Back from Hiatus!

Well... as the title suggests, I am back from a very long hiatus. I know my blog has suffered greatly since I took a long needed personal break, but well, I needed it.

My relationship with Charlie has progressed a lot since the last time I posted an update or recipe and since then we've been working on building a life and home together. The last time I updated things were going well and since then they have greatly increased. We now live together in an adorable 2 bedroom apartment with a nice kitchen and I've finally got the room and space to be the cook I want to be. Charlie's tummy has been reaping the benefits of my adventures in the culinary world and we've even ventured out of our comfort zone a few times.

Currently I am using my brand new GE 6 quart slow cooker for the first time, trying my hand at making homemade chicken stock as the weather on San Diego has finally come around to admitting that its actually fall.

I decided since I spend so much money on canned chicken stock and broth that I should try my hand a making a more flavorful, delicious option.

I searched the internet for a decently fool proof recipe and found one from Alton Brown with quite nearly 5 stars and after reading the comments and taking their advice into account as well I began to prepare myself for my adventure.

Me being the planner I am, I went to the store almost a week before I actually made the stock and got all the ingredients so I would be ready when the perfect day struck. I started saving the roasted bones from the rotisserie and baked chicken I had made and froze them to make sure I had enough for my stock. After a record breaking blazing hot week, it's finally cooled down to a nice drizzle and luckily I had the day off and the 8+ hours required to prepare and simmer my stock.

I'll link to the recipe I used but basically I threw all this into my slow cooker, cooked on high for 2 hours, then simmered for 6-7, skimming the goop off the top every hour or so. Into my cooker went:

* 2 chickens worth of bones, seasoned skin and whatever meat was leftover
* 1 onion, quartered
* 3 carrots, peeled and broken in half"
* 4 ribs of celery, trimmed leaves intact, cut in half
* 1 leek, green removed, cut in half lengthwise
* half a head of garlic, peeled and smashed
* 8-10 sprigs of fresh thyme
* heaping handful of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley
* salt and pepper to taste, as needed
* enough water to cover

Because I had so much stock, I decided to freeze it in mini cupcake pans, which yield around 1/8-1/4 a cup per stock cube and will last me through the fall and into winter when I'll be going through stock like it's going out of style. As I use it I'll share the recipes.

Good luck!

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Crock Pot recipe #1!

So here it is...

My first crock pot recipe!!

My dad's famous bean soup! (well *he* thinks its famous)

It's the best soup for cold days and it's really cheap to make, plus it will feed you for days and is really great reheated.

I asked him how he makes his beans and he told me he starts off by soaking pinto beans for 12-24 hours. You can use any beans you want, or even a bean medley.

The next morning, get out your crock pot (my dad says thats the trick) but if you don't have a crock pot you can use a big pot on the stove, either way use low heat.



Into the crock pot add

8-12 oz Pinto beans, soaked, washed and drained
4 carrots, cut into inch long chunks
2-4 potatoes, cut into cubes
2 onions, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, smashed
4 stalks of celery, chopped
3 strips of bacon, cut into pieces* (or omit for a vegetarian friendly recipe)
1 can of stewed tomatoes (my dad says this cuts down on "bean farts", but I'm not sure if I believe him.)

Add some brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste and optionally, you can add some ketchup or a bay leaf, just remove the bay leaf before eating.

Give it all a good toss and stir in the pot, and then cover it with water, broth or stock. Vegetable stock can be used for more flavor.

Let it simmer in the crock pot or on the stove for a good 8-12 hours or until the beans are fork tender.**


And then eat the hell out of it.



Here I added a 1/2 chicken breast on the side for a little extra protein, but its great with corn bread, biscuits, crackers, or whatever you may fancy.


*By all means add or remove any of the above items, this is just what my dad uses. I've even used the left over ham bone from the Christmas Ham instead of the bacon, but if you do it that way, make sure you fish out the bones before you eat it.

**If you prefer your soups a little heartier, half way through the cooking process, remove a bit of the broth and put it into a bowl. Into this broth whisk in some flour, or corn starch and kinda make like a roux, which is just a fancy french word for thickener. Make sure it's smooth and free of lumps and then put it back into the pot. The flour or corn starch will cook and make the soup less brothy and more stewy.