Slow-Cooker Caramelized Onions

Extended Shelf Life for: Onions

I'm wanting caramelized onions to play a major role in my pizza experiments, so I figured I should try out this slow-cooker trick I saw on Pinterest recently.  I'm not sure I love the outcome...but I'm also not sure that I hate it...and what I really mean is that I think stove-top caramelization is more flavorful, but it takes time and patience. This method is quick and when you're simply adding the onions to other dishes and/or covering them with cheese anyway...it might just be the perfect way to get a bunch of delicious caramelized onions.


Ingredients/Directions:

Fill the slow-cooker with onions. I had a 3-quart crock filled with about 3-4 sliced onions. Top with 2-3 Tbsp. Butter of Olive Oil. Set on low for 12-14 hours. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator, use as needed for sandwiches, salads, pizza, etc

For more awesome ways to use onions, check this out!

Cauliflower Pancakes with Avocado Sauce

Extended Shelf Life for: Cauliflower and Avocado's

In our house, the man is not entirely convinced that cauliflower is a delicious and delectable vegetable. Which means, when it's dived or brought to us from our neighbors CSA share, I have got to do some quick thinking and make it seem as little like cauliflower as possible. Having spent enough time on Pinterest to be aware of 'cauliflower pizza crust' I quickly changed my mind when I realized that making this particular crust would require going out and purchasing cheese which, frankly, I was not interested in doing. So, I did a bit more research and finally concluded that Cauliflower Pancakes were to be the menu item, served on rice with those nice Red Onions I'd recently preserved and an Avocado Sauce, seeing how we had a few of those lying around in need of eating and using.

Ingredients and Directions:

Cauliflower Pancakes from About.com

In a large soup pot, boil a few inches of water before adding 1 head of Cauliflower florets. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes, until Cauliflower is tender.

Drain Cauliflower and mash with a fork, leaving a little bit of texture. Add 3 beaten Eggs and about 1/2 cup of Wheat Flour until you have a pancake-consistency batter. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet, spoon some batter onto the hot skillet. Cook about 3-4 minutes per side making sure to smash them down to ensure they are thin enough to cook all the way through. Remove from heat when they are golden on both sides and no longer floppy and doughy.

 Avocado Sauce from For the Love of Cooking

In a food processor, blender or quality juicer (which has mincing abilities) combine: 1 ripe avocado, 1/3 cup fresh Cilantro, 2 cloves Garlic, 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil, Juice from 1 Lime, Salt and Pepper to taste.

Serve Cauliflower Pancakes over rice topped with preserved red onions and avocado sauce, enjoy!

NYT's Red Onion Preserves

Extended Shelf Life for: Onions

 As part of my new job, I get to assist my good friend in hosting the occasional ELL (English Language Learner) Family Night. For such an event we make sure to offer a complete meal to guests as well as helpful information for acquiring language and adjusting to a new culture. For the first family night, we served up large sub sandwiches courtesy of Wal-Mart and ended up bringing home more than a few containers of perfectly sliced, red onions. And while red onions are delicious on their own, they have an aroma which permeates all things and the upstairs kitchen was beginning to take on a rather foul odor.

So, I went to work and did what I do best, preserve them suckers!

A quick internet search revealed a 1988 New York Time's recipe for  Red Onion Preserves.

The only thing the original recipe lacks are pictures, so above you have a photo of the delicious, and I mean DELICIOUS, little onion slices and below, you'll find the recipe (in case you have an aversion to clicking on links).

Ingredients/Directions:

Peel and slice 6-7 red onions, cut in half, you'll need about 8 cups total. Heat 2 Tbsp. of butter in a heavy kettle and add the onions, 1/4 tsp. Allspice, 1 bay leaf and 1 tsp. finely grated Ginger. Cook and stir often for about 10 minutes. Stir in 3 Tbsp. Honey and 1/4 cup Red-Wine or Malt Vinegar. Cook, stirring often, for an additional 5 minutes. Let preserves cool and store in a tightly covered container for as long as you can go without eating them! They're great warmed up with meats and in omelets or as a sandwich condiment. What use will you find for Red Onion Preserves?

Seaweed Dinner Wraps

The meal and the chef that inspired me ^^

In Korea, it is not highly uncommon to enjoy a variety of vegetables, a meat and some lettuce to wrap everything up in. Many of the man and my favorite meals involve just that, wrapping meat in lettuce. Recently, a friend of ours invited us over for dinner and had a sort of mini-buffet of deliciously marinaded meat, a variety of vegetables, rice and seaweed and lettuce for creating wraps. Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious and inspiring! You can definitely go about this type of meal anyway you wish, our friend included Muenster cheese with her wraps which was fantastic! Ours were a bit more simple just because...it's what I had time for. This particular dinner I cooked up some thinly sliced pork (dae-pae samgyupsal - similar to bacon but uncured), mixed in some bulgogi marinade and a sliced onion for the meat dish. For the vegetables I served up thinly sliced carrots and cucumbers as well as a beautiful mix of sprouts I got at our little grocery store. Throw in some rice and have some lettuce or seasoned seaweed ready to go and you're all set for a most delicious and enjoyable dinner!

Crustless Spinach Tomato Quiche

 

I have currently set a goal to master pastry crusts, however, I had not set that goal, nor did I have sufficient time the night I opted to throw together this crust-less quiche. 

Served to new friends before splitting off into our respective genders for basketball and cafe chatting, this was a delightful light dinner on a school night.

Ingredients/Directions:

Adapted from The Everything Healthy Cooking for Parties: Delicious guilt free foods all your guests will love by Linda Larsen

In a large skillet, saute half an Onion and a couple cloves of minced Garlic, add a couple of handfuls or roughly 2 cups of fresh, chopped Spinach. Once Spinach is wilted, throw into the bottom of a well greased round cake pan. Top with slices of tomato and a sprinkle on some mozzarella cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk together 6 eggs with 1/4 cup milk or yogurt, season with salt and pepper, pour over Spinach. Top with grated Parmesan and bake at 350F (177C) for 20-30 minutes or until egg mixture is set and top is beginning to brown.

Taco Soup

This soup received rave reviews. Actually, I keep forgetting to post the recipe, but one friend has reminded me via Facebook that she would like to make this recipe, or rather she'd like her husband to make this recipe, so I suppose I should get to posting the recipe ^^

Unfortunately, for those living in South Korea, all of the ingredients aren't that easy to come by such as ranch dressing packets or Mexican chili powder. However, I think the ranch seasoning can be left out and perhaps you can replace the Mexican chili powder with Korean chili powder or take a look at some of Korea's online grocery stores.

Anyway, on to the recipe.

Ingredients/Directions:

Adapted from the Fix-it and Forge-it-Cookbook

I use a slow-cooker otherwise called a crock-pot which we purchased at Costco to prepare this soup, however it can easily be made in a large pot on the stove and should take significantly less time. It is ready to eat when it's been thoroughly heated.

Into a large crockpot mix together 2 cups prepared Black Beans, 2 cups diced tomatoes (either canned or fresh - if you use fresh you may need to add water or chicken broth to the soup for the purpose of consistency), 1 diced Onion, 3-5 roasted and chopped Green Chilies, 1 can of Tomato Sauce, 1 can of Corn. Season the soup with 3-4 Tbsp. Mexican Chili Powder, 1/2 or whole package of dry Ranch Dressing seaoning (depending on what other uses you have for it/how difficult it is to get where you are currently located ^.~), a shake of Cumin, Cayenne Pepper (Tobasco Sauce would also work) Salt, Pepper, and 2-3 minced cloves of Garlic. Stir and add any liquid if necessary. Turn the slow-cooker to low and cook for 6-8 hours or heat on the stove-top for an hour or so. Serve with Cheese and Tortilla Chips!

Potato and Egg Breakfast Quesadilla

Continuing forward with the newly discovered and loved breakfast trend of 519 Galma, we recently enjoyed half a week of starting the day off with a Quesadilla, how can you go wrong with a Quesadilla beginning? You can't, that's how.

This was quite simple and I'll therefore skip offering exact amounts and such, I'll simply tell you that in my kitchen, the way these panned out was by washing and chopping enough potatoes to fill a pan. Before filling the pan however, I heated up some oil, then threw in the potatoes and covered with a lid, frying them up and softening their insides simultaneously. When they started to brown and were fully cooked through I added a splash more of oil, one chopped onion and some green chilies. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Once this was cooked satisfactorily, I  removed it from the pan and split evenly amongst my tortillas (some had gotten a bit moldy, so I had only 5 tortillas to fill). Next, I whisked together about 8 eggs, a bit of milk, salt and pepper and some fresh parsley, scrambled it up and distributed evenly amongst the tortillas. Sprinkle on some cheese and fold them over, cover them up and place them in the fridge until the following mornings when I would heat up the skillet, throw a couple cold quesadillas on cook for about 5 minutes on each side, flip and repeat and finally enjoy for breakfast - super simple. You probably had it figured out just from reading the title of the post ^^

Sweet Potato, Onion and Mushrooms in Balsamic Vinegar with Pasta

This is truly, simply one of those recipes that comes out of nothing except necessity to rid the refridgerator of foodstuffs before a weeklong vacation to a nearby foreign land.

Ingredients/Directions:

Peel and chop 3-5 sweet potatoes and begin frying in a heated skillet with a touch of olive oil. (I've recently discovered that covering the skillet a) speeds up the process, obviously and b) results in perfect cooked and crisped potatoes...maybe everyone else in the culinary world knows this, if not, try it out). Meanwhile bring to boil sufficient water for a cup or so of dry pasta. (Try out this Kitchen Trick so you don't have to focus to heavily on that boiling pot.) Next, chop up an onion and a cup or two of mushrooms. Add onion to the potatoes and saute until translucent then add a Tbsp. or two of butter and the mushrooms and saute. Once the pasta is nearly finished and each veggie is cooked as desired throw in a 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and simmer for a couple minutes before throwing the pasta and the veggies together in a bowl with additional olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper - each to taste. Enjoy with friends and if feeling particularly hungry feel no shame in going to pick up a pizza or calling on in for delivery.

Black and White Chili

I've been talking up White Chicken Chili to a Korean friend of mine here.  She then told me it was necessary I make this dish for her. And because she's a true gem, she kept on me and when I finally invited her over she decided to invite a couple of her friends that I'd been wanting to meet.

(I realize this may seem obnoxious to some folks, but truly, I love her for her boldness in these matters. I also love having my home filled with new people. AND considering the fantastic friend that she is, I'm always eager to meet those whom she describes with affection and joy, so I was thrilled to have more than a couple mouths to feed.)

But, here's the other part of that story. I only have one of two bags of white beans left in my kitchen and I didn't buy them in South Korea, nor can I buy them in South Korea, so I brought them from the states. And I'm a little selfish with these sorts of things. Black beans however, are available in Korea. So, I opted for a Black and White chili which was just as satisfying to my friend and prevented me the sadness of using up a treasured food item, heaven forbid.

Ingredients/Directions:
Inspired by this post at Black Girl Chef's Whites

In a large stockpot heat about 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil.  Add to heated oil 1 Onion, chopped, saute 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, mince 3-5 Garlic Cloves and chop 2-3 large Mushrooms (between 1-2 cups), add to sauteing onions and oil (I also like to add 1-2 Tbsp. Butter anytime I cook with Mushrooms, just a habit). Stir to coat additions in oil before adding 2 Tbsp. Chili Powder, 1 tsp. Oregano (or basil if desparate), 1 tsp. Salt, and 1 tsp. Cumin - saute and heat until spices are aromatic.  Next add 3 cups of shredded or ground meat (I used 1 cup pre-cooked Chicken and 2 cups pre-cooked Pork) cook thoroughly if not pre-cooked. Add 2 cups Chicken Broth, 2 cups White Beans and 2 cups Black Beans and water if necessary for proper consistency.  Add seasonings as you see fit for your palate as well as a can of diced green chiles (or fresh roasted green chiles, I often roast a large batch, even a mix of peppers, throw them into a food processor with olive oil and garlic, spoon into ice cube trays and then use these to spice up my soups, but that's primarily because when I buy peppers in Korea I get a couple dozen for about a dollar...but never need that many at once) and a handful of fresh cilantro (or ice cubed, frozen cilantro pesto, another trick I've acqured thanks to Korea).

Serve this soup with grated cheddar cheese and a few corn bread muffins and you've got yourself a hearty, winter meal.

Roasted Cabbage and Onion Fried Rice

Doing an MAED online, having the ocassional exhausting day teaching kiddos or working with co-teachers, I have gained a knack for quick meals that use up random odds and ends from the vegetable drawer - this is not exception.

Chunk up some cabbage and onion, drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper roast in the oven at about 350 degrees (277 Celcius) for 15 minutes or so (mine got a little crispy and I LOVED it, so don't fret too much while it's in the oven). If you don't have day old rice, prepare some rice while veggies are cooking. With prepared rice and veggies ready just throw some olive oil in a skillet, whisk up a couple of eggs with some garlic and soy, throw it into the hot skillet and scramble, throw in the rice and additional soy sauce to taste - mix with the egg and serve with roasted veggies on the side. It may seem like a strange combination and it likely is (the lemon with the soy) but it served it's purpose well in my household and I wouldn't be ashamed to go there a second (or even third time).