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Another mythologizing creature… sharing sparks of intellectual passion!
Today I'll share a small batch of recipes, I think — but first a quick note: I really like the Zatarain's Creole food! It's surprisingly tasty to me, and the boxes make it easy to make. So far I've tried the Red Beans & Rice and the Dirty Rice Mix (to both of which I added Andouille sausage), the Gumbo Base (to which I added chunked chicken and served over rice), and the Creole Mustard — which I used as a bit of spice on regular pigs-in-blankets. Happily, everyone has very much enjoyed them all! I'll keep working through the food boxes I have, and let folks know if there are any I don't care for. Fair warning: I can't stand fish, so there will be no testing by me of, say, the breaded catfish. Eew! ;-)
So today I'll report on three things I've tried: crockpot beef & broccoli, crockpot BBQ beer chicken, and a healthier type of burger. My favorite for the flavor was the BBQ beer chicken, I think, though the beef & broccoli was also excellent. So, here we go:
Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken
Serves about 8-10. Also, this recipe really does need to be cooked the amount she says. I was about 20 minutes to half an hour short, and I think the sauce needed to cook a bit longer — though I had no trouble with getting it to boil, so I'm not sure about her warning there.
Unfortunately I got a little enthusiastic with the shredding, since I like small chunks of meat. What this means is that by the next day the chicken was practically a fine mist suspended in the sauce. It was delicious — don't get me wrong — but it was also almost a soup, which meant it didn't spoon over the buns very well. ;-j
Since I don't drink beer and know nothing about it, I had a housemate pick out the one to use. We ended up with Fat Tire beer, which turned out really tasty! Not quite sure what to do with the other five bottles, though… beer bread, maybe? Although that'd be an awful lot of bread… ;-)
Also, credit where credit is due: I got this recipe from http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/10/crockpot-bbq-beer-chicken/ Thank you!
Ingredients:
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 large)
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces of beer (the original author used a classic amber)
32 ounces of barbecue sauce
Directions:
Notes from the original author:
If you try it, let me know how it turns out for you! So, next recipe and my second favorite of these three:
Crockpot Beef & Broccoli
This is really tasty! Also, this time I tried it with brown sugar instead of honey — maybe next time I'll try it the other way.
Ingredients:
1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consommé
½ cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar or honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cooled sauce from the crock pot after being cooked
Fresh broccoli florets (as many as desired)
Hot cooked rice (brown rice, or riced cauliflower)
Directions:
Notes:
In prepping this recipe, I used a can of Campbell's consommé rather than trying to make some myself. That was like 2 ½ ounces more than necessary, so I added it all in and used a correspondingly less amount of soy sauce just so things would balance out. I also used a 10 oz. bag of frozen broccoli florets, letting them thaw completely before adding them, and that worked out very nicely as well.
I'm not really sure what was meant by the sauce not thickening — you just keep stirring until the cornstarch is all mixed in, y'know? I had no trouble with it.
Finally, the last recipe — which still makes me laugh:
A Healthier Burger
The recipe says it serves 6, but even though I followed the recipe as closely as I could, I ended up with ten burgers! So, here we go:
Ingredients:
1½ pounds ground turkey or beef (or a mixture of both)
10 ounces baby spinach leaves
zest of one lemon
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Notes:
I had no idea how much "zest of one lemon" would be, so I grated that puppy for all I was worth! Two things I learned for next time: a) zest is apparently just the cleaned and grated outer skin — once you get to the white part you should stop or you'll end up with far too much; and b) burgers should not smell like lemon! ;-)
Oh, also: spinach leaves can be kind of large, so I tore them up into smaller pieces. I must say, 10 oz. is a startlingly large amount of spinach! It made for a slightly odd looking, heavily green-flecked burger. Tasted okay, though next time definitely a little less spinach with a bit more chopping up.
I used the half-cup measurement as recommended, which made for a rather small burger that sat very meekly inside the larger buns. Next time I think I'll size them with a ¾ measuring cup at minimum. However, whole wheat buns are surprisingly tasty! I like them better than the white ones. Also, I fried the burgers in a big saucepan instead of grilling, which made for an extremely juicy burger and pan; I'm guessing ordinarily the liquid just falls away on the grill?
Oh! Commentary from one of my lovely guests who let me try my cooking experiments on them: "I thought the size was fine, and I like juicy. But that poor naked lemon!" ;-)
So that's it for now — enjoy, and let me know if you try any of the above! I'm hoping to report on crockpot lasagna next time. Cheers!
Bestiaries depict mythical, moralizing animals, but are also potential allegorical sparks that can bloom into brilliant mental bonfires. My bestiary is this mythologizing animal's fascinated exploration of beauty & meaning in the wonder of existence -- in the hopes of inspiring yet more joyous flares of intellectual passion.
Rick
August 1st, 2013 at 21:40
I fell in love with Zatarain's when we lived in Louisiana. I might have to try and track some down down here.
Laughing Collie
August 2nd, 2013 at 8:51
Oh, cool, Rick! When did you live in Louisiana? Were you able to spend much time in New Orleans? Did you like it? I fell SO in love with N'Awlins while I was there last year. I'd be delighted if I could figure out a way to be able to spend a year or two in the city — maybe while writing, or doing research for my dissertation or something — or even just a few months! :)
Laughing Collie
August 2nd, 2013 at 8:52
Reining in my initial enthusiasm for a calmer and more rational reply… you can also simply order Zatarain's off their website! :)
Rick
September 5th, 2013 at 18:36
Hmmm, I used to get an email when you replied to a comment, not so this time. In any event we lived in Pineville, LA for three years from 2002-2005, and despite meeting some dear and lifelong friends there we hated most of our time there. We were 4.5 hours north of NOLA, and though my wife got there once or twice, I never did.
Collie
September 5th, 2013 at 18:43
I wondered about the email notification thing, especially since I couldn't figure out how to ask for that on your website too, where I also left a reply. Well, foo!
Wow, sounds like LA was no fun for you — sorry to hear it! Why did you hate it there, if you don't mind my asking? I'm being nosy because I'm starting to sort of "feel out" potential locations for dissertation studies, and NOLA is one of them. Since I also know you usually have all the lolling-about time of a hyper-caffeinated squirrel — which is to say, none — I won't expect any feedback, but I'll say thanks ahead of time for whatever you can give! :)
Rick
September 6th, 2013 at 17:14
Central Louisiana is a run down, parochial, boring, inbred waste heap of a place. Alexandria, which is the 'big city' right next to Pineville is at the nexus of all the major North/South freeways, so you'd expect it to be bustling, but no. It's a town that died long ago but not everyone has figured that out yet. Plus my job at the very Baptist Louisiana College ended rather badly.(fundamentalist take over resulting in me either swearing allegiance to the Bible inerrantist assholes, or getting the hell out of there) As for NOLA I hear it is a whole different world down there, so don't let my experiences dissuade you.
Collie
September 10th, 2013 at 11:00
Wow, I'm so sorry, Rick — that really does sound awful! I won't judge NOLA by your unhappy experience, then. Glad to hear things are better for you now, though! :)