(crock) pot roast

2.4 lbs of chuck roast, rubbed with garlic powder, salt (not kosher salt, we didn't have any), pepper

browned on both sides in a hot cast iron pan (heated it up, then put in a good amount of coconut oil. Almost burnt on one side really.

1 medium onion, sliced about in 8ths, on the bottom of a preheated 6-qt crock pot on low.

chuck roast into pan. ~4 sliced carrots, 2 small sliced peeled potatoes (because they weren't in good shape, the peels were icky), 1 stalk of celery, another sliced onion place around it.

deglazed the pan with a bit over a 1/2 cup of mushroom stock (it's what I had), dumped that over the meat in the crockpot. Added two sprigs of fresh rosemary from outside because why not.

Covered. we'll see what's up in ~8 hours...I've never done anything like this before.

VERDICT: 8-9 hours later...it smells and tastes awesome and the meat seems tender. The chunk I picked off was tasty.

Also I did not know there was a string around the whole piece of meat...whoops. But I assume it was food-safe/heat-safe string. 

I definitely need to make this more often. Next I'd like to experiment with whether I can put more vegetables in without compromising anything. Because oh man, carrots and potatoes cooked with beef are tasty.

(Green) split pea soup

from http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=936650 with modifications

6 cups water + Vegetable Bouillon powder (maybe 2 heaping TBS)
2 cups dried green split peas, rinsed (I used a 1-lb bag, that may be more than 2 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
3 celery ribs with leaves, chopped (celery leaves are bitter and gross and not a substitute for parsley or whatever people may claim.)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried marjoram I used oregano 'cause I didn't have marjoram
1/2 tsp ground cumin
(omitted salt because bouillon is salty)
1/4 tsp pepper


I just dumped all this in a crock pot overnight, no sauteeing first. I heated the crock pot up a bit while I was chopping vegetables, and I boiled a kettle of water to dump over it. I left it on high for maybe half an hour and then turned it to low and let it cook for about 8 or 9 hours.

Verdict: pretty good.

Crockpot/chickpea adventures.

In case you were wondering - or more likely, in case I am wondering, at some yet-unknown point in the future - 3.12 lbs of dried chickpeas is too much for a 5-quart slow cooker. It was overly ambitious of me to even try.  I think a bit over 2 lbs - maybe 2.5 - is about the limit.

In happier news, hey, I have *lots* of cooked chickpeas now.

cabbage soup

I am really only posting this so I'll think of it next time I'm looking for something simple to cook.  I've been having a really hard time finding things to cook that don't do weird things to my blood sugar or at least what I imagine is my blood sugar and this seems to be decent. In the past I haven't added anything for protein to cabbage soup and I think adding the sausage really helps.

In a 5 or 6 qt crock pot:

-about three quarters of a large head of cabbage, chopped (as much as will fit in the crock pot basically)
-one medium onion, chopped
-tomato stuff, chopped or food processed - about a  28 oz can worth
- 3 carrots
-3-4 cloves of garlic
-freshly ground pepper
-a few tbs of bouillon powder
-vegetarian sausage, sliced (I have been using the Tofurkey italian sausages, which are particularly cheap at Trader Joe's) Sometimes I add them at the end instead.
-water to cover - boiling water will speed everything up

Cook on high for a few hours, then for the last forty-five minutes or so, add
-a few handfuls of barley (optional)