Slow cooker Golumpki (aka cabbage rolls)

I got a head of cabbage in my organic veg delivery last week, so decided to try making my favorite Polish food: golumpki. Also known as cabbage rolls - but 'golumpki' is just so fun to say.

This is a very basic cabbage roll recipe; when I make this in the future (and I will make these again, because they are so delicious), I'll get a little more creative with the spices and sauce. Makes about 12 rolls/4 servings. I ran out of big cabbage leaves before I did meat, so I froze the remaining and will use it to make stuffed peppers.

Ingredients
1 large head of cabbage

For the filling
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup cooked white rice
1 medium onion and 1 green pepper, diced and sauteed in a little olive oil until soft
2 eggs
~ 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
~ 3 tablespoons minced garlic (more or less, according to taste)
~ 1/2 tsp salt
~ 1/2 tsp pepper

For the sauce
2 cans chopped tomatoes (with juice)
3 or 4 bay leaves

To make

1) Prepare the cabbage leaves. This is the semi-complicated part.

Fill a large pot about 1/2 way with water, bring to a boil. In the meantime, remove the stem of the cabbage with a sharp knife and discard.

Place the head of cabbage into the pot of boiling water and cover, allow it to cook for about 10 minutes. After this time, you should in theory be able to remove each whole leaf with tongs. This didn't quite work for me, so what I ended up doing was pouring out the hot water, filling the pot back up with cold water, and gingerly removing each leaf from the head as it sat in this cool water bath.

Lay the leaves down one at a time on a cutting board and remove the main rib (the hard part) using a sharp knife. Keep the leaf otherwise intact, though.

Set the cabbage leaves aside.

2) Make the stuffing. Place all of the ingredients for the meat stuffing into a large bowl. Mix well, using your hands. This process is gooey and satisfying.

3) Stuff those cabbages! Lay a cabbage leaf out flat, take a handful of the meat mixture and place it on the leaf near the end that was once attached to the cabbage stem.

Fold the leaf up on each side, and then starting at the cut end roll it up. Repeat with remaining leaves until you have used up all of the meat mixture.

4) Add tomatoes and cook 'em. Place the cabbage rolls seam side down in the crockpot. Pour chopped tomatoes over the rolls. Add bay leaves, cover and cook on low 8 hours.

Slow-cooked Leg of Lamb with Prunes

I'm back to the blog after an international-move-induced hiatus (many thanks to Dr. Darkness and Audrey for posting recipes in the meantime!). Of course, a Crockpot was one of the first things I acquired after moving into my new flat this month. An inaugural batch of slow-cooked porkchops came out underwhelming (totally fine, just not blogworthy really), but this leg of lamb recipe (adapted from one at old standby A Year of Crockpotting) really worked. I used lamb purchased at a local foods "fayre" in town.

Ingredients
4 lb. boneless leg of lamb
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups prunes
~3/4 cup white wine (I used a chardonnay)
1 cinnamon stick

To Make
1. Place lamb in crockpot (note: I have a 6.5 liter cooker, though original recipe called for a 4-5 quart cooker, so if you have a smaller one it should still fit).
2. Mix salt, pepper, and rosemary together, rub all sides of lamb with mixture.
3. Sprinkle chopped garlic on and around lamb.
4. Add prunes around lamb.
5. Pour in wine, about 1/4 cup water (the water I added because I was afraid the lamb would dry out, being not as submerged in a larger cooker, but it's probably not necessary). Toss in a cinnamon stick.
6. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Warning: your home will smell almost oppressively amazing for about 7 hours while this thing cooks. But the result is a moist, delicious leg of lamb. I served it with quinoa and roasted carrots.

Slow cooker Orange Chicken with Butternut Squash and Potatoes

This is adapted from an old Real Simple recipe. Requires some veggie prep (especially with the butternut squash), but is otherwise not very labor-intensive, and smells lovely as it cooks. Makes ~4 servings

Ingredients
8 skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 medium onion, cut into quarters and layers separated
~ 1 lb small red potatoes
1 small butternut squash*, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch pieces
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1 orange, cut into 1/4 inch rings
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
8 sprigs fresh thyme

To make
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Put everything into the slow cooker. I put the potatoes and squash in first, then the onion, then the chicken, then the broth (poured over chicken), then scattered the garlic, oranges, and thyme over the chicken.

*My 4 qt slow cooker would not fit all the squash with everything else, so a handful of pieces got put away for another day

3. Cook on high for ~ 4 hours (this probably takes less time, I was just busy and so let it cook longer. Check the chicken after say 3 hours for doneness)

Crockpot Roasted Winter Root Vegetables

Another good one from A Year of Crockpotting, found here, though I halved the recipe and used turnips and sweet potatoes instead of rutabagas. This one takes a little more prep, to wash/peel/cut up the veggies, but it's tasty. I ate this with quinoa for dinner (omg yet ANOTHER vegetarian meal! I'll need to get a pork recipe up here soon)

Ingredients:
~1 pound carrots
~1 pound turnips
~1 pound parsnips
a large sweet potato
-1/4 cup chopped parsley
-2 T olive oil
-1/2 tsp kosher salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-1/2 tsp basil

To make:
Peel and cut the veggies into 2 inch chunks.

Put all the vegetables into your crockpot, and add the olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper. Toss with your hands to coat fully coat the vegetables.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4-5. The vegetables are done when they have reached desired tenderness.

Mediterranean Chicken

Lately I am all about food that you can just throw in the crockpot and not think about. The A Year of Crockpotting blog - which is just what it sounds like - is a great source of these.

A few days ago I made the chicken recipe found here. I reproduce the nuts and bolts below:

Ingredients:
- 3-4 frozen chicken breast halves
- bag of frozen artichoke hearts
- half jar of green olives (no juice)
- large can of tomatoes (and juice)

To make:
Put everything in your crockpot.
Turn on. Cook on low for 8 hours, high for 4-6.

So simple, and delicious! The chicken came out very moist and shredded easily.

Slow cooker lamb with vegetables

Dinner tonight. This ended up being really delicious, and was so simple! Next time I make lamb, I'll probably add some herbs for pizzazz (I couldn't find decent fresh rosemary at the store today, otherwise that would have gone in), but this minimalist version was tasty enough for me. If you're into salt and pepper, you might want to add more of those.

Ingredients:
Boneless leg of lamb (~2 lbs)
4 carrots, cut into ~2 inch chunks
the rest of the celery in my fridge (~5 stalks), also cut into chunks
4 medium red potatoes, quartered
salt and pepper

To make:
1. Sprinkle/rub the lamb with salt and pepper. Place in slow cooker.
2. Add 1/2 cup of water to cooker.
3. Add vegetables to cooker on top of lamb*.
4. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours.

Slow cooker cranberry pork chops

This recipe incorporates 4 of my favorite things in life: pork, cranberry sauce, the slow cooker, and incredibly easy food prep.

Ingredients:
4 pork chops (~ 2 1/2 lbs of meat)
16 oz. bag of frozen stew vegetables
16 oz. can of whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup chili sauce

To make:
1. Place chops in slow cooker.
2. Put frozen veggies in cooker on top of meat.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together cranberry sauce and chili sauce.
4. Pour sweet-n-spicy mixture over food in pot.
5. Cook on low ~8 hours or high ~3 1/2 hours.

If you're into grains, this would probably be good with white rice.

The 1/4 cup chili sauce adds a little kick to the sweet-tartness of the cranberry sauce. I can definitely handle the added heat, though it does prevent me from devouring the pork as quickly as I might like. Next time I might try this one with half as much chili sauce...

Slow cooker chicken and sweet potatoes

Another easy comfort dinner made in the slow cooker.

Ingredients:
~2 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks
4 or 5 medium-large sweet potatoes
3/4 cup honey mustard salad dressing
1 tsp crushed dried rosemary

Preparation:
Peel and quarter sweet potatoes, place in slow cooker.
Remove skin from chicken, place in cooker over yams.
Mix rosemary and dressing in a bowl, pour over chicken and sweet potatoes.
Cook on high 3 1/2 hours.

Makes enough for 3 or 4 dinners. When the chicken was almost done, I steamed some green beans to have on the side.

Chocolate Brownie Pudding Cake

Joe and I made a delicious gooey chocolately-peanut-buttery cake from this recipe. It's very rich, so good for sharing (and great with vanilla ice cream or coffee). What we did:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
  
• 2 1/2 cups brownie mix (half of a 21.5oz pkg)
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (Smuckers Natural)
  
• 1 tablespoon soft butter

Combine 3/4 cup water, brown sugar, and cocoa in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

In the meantime, combine the remaining ingredients and 1/4 cup water in a mixing bowl. Mix well with a spoon.

Spread the batter evenly in the bottom of a lightly buttered slow cooker.

Pour boiling mixture over the batter.

Cover and cook on high about 2 hours; turn heat off and let stand for about 30 minutes. Or, carry slow cooker in 30 degree weather a few blocks over to the Secret Santa party where you will serve the cake.

If you make this in a 5-qt slow cooker, it will wind up being about an inch thick.

Incredibly Easy Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy

Dinner from Sunday. I've definitely made stew with all-fresh vegetables and herbs and whatnot, but if you're pressed for time, this takes about 5 minutes to prepare.

2 lbs. beef stew meat
1 lb package frozen stew vegetables
1 10 3/4-oz can condensed golden mushroom soup (Campbells's makes this)
2/3 cup Burgundy (or any earthy/woody cheap red wine)
1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca

Put frozen vegetables in slow cooker.
Put meat on top on vegetables.

In a medium bowl, stir together soup, wine, 1/3 cup water, and tapioca.
Pour mixture over meat and veggies.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for about 4 hours.
Try not to salivate too badly as your apartment is filled with the intoxicating fragrance of stewing beef.

Eat with crusty bread.

Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese with Tomato Basil Soup

Sometimes when I'm working at the department I head to Karen's on Astor for lunch, and get a small half mac&cheese/half tomato-basil soup with a roll for lunch. It's cheesy and creamy and hot and delicious. Today I decided to recreate it at home.

For the mac and cheese component, I adapted a recipe I found at Culinary Cory. The main substitution was Muenster cheese for Velveeta (eeeew, Velveeta...), but I also used slightly less salt than originally called for. Here's the tweaked version I made:

Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese
3 cups Cavatappi pasta (dry)
3 Tbl. unsalted butter
8 oz. Muenster cheese, cubed
1 ¼ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 cup milk
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 5 minutes or until it is just under al dente. Drain and place in the slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients to the pasta and stir until well combined. Cook on high for 2 – 3 hours stirring about every 30 minutes.

For the rest:

While the mac & cheese in its final burbly minutes of cooking, heat up some Imagine Organic Creamy Tomato Basil soup in one pan, and boil some shelled edamame in water in another.
Put a big ladleful of mac & cheese in a bowl.
Pour the hot tomato basil soup over it.
Drain the edamame, put in a separate bowl to serve on the side. Lightly salt the edamame, if you're into salt.

The result is creamy, filling comfort food perfect for a cold rainy night. And it looks pretty, too (orange-yellow next to bright green)