Dry Bean Slow Cooker Chili

Much like the Brother Green Eats (I finally subscribed to a new youtube channel) I whole heartedly prefer starting with dry beans vs canned. Sure canned beans are more convenient, but, they have all that slimly stuff on them you have to rinse off and you get so much more bang for your buck with dry beans and the texture of beans you cook yourself is just straight up better. 

So anyways, this is the first time I just didn't use a recipe at all to make chili and it came out pretty damn good. I started with two cups of dry beans into the slow cooker. Now I used six cups of water, which in theory is the correct ratio of water to dry beans, but I ended up having to cook off a fair amount of liquid at the end, so next time I'll only use five to five and a half cups. 

Then I put the seasonings in. I started with one table spoon cumin, two of chili powder and one of salt, and then seasoned it a little more to taste after it had cooked.

A can of tomatoes, a little can of green chilis. A bag of frozen peppers, an onion (chopped), and two cloves of garlic (crushed).

A package of ground meat, I used turkey. Side note, raw it totally looks a bit like brains:

I set the slow cooker to low and let it cook allllllll day.

At the end I added half a bar of baking chocolate and a bag of frozen corn. I topped each portion with some shredded Mexican Cheese and Sarah and I had chili every day for lunch last week. While it may look gross (like seriously) it was tasty. See you next Tuesday!

Portabella Caps

I don't know if I've discussed my love of my Bj's membership much here, but for better or worse Bj's is my jam....though I don't get jam at Bj's, lots of peanut butter though, lots and lots of peanut butter (my mom and mother in law were a bit horrified by the peanut butter stash when they helped us move). Anywho, amongst the many things Sarah and I procure at the club (...yes I did just do that, even I'm embarrassed for myself) are portabella mushroom caps, cause for just shy of five buck for half a dozen, yes please! And this is a dinner Sarah loves, so lets get on with it...

Line your pan. You don't have to, but the one time I didn't cleaning it was ...less than fun. Spread out the caps and drizzle each with a bit of balsamic vinegar and a bit of olive oil. 

Add cheese! We had been using mozzarella, but we were running low on it this time around and used feta instead. Both. Delicious. Season those suckas...Italian seasoning? Sure! Basil? Yeah! Oregano? Why not! (I mean don't go crazy, one of those options will do, you really don't need more than one). Throw them in the oven at 400*F until the cheese looks melty and delicious....

Nom, nom, nom. See you next Tuesday!

Big News!

Sarah and I bought a house! Over the holidays Sarah and I became new home owners after what seemed like the longest most nerve wrecking few months (pro tip: do not buy a house between Christmas and New Years Eve, especially in New England where the weather is sure to not cooperate with you)

So that's what I've been up to lately, and hopefully soon I will be back updating this on a regular basis (possibly with many examples of home ownership joys? ...perhaps, but hopefully not too many of those, if you know what I mean...)

But in the meantime enjoy our obligatory just-bought-a-house photo, complete with photobomber, and maybe, but just maybe I'll see you next Tuesday!

Steel Cut Oats in the Slow Cooker

During the winter Sarah and I had steel cut oats for breakfast most days. They were yummy, and super easy to make. 

Coconut milk, steel cut oats and water are all that need to go into the slow cooker.

Step 1: Empty can of coconut milk into the slow cooker.

Step 2: Pour 2 cups of steel cut oats in.

Step 3: Use the can from the coconut milk to measure a little less than 5 cans worth of water, put it into the slow cooker and give it a little stir.

Step 4: Put on the lid, turn it to low and go to bed. In the morning it should look like this:

If you're into raisins or crasins in your oatmeal, now is the time to mix them in. (The first time I tried this, I put raisins in at night, and they got way to oversaturated with water and lost most of their flavor).

One batch of this makes enough for four days worth of breakfast for Sarah and I. I immediately put some in six mason jars. I fill each one up to the 300ml mark on the side of the glass and throw them in the fridge. When it comes time to reheat them I put them in the microwave (two at a time) for two and a half minutes, possibly add some water, stir and pop them in for another minute and a half.

We top our oatmeal with some brown sugar and nuts. So far of the ones we've tried I enjoyed walnuts the most, but currently we're on a bag of almonds.