Polar Vortex Stew: New England Beef and Barley Slow Cooker Stew

Winter is here and there's a polar vortex out there.  I run to and from track practice on Tuesdays.  So, it's late when I get home and I was going to be cold.

So I planned ahead and made crock pot stew.

2 lbs of beef stew meat in 1/2 - 1 inch cubes
3 medium potatoes - chopped
4 medium carrots - chopped
2 medium onions - chopped
1 cup pearled barley
7 cups of homemade veggie broth
1/2 glass of merlot
2 bottles of Wolaver's Organic Brown Ale
1 tbsp of sage
1 tbsp of thyme
1 tbsp of rosemary
1 clove of garlic crushed
salt
pepper

put everything in the crock pot
put on low for 8 hours
serve with marble rye

Brunch Bomb

For years I made my Brunch Bomb as a hangover recovery and later as a post long run meal.  But now as Urvi and I are eating healthier I have tried to change some things out.

Makes 1 Jesse Sized Brunch Bomb
1/2 large Idaho potato - cut in 6 slices
1 millet burger patty
2 eggs
1 oz Vegan "havarti"
salsa
2 tbsp greek yogurt
cajun seasoning

Preheat oven to 350.

Place potato slices in ovenware.  Cooking spray and cajun seasoning on each side.  Bake for 30 minutes.

After 15 minutes of baking in a pan fry two eggs and reheat millet patty in same pan.  remove from heat and place slices of harvarti on top of eggs and patty, cover to melt.

On plate stack: first potato slices then millet patty broken in three or four pieces, then eggs then salsa and yogurt.

BOOM! You got a brunch bomb.  Add a porter or stout and you have a good long run recovery meal.

Uzbek Plov

This is a recipe I've been working on for months and I think I have it down now.  My version of a Central Asian pilaf.

1.5 lb meat (I've used chicken, pork, beef and lamb)

1 pear - cored and sliced into 1/8ths

3 ribs celery - chopped

3 carrots - chopped

2 medium onions - chopped

2 cups of veggies - chopped (I buy whats in season and on sale so I've used zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, etc.)

2 hard boiled eggs - sliced into 1/4s

1/2 cup of brown rice

1/2 cup of quinoa

1/2 cup of millet

1/2 cup of amaranth

4 cups of veggie browth

2 tbsp sage

2 tbsp of thyme

2 tbsp turmeric

2 tbsp cumin

salt

pepper

- in large pilaf or paella pan brown the meat with the pear

- remove the pear and reserve

- add celery, carrots and onion to meat and stirfry

- add "veggies" and half of spices and continue stir fry

- Then top the stir fry with grains

- add veggie broth and remainder of spices spices 

- bring to a boil

- reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes

- put onto serving plate, top with egg and pear slices.

- I like to eat it with yogurt and siracha

Super Bowl Sloppy Joes

The great thing about Super Bowl parties is that you can just resign yourself to eating unhealthy for 4-6 (or 8 hours).

For this year's Super Bowl we gathered at friends' house in Chelmsford. While the game was disappointing (our beloved Patriots going down again), the party was not. From Island Kielbasa to Johnny's multiple flavors of wings to Korynn's fruit salsa, it was an awesome mix of delicious foods.

I love a good sloppy joe from time to time. (Fantastic makes a great vegetarian Sloppy Joe mix, btw). My entry this year was 4-meat Sloppy Joes. I based it off of a Rachel Ray recipe but added some fresh tomatoes, buffalo and veal, and apple cider. I would have liked to serve them on the Brazilian hot dog rolls, but the Porter Square Shaw's apparently doesn't have as many Brazilian customers as the Stop & Shop in my neighborhood.

Super Bowl Sloppy Joes

• 1 lb chorizo, casing removed, chopped
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 lb ground buffalo
• 1 lb ground veal
• 3 Tbsp Onion powder
• 5 cloves of grated garlic
• 2 Tbsp paprika
• 2 Tbsp roasted ground coriander
• 2 Tbsp Jamaican allspice
• Sea Salt
• Fresh ground Black and White Pepper
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1/8 cup Worcestershire Sauce
• 3 Tbsp lime juice
• 2 cups apple cider
• 1 15-oz. can of tomato sauce
• 5 tomatoes chopped

1. Brown chorizo in la little oil
2. Add pork, buffalo and veal – brown
3. Stir in spices and garlic
4. Add brown sugar, Worcester sauce and lime juice, cook 5 minutes on medium low
5. Add tomatoes, apple cider, and tomato sauce
6. Cover and turn down to low
7. Stew 20 Minutes

I needed to add about 4 tbsp of corn starch/water mix at the end to thicken the sauce.

Cream of Avocado Soup

Quick delicious soup. Serves two (if one of them is me) or three.

The amounts except for the Recaíto and the avocados are guesstimates.

Two Haas avocados, peeled, pitted and chopped

1/6 of a quart of plain Greek yogurt

Whole milk

Three cups of chicken broth

2 tablespoons of Goya Recaíto

3 oz Monterey Jack

Hot sauce

1. Heat broth with Recaíto to a boil
2. While that is happening, blend avocados and Greek yogurt in blender.
3. Add milk to blender in bits and blend, stir. Repeat until smooth but still thick.
4. Pour blender ingredients into boiling broth
5. Turn down to mid-low
6. Whisk until smooth
7. Shred in Jack and stir
8. Add hot sauce to taste (a like a lot of bite ~ others probably would like less)
9. Simmer on low until cheese is melted

I ate mine with a Narragansett porter. (A lighter beer might be wanted by people who aren't me).

Butternut Squash Polenta

I was walking through the grocery store and there was a sample guy with butternut squash and little bit of bread. He had spiced it with green onions and chicken broth.

Oddly, this gave me a totally different idea.

Butternut Squash Polenta

Butternut Squash
Cooking spray
Goya Sazon with Saffron
Garlic powder
Paprika
tofu
mushroom
Goya Sofrito
Water

Polenta
Cheese


I quickly sauteed the chopped, de-seeded squash then added water, garlic, paprika and sazon.

I allowed the squash to simmer in this soaking up the water.

In a separate pot I made up some cheesy polenta.

In the first pan I added tofu and mushrooms and some margarine. These sauteed and the squash turned to its paste.

Once these was all cooked and the squash was fully mashed, I added a few tablespoons of sofrito and water. I continued adding little bits of water until the sofrito and mashed squash had created a sauce. then I added the cheesy polenta and stirred.

There you go, butternut squash pasta sauce that wasn't too sweet with polenta.

Mexican Inspired Meal

As the first full meal served to multiple people in the new Deconstructionalist Kitchen, I made a Mexican Inspired multi course meal.

Soup

Gazpacho

Green

2 Avocado

2 Cucumber (seeded and peeled)

2 tbsp minced onion

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp vinegar

½ tsp salt

1 cup water

1 cup greek yogurt

1 tsp chili powder

Blend and chill

Red

2 lbs tomatoes peeled and seeded

2 red pepper peeled and seeded

1 cucumber peeled and seeded

½ cup olive oil

4 tbsp vinegar

½ onion

1 clove garlic

-blend

-chill

Appetizer

Quesadillas

Green

Avocado

Brie

Recaito

Spinach Wrap

Red

Tomato

Cheddar

Sofrito

Tomato Wrap

Intermezzo

Spicy Mango Margarita

6 oz tequila

4 oz mango liqeur

6 oz tangerine juice

½ oz tobbasco

Ice

Rim with salt and chili powder

Fruit Kabob

cherry

Mango

Guava

Pineapple

Kiwi

Main Course

Peppers

Roast Red and Green pepper

Serve with Chili Lime Dipping sauce

3 Tablespoons of sriracha

½ cup lime juice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp ginger

Tacos

Margarita Scallops

1 lb. scallops

½ cup tequila

½ cup lime juice

½ cup lemon juice

½ sugar

2 red medium chilis

Cilantro

Salt

Pepper

1 orange

Blend everything but scallops

Marinate 1 hr.

Pork Al Pastor

1 lb Pork (whatevers on sale)

1 Pinepple

1 Mango

1 red onion

1 red medium chili

1 green chili

Cumin

Garlic

Lemon zest

Marinate over night

Desert

Bananas Foster

• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ cup banana liqueur
• 4 bananas, cut in half
  lengthwise, then halved
• ¼ cup dark rum

- Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in skillet.

- Place the pan over low heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

- Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan.

- When Banana sections begin to soften and brown, add rum.

- Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot.

- Set afire.

- Serve with Frozen Funky Monkey

Frozen Funky Monkey

2 cups coconut milk

5 oz rum

5 oz crème d’ Banana

4 oz crème d’ cacao

Ice

- Blend