Chicken Pot Pie (Paleo)

What?!  A Recipe?!  Kate gave up writing recipes, didn't she?  Well, I did.  But sometimes, you just stumble upon something so perfect and a recipe just appears.  Those times, it would simply be selfish not to share.  This time, it was pot pie.  I've been making pot pie fairly often since going paleo and I nailed the filling from the start.  It's perfectly creamy magic.  But, I've struggled finding the perfect paleo crust.

Another Week, Another Plan

I survived a week, y'all!  Actually, week 1 of my new meal planning went surprisingly well.  My fridge was full to bursting at the beginning, but by the end, I just had a few sets of leftovers that I've actually worked into this week's plan.  The prepped lunches and breakfasts made each morning move very smoothly.  Sometimes I was extra lazy at home and then packed up my breakfast to lug to the office too.

Dinner wasn't a perfect system.  I came home, we went for a swim, took a shower, then started prep and I pulled off some tasty meals.  But I still found myself wanting to plop on the couch after dinner rather than clean up the fresh mess I had made.  That part is simply going to come down to sheer willpower... and sometimes, I will be going to bed with a messy kitchen.  But hey, that's life. 

Motivational Hole and Meal Planning

I have a lot of passion for food.  Food is the main thing I am thinking about at all times.  Even when I am not hungry, I'm often daydreaming about what I will make and/or eat later when I am inevitably hungry again.  That passion, plus a love of cooking that developed when I began my whole foods lifestyle over two years ago, led me to begin this blog.

But unfortunately, I have discovered that the passion alone is not enough.  While I love to eat and often to cook, it is somewhat rare that I "create" or invent awesome new things to share.  So, once again, I've hit a long dry spell and abandoned this page. I really try not to look down on myself for my "failure" or for "giving up", but sometimes those feelings sneak in, that I will never be a real food blogger like some of the people I idolize and follow regularly, simply because I am too lazy and don't have enough willpower to put the work into creating.  

We all find ways to make ourselves feel small.  It's amazing the damage we can do to ourselves just by looking at our own lives versus another's.  But hey, its a work in progress.  I'm a work in progress. And that's ok.  You know what I'm gonna do?  Keep blogging.  

It feels awesome to think that someone is reading this and appreciating my words, and maybe even feeling inspired or enjoying the recipes I created.  But even if not one person glances at this, I need to write.  Even if I don't have a recipe to share, I still have words and experiences that could help someone.  And myself.  

So today, I'm going to tell you a little about what I HAVE been up to, rather than moping about what I HAVEN'T. The boy is in flight school for the army, which is why I am currently living in Alabama, and he started up classes again this week after a couple months' break.  During his break, I leaned on him a LOT for cooking and cleaning, because he had the time and I didn't have the energy or motivation (there's that word again).  His time has disintegrated to almost nothing as of today and I knew I needed to step up.  Last go around, I did ok, cooking dinners and trying to leave leftovers for lunches.  But, I felt disorganized and tired and, too often, there were either no leftovers, or Phil didn't want them, so he'd go for fast food and I'd scrounge for whatever.  So this was a slow death of a system.  

THIS TIME, I went in prepared.  I decided it was time to take on the time honored tradition of meal planning and prep. Dun dun dun.  I reached out to my awesome friends on TwoGrand (a social media food photo journaling app that is great for bonding with fellow health nuts and enjoying some good old food porn) for some suggestions on delicious prep food and went to work. This was my week one plan:

It went through a few modifications, but the idea was this: on Sunday, I'll prep a large, low carb, easy breakfast for me for the week (the boy doesn't eat breakfast and I've given up there), two lunches so we can alternate meals to reduce boredom and, each day, I'll cook dinner.  Everything is loosely or almost Whole30 friendly, because if I have good food ready to go, I'm less likely to cave to my cravings for naughty things, like the Urban Poser Dutch Baby I really wanted to make on Sunday (and frankly might make this weekend, if I'm still craving it).  Fridays are my cooking "day off" so the boy can get fast food for lunch and we'll probably go out for dinner.  Sundays will be a busy, big food prep day and then I only have to worry about making dinner, which makes life much less exhausting, when I'm not trying to make breakfast and lunch in the morning, plus dinner at night (BONUS: so much less dishes after dinner when there is nothing in the sink from the morning). 

So, yesterday was my first big food prep day.  I'm pretty damn proud of what I accomplished.  I made a batch of Mel Joulwan's Silky Gingered Zucchini Soup (which was ten times more amazing than I expected, I only wanted to use up old zucchini), and a large frittata made with a pound of homemade pork sausage (I like Gutsy By Nature's breakfast sausage), meatball marinara, 2 roasted spaghetti squash, mayo and lemonade.  Plus, I set Monday's tandoori chicken to marinating.  I didn't have to prep two lunches this time because we took a few things out of the freezer (it was too full, oops).  Still, busy day.

Suggestions to make everything easier:

Get soups and sauces that need to cook a while to bubbling ASAP, then ignore them.  

Find a baking temperature that works for all the things you are prepping.  My frittata and squash both baked at 375, so I threw them all in together.

Fridge Tetris

For marinara, it's much faster to start with a sauce you already like and add to it.  I used my favorite Classico tomato basil (DOES have sugar, so not ok for Whole30) and threw in plain tomato sauce and spices till it was doubled in quantity and extra delicious.

So what did I do?  First, I browned up my pork sausage, while sautéing the onions and chopping zucchini for soup.   Then I poured the sausage into the casserole pan to cool and started browning my meatballs (NOT very efficient, but I love pan cooked meatballs).  I got the zuke soup simmering and threw my sauce ingredients together to warm.  As I finished each batch of balls (three pounds of meatballs take a while), I threw them into the simmering sauce to finish cooking.  I topped my pork sausage with spinach and eggs and sent it into the fire, then split open and added the spaghetti squash to the oven also.  During any down time, I washed dishes.  SO MANY DISHES.

Once things finished, I started taking them out and trying to figure out how to tetris everything into my very full fridge.  This was the hardest part, but I think I did pretty darned good!

The last steps, when everything else was done, was mayo, lemonade and tandoori marinade, then I still had some serious evening chill time.  Not a bad day, huh?

Here's a tease of what I ate today:

"Tandoori" chicken with The Domestic Man's Aloo Gobi Matar

Cinnamon Carrot Soup (Paleo + AIP + Low-FODMAP + Whole30)

I eat a lot of carrots. It helps that I can get a 5lb organic bag at the store for 6 bucks. Plus, now that I am trying out being strict low-FODMAP AND low carb, my list of veggies has shrunk significantly. Carrots are a good compromise. They feel like a starchy vegetable, and are very versatile, as you may have noticed if you came to me from Instagram or TwoGrand and see carrots on my plate in some fashion many days. So, it makes sense that it was the ingredient I turned to when I was craving comfort food that met my current restrictions.

Don't forget your floor cleaner!

Browsing through some of my cookbooks, which I often do when needing inspiration (or gratuitous food porn), I saw a lot of soups made from starchy orange veggies. See where I'm going with this? 

Tada, carrot soup! I threw this together on a whim one night, knowing that cinnamon and carrots were a winning flavor combination.  Fortunately, with just a few, simple ingredients, it was easy to reproduce.  Cinnamon makes this soup extra warming and comforting, but so many flavors work with the sweetness of carrot. Try it with ginger or curry for something a little different. 

Cinnamon Carrot Soup (Paleo + AIP + Low-FODMAP + Whole30)

4 cups chopped carrots (or about 10 small-medium carrots... remember guys, I never deal in absolutes, so don't worry about this too much)
4 cups bone broth (I used beef, so if that works, anything will!)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or ghee
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt

Chop your carrots, don't worry about peeling them, especially if they are organic, and cover with the broth in a pot on the stove.

Bring to a boil, then walk away to watch tv and forget what you're doing until the carrots are almost mush (or, well, not really, just boil them until soft).

Using either an immersion blender if your carrots are really soft or a food processor, puree the carrots and broth until smooth.

Add olive oil, cinnamon and salt and blend well.

Adjust thickness by adding more broth if you wish a thinner soup and adjust seasonings to taste.  The cinnamon flavor will be light, but I like to leave it so and then garnish with extra cinnamon, so you still get the full flavor, without losing the vibrant orange color!

Serve hot or cold, with lots of cinnamon!

Happy eats!

Cavemanwich Sloppy Joes (Paleo + Whole30)

I don't know about you guys, but I grew up eating Sloppy Joes made with ground beef (or ground soy "meat" once my parents went vegetarian, eiw) mixed with a can o' Manwich on white sandwich buns and loving every messy bite.  It's funny how, even after you clean up your diet and eliminate all those artificial ingredients, you can still crave that exact comforting taste.

Turns out, you can still have those delicious, childhood flavors without all the high fructose corn syrup and fillers.  What?  Real food can be just as delicious as artificially flavored, engineered-to-be-addictive, laboratory food?  Yes.  I'll prove it.

I've added back nightshades in the last few weeks and, boy, did I miss them.  There are just some things that I cannot replicate... YET.  I plan to try. Believe me.  So, for now, I present you all the comforting flavors of your childhood in all their nightshade-y glory.  Though please, cross your fingers and toes that I'll have a follow up in a week or two of these same flavors WITHOUT all their nightshade-y glory.  Yes, I want AIP Manwich.  Cus I can... I hope.

Oh, and it's Whole30 friendly.  You're welcome.


Cavemanwich

1/2 tbsp cooking fat (I used bacon grease, but anything will work)
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 lb ground beef
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2-1 cup water
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp coconut aminos
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
more salt + pepper to taste
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (ACV) - optional

Melt your cooking fat in a sauté pan over medium high heat.
Once hot/melted, add your chopped onions and cook until translucent, approximately 3 minutes.
Add minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, another minute or until fragrant (mmm, garlicky goodness).
Crumble in your ground beef and cook until browned.
Add all remaining ingredients (starting with 1/2 cup water) and reduce heat to medium low and simmer until desired thickness is reached (15-30 minutes), stirring regularly.
Add more salt and any pepper to taste.
Serve over baked sweet potato, plantains, greens or even bread if you're feeling frisky.

Note: if your mix has reduced, but the flavor is still tomatoey, add additional water and continue to simmer.
Note 2: I leave the ACV as optional because, though it makes a more authentic taste, we actually like it best without.  Try it both ways or start without, taste after its cooked down for a bit, then add it and simmer some more if you feel it needs it.  Taste is so individual, isn't it?

I particularly liked it served over a baked sweet potato with a side of lemony baby kale.  Like childhood, but better.

Horseradish Beef Stew (Paleo + AIP)

I am a terrible blogger.  I don't sit down and go "I have to come up with something amazing today to share with people, especially since I haven't blogged in a week (or two, or three)", I just occasionally make something I love SO much that I have to share.  Sometimes that takes a month or two.  Sorry, guys.  But guess what?  This is one of those occasions.
Ah man, stew.  I bloody love stew.  I grew up with my mom making typical beef stew.  Ya know, chunks of beef and potatoes and carrots in a thick gravy made with flour.  So simple, yet so delicious. Then she went vegetarian... so no more beef stew.  And it's really hard to find a good stew.  You see all these "stews" with a thin broth base.  That's not stew.  That's soup.  Like how Manhattan Clam Chowder isn't chowder.  I'm from New England, I know these things.
I learned how to recreate my mom's stew last year using cornstarch to thicken, so I could share with my gluten free roommate.  But now, with corn off limits, I haven't had much luck getting the right thickness with arrowroot.  It just wouldn't cooperate.
So, imagine my joy when I made this beauty.  I didn't really set out to make a stew like I remembered.  I just wanted a tasty combination of beef and horseradish.  Instead, I got magical stew.  Have I said stew enough yet today? Stew.  Stew.  STEW.

Anyway.  Yes, there are lots of ingredients, but I promise.  It's easy.  So easy, a caveman could do it (see what I did there?  PALEO).

Why is my stove always dirty?

Horseradish Beef Stew

Ingredients:

2-3 lbs stew beef/chuck roast
2 tbsp cooking fat
1 red onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red wine (broth works too, but won't be as rich)
4 cups broth (I used chicken, but I bet beef is rich and amazing)
3 medium carrots
1 large sweet potato
1 cup green beans
3-5 tbsp prepared horseradish*
S&P

*aim for one with no additives except vinegar and salt.  I used Boar's Head

Note:  stew is amazingly flexible.  Don't worry about exactness of the ingredients.  I'm an "approximate" kind of cook anyway.  Don't even worry about cooking time.  You could probably tack on another hour before you add the green beans and it'll just get more tender and amazing.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 and move top rack down to bottom 1/3 of oven
If using chuck roast, chop into 1 inch cubes.  Apply lots of salt and pepper to beef (seriously, don't be stingy)
Heat fat in dutch oven to medium high
Brown meat in batches, remove to a bowl and set aside
Add chopped onion to dutch oven to soften, then add garlic for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant
Pour in cup of wine (or broth), stirring to get bits from the bottom
Simmer to reduce for 5 minutes
Add broth and bring to a boil
Add back beef, including any juice in the bowl, and cover
Place in oven for one hour
Meantime, chop carrots and sweet potato into small cubes, cut green beans into 1/3s
After hour, add carrots and sweets, cook for another hour (you can go longer, don't worry about over cooking), still covered
Finally, mix in green beans.  The sweet potatoes will be a falling apart mess.  THIS IS GOOD!  Let them do their thing as you stir.
Cover and put back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes, depending how soft or crunchy you like your beans.
Stir in horseradish to taste.  You can even leave it out and let individuals add to their bowls if you've got someone who dislikes horseradish (weirdos).  Add s&p to taste, but between the seasoning from the beef and the horseradish, you might be good to go.


The miracle of this stew is that 1.5 hours is way too long for those small chunks of sweet potato and they start falling apart and blending into the broth.  Boom.  Your broth is now gravy.  Now go forth and enjoy this deliciousness.

I usually add more horseradish.  Cus, yum.

Weekending and Squash Soup

Hey guess what? I successfully made my squash soup perfectly AND I measured everything. Huzzah! This has been a pretty damn good weekend. I got caught up on just about everything I needed to do, made some tasty food that'll last me for a few days before I need to cook again and I got some serious relaxing, TVing and reading done. I seriously don't remember the last time I had the time and attention span to get through a few hours of reading undisturbed. I even went for a run! *gasp* Well, more of a walk with a few spurts of jogging in between... Anyway, details. It was a good workout on a beautiful, sunny, semi warm (50ish degrees) day and my thighs definitely hurt because I am seriously out of shape. Oof. I think my last run was about 2 months ago. I've got to buy a set of weights to add in some strength training too. I can't expect to fully appreciate my Whole30  if I'm not exercising. No matter what you do, diet is only part of the health cycle, right?

Anyway, aside from my quite tasty (copious amounts of) chicken broth and squash soup, I also made some one pot spaghetti and meatballs today. Oh man, how awesome is that? Hey, don't judge, it's spaghetti squash. 

I can't take credit for this one, like the roast chicken, this one belongs to the gods of the internet. More specifically, I found this on PaleoPot. I didn't follow the recipe, just the idea. I threw in some canned crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, spices and grass fed meatballs flavored like Italian sausage and a spaghetti squash sliced in two and seeds removed. 5 hours on low and magic dinner!

So now I have to decide just what the heck to have for lunch tomorrow: chicken and gravy, spaghetti or squash soup? Maybe all three! Or maybe not...

Anyway, you should see this soup for yourself, eh?

Winter Squash Soup

4 cups winter squash

3 cups chicken/veg broth

1 cup coconut milk

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

salt to taste

Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and roast open side down at 375 for 30-50 minutes, depending on the type of squash (I've used hubbard, butternut and pumpkin) until soft. Hubbard is tough to cut, so prick it all over and roast for 10ish minutes whole before cutting in half. 

I call Hubbard squash Blue Meanies, partly because I love yelling "Blue Meanies!" and partly because these these are huge and dense. And blue. Duh. But it did make a darn tasty soup that rivaled my previous butternut soup. 

Scoop out the flesh from your cooked squash and add to a pot along with the chicken broth and spices. Mix ingredients well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for up to a half hour. 

Add coconut milk and continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes to reduce the liquid and allow the flavors to meld. 

Adjust seasoning to taste and blend liquid (an immersion blender works great or in batches in a full blender). 

Top with precooked protein or veggies if you want and serve. 

I opted for some leftover ground beef. Man, was this filling. I feel like I'm going to be making a lot of soup this winter. The warm and creamy is the definite combatant of carb cravings. Want pudding? Eat a sweet, creamy soup. Win. 

Beef and brussel stuffed carnival squash

Well, today certainly had its ups and downs. I woke feeling just a little bit of that "new things!" excitement, took all my before measurements and pictures and moseyed down to make breakfast and lunch. Success.  I roasted come carrots and chicken legs and scrambled a couple eggs with smoked salmon. I took my vitamins, got dressed and headed to work.

That's where the down part came in. I hoped to ride the new things high through the day, at least, before the inevitable bout of cravings and miserableness hit me on day two or three. Unfortunately, the headache I've been suffering at work hit immediately and harder than usual (this is another thing I'm hoping to fix, for sure). The first half of this week was pretty rough, emotionally and I'm still regaining control. I was just enough distracted still to not accomplish much today. On top of that, I realized that I didn't check the ingredients in my vitamins before taking them this morning. Turns out, one of them has rice flour AND soy lecithin. Sigh. So now I have to decide if I am starting day one again tomorrow without the lawbreaking vitamins or if I continue taking them as a daily cheat... Hmm. 

But hey, upside! I made a super tasty and simple dinner tonight! Wanna see it?

Beef and brussel stuffed carnival squash

Ingredients

1 carnival squash

1/2 lb ground beef

2 cups Brussels sprouts

S&P 

Preheat oven to 400, cut squash in half and scrape out seeds (save them for roasting!). Place cut side down in a pan and bake for 30-45 minutes, until soft. 

Remove the hard nobs at the end of the Brussels sprouts and slice in half. 

Crumble and brown the beef in a pan. If using grass fed beef, reserve the fat in the pan and remove the meat to a bowl (if using regular beef though, drain the fat and add your own cooking fat to the pan).

Add the sprouts to the fat and cook until easily pierced with a fork. Add back the browned meat and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Fill the hollow in the center of each squash half with beef and sprout mixture. 

Scoop out forkfuls of delicious!

Slow cooker chocolate chili

Man, it's been a long day... Week... Month... Whatever. Preparing tasty food energizes me. There are lots of things that I'd never cooked before 6 months ago. Chili was one of those things. It always just seemed so scary and complicated. Not to mention I loathe cutting onions. Like, really. Eventually, I realized that onions are a necessary (delicious) evil. I'd still rather not cut them and am pretty good at wheedling someone else to do it for me (hint: bribe 'em with chocolate), but it has opened many doors for food. Like chili. 

I started researching chili and discovered, it's really not so hard. Meat, tomatoes, onions and spices and cook forever! Still, making really good chili is less easy. My first attempt was meh...this time... I think I fixed all the issues. Now, I didn't want the regular, most common chili flavor and I found a lot of recipes for chocolate chili in my searches. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Chocolate AND chili? Yes please. 

Wanna see what I came up with?

Bam. Bowl of delicious. Oh, and it's Paleo. 

Slow Cooker Chocolate Chili

1 large vidalia onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 pounds ground beef

1 teaspoon oregano

1-2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons ground cumin

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons chili flakes for some BURN

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon salt

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add ground beef, crumbling and stirring into the pan to brown.

Drain some of the fat from the ground beef and add contents of pan into your crock pot, then toss in your diced onions, garlic and spices, mixing well.

Add canned tomatoes.  Stir well and turn crock pot on low.  Let sit covered for 8-9 hours.  Perfect to leave for the work day!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Fair warning: I'm currently OBSESSED with butternut squash. So, you're going to be hearing a lot about it. 

Particularly since I bought 4 of them last week. Also an acorn squash, just cus. 

That's a damn lot of squish. Ya know what? I'm gonna eat it ALL. Well, most of it, I'll share some...

I finally got to make the lasagna I've been dying for since early summer. Guess. What?! It was delicious!

This is a pretty simple and very tasty option. Wanna know how I did it? Of course you do!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients

1 butternut squash

2 lbs ground beef, turkey or sausage

2-3 cups marinara sauce (from a jar or homemade!)

Optional: mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400, brown meat in a skillet (we used ground beef and added spices to make it taste like sausage. Hint: the key is FENNEL), drain and set aside. 

Peel and slice squash into planks or medallions about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. I had a large squash and only used the neck to make medallions (with my trusty mandoline!) I reserved the peeled and seeded bulb for other tasty uses. 

Time to start layering! Spoon a layer of marinara onto the bottom of your casserole dish (as thick or thin as you like, I love LOTS of sauce. This will prevent your squish from sticking. Lay out your squash planks or medallions, let them overlap if you went on the thinner side and leave them side by side if thicker. Add half the meat and then top with more marinara. Add some cheese if you're into that sorta thing. Continue layering until you run out of room or ingredients...

Make sure the top layer is marinara (or cheese over that). Place dish in the oven for 30-40 minutes. 

I took it out at 30 for slightly more firm squash. The sauce should be bubbly. Let sit for at least another 15 to allow sauce to thicken. This'll help it stay together and look very pretty once plated. :)

This makes for fantastic leftovers too, by the way. Once the flavors have had a day to meld together. Make extra!

Butternut Squash Personal Pizzas

I had a serious facepalm moment today. I've been pretty pumped to make some butternut squash lasagna since I heard about it a few months ago. It's finally butternut season! I nabbed a squish last night on sale and was happily thinking of how I was going to put it to use. Was it time to make lasagna? Or did I just want some squished squash as a versatile side? Hmm, delicious decisions. 

Anyway, the facepalm moment came when I was lurking my favorite food pages and surfing from recipe to recipe. You know those Wikipedia spirals that happen when you search an article and keep clicking links in each subsequent article until three hours later, you've gone from Tesla to toilet paper?  I have those with food and wellness articles and recipes. I was checking out a recipe I recalled seeing before for cauliflower tortillas (those WILL happen, and I promise to share every detail) and I stumbled upon a recipe posted on Empowered Sustenance for a butternut squash pizza crust. Insert dropped jaw here. 

Of course, I had to read about this. And guess what? It's so damned simple! I, who have been aching to try butternut squish lasagna for months, never thought about making personal size pizzas. *sigh* I love pizza and its certainly not easy to recreate in a Paleo fashion. I have made a cauliflower crust once before, but that was a damn complex process that I will share another time. This, butternut squash pizza, is the Paleo of English muffin comfort-food pizzas. I needed to experience this. I miss English muffin pizzas. 

But, it's alright. I quickly remedied this sad fact. I like this BETTER than English muffins. Why? The English muffin never lent anything to the pizza, it was simply the means of holding the toppings in place so silly things like forks became unnecessary. The squish (yes, I'm doing that on purpose, by the way) in this method is tender inside and crunchy on the outside and sweet all the way through. Topped with whatever you darn well please is a recipe for delicious success. Here's how to replicate it:

Butternut Squash Mini Pizzas

1 large butternut squash

1-2 tbsp olive or coconut oil or ghee (clarified butter)

Pinch of salt

Toppings of choice (marinara, precooked meat and veggies, cheese if you're into that sorta thing)

A squash with a wider stem area is best for this purpose. The bulb area, as it's hollow, will not be useful for pizza. 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. 

Peel your squash and slice it into approximately 1/4 inch thick medallions. I put my mandoline to work here.

Place your medallions onto a Parchment paper lined baking sheet and brush both sides lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt. 

The rest of the butternut can be baked right along with your medallions for other nomming purposes. 

Baked for 15-20 minutes, flip slices over and continue baking for another 15-20. The bulb of the squish will need another 10-20. 

Top your beautifully crispy squish slices with your choice of tasties. I used some marinara and precooked sausage leftovers that were kicking around in my fridge. 

Broil for a few minutes to heat your toppings (and melt your cheese if using). 

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Happy eats!

Slow cooker curried drumsticks

Wow, I guess fall decided to show with a vengeance this week. Days still average a beautiful, sunny 75, but nights and mornings are supremely chilly. I take offense, official summer must have at least a week left. I'm not ready to be cold. *sigh*

Oh, well. I guess it's very good timing for me to have gotten a sudden urge to use my beloved Crock Pot for pretty much everything. Yesterday was a vineyard hopping day. 4 vineyards and back home in 5 hours. I was rather impressed with how many we did (and of course impressed with how delicious they all were! Three words guys: chocolate raspberry wine. It tasted like a liquified chocolate raspberry. I was floored. Anyway, being out of the house for 5 hours in the afternoon made it a perfect slow cooker chicken day. I've learned from much research that chicken should not be cooked for longer than 4-5 hours or it may start to get tough.  So we tossed everything in the pot and raced out the door to be back in time! ...We still took more like 5 and a half, but it was quite tasty... :)

I was feeling curry and it was the simplest thing to put together that we couldn't resist. 

Slow Cooker Curried Drumsticks

10 chicken drumsticks

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 large Vidalia onion

3 tbsp curry powder

2 bay leaves

5 cloves garlic, minced

Cayenne pepper

S&P

Pull the skins off your drumsticks and chop the onion into wedges. 

Right in the bowl of your crockpot: mix coconut milk, curry powder, garlic and bay leaves. Add cayenne and S&P to taste. Once you're satisfied with the flavor, mix in your onions and drumsticks. 

Mix thoroughly, ensuring drumsticks are fully coated in the sauce. It might be easier to mix the sauce in another bowl and pour it over the onions and drumsticks, but I was going for as few dirty dishes as possible. 

Mmm, that's ready to go!  Set it to low and walk away for 4-5 hours. 

Mine was accidentally left for 5 and a half and it was falling off the bone. So it depends on what your going for. 4 will leave it tender, but still able to eat on the bone, 5 means it might be forkable. 

Liiiiiike that. Mmm, serve over sautéed vegetables, cauliflower rice or regular rice if you're into that sorta thing.