0-safe muffin pan, you’ll be wiping the cups clean with a dry cloth and re-spraying them between batches. If you’re anti-cooking spray, I don’t know if rubbing the cups with oil will work. Get back to me if it does?

This usually makes about 18 muffins. What we don’t eat I freeze and use with breakfasts.

 

Lent 2013 Challenge Day 34: Inaugural Feast

Yesterday was the inauguration of Pope Francis, on the Feast of St. Joseph, which is my husband’s feast day as well. We usually have some sort of meat on St. Joseph’s Day, because traditionally in our diocese, the bishops lift the Lenten restrictions so we, especially our area’s large Italian community, can feast instead of fast. I had a moment of thinking we’d be justified in breaking the rules on this very special day and getting some actual steak. I mean, Pope Francis is from Argentina, the Land of Beef. What better way to celebrate, right? However, given that the man asked his countrypeople to stay home and give the money they would’ve spent on plane tickets to the poor, buying a steak didn’t really fit the spirit of the day.

So, vegetarian recipes from a country of cattle farmers? We made baked cheese empanadas to go with a slow cooker of pasta fagioli.

Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli (prep time: 10 minutes; cook time 4-8 hours)

1 small onion, finely diced
3 c chopped kale (I’ve seen recipes calling for swiss chard or baby spinach in place of the kale)
2 t olive oil
1/4 c red wine
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 c vegetable stock
1 15oz can cannellini beans, drained
3/4 c small pasta (we used orzo, but ditalini is traditional)
1 generous tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tsp each of dried parsley, orgeano, basil and thyme leaves
1/4 t ground black pepper
2 bay leaves

Sautee onion and kale in olive oil over medium-high heat until onions just start to brown and kale turns bright green. Add red wine to pan, cover and reduce heat to medium-low for 3-5 minutes. Add pan contents plus remaining ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on high 4 hours, low 8 hours. Top with Parmesan cheese, reminding us of the sawdust on the floor of St. Joseph’s carpentry shop.

Baked Cheese Empanadas (time: 20 minutes)

1 package of prepared pie crust, just below room temperature
Parmesan and shredded cheddar cheese

Roll out the crust and cut into triangular quarters. Place about a tablespoon of cheese in the center of each triangle. With a finger dipped in water, trace around the outside of each triangle, then fold in half to seal. Crimp edges with a fork as shown and pierce the top of each empanada with a knife 2-5 times to avoid explosion. Bake at 425F for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

   

Many thanks to the older member of First Shift for doing the hand modeling.

Strictly speaking, the empanada recipe breaks the time limit rule as well as the “no processed foods” rule, but it was to educate the kids on Pope Francis’ home country as well as his vow of poverty.

Lenten Challenge 2013 Day 21: Fiesta Stuffed Potatoes

Fiesta Stuffed Potatoes (morning prep time <5 minutes; evening prep time about 15 minutes)

6 baking potatoes, scrubbed and patted dry
1 15oz can refried beans
2 T sour cream
1 package of Ranch seasoning (optional)
1 t cumin
1 t garlic powder
1 t paprika
1/2 t chili powder (to taste)
1/2 t salt
pinch of black pepper
1 c shredded cheddar, divided

First thing in the morning, place baking potatoes in your slow cooker and cook on low 6-12 hours, depending on how long you need to be away (note: you can microwave or bake the potatoes, but the slow cooker kept the total prep time under 20 minutes). Fifteen minutes before serving, preheat your broiler, with rack at second highest position. Remove potatoes from slow cooker and slice in half lengthwise. To form potato “cups,” gently scoop out insides of potatoes, leaving about 1/4 inch of skin. Place potato “innards” in a large bowl and mash together with remaining ingredients, reserving 1/2 c of cheese. Fill potato skins with mashed filling. Place on a broiler-safe pan and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Broil 3-5 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Vegans can skip the cheese and sour cream, maybe adding a little vegan milk to make the mashing easier.

Lent 2013 Challenge Day 16: Roasted Cauliflower Curry Soup

Roasted Cauliflower Curry Soup (morning prep time:  10 minutes; prep before serving:  5 minutes)

1 medium head of cauliflower, broken intoflorets
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 tsp each of curry powder, ginger, and salt
1 pinch of ground pepper (white would be prettier, but we don’t care much for pretty and used black)
2 T olive oil
2 c vegetable stock
2 c buttermilk (in our case, we used homemade yogurt that did not set up properly)

In a slow cooker, combine cauliflower, onion, and seasonings.  Pour oil over all, tossing to coat.  ADD  NO OTHER LIQUID.  Cook on low for at least 4 hours, up to 10.  Just before serving, heat vegetable stock in a microwave-safe container for 3 minutes on high power.  Pour stock and buttermilk into slow cooker and blend with a stick blender until smooth.  

Serve immediately with bread, toast, or the leftovers from a weekend double-batch of whole-wheat biscuits.  Cheating?  Perhaps….

Lent 2013 Challenge Day 15: “It’s better than it sounds!”

The above was the sentence a local Scots-Irish tavern used on Facebook to advertise their haggis special. I kid you not. It was also the essence of the reactions to last night’s dinner. I based it on this recipe here.

Kale-stuffed Sweet Potatoes (prep time: 5 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes before serving)

4 medium-large sweet potatoes, scrubbed and pierced with a fork
1 T each of butter and olive oil
about 3-4 cups of kale, stems removed and sliced into ribbons
2 shallot “cloves”, finely diced
1 T minced garlic
1 c vegetable stock
1 15oz can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
salt and pepper to taste

Before you start your day, place prepared sweet potatoes in your slow cooker and set on low for a minimum of 6 hours. I’ve left sweet potatoes in the slow cooker on low for up to 12 hours, so be not afraid.

Fifteen minutes before you’re scheduled to eat, sautee kale and shallots in oil and butter over medium-high until shallots are starting to brown and kale becomes very bright green. Add garlic, stock and beans, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes, longer if you’d like softer kale. While pot is simmering, remove sweet potatoes from slow cooker and place on your serving plates. Cut a slice in the top of each sweet potato and sort of squeeze it open. Ladle contents of pot evenly across all four sweet potatoes. Serve immediately.

I will be the first to admit, I was ready to find this disgusting and serve the family cheese, crackers and cucumber slices as an apology. However, I was pleasantly surprised–and this is coming from someone who isn’t fond of sweet potatoes as a savory. It was quick, easy, cheap… and sophisticated?