Lentil and Leek Almost Vegetarian Stew

Starting with this post, I made it my goal/challenge to include some calculated/estimated nutritional information with the recipe. I don't think there's enough science and math in this blog. I talk about experiments in the kitchen, but true experiments need to be better documented than what I have had previously. Hopefully I will be able to keep up. Let's call it a labor of love. Math takes time and effort. Cooking is the easy part.

This recipe came to fruition when I made a list of everything that I had in my fridge and pantry and started to mix and match ingredients to throw into a crock pot. I happened to find the leeks I had frozen a while ago in the back of my freezer.  Typically used in soups, most commonly potato and leek soup, for me leeks add something mysteriously sweet and full-bodied to the dish. I say mysterious because I slice it really thin and they end up nearly liquefying in the crock pot whenever I make stews or soups so it disappears leaving behind its essence. I would definitely say that leeks were the secret ingredient in this dish that gave the dish most of its flavor.

Lentil and Leek Almost Vegetarian Stew
2 cups per serving. Recipe makes about 3 servings.
Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped kale
• 5 oz baby bella mushrooms cut into quarters or eights depending on the size of the mushroom
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1.5 cup dry lentils
• 2 cups chicken broth (replace with vegetable broth to make this recipe vegetarian friendly)
• 7 oz baby carrots
• 1 cup/ 1.3 oz frozen leeks
• 1 cup water
• salt, pepper, thyme, basil, oregano to taste

Procedure

1. Put lentils in the crock pot first, then add the rest of the ingredients, ensuring that the lentils are covered with liquid.
2. Cook for 2 hours on low and then stir the pot. Then cook for 5 more hours on low.

Lentil and Leek Almost Vegetarian Stew Estimated Nutritional Information Per Serving (Serving size = 2 cups; 3 servings in 1 recipe)
Total Calories	455.55
Total Fat (g)	1.81
Cholesterol(mg)	0
Sodium (mg)	421.69
Potassium (mg)	1477.66
Total Carbs (g)	82.8
Fiber (g)	33.18
Sugar (g)	11.55
Protein (g)	30.65

Crock pot Kielbasa Dinner

I have been very busy and lazy lately, which is why I haven't been posting as much. Guess what that means? A crockpot recipe. It's easy, not necessarily quick, but painless, for the most part. I didn't want to do another stew so this time I tried something with kielbasa. 

Crock pot Kielbasa Dinner

Ingredients

• 2 med red potatoes, diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 kielbasa links sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
• 8 oz frozen peas
• 1 lb sauerkraut
• 2 bay leaves

Procedure

1. Combine all ingredients into the crock pot and cook for 4 hours on high.

Crockpot pot roast

Starting today I made a goal for myself to make a blog post every week. I started making a lot of personal goals today. I hope I can keep them. This blog will probably showcase more and more crock pot recipes since I'll be starting my crazy work schedule and will want to make something quick and easy. More quick and easy recipes should be appearing as well. I made a goal for myself to simplify my cooking and to reduce my time spent in the kitchen both cooking and cleaning.

As for this particular recipe, I had some left over chuck roast from some ropa vieja that I made and forgot to blog about. I figured a good pot roast could come out of it, so here you go.

cooking in the pot

pot roast served with garlic mashed potatoes!

Crockpot pot roast (adapted from Martha Stewart recipe)
Ingredients

• 1-2 lb chuck roast
• 18 baby carrots
• 1 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 stalk of celery cut into pieces
• 1/4 onion chopped
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Procedure

1. Mix the flour and water together until most of the flour dissolves. Pour into the crock pot. 
2. Add baby carrots, celery and onion to the pot. Mix in some salt and pepper.
3. Trim excess fat from the roast. Place in pot and drizzle the soy and balsamic vinegar over the roast. Sprinkle in some more salt and pepper (no more than 1/2 a tsp of salt and no more than 1/4 tsp of pepper).
4. Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours.

Slow cooker/crockpot chickpea stew

I might have gone overboard with all the ingredients.

I remembered to scribble everything down this time.

Crockpot chickpea stew
Ingredients

• 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained
• 14.5 oz can diced tomato, undrained
• half medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 small carrots diced
• 1 cup chicken stock/broth
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 chicken breast diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Prepare all ingredients and then place in crockpot.
2. Set crockpot to low and let it cook for 8 hours.

Beef Stew, first attempt

I've never made beef stew, but I saw some beef labeled "beef for stew" at Publix and decided to give it a try. I pulled out the brand new slow cooker that my mom bought for me four years ago and to my surprise and delight it came with a little recipe book along with the instructions. Since I didn't have all the ingredients to the beef stew recipe in the book I decided to wing it a little.

These are all of the ingredients.

Here's my shiny, never been used slow cooker.

Before.

4.5 hours later, we have beef stew

Served over rice.

Next time I need to add less pepper. It was a little too spicy. Also, it kind of turned into beef soup rather than beef stew, so I'll have to remember to add some flour to thicken it a bit. All in all, first attempt was a relative success. Now I get to eat stew for the next four meals! Hurray! I'll post the recipe upon request.