Crock-pot Polenta

The answer to the age old question of "What's for dinner?" Usually starts a week or two in advance.I am forever seeking out new recipes... whether I come by the recipe by a favorite website, a show on TV, a cookbook or just a brainstorm from within; at some point during each and every day I am thinking about cooking food.

That said...

If I were one to stick to a plan we would be having Honey Garlic Chicken tonight instead of chicken, salad and polenta. I have never served my family polenta, so tonight is as good of a day as any to try it out on them. As good of a night as any other.

Polenta is finely or coarsely ground maize (corn) used as a food source, Italian in origin. Ploenta is made into a soft consistency by cooking with liquids such as water, milk or stock. Polenta may be combined with other ingredients such as cheese, butter, cream and herbs and spices.

Once the polenta has been boiled it can be eaten as a soft mush, or placed in a lined pan and let to solidify. Once the polenta is solid, it can be cut and may be baked, fried or grilled, it may also be served cold.

The polenta of today is derived from earlier forms of grain mush known as gruel or porridge. Earlier grain mushes were made from grains such as chestnut, chick peas, farro, millet and spelt. Corn wasn't introduced to the Old World till the 16th Century.

Corn has always been considered a peasant food. Traditional ways of eating polenta would be eaten with a salted fish such as herring or anchovies. Polenta may be used as a side dish served as simply with salt and pepper or addition of cheeses, herbs, spices and cream and butter. Solidified polenta can be served on it's own or as a base for variety of possibilities from meats to jams,or  sauces, mushrooms, vegetables, salads and more.

CROCK POT POLENTA

7-8 c boiling water
1-2 T butter or oil
1-1 1/2 t salt
 2 c fine or coarse corn meal
OPTIONAL: cream, cheese, herbs, spices, vegetable beef/chicken/vegetable stock.

Combine first 3 ingredients in crock pot. While stirring, very slowly add the corn meal; if you add it too fast you will get lumpy polenta. Cover your crock pot and cook on high for one hour. After one hour lower temperature to low and remove cover, stir very well. Leave cover off and stir about once and hour. Cook polenta for 6-8 hours till the consistence is thick and creamy.

HINT: I prefer my polenta made with milk or stock so in this case I added powder milk to the crock pot with the hot water, no scorched milk this way.

This is another keeper recipe. The above recipe made about 2.5-3 quarts of polenta, I will try halving the recipe next time. I did pour some of the warm polenta into a small cookie sheet, I plan on eating it for breakfast with some fresh fruit on top.

Last Saturday I tried Chocolate Cake in the crock pot for the first time. I had my doubts that it would work, but like I say, I am always up for an experiment.

 I searched the internet and there seemed to be one recipe out there so I decided to try it out. The cake did take the full 6+ hours on low to cook, but it was worth the wait. The cake was very moist and was actually better the next day eating it from the refrigerator.

 

CROCK POT CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 box chocolate pudding (original recipe asked for instant, I used the cook style)

8 oz sour cream or plain yogurt

1 c chocolate chips (optional)

1 c water

3/4 c oil

4 eggs

mix all ingredients in a bowl and put in a crock pot sprayed with "Pam" cook on high for 3-4 hours and on low for 6-8 hours.

I microwaved a tub of vanilla frosting for about 20 seconds and spread it over the warm cake... next time I would only use half, the cake is rich enough without the extra fat and calories. 

*****

I've been wanting to bring a little something to share with the ladies at work... I have a cake I make with a box of white or yellow cake, and I follow the directions on the box but I replace the water with a can of crushed pineapples. I put it in a greased 9x13 pan and bake till cooked through. I top it with the microwaved frosting while the cake is still warm. The cake is always a hit, it's very popular when I make it and there are never leftovers. That is saying a lot because I am not what one would call a baker.

So, a sure fire way to cross off Day 16 of my 30 Day Crock Pot Challenge and Day 2 of One Year of Crock Potting even before I get up in the morning. I am jumping at the chance.

Taking what I learned from the chocolate cake and what I know of my pineapple cake I combine the two recipes and am hoping for the best.

CROCK POT PINEAPPLE CAKE

1 box white or yellow cake mix

1 box vanilla pudding

8 oz sour cream or plain yogurt

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple

3/4 c oil (I used 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce)

4 eggs (I used 3)

mix all ingredients in a bowl and put in a crock pot sprayed with "Pam" cook on high for 3-4 hours and on low for 6-8 hours.

 microwaved a tub of vanilla frosting for about 20 seconds and spread half of the frosting it over the warm cake.

Let's just say this is a partial flop, the taste is there but the texture is more like pudding than cake... the family gets to eat the good parts and I get to go back to the drawing board... I will try this recipe again with the full amount of eggs and oil.

Vegetable Stock, Honey Oatmeal Bread, Hominy and Vegetable Soup... 3 crock-pot meal

Once a week I try to slip a vegetarian dinner past my family of 4 males. Sometimes it goes over well, but most times the vegetarian meals are a flop. So why is it I keep trying?

For as much or in reality as little as I have used my crock pot in the past I have found that soup recipes are easy to convert to crock pot meals. Usually you just toss all of the ingredients into the crock pot and let it cook all or half a day usually on low.

Tonight's dinner is a recipe I found in Crescent Dragonwagon's book Passionate Vegetarian, it's called Posole-Bean Soup-Stew with New World Vegetables. I started this morning with making 2 quarts of home made vegetable stock in the crock pot. I am breaking in a new to me crock pot given to me from a dear friend, she knew I would use it.

VEGETABLE STOCK

2 quarts water

3-4 ribs celery broken

3-4 carrots broken

2 onions peeled and cut in half

fresh parsley

5-6 cloves fresh garlic

2 bay leaves

peppercorns

salt

pickling spices

Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low. Strain vegetables and toss, reserve liquid aka stock.

 *****

In the mean time I put the ingredients into the bread maker for a honey wheat and oat bread I am going to try and cook in the crock pot for the first time. From what I am reading I can put a pound of fresh bread dough in a parchment lined crock pot (I sprayed the crock pot with "Pam" instead) and cook for an hour to an hour and a half, on low, till the bread is cooked through. I'm always up for an experiment.

HONEY WHEAT AND OAT BREAD

1 c warm water

3/4 c honey

1 1/2 t active dry yeast

1 1/2 c white flour

1 1/2-2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c. uncooked regular oats

2 T oil

1 t salt

Start by combining the first 3 ingredients, once it is all bubbly you can add the other ingredients and knead till well combined and smooth, about 10 minutes. Put dough in greased/oiled bowl, with a damp cloth on top, in a warm location and let rise, till the dough doubles in size; about one hour.. or just use your bread maker to make the dough.

Yes, I am aware you can bake bread in your bread maker but it never seems to come out the way I like it.

Place dough in a parchment lined or "Pam" sprayed crock pot, sprinkle with oats and cook on low one to one and one half hours till very lightly golden. Or bake in a bread pan 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

POSOLE-BEAN  SOUP-STEW WITH NEW WORLD VEGETABLES

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 serrano chiles, finely diced (seeds and membranes removed for mildness or left in for extra heat)

2 ribs celery, diced

4 cups vegetable stock

1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice

1/2 pound green beans, stemmed and cut into 1-inch lengths

2 carrots, scrubbed, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

2 large potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 3/4-inch dice

1 butternut squash, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch dice

1 can (16 ounces) hominy, rinsed and drained

1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

1 1/4 cup cooked pinto beans or black-eyed peas, or one 15-ounce can, well drained

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar or honey or agave syrup (you may need more, I like the soup a little sweeter)

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 

garlic and onion powder to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Baked or fried corn chips (optional)
Grated cheddar cheese, dairy or soy (optional)

Add all ingredients to crock-pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours. I would wait till the last hour of cooking to add the beans, hominy, green beans and zucchini, they will retain their texture better this way. 

 

HINT: You could add turnip, cabbage, kale, peanut butter, sausage, kielbasa or ham to this recipe easy, I think my guys would much prefer it with meat in it.

*****

The bread was banging as they say, a definite keeper for the recipe box. This bread would be nice for breakfast, toasted with a little peanut butter and jam... or just butter would work as well.

As far as the soup goes, I obviously went a little free flow with the vegetables but the end product was pretty good. I probably doubled the amount of vegetables the recipe called for, I did double the beans; I probably should have doubled the hominy as well. I like it; now to see how the men in my life feel about it. If you like vegetables, or happen to be a vegetarian or vegan or just trying to eat more non meat based dinners this is at least worth a try or add to your recipe box.

Enjoy!!

Hominy aka Pozole...

 Hominy is a new ingredient for my family as well as myself. The closest I ever have been to eating hominy is grits; but that comes later.

I had my husband purchase one 16 oz can of Hominy aka Pozole at the grocery store on Saturday... tonight is the night we are going to eat them for the first time. I do the meal planning and grocery list, my husband is the hunter, gatherer and brings the food home.

My husband and I see grocery stores so differently, he doesn't cook; so he only sees what is on the grocery list and no more.  Me, I have been cooking, if only in my head since I discovered  Julia Child on PBS when I was about 3 years old... I go through a grocery store and my brain accesses every recipe I ever knew made with each and every item I see. I am highly susceptible to impulse buying, so it's just more cost effective if the husband does the grocery shopping.

Hominy is dried maize (corn) that has been treated with an alkali solution, usually lye. An alkali is a soluble base with a pH greater than 7 for you Scientists out there.

The corrosive nature of the alkali removes the hull and germ of the corn which makes the grain puff up twice it's normal size. The process of soaking the maize and removing the hull and germ is called nixtamalization. Not only does this process preserve the corn it also has some added nutritional benefits. The preservation process converts some of the niacin and possibly other B vitamins into a form the body can more easily absorb. The process also improves the availability of amino acids and can actually supplement calcium needs if the hominy is lime treated.

Hominy can be dried, ground and made into grits. The grits can then be cooked to soften them to be used for cereals, soups, stews and casseroles.  See, I told you we would get back around to grits.

Posole is a traditional Mexican soup that is made with hominy, which brings us to Day 1...