Autumn Casserole

I love this recipe! It truly does taste like Autumn in a bowl. Of course, this is another Crock Pot recipe from one of my favorite website A Year of Slow Cooking.

The best thing about this recipe is the fact that you ca

n customize it to your personal tastes. I like to use Chicken Apple sausage, but really any sausage would work. I would say that it is best to stick with a sausage that has some smokiness to it so that you get that flavor in your casserole. I used Basmati rice for my casserole, but I think it could be really good with some brown rice. Additionally, some Butternut squash or sweet potatoes would add a nice variation to this recipe.

Enjoy!

PS: The pictures are not mine, but from the Year of Slow Cooking website. For some reason, my camera decided to hate me the day that I made this recipe.

The Finished Product:

The Supplies:

Cutting Board

Knife

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Crock Pot

Rice Cooker (for making the rice ahead of time)

Wooden Spoon for stirring

Ingredients:

1 pound sausage (I used Chicken Apple sausage links)

2 small apples, chopped -- no need to peel

1 yellow onion, diced

1/2 bag shredded carrots

3 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup raisins (I used a combination of golden and purple raisins)

1 tablespoon dried Parsley

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon Allspice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/3 cup water or chicken broth (I used water and chicken bouillon for extra flavor. You might also need to add more water as the casserole cooks. Only add the water if the casserole looks dry)

The Procedure:

1. Chop your veggies and sausage.

2. Put everything in the Crock Pot.

3. Cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. Everything is already cooked, so you're really just heating everything through and getting it to marry together. If you choose to use a raw sausage, cook it on the stove before adding it to the casserole.

Crock Pot Curry Chicken

If you know me, you know that I love Indian food. You also know that I love my crock pot...even if you don't know me, you could probably figure out that I love my crock pot from this blog, alone. I have been sitting on the ingredients for Curry Chicken all week, but I just haven't been motivated to cook. Sunday is usually my day to act like an adult and get things done, so I thought I should probably make a nutritious and delicious meal. That's where Crock Pot Curry Chicken comes in!

I forgot to take pictures this morning...I blame my sleep-induced haze. This recipe is adapted from a recipe that I found here.

Crock Pot Curry Chicken

The Supplies:

Crock Pot

Knife

Cutting Board

Measuring Cup

Measuring Spoon

Wooden Spoon

Rice Maker (or a pot with a lid)

The Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

3 medium potatoes; chopped (I used frozen cubed hashbrowns because that's what I had)

1 medium onion; sliced

1/2 bag shredded carrots (the original recipe calls for frozen peas, but I didn't have them)

1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk (make sure you shake is like a polaroid picture)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon Asian hot sauce (optional)

1 cup chicken broth (I used a cup of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes because I didn't have broth)

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

1-2 tablespoons cilantro as a garnish (optional)

The Directions:

1. Slice the onion and make a bed of the veggies (potatoes, onion, and carrot) on the bottom of your Crock Pot.

2. Put the chicken breasts on top of the bed of veggies.

3. Combine the coconut milk, the seasonings, the tomato paste, and the broth in a bowl and whisk.

4. Pour the sauce over the chicken and set on low to cook 6-8 hours or 3-4 hours on high.

5. Make Basmati or another type of long grain rice during the last half an hour of cooking.

6. Serve the curry with the rice and cilantro.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

If you know me, you know that I love me some brunch! I had a friend over for brunch on Sunday morning and wanted to make a quiche for the first time. I served this bad boy with some cubed hash browns and mixed fruit salad. I would definitely make this one again, but I think I'd use a frozen pie crust instead of the crescent rolls. The crescents were nice and fluffy, but weird to work with. I don't think that the bottom of the crescent rolls got as crispy as a pie crust might have, and that's something I prefer.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche -- The Finished Product...yummmmm!

The Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh spinach (you could use frozen if that's all you have)

1 8 oz. package of sliced mushrooms (you could slice your own, but why would you do that?)

1 cup colby jack cheese, shredded

1 container of crescent rolls (or pic crust, if you prefer)

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

Salt & Pepper to taste

6 green onions, sliced

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup half & half

4 eggs

The Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray and put your crescent rolls, or your pie crust in the pie plate. Make sure to trim off the excess crust dough around the edges.

2. Melt two tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan.

3. Remove the stems and cut up the spinach into manageable, bite-sized pieces.

4. Slice the onions.

5. Put all of the veggies in the skillet and add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Cook the veggies until they are soft; about 5-7 minutes.

7. While the veggies are cooking, mix the eggs, cheese, half & half, the nutmeg, and salt & pepper to taste in a bowl.

8. Add the veggies to the egg mixture.

9. Pour the egg mixture into the pie plate and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Crock Pot Cajun Jambalaya

To kick it off right, I've decided to make Crock Pot Cajun Jambalaya. There are two things that I love in this world... 1) my crock pot and 2) Cajun food. I love to use the crock pot because I work long hours and there's nothing better than coming home to a warm, home cooked meal that I can eat without effort. I discovered an awesome website, A Year of Slow Cooking, where Stephanie O'Dea spends an entire year making food in her crock pot. I never realized how many things could be made in the crock pot and just how easy cooking could be. Did you know that you can BAKE in your crock pot? This was a discovery of epic proportions for me, because I hate to bake. I have yet to actually bake anything in the crock pot...but it's on my list of things to do...er...um...some time soon.

So, without further ado...please enjoy reading my version of Crock Pot Cajun Jambalaya!

(original recipe found here)

Crock Pot Cajun Jambalaya

The Players (a.k.a the supplies that you need to make this scrumpdiddlyumptiousness)

1) Crock Pot

2) Wooden Spoon for stirring things in the Crock Pot

3) Rice Cooker

4) Scoopy thing that goes with the Rice Cooker for scooping rice

5) Cutting Board

6) Knife

7) Measuring Cup

8) Measuring Spoons

The Ingredients

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts (mine were frozen)

1 pound Andouille sausage, sliced

1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes with juice

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 cup chicken broth, the original recipe called for half of a cup, but I didn't want my Jambalaya to dry out)

2 teaspoons dried Oregano (the original recipe called for half the amount of all of the seasonings, but I doubled everything because I like FLAVOR!)

2 teaspoons dried Parsley

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (yeah!)

1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper (yeah, yeah!)

1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme

*Notice that there is no salt in this recipe because the sausage will provide us with plenty of salt. Also, if you don't like your food very spicy, I would reduce the cayenne. The Andouille sausage will add some spice to our recipe.

Cutting the Sausage

I included this section because I like to cut my sausage on the bias, meaning at an angle. I think it looks prettier and it gives the eater (me) more sausage per bite. You will see pictures, below, that show how to cut on the bias. Basically, all you're doing is cutting the sausage into slices, at an angle.

The How To (a.k.a The Directions)

1) Put the chicken in the Crock Pot. The original recipe tells you to dice the chicken, but since mine was frozen, I just put it in the Crock Pot whole. The chicken will cook long enough that it will easily shred when I take it out...that's fine with me. I don't need my chicken to be in little squares. I don't judge.

2) Slice the sausage and put it in the Crock Pot. That sounds a little dirty, doesn't it?

3) Chop all of your veggies and put them in the Crock Pot. I like my veggies to be a more fine chop, but cut them however you prefer. I won't judge you, either.

4) Dump in the tomatoes WITH the juice. We want things to be juicy up in here.

5) Measure the chicken broth and pour it into the crock pot. I like to buy the Organic Chicken broth in the yellow box from the grocery store. I think it has more flavor than some of the other brands. Remember, kids, I like FLAVOR!

6) Measure and dump all of the spices into the Crock Pot.

7) Stir, stir, stir.

8) Turn the Crock Pot on to LOW and cook for 7-8 hours; or on high for 3-4 hours...it just depends on how urgently hungry you are. Then again, if you're urgently hungry, I wouldn't use the Crock Pot, a.k.a the SLOW cooker.

9) Stir the mixture occasionally to make sure it's not burning or sticking. Generally speaking, you want your Crock Pot to be at least 3/4 of the way full to prevent burning and sticking. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than cleaning a crock where the food has stuck and burned.

10) During the last 20 minutes of cooking, make your rice in the rice cooker, or on the stove if you don't have a fancy rice cooker. I like to make basmati rice to go with just about everything, but any long grain rice will do.

Sometimes, I add hot sauce to my Jambalaya when I eat it, but that's just because I like it hot. You can also serve this recipe with a delicious salad. That would be nice...and healthy.

Go you! You accomplished Cajun Jambalaya! Enjoy!

Never Trust a Skinny Cook

Hello everyone! Welcome to my cooking blog! I started this blog several years ago, but didn't do a very good job of keeping up with it. I love to cook and I love to share my recipes with others. My first goal for this blog is to not only share my recipes, but to also give you some pointers and tips as we go along. My second goal for this blog is to share my food adventures with you. I love to cook, but I also love to go out to local restaurants and eateries. As always, I welcome your suggestions and requests!

I learned to cook out of necessity, really. I figured that it wasn't a good idea to continue eating fast food and peanut butter & jelly sammiches, so I picked up my spoon and a pan and figured it out. I realized that I have a knack for cooking, and over time, I have learned to refine my tastes and style as a cook to include many gluten free recipes, as well as recipes that are full of flavor. One of my biggest gripes about eating is that I feel like there isn't enough FLAVOR. It's all about the flavor.

I tend to prefer cooking Indian, Mexican, Creole/Cajun, and homestyle recipes. I like to find my own spin on the classics: spaghetti, chicken pot pie, chili, and other recipes that we grew up eating. I love to eat Indian food and have recently started learning Indian recipes. My next goal is to learn to roll sushi...but I fear I might just be a bit too lazy for that.

Anyway...hope you enjoy the blog and happy eating!

-- Katie