Wednesday, January 13, 2010

a yummy resolution

This year, I've decided that Mike and I will break out the cookbooks each Sunday and choose a new recipe for the week. My roasted tomatillo salsa was such a revelation that now I'm inspired to try new techniques and taste new flavors more often.

I've also wanted to start experimenting with my slowcooker, for cooking things beyond chili and roast. I found a terrific website, A Year of Slowcooking, which began because of another woman's New Year resolution. The author tried one crock pot recipe per day for an entire year, blogged about it, and now has a cookbook that can be found at any major bookseller. (Isn't the internet great?)

Anyway, I tried slow cooker Orange Chicken yesterday and I have to say, it was excellent. I confess I tinkered slightly with her recipe (I can never resist) by adding a dash of garlic powder and about a half teaspoon of Chinese five spice powder to the sauce, some black pepper to the flour, and topping the dish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions before serving.

One word of warning, though - if you ever plan to make your own red chile pepper flakes in a food processor, be sure to put on a dust mask first. On the upside, though, my sinuses are remarkably clear today.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You little tinkererererer, you.

Mike W. said...

I've been thinking of tinkering with a recipe for stuffed mushrooms I've used before.

I'm thinking a dash of chili powder added to the cream cheese filling and grated habanero / jalapeno instead of cheddar.

And of course the best part is you put crumpled bacon on top. Excellent finger food for football games & such.

DaddyBear said...

Without our crockpot, we'd be eating a lot of takeout around here.

I had a similar experience trying to dry garlic in our food dehydrator. At 3 AM, we had to air the house out because the smell of garlic had reached riot gas levels. I normally love the smell of garlic, but not when it's making it hard to breathe. But you're right, it does wonders for clearing out your allergies for a day or so.

B said...

Use Mountain dew instead of orange juice.....

an even better flavor.

Anonymous said...

If it tastes as good as it sounds...

Jim

PPPP said...

You call that tinkering slightly?

NMM1AFan said...

Nifty, the 'rents gave me a crockpot for Christmas. Trying the pulled pork recipe tonight, in fact.

Old NFO said...

Heh- bet that DID clean out the sinuses... :-0 And yes, slow cookers are an invitation to experiment!

Lissa said...

I love that site. Dulce de leche, anyone?

Robert Langham said...

If you come up with anything that goes well on Cheerios, besides blueberries, I'd like to hear about it.

Scott McCray said...

Just finished the last of some crockpot pulled venison...yummy! Bookmarked her site - 10-Q...