Quinoa and Chicken Chili

I think this may be my favorite chili I've ever made. Not least because there is basically no prep; minimal chopping, just mix everything in the slow cooker and you come home to a hot, healthy, deliciously filling meal. Fantastic.

I hate it when chili is too watery. Watery chili is up there with slow drivers, one-upping moms, and workplace butt-kissers in my book of Things That Annoy Me. This chili came out the perfect consistency. Plus it makes lots for leftover lunches, which is even more of a bonus lately when I can't just throw together a sandwich (for lack of gluten-free bread, which I hope to rectify when I do grocery shopping tomorrow).

Speaking of gluten-free. I am so stoked for Easter brunch on Sunday. It's going to be a dairy and gluten fest. Then I'll go back to being good. I cannot pass on Easter brunch with dishes like egg and sausage pie, cheesy bread pudding, that I've been eating every Easter for my ENTIRE LIFE. Clearly.

You know what else would be good with this chili, assuming you are good with gluten and dairy? Biscuits. Always a good idea with chili. Oh, I happen to have posted a recipe for Best Drop Biscuits a while back. You're welcome.

QUINOA AND CHICKEN CHILI

Serves 8

Adapted from Everyday Reading

Use less salt if you are not using no-salt added canned goods.

• 1 540-mL can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 540-mL can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 796-mL can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• optional toppings: chopped cilantro, diced avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream

Mix all ingredients up before chicken together in the crock of the slow cooker. Nestle chicken in the middle, ensuring chicken is submerged in liquid. Cook on low 6 to 9 hours. Shred chicken into chili prior to serving. Serve with desired toppings.

Sweet Potato and Leek Soup with Epic Bacon Sandwich

In spite of my recent slow cooker fails, I decided to give it another go today. Tyler was seriously considering banning me from the appliance. Much as I banned him from the power drill years ago- I'm the only one who gets to use sweet power tools in our house. I think I am redeemed with this recipe. In fact, we may have both redeemed ourselves today. I made a kick-ass soup, he fixed the microwave by flicking the breaker back on (baby steps people, baby steps).

One Year Ago: Chocolate Pudding 

Two Years Ago: French Chocolate Cake, Roasted Flour Shortbread

Three Years Ago: Potato Prosciutto Camembert Pizza and Farfalle with Tomato Mushroom Sauce, Chorizo Leek Squash Bread Pudding

Four Years Ago: Lemon Aioli, Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, Best Drop Biscuits

SWEET POTATO AND LEEK SOUP

Serves 6

Adapted from My Invisible Crown

• 5 small or 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 large leek, cleaned well and green end removed, chopped roughly
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup half and half

Mix all ingredients except half and half. Turn slow cooker to low for 4 to 6 hours. Puree using an immersion blender right in the crock pot or transfer (carefully!) to a blender. Mix in half and half. Serve with a little freshly ground pepper on top.

EPIC BACON SANDWICH

A friend introduced me to this sandwich on the weekend. If you can find cheese bagels it's extra epic, but still pretty good with regular bagels too. 

• bagel, halved and toasted
• herb and garlic cream cheese
• 3 slices cooked bacon

Spread cream cheese on both sides of bagel. Top with bacon and sandwich together. Easy peasy.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs

Dang, it got cold out quick, didn't it? I've used the slow cooker 3 times in the last week. Two of which were fails. One night last week I was going to try a whole chicken with root vegetables in the slow cooker. The darn thing didn't turn on and raw chicken sat on the counter. All. Day. That went in the garbage (after a Facebook poll. I wanted to be sure before I threw it away. The poor chicken gave it's life for nothing!).

The next day I threw some marinated chicken thighs I'd stashed in the freezer into the Crockpot as I rushed out the door. The key to the slow cooker is it traps all the moisture to braise and stew all day. This does not happen if you leave the lid off a crack. What happens then is all the moisture evaporates and you have to chip marinade-turned-charcoal off the bottom of the pot. Super fun. 

Of course, being me, I didn't order pizza for dinner. I made spinach gnocchi. From scratch. Because I am a crazy person.

Finally, last night, Crockpot success! I'll admit, this is not a typical Four Seasons Kitchen meal with jarred sauce and frozen meatballs. Hey, I'm not above a little help from Mr Ragu once in a while. I figured this would be super quick and easy for Tyler to make while I was at work. Turned out amazing, healthy, and dead easy.

SLOW COOKER SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH MEATBALLS 

Serves 4

Adapted from Paleo Pot via Pinterest

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 jar tomato sauce, thinned with a bit of water if your brand is really thick
• 1/2 box frozen meatballs (I used PC Blue Menu Chicken Meatballs. Yum)
• handful fresh basil, finely chopped
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Cut your squash in half across the diameter (i.e. not lengthwise). Scoop out seeds and pulp. Save the seeds to roast as you would pumpkin seeds if you wish.

Pour sauce into slow cooker. Place squash in slow cooker cut side down. Spread meatballs around squash in the sauce. Cook on low about 6 hours.

To serve, remove squash from slow cooker using tongs. Hold with tongs and scrape squash out of skin with a fork. Mix basil into sauce, ladle sauce and meatballs over squash. Serve with Parmesan.

One Pot Pasta

I mentioned this recipe in my last Bookmarked post. I have made this twice now, once last week and again this week with some variations. I'm sorry to say, Martha Stewart, but your recipe was not perfect. I tweaked it and made it better, if I do say so myself.

As I noted in Bookmarked, this recipe caught my attention because everything is cooked together in one pan. And I mean everything. You measure the water the pasta will cook in and throw everything else into it- dry pasta, onions, tomatoes, etc. Once the pasta is cooked all the water should be absorbed and you're left with a sauce coating the pasta. This makes total sense when you think about it. We are always told to keep some of the pasta cooking water for the sauce because it's all nice and starchy from cooking the pasta. Well in this case, you're keeping all of the starch in the pan. However...

I had way too much water left the first time I made this which made for a thin, watery sauce. Now, this may not be The Queen of the Kitchen's fault. I used a different type of pasta and converted the measurement to metric...and then guessed at 340g of penne. I added some butter to try and thicken the sauce some but it was still too thin. The addition of the butter, however, makes a big difference in the resulting dish. Usually you would cook onions, garlic, etc in butter or oil for a sauce. Since everything is boiled in water together, there is no added fat. Which turns out fine but the butter adds some needed richness and rounds out the flavor. A little butter never killed anyone (unless you're this guy).

I was telling my friend at work about this recipe the first time I made it and some changes I would make next time. She asked if I used canned tomatoes or fresh. I had used quartered cherry tomatoes the first time around. I thought that canned tomatoes may throw off the recipe as they are more watery, even if they were drained. BUT. Inspiration struck. I don't remember if it was me or my co-worker who came up with the idea to use the drained tomato juice as some of the cooking liquid, but this worked perfectly.

Yes. We have succeeded in making a genius recipe even more genius (cue evil-genius laugh).

ONE POT PASTA

Adapted from Martha Stewart via Lottie + Doof

Serves 4

• 450 g box penne rigate
• 796 mL can no salt added whole tomatoes (according to Shelf Life taste tests the best brand is Italpasta for fresh tomato flavour)
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• pinch red pepper flakes
• small handful fresh basil, coarsely torn
• 2 tbsp butter
• freshly ground black pepper and lots of fresh Parmesan cheese, for serving

Strain the can of tomatoes into a colander set over a large measuring cup to catch the liquid. Press on tomatoes while they are in the colander to break them up and get more liquid out of them. Add water to tomato juice to equal 4 cups of liquid.

Chop tomatoes or squish between your fingers with clean hands (I like to use my hands- when else do we get sensory play like this as adults?) Stir together all ingredients except butter, pepper and cheese in a large pot. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Reduce heat to medium-high to keep at a low boil, stirring often until pasta is cooked to al dente. Stir in butter. Serve with cheese and pepper.

Healthy Lunch: Quinoa Salad

Everybody gets on the healthy bandwagon in January, don't they? I am no exception. For two weeks in December I have this mentality that I have to eat every unhealthy thing in sight. I'm looking at you, bake sale at work. I spent $15 in one day on baked goods. And ate them all. Yikes. It also didn't help that it was cold enough that I didn't want to run outside (I draw the line below minus 5 Celsius) so therefore I gave up on fitness for the last couple weeks of December as well. Holy Hell, did I feel gross come January 1 (and not just because of the NYE champagne).

Usually I don't want salads in the winter. This salad however, with it's lack of lettuce, hits the mark. Plus, I don't have to get up from my desk to go upstairs to the lunch room to warm it up. Which I realize is counter-healthy resolution month but I'm just being honest here.

QUINOA SALAD

An Amy Original

Serves 1

• 1/3 cup quinoa
• chopped vegetables- I've done cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli or shredded carrot, tomatoes, roasted peppers, etc. Use what you have.
• 2 tbsp reduced fat Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• balsamic vinaigrette, store-bought or recipe below

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the quinoa and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender- 10-15 minutes. You can tell it's cooked by looking at it- the grains will expand and be opaque throughout. Drain and rinse under cold water if making salad right away.

Toss all ingredients together, adding as much balsamic dressing as desired. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

Makes multiple servings. 

This is one of my sorta-recipes. A guideline if you will. I like more vinegar than oil in my dressings, but you can easily change it to suit your tastes.

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• a squeeze of honey
• a dollop of Dijon mustard 
• 1/2 clover garlic, grated on a Microplane or chopped very finely
• salt and pepper

Add all ingredients to a mason jar or other container with a lid. Shake well. Store any unused portion in the fridge.

Meatball Stuffed Peppers

Life as gotten busy lately. I went back to work full time in June, but apparently I was living in some kind of fantasy land over the summer where life is rainbows and lollipops. Four Seasons Kitchen is now feeling the effects of my working full time plus being a mother and a wife.

The other thing that has affected the blogging frequency here is my husband is on a naturopath-perscribed food trial. No gluten and no dairy for a month. I have not been very enthused about dinner the last couple of weeks. I have found it pretty difficult to find recipes that contain no dairy or gluten. Most recipes are either/or. I looked at vegan recipes, but then you get crazy substitutes for eggs and such. Le sigh.

A friend at work lent me a gluten-free cookbook, Deliciously G-Free by Elizabeth Hasselback, which has helped with some dinner ideas. We think Tyler's problem is probably gluten, rather than dairy, so if that is the case I can make a lot more recipes from this book. Almost everything looks delicious, but there are a lot of recipes with dairy. Baking anything sweet from the book is pretty much out as all the recipes contain butter or other dairy. I think the poor guy has lost almost 10 pounds over the last few weeks.

This recipe for Meatball Stuffed Peppers is adapted from the book. It was great and I will make it again, whether we have to continue with gluten-free or not. I did, however, find the meat in the pepper a bit tough. Treating it more like a meatball by adding bread crumbs soaked in milk (or rice milk) next time will help. I am including that modification in the recipe below.

So, what the hell have we been eating for the last couple of weeks on this elimination diet? Here it is. Hopefully anybody else starting on a gluten free or dairy free diet (or the hell of both) will find this helpful! Let me know in the comments if you have any other delicious meal ideas please! I almost threw my computer across the room yesterday trying to come up with dinners for the upcoming week. I have problems with patience. Tyler calls it short aggression... ok moving on to the menus....

Week 1

White Bean Chicken Chili  
I never ended up making this, we ended up getting a roast chicken, wedges, and bean salad from the grocery store that night instead. The bean salad had barley in it though. Oops.

Spanish Rice Bake with Chorizo added to the recipe

Pasta Carbonnara with Broccoli  
We used rice pasta. I have since discovered that corn pasta is better. Not as mushy

Frittatta with Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers, and Kale  
This was a winner. Delicious.

Shepard's Pie  
Make your Shepards Pie (Cottage Pie if you're not Canadian) with cornstarch instead of flour for the gravy, and I made smashed potatoes to go on top instead of mashed potatoes which you really need dairy for.

Week 2

Asian Slow Cooker Pork, Rice, Stir-Fried Broccoli

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi with Pasta  
I added some roasted vegetable tomato sauce as well

Quinoa and Kale Pilaf with Fried Egg  
This was a fail. Apparently I am the only one in the house who likes quinoa

Corn Griddle Cakes with Sausage and Maple Syrup  
OMG these are so good. I used a gluten-free baking flour I found at the grocery store and subbed rice milk for the buttermilk.

Burgers on Gluten Free Buns with Sweet Potato Fries

Week 3

Meatball Stuffed Peppers (recipe below)

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Saurkraut

Pasta with Meatballs and Roasted Vegetable Sauce

Pad Thai from Deliciously G-Free.
It wasn't great. The sauce was too thin. I found a recipe in Clean Eating magazine that looks better. I'll report back after I make that one.

Steak with Roasted Potatoes and Root Vegetables



I realize there are only 5 meals per week listed above. We did eat, of course, on the other 2 days of the week. I just don't remember what we ate.

MEATBALL STUFFED PEPPERS WITH POLENTA
Adapted from Deliciously G-Free

Serves 4

Note: If you eat dairy, some goat cheese stirred into the polenta when it's finished cooking is out of this world.

• 2 handfuls baby spinach
• 1/4 lb lean ground pork
• 1/4 lb lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup gluten free breadcrumbs (pulse a slice of gluten free bread in a food processor to make bread crumbs)
• 1/4 cup milk or plain dairy substitute (rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, etc)
• 1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped (the Slap Chop works great for this)
• 2 tsp each salt and pepper, divided
• 2 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes (I used a can of diced tomatoes originally and I found them too chunky)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• fresh parsley or basil, chopped to garnish

Polenta:

• 1/2 cup coarse cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt and pepper

Heat a large skillet over med-high heat. Add spinach and 1 tbsp water. Cook until wilted, 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from skillet and set aside until cool enough to chop. Keep heat on skillet.

Add olive oil and garlic to skillet. Cook 30 seconds or less- don't let garlic brown. Add tomato paste, cook 30 seconds. Add tomatoes reduce heat to medium to medium low- you just want the tomato sauce to simmer, not boil.

Place bread crumbs in a smalll bowl. Add milk and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Cut peppers in half lengthwise (stem to bottom). Remove stem, seeds, and any white membrane from each half. Season the inside of each with salt and pepper.

Chop spinach and add to a large bowl. To spinach, add pork, beef, mushrooms, bread crumb mixture, and 1 tsp each salt and pepper. Squish and mix with your hands until well combined.  Divide mixture equally between pepper halves.

Add peppers to skillet, cut side up, nestling them into the sauce. Cook, partially covered and keeping at a simmer, 40-50 minutes ensuring meat is cooked through.

10 minutes before peppers are done, bring water for polenta to a boil in a sauce pot. Very slowly pour in polenta, stirring with a whisk the whole time to avoid lumps. Add salt and pepper. Cover and turn heat down to low. Cook, whisking occasionally, until polenta is cooked (taste it- it shouldn't be hard or gritty) and water is all absorbed. If water is absorbed and polenta is too stiff before it's cooked add a little more water and whisk gently. Polenta should be thick but pourable.

To serve put some polenta in the middle of a plate or shallow pasta bowl and top with 1 half pepper per person with some sauce and fresh parsley or basil sprinkled over top.

Empanada Gallega

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since last month's Daring Bakers challenge. I've been back to work full time for almost 4 months now and I guess I'm still trying to work out a routine for cooking, photographing my cooking, and writing about it. Plus, in solidarity for working mothers every where, I have been cooking really quick and easy things lately. Think (frozen) chicken fingers with sweet potatoes fries and frozen peas and corn. Thank goodness for Daring Bakers challenges, actually. Otherwise I wouldn't have made anything interesting in the last couple of months.

Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished! The recipe included in the challenge was savory, but some Bakers made sweet ones. Some eager beavers made savory and sweet Empanadas. I'm jealous. 

I actually didn't have a plan for the filling of the Empanada but it turned out absolutely delicious with leftover bits and bites I had in the fridge. We'd had a party with family for Parker's 2nd birthday (two already! I have a separate, belated, post about his birthday coming soon) where we did make-your-own pizza. I had some pepperoni, roasted peppers, pesto, tomato sauce, feta cheese, and chicken in the fridge and these ingredients made a great Empanada. It was kinda like a giant Calzone. Delish.

One Year Ago: Tomato Recipe Roundup with Tomato Pesto Flatbread Recipe

+ Cacio e Pepe Pasta

+  Jerk Honey Garlic Hot Wings

+ Baby Food Part 1: Purees

+ Baby Food Part 2: Textures

+ Breaded Pork Chops with Creamy Orzo

Two Years Ago: Freezer Meals 

+ Mexican Pizza 

+ Vanilla Iced Coffee  

+  Ham, Swiss and Asparagus Crepes

EMPANADA GALLEGA RECIPE via Daring Kitchen

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Creamy Vegetable Soup with Cheese Quesedilla

I hate creamed corn*, yet I now have created two recipes that contain this vile sludge and they are some of my favourite dishes. I had a half a can of creamed corn languishing in the fridge because it is the secret ingredient in my cornbread recipe (another post for another day). The cornbread only takes half the can, so what to do with the rest? Usually I just throw it out right away, but I saved it this time because I figured I'd make more cornbread. Obviously I didn't make the cornbread but I'm glad I saved it, because it lead to the discovery that pureed creamed corn will make soup creamy without adding any cream, and add a pleasant corny flavor.

This is a clean out the fridge soup. You can use pretty much any vegetable in this soup that is lurking in your fridge. I had broccoli stalks- I save the stalks for soup when I use the florets for something else, half a can of tomatoes, and a leek. You can puree the soup with an immersion blender rather than a regular blender, but it won't get as smooth, especially if you have included something fibrous like broccoli. If you want your soup really smooth you can run it through a sieve, but that's too much work for me.

*I attribute this to one of two things: my brother, who loves vinegar, would always drown his creamed corn in vinegar when we were kids (I know, it's so weird and wrong), or because we always had creamed corn on fish sticks night (I hated fish sticks and haven't eaten them since I hit puberty).

One Year Ago: Nothing. Posts were pretty few and far between this time last year as I was in early pregnancy and could only stomach toast most of the time

CREAMY VEGETABLE SOUP

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 14 oz canned tomatoes- diced, whole, etc... whatever you have on hand
• 2 broccoli stalks, chopped
• 1 leek, light green and white parts only, cleaned well and chopped
• 200 ml creamed corn
• salt and pepper 
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Combine everything in a pot and bring to a boil- the milk may separate, but it's going to pureed in the end so that's ok. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender. Puree in a blender, half of the soup at a time. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Moroccan Chicken and Eggplant Dish

I don't really have a story behind this, or anything interesting to say about this dish really, except that it came about because I was planning on making this Moroccan Lemon Chicken on Friday but I realized I had used up all the lemons I had. Lemon being a pretty important part of that recipe, of course, I made up something entirely different but using the same spices as the lemon chicken recipe.

The nice thing with this as well it that it is a one pot meal. Well maybe it's technically two, as you need a baking sheet to roast the eggplant, but I always line my baking sheets with foil so that I don't have to wash them. Leftovers are really good as well- just make sure to cover the plate or dish you are warming it up in so that you don't end up with rice and tomato sauce on the roof of your microwave like I did.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN AND EGGPLANT WITH RICE

Serves 4

1 eggplant, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon pepper, or the rest of 1 lemon if you have it and increase the pepper when you season
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tomatoes, diced, or use some drained canned diced tomatoes if this is what you have on hand
1/2 cup black olives, chopped
1 14oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1/2 cup long grain rice
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a bowl, toss eggplant with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste*. Place eggplant in a single layer on foil lined baking sheet coated with cooking spay. Roast eggplant in middle of oven until golden brown- about 20 minutes- stirring eggplant halfway through cooking to ensure all sides are browning evenly.

Heat a large skillet with about 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until softened. Add spices, cook for 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes, olives, crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper to season, and water. Bring to a simmer. Stir in rice and add chicken pieces on top. Cover pan and cook until rice is cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Add roasted eggplant, stir to combine. Adjust seasoning and serve.

*I never measure salt and pepper unless I'm actually following a recipe. I seasoned the eggplant with 2 big pinches of kosher salt and maybe 8 grinds of pepper, so I don't know the measurements. Go with your gut, you can always adjust the seasoning later.

Freezer Meals

Here is my cure for waiting-for-baby boredom- clean things you normally wouldn't clean, rearrange cupboards, and cook lots of food to freeze for when you're too tired to cook after baby arrives. The first two are both cathartic and problematic. Problematic in that cleaning really dirty things- like the grates on your gas stove- takes elbow grease and now my back is sore(-er), and rearranging cupboards leads to daily conversations like this:

Tyler: Where is the {insert object here}?
Me: It's in the cupboard to the right of the stove
Tyler: Didn't it used to be in the cupboard to the left of the stove?
Me: Yes, but I moved it. It's better where it is now.
Tyler: Oh my God you're making me crazy.

As for the freezer situation, I had a whole list of things to make for the freezer but I had to stop short because we've run out of room. In both the deep freeze in the garage (it's just a small one!) and the regular freezer in the kitchen. If you want some back up meals- once in a while I'll spend a few hours on the weekend making something to freeze for later in the week- or you want to go on a cooking binge like me, below is what I've made. So far. I think if I eat the half carton of ice cream that's in there I'll have room for one more dish.

• Chicken and White Bean Chili from Blonde Designs
• Chicken Tetrazzini from Good Life Eats
• Slow Cooker Bolognese from America's Test Kitchen (I'll post the recipe another day- it's amazing)
• Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells 
• Shepard's Pie (I didn't use a recipe, I just browned some beef, threw in a bunch of veggies and some gravy I found in the back of the freezer, and topped with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese)
• Beef and Vegetable Empanadas

BEEF AND VEGETABLE EMPANADAS

Adapted from Food and Drink Magazine

Makes 8 to 10 empanadas, a dinner serving being 2 or 3 per person

- Empanadas are a hand pie from the Caribbean and South America. They can be eaten as a snack or a main with a salad on the side. The filling can be pretty much anything- I've included at the bottom a variation with black bean and sweet potato that I've made before and didn't fulfill my promise to share the recipe.

- Although the pastry below is delicious and pretty easy, I've seen recipes that call for store-bought pie dough (like Pilsbury) instead, if you prefer.

Pastry:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cake and pastry flour (or just use another 1/4 cup of regular flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cold egg
• 1/3 cup ice cold water
• 1 tbsp white vinegar

Filling:

• 1 pound simmering steak, such as outside round
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 cup beef broth
• 3/4 cup salsa (use mild or medium unless you're brave as hot salsa will cook down and be suicide hot)
• 1 medium leek, sliced in half, washed well, then sliced into half moons
• 1 large jalapeno, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed or still frozen
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Monterey Jack or white Cheddar cheese

Pastry:
Place flour, butter, butter, salt in a food processor and pulse a few times until butter is the size of peas. Mix egg, water, vinegar together in a small bowl, add all at once to flour mixture with motor running, process until dough just starts to come together. Turn dough out onto counter and gather into a ball. Divide in half and flatten each into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Filling:
Sear steak in 1 tbsp of oil in a pan over medium-high heat 3 minutes per side. Add broth and salsa, reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 1 hour partially covered, or until meat is tender and can be shredded with a fork. If, like me, you couldn't get the heat right and ended up boiling your steak or bought the wrong type of meat and therefore it won't shred, just chop it up really small and mix into sauce again.

Remove sauce and meat from pan into a bowl. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat, add leeks and jalapeno. Cook until softened but not browned. Add peas, cook until peas are heated through. Mix vegetables into meat and sauce. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Assembly:
Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut 6 to 7 inch circles (I used a dessert plate as a guide)*. Whisk egg lightly in a small bowl. Working with one circle at a time, brush 1-inch of edge with egg wash. Place 2 heaping tablespoons filling on one half.

Fold dough over to make a half moon. Press edges to seal, then starting at one corner fold bottom edge of dough over top to ensure a good seal. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (or with plastic wrap if you're going to freeze these). Repeat filling dough, roll the second half, and fill as well.

Brush tops of pastries with remaining egg wash. Top each with cheese. Using a paring knife, cut two steam vents in the top of each. Freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet until solid and then store in a freezer bag, or bake right away at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden. To cook frozen empanadas, bake from frozen but add about 10 minutes to cooking time.


*You're not really supposed to re-roll the scraps of dough after cutting the first time as it supposedly makes the dough tough and not as flaky, but I do reuse the scraps. I can't tell much of a difference and let's face it, you're not making these every day so you may as well make as many as you can, right?

FILLING FOR BLACK BEAN AND SWEET POTATO EMPANADAS

• 1 cooked sweet potato, peeled
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• salt and pepper 
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese, whizzed briefly in food processor

Crush beans with a potato masher, ensuring they still have some texture. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add jalapeno and garlic, saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add cumin and coriander, saute 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add sweet potato, lime juice, and hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cheese.

Slower Cooker Awesomeness

I saw a post last week on The Kitchn about using your slow cooker during the summer so as to not heat up the house by turning on the oven, and this made a lot of sense. I hardly ever use my slow cooker, but I'm going to try to use it more now that I have re-discovered it's awesomeness. When I walked in the door last night my house smelled delicious, plus dinner was cooked already except for putting some potatoes in the microwave! I couldn't speak throughout dinner except to say "oh my God this is so good".

The recipe accompanying the post was for pork carnitas which I was going to make but they didn't have pork shoulder, or any other suitable pork product, at the grocery store this week. They had beef brisket though. The butcher said they rarely have it, so if you can find brisket at your store pick some up. I wish I had bought two. It's that good. I had brisket sandwich once at a restaurant and it was really fatty, but this wasn't fatty at all- there wasn't even any fat on the top of the leftovers when we took them out of the fridge the next day.

To serve, I shredded the falling-apart-tender meat and we ate it on top of some mashed potatoes with the delicious sauce left in the slow cooker spooned over top. Heaven! I have had leftovers on a kaiser bun for lunch the last two days, and it's delicious this way too. The recipe is dead simple- I was able to throw it together in 10-15 minutes before leaving for work. Don't worry too much about the measurements, I eyeballed everything as I threw it in, it will turn out great. Plus, the cooking time is very forgiving- if you get caught up at work and it cooks for 10 hours, that's ok. The only change I would make, and I've included this below, is to add some chopped fresh parsley when serving.

PS We had peas and corn with it too, in case you were worried about the lack of vegetables in the photo.

SLOW COOKER BRISKET WITH ONIONS AND TOMATOES

Adapted from Epicurious

• beef brisket- I think mine was 2 to 3 lbs, but you can go bigger and don't have to change anything
• salt and pepper
• 2 small onions, sliced 
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 bottle beer- I used Moosehead Light because that's what Tyler had, but any beer will do
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
•  1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Trim any visible fat from the outside of the beef. Season with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides in a skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, put all other ingredients except parsley in the bottom of the slow cooker and stir to combine. Place beef in slow cooker, cover with lid, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Stir in parsley before serving.