Honestly and truly I thought I would have had more time on my hands when the kids went back to school, but I can’t seem to keep up some days!  I don’t know what I was thinking! After getting three kids fed breakfast, helping them get dressed and two eldest on the school bus then the youngest three days a week to preschool, I run around doing errands, checking in on client portfolios and requests, and hope to get some housework done especially the never ending laundry, pick up one from preschool, help two with homework and drive to/fro after school activities… but what about dinner!?!  On the weekends there’s cub scouts, soccer, church, and a husband who’s worked every Sunday for the past month— he already works on Saturdays (just has one day off a week).  Oh, I also need to finish hours at the farm for my work-share and am volunteering for a PTA event and local library art show.  And the classroom volunteering hasn’t begun yet.  I am just a bit stressed at times and have had no time for writing. I need to say no every so often, but I honestly like to help out. 

I think I will be freer once PTA event and art show are over.  Then we’ll be into the holidays.  I did make a big change with our schedules and took my middle son out of a great magnet school in another town.  It was too much.  He was out of the house at 7:30 am but didn’t start school until 8:55 and then got home at 4:20.  He’s only 6.  And I had to drive him to a bus stop even though the bus went past our house.  We are already a part of the local school community which the other two are in.  My son also asked daily to return to his old school.  I will regret having him miss the wonderful opportunity of immersion Spanish, great international teaching and diverse atmosphere.  But it was best to take him out.  Our local school is great too. 

So, I am now taking this time to write before I run off to the farm and then hopefully get some housework done.   We haven’t exactly had slow cooker-weather, but I have used mine because it has been a huge help to retain my sanity.  I actually have tonight’s dinner started in my slow cooker (crock pot) right now.  The other day I made a killer chicken chili using it and had them eat early and ready for bed before I had to go to Open House at school.  I also put the brown rice in the rice cooker and used the timer so it was ready at 5.

The funny thing is that I just got my crock pot two years ago and barely used it for the first.  Now, I’ve figured it out— I think it takes a while to know what’s possible and how things turn out, to feel confident enough to use it often.

I was originally going to make the chicken gumbo I’ve wanted to make for weeks, but again, I had so many tomatoes, I changed dinner on the spot.  I made this recipe based on a friend’s chicken chili.  She makes a really delicious one with cinnamon in it.  I didn’t use her recipe, but adapted how I normally make beef or turkey chili to include cinnamon. So good and easy to make with the slow cooker. 

Chicken Chili

• 1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs, boned and skinned
• 6-8 tomatoes (sm/med), skinned
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper (sweet), diced
• 1 med onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1- 1 1/2 Tbsp chili powder (depending on tolerance)
• tsp cumin
• tsp cinnamon
• tsp dried oregano
• olive oil
• salt/pepper
• 3 cans of beans (kidney, black, pinto, etc)
• 1 okra, sliced (optional— I was going to make gumbo that night)

 Mix 1 Tbsp chili powder with cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper.  Cut chicken into small pieces and coat with spice mixture.  Set in refrigerator while prepping onions, garlic, pepper, okra.  Blanch the tomatoes to remove skin and put in slow cooker.  I use my hands to crush the tomatoes into smaller pieces, you can use a knife.  Sauté onions in olive oil for 2 minutes over med-high heat, then add garlic, pepper and okra.  (I added okra later as an afterthought).  Sauté until lightly cooked but careful not to brown garlic.  Add to slow cooker.  Add about 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp ground pepper.  In same sauté pan, brown chicken with little more olive oil over med-high heat.  Spices need to open over the higher heat of pan.  Once browned all over, add to slow cooker.  Stir in beans and oregano.  Cover and cook on low for at least 3 1/2 hours.  Check seasoning about an hour through (if possible) and add more salt and pepper if needed.  Or adjust before serving.

It rocks!  The kids loved it.  My middle son whose most sensitive to spices added more rice to his dish and drank lots of milk.  It was fabulous for left-overs too!

I guess I’ve been on a curry sort of kick.  I love curries.  In my early twenties I worked for a few months in an Indian restaurant in Wellington, NZ.  Every Friday night, a night off, my friend and I would go out to dinner.  I always wanted to eat curries.  I guess it was being around them the rest of the week, smelling them, seeing them but often not tasting them that intensified my desire.  Living in Wellington, the capital of NZ, allowed me to try curries from all over, not just India.  I’d have Thai, Cambodian, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamese curries. Growing up on the East Coast of the US I didn’t even know there were other curries besides Indian or Thai until I lived in Wellington.   I love the spices that are in Asian curries and thanks to the Silk Road also in many North African and Middle Eastern dishes. 

I am passing on this love of curries to my kids.  They might not be eating Vindaloo yet, but if I keep the heat down, they really like it. 

I didn’t use a recipe for this lamb curry I made the other night, I figured out the ratios since I’d been using so many similar spices in other dishes.   My mother came over for dinner and she also loves curries and lamb (she’s a Kiwi by birth), so it was a win-win all round! 

Lamb and Chickpea Curry

• 1 med onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala (Punjabi)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (adjust for heat)
• 1 pound lamb shoulder or other stew cut, boned, trimmed of excess fat, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 large tomatoes or skinned
• 10 small or 4 large potatoes, cubed (I used many tiny just harvested potatoes)
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1/2 cup stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Sauté onions then garlic in olive oil over med-high heat.  Add spices and stir for a couple of minutes.  Make a well in middle and add lamb. (I also threw in the bones that I couldn’t get all the meat off, as it eventually fell off in cooking.) Turn so all sides are browned and cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and stock, stir couple of times, cover cook for 20 minutes.  Add potatoes, chickpeas, salt and pepper.  Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until potatoes are soft.  Serve over basmati or jasmine rice.  You could put lentils instead of chickpeas and add a green veggie— spinach would be nice. 

We all loved it.  Even my middle son.  And believe it or not, he didn’t even complain when I put it on the table!  My youngest wanted more meat, so I kept giving him some of mine.

It’s a great dish for ease of clean up since there’s only one pan and maybe another for rice.

I think I have some time before I start the laundry (ha! ha! ha!) so that I can write down the rest of the Pork recipe.

Before the pork is taken out of the oven (say 20 minutes before) start cutting/chopping the following veggies:

Stir Fry Veggie Mixture

1 onion sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 peppers of different colors (red, yellow, orange, green, purple)

1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise then into smaller pieces

1 container organic white mushrooms or shiitakes, sliced

2 carrots, julienne

1 bunch or package of baby spinach

(or throw in whatever veggies you have that would go nicely with following)

2 or 3 chunks of the Roast Pork from Part One, cut into bite sized pieces and fat removed.

Sauce

1 Tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp tamari soy sauce

1 tsp corn starch mixed with 1/4 cup water until smooth

handful cilantro, chopped

2 cups pork juices or 2 cups of chicken stock

Optional: Kafir lime juice or leaves

            Nam prik pao (Thai chili sauce) to taste

            Coconut milk in sauce or cook rice in one part coconut milk one part water

            Put rice on.  Sauté onions for few minutes then add garlic until done.  Add pork juices (without the fat) and cook for a few minutes.  Slowly add, while stirring, corn starch mix.  Add carrots and cook for another few minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables and pork.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, add cilantro and serve over rice.  Cooking vegetables this way retains their nutrients as they just go in the sauce.   

All three had been tasting the pork when it came out of the oven.  When my husband served it in the sauce with the veggies that’s when my middle son lost it.  He said it was because we added spinach and I reminded him that he likes spinach. He said “Not anymore.”  But it was over so quickly and he ate all of it and really loved it!  He was even taking individual spinach leaves and dropping them in his mouth!  When asked if it was good, my eldest son said, “No, it’s great!”  My youngest didn’t want to speak he was so busy eating!

Part 3

A few days later I used a part of the leftovers (a cup or two) in another stir fry I made with the pork, beet greens, chard, zucchini, carrots (cut “in circles” per my son’s request), carrot greens, broccoli and mushrooms. I made a similar sauce but no corn starch and with Thai basil and parsley.  I was going to use peppers too, but the only ones I had were extremely hot.  I sautéed the mushrooms with the garlic.  My youngest kept picking out all the mushrooms.  Not because he didn’t like them but he wanted to eat them first and asked everyone else for theirs.  It was vibrant and tasty.  This time around my middle son stated that he wasn’t going to eat it.  I said, “This is dinner.  You need to eat.  Come on and join us.”  He did.  And again he loved it.

When my husband got home we were already eating.  I put a bowl out for him and my youngest proceeded to eat that too.  I think he was foraging for mushrooms.