My Review of Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking with Slow Cooker Shredded Beef and Honey Mustard Chicken Recipes

Leah Schapira’s new cookbook, Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking: Ordinary Ingredients, Extraordinary Meals (Artscroll/Shaar Press) features kosher versions of contemporary American favorites. The book is now in its second printing after selling out its first printing of 13,000 in about a month.  Of course, you need not follow the Jewish dietary laws to enjoy her recipes.

Schapira, a food journalist specializing in kosher food, is co-founder of the popular website and recipe forum Cook Kosher . Her specialty is creating recipes that reflect current culinary trends and translating them into kosher to easy-to-make, easy-to-source dishes perfect for holiday, Friday night or even weeknight dinners. Recipe inspirations range from Mexican, Asian, Italian, Middle Eastern as well as traditional Eastern European Jewish influences and American favorites. Almost all ingredients are available from regular supermarkets.

There are lots of color photos illustrating the recipes. Small photos are used in the table of contents and to show recommended side dishes for some recipes, design features I found helpful and appealing. The recipes are clearly written, often give alternatives in preparation or ingredients, and are for the most part fuss free. When a recipe requires more technique (such as making and baking pizza), Schapira gives very detailed instructions (with photos). I especially liked her “traditional” chapter where she gives some fresh takes on symbolic foods for Shabbat and holiday dinners ranging from Beet Leaf Patties for Rosh Hashanah to Square Donuts for Chanukah.

The recipes below are from Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking: Ordinary Ingredients, Extraordinary Meals by Leah Schapira/November 2011 (www.artscroll.com/freshandeasy). I have adapted them very slightly for space and to reflect my experience.  This article and the recipes first appeared in my column in the j weekly and the recipes are used with permission.

I made the shredded beef and served it as a main course over potatoes. Serving it that way instead of as a sandwich reduced the serving size to four from eight. I have also made this dish very succesfully in a pressure cooker. Schapira’s version of the honey mustard chicken is accompanied by a photo of the dish cooked with the peppers but the recipe itself leaves the type and amount of vegetables up to the user. I liked the idea of the peppers and included them in my version.

Shredded Beef
From Fresh &  Easy Kosher Cooking
Serves 8

2 lb. boneless chuck roast
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 onion, sliced
2 Tbs. onion soup mix
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup light beer
8 buns or club rolls
Toppings as desired (such as sliced red onion, sliced tomatoes, lettuce leaves, etc.)

Place meat into the slow cooker. Top with brown sugar onion slices, soup mix and garlic. Pour ketchup and beer over meat. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5 hours. Remove the meat. Strain the liquid from the slow cooker; discard solids. Reserve liquid. Use two forks to shred the meat, discarding any large pieces of fat. Place shredded meat back into cooker and pour half the strained liquid over it. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 20-30 minutes. Serve in buns or rolls with desired toppings.

Honey-Mustard Chicken
From Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking
Serves 3-4

1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
3-4 Tbs. oil
2 large onions, diced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2” strips, optional
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2” strips, optional
3 Tbs. honey
3 Tbs. soy sauce
3 Tbs. mustard

Cut chicken into 2” strips of even thickness. Season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add vegetables if using. Add honey, mustard and soy sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until sauce reduces. (If chicken is cooked through before the sauce is reduced as much as you would like, remove the chicken from the pan, keep warm, and add back in after the sauce has thickened.) Serve over orzo or rice.
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photo credit:  Artscroll.com

Being Energy Efficient in the Kitchen -- Plus a "Baked" Apple Recipe to Make in the Oven, Toaster Oven, Microwave or Steamer

Baby it’s cold outside and the gas and electric meters are humming, so I thought saving energy (and money) while you cook would be a good topic for a post.

True, covering your pot won’t save you as much as replacing inefficient appliances, turning down the heat, insulating your home, wrapping your hot water heater and getting your kids to turn off the lights, computer and television, but every little bit helps. Here are some basics to start with:

Don’t preheat your oven – most things will only take a few more minutes to cook if you don’t preheat. Put that casserole in a cold oven and take advantage of all the preheating time and energy.

If you are using the oven, use it – You are already paying for all that energy anyway, so why turn on your stove top and burn money there, too? Make a whole meal in your oven. Roast vegetables and potatoes to go along with that chicken. Make a dessert in there, too. Baked apples with raisins, almonds and honey (see recipe below), maybe? Or cook several meals at once to take advantage of all that hot, hot heat.

Grill friend – All those little kitchen helper appliances could be your worst enemy or your best energy-saving friend. Just use them in place of other cooking resources not in addition to. If your countertop grill saves you from having to preheat your range’s broiler, that’s great. But if you have the oven on anyway, maybe you should bake that chicken breast instead of grilling it. Try to use the toaster oven instead your full-size oven.

Home on the range –If you are using your range or stove top, make the whole meal “on top.” Consider using a multilevel steamer. Boiling water on the bottom, your main course in the middle and some tasty vegetables up top. You can even adapt the baked apple recipe below for a steamer. A personal favorite of mine is to use a pressure cooker. They create wonderful stews and soups in a fraction of the time and energy.

Putting a lid on it – Using a lid for a pot is a good idea. Water will boil faster if you can’t see it. Honest. Another tip is to only put enough water in the tea kettle for what you need at the time. I know some people who fill it up to the whistle. It takes forever to come to a boil and tea really needs fresh water every time to taste its best.

Magic Box – The microwave is one of the most efficient appliances in our kitchen arsenal, especially if you work it right. It’s great for one potato, two. But a family’s worth are better being cooked in the oven with yesterday’s dinner and just warmed in the microwave. Planning ahead to have “leftovers” or “pre cooks” not only saves energy, but your time.

Baked Apples with Raisins, Almonds and Honey
Serves 4

These versatile apples can be baked in an oven, toaster oven or made in the microwave or steamer, so pick the method that saves the most energy for you. Directions below are for the baked version. See the notes after the recipe to adapt it for a microwave or steamer.

4 granny smith apples
Juice of large lemon
1/3 cup apple juice or water
1/3 cup of raisins
1/3 cup of slivered almonds
½ tsp. of ground cinnamon
2-3 teaspoons of honey
1 Tbs. of butter or margarine

Preheat oven or larger toaster oven to 350 degrees. Core the apples, reserving a bit of the core to “plug” the bottom of apple. Place in a baking dish. Pour lemon juice over top of apples. Add juice or water to bottom of dish. Combine raisins, almonds, cinnamon and honey in a small bowl, mix well. Pack the filling into the cored out apples (you may have extra). Cut butter or margarine into small pieces and scatter on top of the apples. Cover the baking dish loosely with foil. Baste occasionally with liquid from bottom of baking dish. Bake for about 30 minutes or until apples can be pierced easily with a knife. Serve with syrup from the pan and with whipped cream, yogurt or ice cream if desired.

Microwave Variation: Use microwave safe baking dish and cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper. Reduce apple juice or water by half. Cook on high until done.

Steamer Variation: Place apples in rimmed dish or pan that fits within a steamer. Reduce apple juice or water by half. Cover with steamer lid. Steam over boiling water until done.
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Adapted from an article originally written for the Temple Beth Abraham Omer newsletter.

Good Weather for Slow Cooking

I recently reviewed Laura Frankel’s Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes: 120 Holiday and Everyday Dishes Made Easy (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009) for my column at the j. newsweekly. You can read the article here.

Frankel, a restaurant chef, a working mother, an observant Jew and a devoted slow cooker user, has Ashkenazi, Middle Eastern and Sephardic recipes in the book, but most of the recipes are for contemporary dishes from around the world that are not particularly “Jewish,” such as cassoulet, tortilla soup, wild mushroom stroganoff, Szechwan chicken, tamales, key lime cheesecake and flan. She also has lots of subsidiary recipes, including spice mixes, sauces and accompaniments, which she uses to develop the dishes’ tantalizing and fresh-tasting flavors. But that means many of the recipes have extra preparation steps. Doing these steps in advance (such as the night before) would help keep the slow cooker prep time down in the morning when you are in a hurry to just plop the ingredients in the cooker or in the evening when you need to finish off the dish before serving, important criteria for me.

I do have one quibble. Frankel writes a lot about using the slow cooker for Shabbat luncheon meals, but most of the recipes cook in four to eight hours. I would have liked tips on how to start some of her other recipes on Friday afternoon to eat at Saturday lunch. Based on the back-of-the-jacket blurb “Your Slow Cooker: Not for Shabbat Only,” I assume she is writing for an audience that she feels already knows how to do this. Her emphasis definitely seems on using the slow cooker as just another kitchen preparation technique as opposed to only using it as a time-shifting convenience appliance.

The book has a chart showing which recipes are pareve, meat or dairy and the recipes give options on how to alter from one category to another when appropriate. There is also a section on Jewish holiday menus. I like the idea of using the slow cooker to have some of a holiday dinner cook unattended while I fuss with the rest.

Chick Pea and Lentil SoupServes Six

Here is a recipe adapted from Jewish Slow Cooker Recipes. I love soups made in the slow cooker and liked the Middle Eastern feel of the Chickpea and Lentil Soup.

2 Tbs. olive oil
3 medium carrots, diced small
3 celery stalks, diced small
1 large Spanish onion, diced small
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and diced small
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cup red or green lentils
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained
One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with juice
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
3 Tbs. lemon juice
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish
Harissa or fresh salsa for garnish

Preheat a slow cooker to low. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté the carrots, celery, onion, fennel and garlic until lightly browned. Put the vegetables in the slow cooker insert. Add the lentils, check peas, crushed tomatoes with juice, coriander, cumin, lemon juice and stock. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours. Before serving adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve the soup with the garnishes.


The j. article also has a recipe for persimmon pudding made in a slow cooker.

For slow cooker recipes I've featured here on Blog Appetit, click here.

For slow cooker recipes elsewhere on the web, check out the blog A Year of Slow Cooking or this recipe for Hungarian pot roast from Kalyn's Kitchen.

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note: Photo from Barnesandnoble.com
disclaimer: Cookbook was provided by the j. weekly, who received a promotional copy from the publisher.

Forget About the Chicken Soup, A Pot of Cholent Will Fix You Right Up -- Jewish Beef and Bean Stew

Since the weather across much of America right now is cold and frightful, I have a suggestion.

Make cholent, a kind of Jewish cassoulet or bean stew.

Call it what you will, (goodness knows we Jews have a multitude of names and variations for it) but no matter what you call it, it's food that will stick to your ribs and warm you down to your bones.

Cholent, virtually a one-bowl meal cooked in a slow oven, over a low flame or, more recently, in a slow cooker or crockpot, was started before sundown on Friday and left to simmer until Saturday lunch, providing a satisfying hot meal without any “cooking” on the Sabbath. The custom dates back centuries. Across the Diaspora, virtually every Jewish community had its own variation of this dish. While the ingredients (and what the dish was called) varied, the concept remained the same.

But changes in our lifestyles and religious observances need not make this comforting stew (often of long-simmered beef and beans in a thick, savory sauce) obsolete. Cholent is not just for Sabbath anymore. It makes a great make-ahead dinner, particularly now that the weather has turned colder.

There is no one way to make cholent. Below is a slow-cooker version that requires little work and produces a hardy cholent with relatively traditional ingredients and a rich and satisfying gravy. Add a bit less liquid if you prefer a drier stew, a bit more if you would like a soupier dish. This recipe assumes a four-quart capacity slow cooker. If yours is larger or smaller, adjust ingredients proportionally.

Slow Cooker Cholent or Eastern European Style Beef and Bean StewServes Six

My first experiences with cholent were ones were made by a college boyfriend’s mother, who was from Poland. I think she cooked them in the oven because I remember they had a deep, almost roasted flavor. She packed her cholent pot full of extra goodies such as kishke (vegetable stuffed intestine) and eggs that cooked in their shells in the cholent and tasted almost caramelized. This version leaves out the kishke, sometimes called stuffed derma, but keeps in the eggs. Using a slow-cooker or crockpot produces a more stew-like cholent with a looser "sauce."

Vegetable oil or spray
1 large onion, cut into a large dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup diced carrot (cut into ¼” dice)
2 pounds boneless chuck or brisket, cut into 1” cubes
1 pound red new potatoes, left whole if very small (about 12-14 potatoes) or cut in halves or quarters if larger
½ cup lentils or pearl barley
2 15-ounce cans of white beans, drained and rinsed (about 3 ½ cups cooked beans)
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
½ teaspoon ground dried thyme
¼ teaspoon ground dried ginger
1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
2 cups of chicken stock or broth (approximately)
6 raw eggs in their shells

Spray or lightly oil inside of a 4-quart or larger slow cooker pot. Turn on to high setting.
Add onion, garlic, carrots, beef, potatoes, lentils, beans, salt, pepper, thyme, ginger and paprika. Slowly pour in the chicken stock until it comes up about ¾ of the way to the top of the meat, potatoes and beans mixture. (The slow cooking will release more moisture into the dish). Bury eggs, still in their shell, in the mixture so they are covered.

Cover and let cook approximately 8-10 hours until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat is falling apart tender. Taste. Correct seasoning if necessary. If the mixture is too soupy, leave cover off and cook on high for approximately an hour until the sauce has thickened.

If the cholent needs to be kept warm after this point, keep covered and turn heat down to low.

Serve in bowls with challah or other bread and/or over noodles. A note about the eggs: They will be hard cooked. The whites will be tinged a pale brown and have picked up the taste of the stew from the long, slow cooking. Serve them unshelled and let your guests or family peel their own or peel them all before dishing the cholent out.

Red Hot Ice for Valentine's Day

Everyone associates Valentine's Day treats and desserts with chocolate. I know I do. But if you would like to find a way to celebrate with your sweetheart that's also heart healthy, try this non-fat, bright red, low-calorie sorbet. (You can make this even if you don't have an ice cream maker. See directions below.)

Red Hot Ice

Makes about 8 1/2 cup servings

4 cups brewed herbal tea -- use any flavor that brews up bright red, I used a hibiscus tea similar to Celestial Seasoning's Red Zinger.

2 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice (if using a fruit flavored tea)

Honey or agave nectar

Mint, choppped (optional)

While the tea is hot, stir in lemon or lime juice (if using) and sweetener to taste. Add a bit more sweetener than you normally would since the finished sorbet's coldness will dull its sweeteness. Chill well.

Pour cold mixture into ice cream machine and process until done, about 20 minutes. There is a chance that your sorbet will still be a bit soupy. If so, put the sorbert into a wide plastic or metal container or pan, cover and freeze. Remove from the freezer every half hour or so and rake the frozen ice with a fork to break the ice up, stir and replace until frozen to desired consistency. If you don't have an ice cream maker, do this from the start to make the sorbet. When ready to serve, allow to soften a bit at room temperature before scooping. If the ice is too hard or you are in a hurry, place the ice in food processor and whirl for a few seconds until desired consistency is reached. Sprinkle with chopped mint before serving.

Really need some chocolate on your Valentine's Day dessert? Try drizzling a little gourmet chocolate sauce or melted dark chocolate on top.

Ten Slow Cook Soup Recipes

Over at MSN, the front page is featuring a link with 10 recipes from Better Homes and Gardens for hearty soups and stews made in a slow cooker. I haven't made any of these, but I like the premise (as well as the promise of coming home to a comforting hot meal full of vegetables and grains that are good for me).

If you want to check the recipes out, click on over to the link from MSN.

Curried Spinach Soup with Eggplant Cream

I had been too long without soup and my soul needed the particular warming one receives from consuming a bowl of nourishing sustenance created from humble and healthy ingredients. Plus I had been eating like I had to gain weight not lose it, so soup I craved.

Below is a recipe for Curried Spinach Soup served with Eggplant Cream. The recipes for both just kind of popped in my head and I don't think it was a coincidence that I was able to use my new immersion blender for both recipes. (I got a Cusinart 200 watt model and boy can that baby puree!)

The ingredients were pretty much what I had in hand in the pantry, fridge and freezer. The peanut butter adds a certain creaminess to the soup, but not a distinctive peanut flavor. I found I needed to use a lot of curry powder to pump up the spiciness. Feel free to use more or less to your taste.

The soup is pleasantly herbal with an earthy warmth. The eggplant cream adds a whole additional layer of flavor, smoothing out the spinach's grass notes and adding the deep intriguing smoky bite of the eggplant to the soup. I hope you'll try it with the soup. If you decide to skip it, try plopping a little plain yogurt or sour cream on top your soup bowl. I served my soup with some Indian flatbreads on the side.

Curried Spinach Soup with Eggplant Cream

For the Soup:

Olive oil or spray
1 small red onion or about half large, roughly diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
2-3 tsp curry powder
Dash of cinnamon
2-3 carrots cut, roughly diced
6 or more cups of vegetable stock or water
4 tbs peanut butter
16 oz chopped frozen spinach
12 oz chopped frozen spinach
15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Salt
Pepper
Hot sauce
One recipe Eggplant Cream (see below)

Spray the bottom of a large pot with the olive oil spray or use a tablespoon of olive oil and coat the bottom of the pot. Heat. Add onion and sauté until beginning to soften. Add garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes. Sauté until aromas are released. Add curry powder and cinnamon and stir until incorporated. Add carrots. Sauté until onions are golden and garlic has started to brown. Add 6 cups of stock or water. Stir up any bits stuck to bottom of the pot. Cook over medium heat until simmering. Add frozen spinach; cook stirring to break up, until defrosted. Add peanut butter. Cook, stirring occasionally until incorporated.

Using an immersion blender, puree soup to desired consistency. (Or cool, puree in batches in blender, return to pot and reheat.) Add the additional frozen spinach. Cook until defrosted. Add additional stock or water if soup is too thick. Add tomatoes and chickpeas and cook until heated through. Taste for seasoning and add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.

To serve, swirl in 1 Tbs of Eggplant Cream in each bowl.

Makes 6-8 servings

Eggplant Cream

1 eggplant (thin Italian, Chinese or Japanese preferred, but a small globe eggplant will also work, see note below.)
Crème fraiche, sour cream, Greek yogurt, plain yogurt oe non-dairy yogurt, drained
1 Tbs fresh lemon or lime juice
Salt
Pepper

Place whole, unpeeled eggplant over an open gas flame, under a broiler or on a grill. Using tongs, turn frequently as skin blisters and the flesh begins to soften. When the flesh is completely soft, remove from heat and set aside. When cool enough to handle, peel away as much of the eggplant skin as you can. Mash eggplant flesh and puree with an equal amount of crème fraiche, sour cream of yogurt. (If using regular, plain yogurt, drain it first in a colander for a few hours before using.) Add lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and serve with soup.

Note: If using a globe eggplant (the type usually available in stores), look for as small a one as you can find. Cook the eggplant whole, but only use half of the cooked flesh in the eggplant cream. Reserve the rest for another use. (Try mixing it with a little hummus for a nice dip.)

Watch this space -- photo to come

No Waffling -- This is a Great Ice Cream Sandwich

I recently tried King Arthur's Whole Grain Chocolate Fudge Pancake and Waffle Mix.

I made the mix into waffles and enjoyed the results with strawberries and yogurt. For a full taste test report, see my write up at Just Baking.

The waffles were surprisingly not too sweet, which made the leftovers a perfect foil for the ice cream in these Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches. (Plus, tell yourself that because of the whole grains in the waffles and calcium in the ice cream, this is actually good for you!)

Chocolate Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

Chocolate waffles, cooled
Softened ice cream or frozen yogurt, I recommend a toffee or caramel flavor
Flavored syrup such as chocolate, caramel, etc. (optional)

Spread softened ice cream on top of one of the waffles. Press down with spoon so the ice cream fills the waffle pockets. Drizzle with complimentary flavored syrup if desired. Place another waffle on top, pressing down slightly. With a sharp knife cut into desired size halves, sticks or triangles (this somewhat depends on the size and shape of your waffle.) Wrap each half, stick or triangle snuggly in plastic wrap and freeze until firm.

Update:  Just Baking and other Well Fed Network links are gone, dead, no more.  Thanks to the Wayback Machine archives, you can see the post here.

Or just continue reading to see a copy of the post itself.

The Souffle That Went Into the Cold -- Cook Up Some Energy Savings

Baby it’s cold outside and the gas and electric meters are humming. We all look for ways keep down our energy bills and help the environment by conserving, but have you thought about ways to save while you cook? (Pacific Gas and Electric customers see the notes section below for information on how saving energy in the kitchen can help you earn you a rebate.)

A lifetime and two kids ago I was a spokeswoman for a major utility. One of my favorite parts of the job was promoting energy conservation cooking. I worked closely with the conservation specialists in the test kitchen to cook up and promote ways to trim electric and natural gas costs. True, covering your pot won’t save you as much as replacing inefficient appliances, turning down the heat, insulating your home, wrapping your hot water heater and getting your kids to turn off the lights, computer, television, stereo system and Playstation, but every little bit helps. Even just saving a quarter a day on energy in the kitchen can result in yearly savings of more than $90 a year. Trust me I have the proof these tips make a difference, I just am too lazy to go up in the attic and get down my old press releases to quote you the numbers, so here are some basics to start with.

Don’t preheat your oven – most things will only take a few more minutes to cook if you don’t preheat your oven. Put that casserole in a cold oven and take advantage of all the preheating time and energy. The home economists I worked with once even put a soufflé into the cold. It worked just fine.

If you are using the oven, use it – You are already paying for all that energy anyway, so why turn on your stove top and burn money there, too? Make a whole meal in your oven, or most of it anyway. Roast vegetables and potatoes to go along with that chicken. Make a dessert in there, too. Baked apples filled with raisins and granola and drizzled with maple syrup, maybe? Or cook several meals at once to take advantage of all that hot, hot heat – who says a veggie lasagna and a ginger-garlic-hoisin roast beef can’t get along.

Grill friend – All those little kitchen helper appliances could be your worst enemies or your best energy saving friends. You just need to use to match them to the job. Use them in place of other cooking resources not in addition to. If your countertop grill saves you from having to preheat your range’s broiler, that’s great. But if you have the oven on anyway, maybe you should bake that chicken breast instead of grilling it to save some cash.

Home on the range (top) – Work those burners. If you are using your range top or stove top, make the whole meal “on top.” Consider using a multilevel steamer. Boiling water on the bottom, your main course in the middle and some tasty vegetables up top. Don’t forget to use the lid. Putting a lid on it is a good idea. Water will boil faster if you can’t see it. Honest. Another tip only put enough water in the tea kettle for what you need at the time. I know some people who fill it up to the whistle every time. It takes forever to come to a boil and tea really needs fresh water every time to taste its best, anyway. A personal favorite of mine is to use a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers create wonderful stews and soups in a fraction of the time but with that slow cooked flavor and texture.

Magic Box – Microwave use has doubled since I last preached energy conservation in the kitchen, which is great, since it is one of the most efficient appliances in our kitchen arsenal, especially if you work it right. It’s great for one potato, two. But a family’s worth are better being cooked in the oven with yesterday’s dinner and just warmed in the microwave. Planning ahead to have “leftovers” or “pre cooks” not only saves energy, but your time.

I know there are other tips and tricks and I promise to eventually lug the ladder up the stairs and climb into the attic and see what my old files have to offer, but I thought this would at least get you thinking about ways to save energy in your kitchen.

Have an energy conservation cooking tip to share? Please post a comment below. Need a souffle recipe to give the "cold shoulder?" Check out this recipe in the archives.
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Notes and Resources

An aside and added incentive to customers of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (northern and central California), if you can trim your natural gas costs by 10 percent between January 1 through March 31st, you will receive a 20 percent credit on your April or May bill. More information at http://www.pge.com/1020

PG&E customers can also see how much energy using different appliances can save by clicking on its appliance usage calculator.

Check with your local utility to see if they have anything similar you can use. The Alliance for Safe Energy has lots of energy conservation tips and links if your utility doesn’t.

Photo credit: www.vikingrange.com

Chili for When You Need a Slow Cooker Meal and It's Been a Pressure Cooker Day

You may wonder, what did the Blog Appetits have to eat while Mom was eating her way through the Fancy Food Show? They had chili. I made a huge batch on Saturday night and it kept us well fed for the duration.

This chili started life as a photo on the cover of the January/February issue of Cooking Light. Gary saw it and immediately began requesting chili. I didn’t use the magazine’s recipe, but I borrowed generously from its spicing. This makes a chili that’s somewhere between mild and medium. If you like it hotter, goose up the hot stuff.

Because my man wanted a slow meal with lots of different kinds of beans on a busy day, I used canned beans and made this in the pressure cooker. You can adapt it for regular cooking by making it in a large skillet and simmering until the mixture was cooked through and thickened. (You might need to add a bit more liquid.) You could probably adapt it to a slow cooker as well. Proceed through browning the meat, reduce the liquid to 1 ½ cups each of water and stock, put all ingredients but the corn meal in a slow cooker and cook on low or medium for 6-8 hours. About a half hour before serving, switch to high, uncover and add in the corn meal, giving it a good stir every now and then.

Turkey Chili with Four Types of Beans
Serves 6 - 8

1 ½ pounds ground turkey (I used 7 percent fat, labeled "lean.")
1 ½ tablespoons sweet paprika
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons grape seed or other vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 canned chipotle chiles, chopped
1 -15 ounce can of black beans
1-15 ounce can of small white beans, rinsed and drained
1-15 ounce can of adzuki beans (or pinto or kidney if adzuki are unavailable), rinsed and drained (The adzuki beans add a slight nuttiness to the dish.)
1-15 ounce can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
2 cups chicken stock, homemade or purchase low-sodium
2 cups water
1-28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
¼ cup of corn meal

Toppings: plain yogurt or sour cream, chopped cilantro, lemon wedges, avocado slices, shredded cheese, fresh salsa, etc.

In a large bowl, mix paprika, garlic, 2 teaspoons of chili powder, 1 tsp of cumin, ½ teaspoon of dried oregano, black pepper and salt with ground turkey. Combine well.

Heat oil in a large pressure cooker. Working in batches if need be, brown the seasoned ground turkey mixture, breaking up the meat into clumps as it browns. Add the onion, 1 tablespoon cumin, 2 teaspoons oregano, 1 tablespoon chili powder, and chopped chipotles. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened. Add in drained beans, diced tomatoes with their juices, water and chicken stock. Stir well.

Place and lock lid on pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook at high pressure for about five minutes. Open vent and allow steam to escape until all pressure is released. Take off lid.

Over medium heat, stir in the corn meal and cook until the chili is slightly thickened.

Serve with toppings as desired.

Fun with Appliances

I Need a New Grill to Thrill -- We here at Blog Appetit fully embrace the technological age, but my enduring love affair with my panini grill is just about over. It's not that I don't love the sandwiches or the grilled goodies, it's just that it is now flaking teflon over everything I cook. Add that to the broken latch and sprung springs and I think I now know why it only cost $30.

Anyway, do you have a panini grill? Would you recommend it? Why or why not? Please help me get a new grill that won't break my heart!

I Don't Knead a New Breadmaker -- but I thought I did. Whenever my youngest tried to make bread in my antique breadmaker (it must be about seven years old), there were problems. Lopsided loaves. Unkneaded but not unneeded dough left clumped in corners. I was ready to replace it but thought I should give it one more try. Since all of his attempts had been with smaller 1 pound or 1.5 pound loaves, I made a whopping 2 pound loaf of "French" bread. It came out perfect and the boys (admittedly with help from their parents) finished all of it within 24 hours and are asking when we'll have more fresh bread. So I don't have to replace it, as long as I am willing to make 2 pounds of bread at a time!

Esstentially my appliance karma came out even, but I still have to go shopping.

A Pressing Need

What would you get if you were a food blog writer in a Williams-Sonoma store?

That’s the question that was put out there by Jennifer from Taste Everything Once www.tasteeverythingonce.blogspot.com who is the lucky recipient of a generous W-S gift certificate. Well, when I was recently confronted with the same problem, I bought myself a fancy scale to weigh ingredients, or if I overdo the baking, portion sizes for Weight Watchers!

Jennifer, however, is looking for “entertainment must haves.” While I entertain quite a lot, I would call my style rustic at best or family style at my most accurate, so beyond a pretty and practical really big casserole dish (and a few nice trivets to put it on) I’m out of ideas.

But I thought of my current favorite kitchen gadget, and thought if Jennifer is willing to expand her concept a bit, I could heartily recommend a nice size panini press/grill.

I resisted one as long as I could, but when I finally succumbed it was love at first grill mark. Not only can you make yourself fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches when you just need that comfort hit, you can use it to grill all kinds of bits and bites of carbs, proteins and vegetables for yourself and company.

If you need to justify it for “entertaining,” I do find no one can resist a properly grilled panini. Make some minis for appetizers, or use it to grill bread for bruschettas. Plus you can use it to make the main course, too.

My recommendation is to get one with removable plates (much easier to clean) and one that has a slight slant so that the grease and juices drain into a reservoir (preferably removable for easy cleaning.)

I’d also check into the hinge and see if it floats a bit to accommodate thicker ingredients.

Those are the basics I’d recommend. My grill also came with waffle plates (which I didn’t need) and quesadilla plates (which I believe no one needs). I’ve seen more expensive ones that convert into open grills and have other features. I do admit, heat control might be nice.

Now, here’s the true confession part – I got mine for $30 at Costco. It’s made by VillaWare, a company that also makes much bigger and more elaborate grills. Plastic bits and pieces have already broken off. A few springs mysteriously fell out with no apparent place to replace them. It is a little small for entertaining; I have to make sandwiches in batches. But it works well and I’ve learned its idiosyncrasies and it has earned its right to counter space. I had wanted one of the fancy presses from Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table, but I couldn’t justify the expense until I knew if I’d use it. So I bought the cheapie and now can’t justify replacing it with a more expensive one.

Pass the grilled Portobello mushroom and red pepper, goat cheese and pesto sauce, I feel a panini coming on!

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Resources:

My grill is no longer offered by Costco.
Williams-Sonoma offers a nice range of panini presses and grills at:
http://ww2.williams-sonoma.com/cat/index.cfm?CID=eltgrli&src=catceltip1rshop/hme

EntertainMeMe