Creamy Coleslaw

I absolutely love a really good creamy coleslaw.  However, I've found a tendency in recipes to make it entirely too sweet.  So I found one and I tweaked until I got it right where I liked it.

Ingredients:
1 small head of cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1 c mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
4 tbsp vinegar (I usually use white vinegar, but it's all a matter of taste, really)
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp pepper
1 pinch of salt

Directions:
Toss together carrots and cabbage in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together everything else.

Pour sauce over carrots and cabbage and toss with forks or salad tossers (if you have them) until everything is thoroughly coated.  Let sit for at least 1 hour.  Chow down!

You put WHAT in your chilli?!

I came across the basis for this recipe in a vegetarian cookbook I found and had forgotten all about.  It called for, get this, carrots.  I laughed, but figured that I couldn't really taste anything too subtle anyway (having a cold at the time) so no harm in giving it a go.  I was shocked (SHOCKED, I tell you) to find that carrots seem to be the missing ingredient in chilli.  They give it a flavor I didn't even know I was missing.

So give it a try.  Really.  It's super cheap to make and relatively fast, so no harm done.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced no larger than the last joint of your pinky finger!!!*
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of pinto beans, drained
5-10 slices of pickled jalepenos, diced super fine
Black pepper to taste

Directions:
Drizzle olive oil around the bottom of a large pan (I used a spaghetti pot) and heat over medium high.  Dump in the onion and garlic and snap a lid on that sucker. (be careful of oil spitting up out of the pan)  Lower the heat to medium and let cook for 10 minutes.

If you haven't already done it, chop the pepper and carrots while you're waiting.  Lift the lid, dump in pepper and carrots and give it a good stir.  Put the lid back on and let cook for another 10 minutes.  Take off the lid and get it out of your way, you won't need it again.  Jab at the largest carrot chunk you see with a fork: the fork should slide right in. (If it doesn't, you probably didn't listen to me about the size.  That's ok, just stick the lid back on and check at 5 minute intervals until you can sucessfully jab that carrot)

Dump tomatoes and beans on top of everything.  Turn heat back up to medium high.  Stir a few times, till everything is warm, then dump in the jalepenos.  Let cook for about 5 minutes (this is flavor-merging stage), then serve into bowls.  Very delicious with a sprinkle of cheddar.


Bonus!  It's good cold, too.

*If the carrots are too big, you'll wait forever for this to be done

Beef Stew

This is my absolute winter favorite (chubby little bear cub I turn into in winter...)

Ingredients:
Roughly 1 1/2 lbs of beef chunks.*
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 can of dark beer (Guiness or other stouts recommended)
3 cubes beef bullion
2 cups water
1 onion, quatered
1 stick celery sliced
4 large carrots or about 1 cup of baby carrots chopped into small pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup quick-cook barley

Mix together flour, salt, and pepper. Toss the beef in the flour mixture until totally coated.

Heat oil in a soup pot on the oven (I use a spaghetti pot). Toss in beef and extra flour. Brown on all sides. Pour in beer and water. Add bullion and onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium low heat.^ If you, like me, like the flavor of celery but not the texture add it now so it can cook to mush.

Let cook for at least 30 minutes. Add carrots. Cook another 15 minutes. Add peas and barley. Let cook for 10 minutes or until a lentil that has been fished out is tender.

OPTIONS!
-Potatoes instead of lentils: add at the same time as carrots
-Rice instead of lentils: add at same point as lentil would be added
-Additional veggies: rule of thumb is that you should add them at the same time as one of the other veggies of similar toughness. For example, corn would go in about the same time as peas (ditto other types of beans) radishes would go in at the same time as carrots.
-Tomatoes: always add last. Even after the lentils. They fall apart quickly.
-Red wine: different sort of flavor. I think the stew needs thyme mixed in with the flour if you use red wine. (About 1/4tsp)


*You can buy a tenderloin or other large pieces of meat if you like and cut it down. Flank steak is often a good choice for price alone
^The longer you cook this the more tender your beef will be. If you don't want to take the time, leave at medium and keep an eye on it (chances are good your pot will be almost full.)

Crockpot Week: Chicken Noodle Soup

Being sick isn't fun. Getting to eat chicken noodle soup can be, though. This has way more ingredients than my average recipe. It also makes more and can be frozen with minimal damage (the veggies get squishy when you reheat)

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

1-2 chicken breasts or thighs (Basic difference: thighs are fattier. They're what you see in your campbell's soup. In my opinion, they make the better soup)

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 tbsp pepper, preferably freshly ground

2 cups chicken stock

half a bag of egg noodles.

Directions:

Put chicken and stock in crockpot. Cook on high for 2-3 hours. Take a fork to the chicken and break it up into whatever size pieces of chicken you prefer. Add the celery and carrots, drop temperature to low and cook for another hour or until a fork can easily pierce the carrots. Add pepper to taste. 10 minutes before serving, add in the egg noodles. Add enough water to ensure that everything is covered and you have the amount of broth you want. (Make sure not to overfill! A crockpot filled to the lid is not going to cook well)

Dish out and enjoy!