Steel-Cut Oats with Dates and Cinnamon

1 cup steel-cut oats
3 cups water
4 pitted dates, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp butter

Place all ingredients in a pan and stir briefly; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.

For a quicker version, soak steel-cut oats in 2-quart pan with water for 8 to 12 hours or overnight.  In the morning add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

Serve with your favorite toppings.

Source: Feeding the Whole Family

Try #1 - January 18, 2013
I've struggled in the past to like steel-cut oats, but this recipe did it for me!  I left out the dates, but stirred raisins into the kids' oatmeal after it was cooked.  I also topped each bowl with homemade applesauce.  Delicious - I even went for seconds!  Amazing what a little cinnamon, salt, and butter can do to improve breakfast.

Split Pea Soup with Fresh Peas and Potatoes

1 cup green split peas
1 Tbsp butter or extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 to 2 tsp sea salt
1 rib celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 small red potatoes, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
Freshly ground pepper
4 cups water or vegetable stock
1 large bay leaf
1 small ham bone (optional)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (if using ham bone)
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 Tbsp snipped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried

1. Soak split peas 4 to 6 hours in 4 cups of water.  This will help digestibility, quicken cooking time, and improve the texture of the soup.  Discard soaking water.
2. Heat butter in a pressure cooker or 4-quart pot.  Add onion and salt and saute until onion begins to soften.  Add celery, carrot, potatoes, cumin, and pepper to taste; saute 3 to 4 minutes more.  Add split peas, water, and bay leaf.  Add ham bone, if using, and vinegar.
3. If pressure-cooking: Bring up to pressure on high heat, then lower heat and cook 40 minutes.
If using a soup pot: Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer 60 to 90 minutes.
4. Once split peas have softened and the soup has become creamy, remove the ham bone.  Cut off any meat, discard skin and bone, dice meat into small pieces, and add to soup with peas and dill.  Check seasonings; add more salt and pepper if needed.  Continue cooking a few minutes more until peas are tender.

Source: Feeding the Whole Family

Try #1 - January 18, 2013
Yums!

Country Captain Chicken

1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup raisins (or 2 T currants)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup raw long-grain basmati white rice (to add later)
1 pound fully cooked shrimp (optional, to add later)

1. Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into the bottom of your stoneware. Add chopped apple, onion, and bell pepper. Add garlic and all spices. Toss in the raisins and the entire can of diced tomatoes. Stir in the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until chicken is tender, but still intact.
2. Using tongs, remove chicken carefully from the slow cooker and place in a covered dish to keep warm.
3. Stir in raw white rice. Cover and cook again for about 30 minutes, or until rice is bite-tender. Stir in frozen shrimp, and recover cook for about 15 minutes, or until shrimp is heated through.
4. Serve rice and shrimp mixture on a plate with chicken pieces arranged on top.

Source: A Year of Slow Cooking

Try #1 - February 4, 2013
A hit with Nathan and Abby, not so much with William... but overall a good recipe.  The apples completely dissolved by the time I served it.  I used brown Jasmine rice, and had to increase the final cooking time to about 90 minutes (and had to add about 2 cups of additional water).  I omitted the shrimp, although that sounds yummy.

Ethiopian Chicken Stew (Doro Wat)

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
3 large onions, diced (or 3 tablespoons dried minced onion flakes)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and more to taste if you'd like (I used 1/4 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (I used 1/4 tsp)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 cups water
I added 1/2 tsp salt
8 hard-boiled eggs (peeled, to add later)

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Empty the tomato can into your cooker. Put in the chicken thighs, and add the lemon juice. Now add butter, onion, and ALL of the spices. Pour in the water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or high for 4 to 5. Your soup is done when the onions are soft and translucent and the chicken is cooked through and begun to fall apart. Ladle into a wide-mouth bowl and place a whole hardboiled egg into each dish.

Source: A Year of Slow Cooking

Try #1 - January 15, 2012
The hardboiled egg on top is brilliant!  And, a little spice definitely goes a long way... even reducing the cayenne to 1/4 tsp still made it a little too spicy for the kids, and the spice intensified the day or two after.  It was, however, better tasting the next day (for my husband and I to enjoy, since it was too spicy for the kids!).

Cauliflower Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 whole onion, finely diced
2 whole carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 whole (to 2 whole) cauliflower heads, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp fresh or dried parsley, chopped
2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth or stock
4 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp all-purpose or whole wheat flour
2 cups whole milk
2 tsp salt

1. In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to turn brown.
2. Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine.
3. Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.
4. In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly, until thickened.
5. Add milk mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

Source: adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Try #1 - January 11, 2013
This was really good - everyone liked it.  I made several changes from the original recipe because I just couldn't imagine consuming a soup with a whole stick of butter plus a cup of half-in-half plus a cup of sour cream.  I think this would have made it way too rich - and it was rich enough as it was.  I blended it up for Lucy, and decided to serve it to the older kids that way too, which I think was a good move.  Nathan and I liked the chunks of cauliflower and other veggies.

Try #2 - February 5, 2013
Still yummy!  Two teaspoons of salt was just right.  I served it with Seven Grain Bread, and the bread was extra yummy when dipped in the soup.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2/3 cup Arborio rice
5 cups chicken stock, plus 1 cup water
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
2 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
Fresh parsley for garnish

1. In a medium pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions until they are soft and translucent. While the onions are cooking, bring another pot of salted water to a boil and add the rice.
2. When the onions are ready, add the chicken stock and water and bring to a bare simmer.
3. When the rice is nearly done — firm, but mostly cooked — drain the boiling water and add the rice to the chicken broth. Add the diced chicken breast to the pot. Let this cook 5 to 8 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and lemon juice together. Pour 2 cups of broth slowly into the bowl of egg and lemon, whisking continuously. Once all the broth is incorporated, add the mixture into the pot of chicken soup and stir to blend well throughout. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley. Serve hot.

Source: http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/pcc/recipes/avgolemono-soup-greek-lemon-chicken-soup

Try #1 - January 14, 2013
This soup was a nice change, but a bit too lemony for me... I did use bottled lemon juice, and I wonder if that's more concentrated than fresh would have been.  Adding some frozen sweet corn balanced out the lemon a little bit.  Still, an interesting twist on a chicken/rice soup.

Crock Pot Black Beans

1 lb dried black beans, picked over and rinsed
Water to soak
1 to 2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar of prepared salsa (green or red), or 2 cups homemade salsa
Chicken or vegetable broth to cover soaked beans
Ham bone (optional)

1. Pick over the beans for small stones or any other foreign matter, rinse them and soak in about four times the volume of water to beans for about 8 hours.
2. Drain the beans and put them in the crock pot with the onions, garlic, salsa, and ham bone.
3. Cover with the broth.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
4. Serve over rice or in a bowl as a side dish.

Source: http://www.thefeastwithin.com/2009/01/28/crock-pot-black-beans/

Try #1 - January 2013
Pretty good, made a ton... I ended up freezing a bunch.  I added some of them to some chili, which gave the chili a nice twist.  Leftovers work well in Quinoa Chili.