Gluten Free Slow Cooker Pancake Cake

I had mentioned I found a Gluten Free slow cooker recipe on Facebook, and after a few requests for this recipe from friends, I thought I would dive back into sharing recipes on my long lost recipe blog!  I've been so busy I forgot it was here! 

So, without further ado, here is the recipe, found via Stephanie O'Dea's Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking for the Kindle:

1 16 oz. package Gluten Free Pancake Mix (I used Maple Grove Pancake and Waffle Mix found at Walmart) 

Eggs
Milk
Oil

Simply follow directions on the back of the Pancake Mix box, they have the measurements should you decide to use the whole box, or less, and mix everything together.

Take your slow cooker and be sure to either coat with cooking spray or brush on your choice of oil, so as to help the pancake not stick (I didn't put enough, by the way).

Pour the mixed contents of the pancake mix into the slow cooker, put on high heat, cover, and let it do it's thang! The aroma that fills the house is heavenly-it smells like a cakery! I actually only cooked it for 1 1/2 hours, not the 2 hours suggested in the cook book, so I suggest start monitoring and testing for done-ness at the 1 hour 15 minute range.  I stuck a knife into it and it came out clean-done to me!

I let it sit for a bit, and realized I didn't put enough oil into the pot so it stuck a little bit. I went around the pot with a knife to free the cake from sticking to the sides.  I cut the pieces right there as the bottom was stuck and it wouldn't budge.  Once pieces cut I was then able to go in with a spatula to remove them.  

So now you have a pancake cake! Serve it up warm and drizzle some syrup (Gluten Free of course!)...this might not last long in your home, and would be perfect for the holidays, or any old day.  Don't get me wrong, I'll still make pancakes the regular ol' way, but this is a great way to do something different with the breakfast treat.  

I can't wait to try more of this slow cooker Gluten Free cooking! 

Bon appetit! 

Asian Style Pulled Pork

Yum!! This dish is amazing, and pairs beautifully with the Asian Style "Fried Rice" recipe below. I love morphing things from one dish to another, and this dish was born when my huasband and I were sent home after my parents' 4th of July bar-b-que with unsauced bar-b-qued boneless pork ribs. This dish also made a lot, enough to freeze and have as a whole meal again, so quantities will vary. Hopefully idea is understood.

Ingredients:

Pork tenderloin/pork boneless ribs

2 cups broccoli florets (if you desire more that is fine, they sop up the juices really well)

Halibut a la sauce beurre blanc & pureed garlic young potatoes.

Bit of a warning note, this is not friendly on the waist, hips, scale, but every now and then it is ok to indulge into deliciousness, which is better when it comes from your own soul and kitchen, rather than a pricey restaurant.

Now that I've given the warning, I'll go into this dish. Again, it is a crock pot creation. I was inspired by this dish, and still loving our new crock pot, and how it doesn't make the kitchen hot, I dove into this recipe. The smells wafting in our kitchen, and traveling up to the 3rd floor were divine! How can one go wrong with butter, wine, and fish? This recipe is not entirely complicated, letting the crock pot do the slaving while you laze around or do other things in your home, but there are some details, like in creating the sauce, but once you do this, its easy to go back to for other uses.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I believe some old fashion recipes are important to have in a cooking repertoire. Chicken noodle soup is one of them, because it is not just tasty, but nutritious, healthy, and helps soothe whatever is ailing anyone, with all the vitamins from the veggies and the protein from the chicken. I know that this recipe will carry me many years to make for my family, whether for sick little ones, to warm the tummy, or as a to be cherished comfort food. Prep is simple, crockpot does majority of the work, ingredients simple.

Ingredients:

1 whole fryer chicken
2 cartons Kitchen Basics Chicken Broth
4 large celery stalk sticks-3 chopped, one cut in half
3 large carrots-2 chopped, one cut in half
2 yellow onions-1 quartered, one chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 package whole wheat flat noodles (or whatever type of noodle you prefer)
Seasonings: salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, mustard seed, thyme (have all on hand and add to taste, gonna need to season this generously, but to your standards and desires, I love flavor, so I was very generous-especially salt and pepper!)

Appliances:
1 large oval crockpot, large enough to hold chicken and the broth
1 Large skillet

Directions:
1. Let's start with the mirepoix (pronounced meer-pwa). Put the skillet on med-high heat, add in olive oil. When you feel the warmth on your hand hovering over the skillet, add in the chopped onion, chopped carrots, chopped celery and minced garlic. Distribute the mirepoix to incorporate the oil, and continue to saute, lowering heat if needed-no browning. All veggies should become soft and translucent. Might take 15 mins to get desired consistency.

2. Turn on crockpot to high.

3. Next, combine 1 Tbsp. each of the seasonings to make a dry rub, and rub this onto entire whole chicken-wash your hands afterwards!! Place quartered onion, carrot cut in half and celery stalk stick cut in half, and insert into the empty chicken cavity, legs should be tied-I found the chicken at Fresh & Easy, already ready to use, no yucky cleaning out cavity, and already tied perfectly. Place chicken into crockpot, add in the broth. Add generous salt and pepper to the broth, and let this all sit for 3-4 hours, turning chicken over once or twice-broth might not cover chicken, and that is ok, but turning it to coat it is key to tenderness and flavor.

4. After 4th hour, remove chicken from pot, remove onion/celery/carrot from cavity and disgard. Remove string. Chicken should be fal off the bone tender. Begin pulling meat from bones, disgarding fat if desired as well, using tongs and fork. Once meat off all bones, using two forks, shred meat into strands, leaving some whole pieces if desired. Once shredded, add back to crock pot, taste broth for savor level, and reduce heat to low for 2-3 hours.

5. Finally, add in noodles in last 1/2 hour, remember to taste broth again to see if salt/pepper needed, prior to noodles and after. If too salty, add in some water.

6. Remove from heat, let stand for 15 minutes off of heat, in a soup terene for example then serve. This is so delicious, and will receive praise and cheers.

I will attempt to make leftovers into various international soups, such as adding Asian ingredients for a "pho". Once you have this base, you can morph left overs into your desires.

Bon appetit!!

Easy Coq au Vin

This is a French dish, and I will pronounce it hear for you: "coke o van" (however, you want to anticipate the n in van, like the n is in your throat, but don't pronounce the n.) Coq au vin began as a dish when the country folk of France had their rooster, and when he could no longer crow, this was the end of his life, but a good one, because he was bathed in wine and good vegetables! Here we are 2009, and most of us don't live in the country and/or have a rooster crowing us awake at 4:30 in the morning. So, I have simplified it, and instead of using our new Le Creuset dutch oven, I used our new 6 quart crock pot, that is oval in shape, rather than a narrow cylinder pot. Le Creuset says this can be done in a few hours, crock pot says 8, I say 6 hours, first two on high, last 4 on low...you decide what is best for your schedule.

Ingredients:

8-10 baby new potatoes (yellow in color, not red)

3-5 slices of bacon, chopped (or chopped prosciutto is fine as well)

2-3 boneless chicken breast fillets

2 large carrots, sliced in medallions

1 bushel green onions, chopped

1 carton baby bella mushrooms (found near the salad bags in your grocery store)

1 small bag of frozen pearl onions, found in grocer's freezer department (or you could chop a medium white onion)

1 1/2 cup Burgundy wine (I couldn't find this so I used Mouton Cadet Bordeaux-it has to be red!)

1 cup chicken broth (Kitchen Classics is best)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp sage

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

*note: season to taste, you might want to add more spices as you cook

Directions: The cooking can be done many ways, I used 4 recipes to create this one, and it worked fine for me! In a skillet on medium-high heat, brown bacon with green onions. You want the onions to sweat, so if med-high heat is too much, and you find your onions are burning, not browning because of bacon, lower it immediately! Once bacon is well cooked and onions are translucent and soft, discard into a bowl lined with paper towel, however KEEPING the bacon grease in the pan-this is what you brown the chicken with. Season the breast filets with the spices, mix the spices in a bowl if you wish, and sprinkle/rub over both sides of the breast. Add in the breast filets to the still hot skillet, maybe a splash of olive oil if needed, however, you don't want to cook them thoroughly, just make them goldeny brown on outside, they are absorbing the bacon drippings and onion flavoring at this point-a few flips per minute might do the trick. You might want to bring the heat a tad up doing this, make the pan sizzle a bit to really make the chicken have a crust and look a beautiful golden color.

Turn your crock pot on, add in carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, pearl onions, add in the chicken, top everything with the bacon and green onion mixture, and add in the chicken broth, stir it all up. Set your crock pot to high for 2 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure all ingredients are coated with the broth, like once per 1/2 hour. After 2 hours, add in the wine, mix all ingredients again, and now you will put your crock pot on low for 4 hours, again stirring every 1/2 hour. Mixing the wine now and the bacon scented broth, this is when you are where you want to be, it smells divine! Do not worry if your mushrooms look black, by the way, they are not burnt, this is how they look when cooked and absorbed with wine.

About 2 hours before the last hour, taste the broth. Should be really savory. This is when, per your palette, you decide if needs more salt, pepper, a dash of this and that. If taste is a bit bitter, add in a table spoon of dijon mustard, and a splash more of the wine in the last hour-this is what I did, as I always have dijon on hand (psst, I suggest you do the same).

In the end you should have a really hearty stew type of dish. Chicken will be so tender you can shred it with forks, and maybe do this the last 1/2 hour to let the juices mingle with the chicken that has been soaking for about 5 1/2 hours, it will be totally tender and juicy!

Serve up in a bowl, if you wish to have more of a stew, and have some bread on the side to help soak up the juices-we had a whole grain sliced artisan loaf from our grocer's baker, which we will use for sandwiches this week. Baby ciabatta rolls work fine as well if you have them available in singles, or a pack for the whole family.

This is simple. Other recipes call to flambé the chicken in cognac before adding to crock pot: I will not temp this until I have a stainless steel kitchen! It is a beautiful dish, although a crock pot, and should be watched every 1/2 hour, it is simple. I would not leave this to cook and leave your house for 8 hours, like other crock pot recipes suggest, but is very manageable and is very cheap, in my opinion. You can research and find recipes if you're serving to 6 or more guests, but this for even 2 people, made enough for us both to have left dinner tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy this. Bon appetit!!