Poco-Cocoa

I hope everyone is having a safe and relaxing holiday. Justin and I spent the day together, walking downtown for lunch and snuggling on the couch watching movies. Tonight we’ll watch a few more, and maybe walk down to get a view of the fireworks.

Last night we had dinner with Lindsay and Chad, and we brought this lovely blackberry crisp…using the blackberries that we hand-picked together this weekend. With a scoop of ice cream, it made a perfect dessert.

Blackberry Crisp

• Cooking spray
• 8 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and picked over (or blueberries, or raspberries)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup unbleached white all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped after measuring

Preheat oven to 375F.

Spray an 11×14-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

Toss the berries, honey, and white flour together in a medium bowl; then, put our hand in and squeeze one handful of the berries to release the juices. Toss again. Place the berry mixture in the prepared baking dish.

Combine butter and brown sugar in a food processor, pulsing to combine, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and oatmeal and pulse until the oats are slightly chopped but not completely powdered.

Transfer to a bowl. Add the whole wheat flour and cinnamon, blending with a spoon to make a crumbly mixture. Stir in the nuts, if using. Scatter the crumbly mixture over the berries. Bake until the berry juices are thickened and bubbling and the topping is crisp and brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Source: Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon.

I’ll say it again…I am so glad my pal Courtney showed me the way…to crockpot love. I made another soup this week, this one using up all the odds and ends that were left over from last week.

I had planned on making a tortilla soup of some sort, but it ended up as more of a chicken soup. I threw in all the ingredients at lunch time again, but this time, I turned that sucker on high and let it cook until I got home from work, about 5 hours. The veggies were soft and buttery, just like I like them. I really wanted to throw some cilantro in there, too, but alas! Our neighborhood store didn’t have any. We’ve been eating the leftovers for lunch, and I’m a little sad that there’s only one more little bowl left. I’ll just have to find a new crockpot recipe!

Let’s see if I can remember how I did this one:

Crockpot Chicken Soup

• 1/2 small red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 small summer squash, diced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1/2 a rotisserie chicken, skinned and pulled into small chunks
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 cans vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin

Toss everything in the crockpot, stir it up, and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours.

Makes 6 – 8 servings.
Source: poco-cocoa

My friend Courtney has shown me the light. She uses her crockpot to cook all sorts of things, from soups to stews to lasagnas. I use mine for beans. And that’s it.

I decided to expand my crockpot repertoire, so last week I threw a bunch of veggies in the crockpot and voila! We had this lovely soup for dinner. I think the best thing about it is walking in the door after a long day at work and smelling those lovely aromas, and knowing that dinner is already done.

I don’t have a real recipe for this one, since I kind of just kept tossing things in the pot until it was full, but here are the basics:

Summer Squash and Bean Soup

• A few summer squash, diced
• A bit of chopped onion
• A few cloves of garlic, chopped
• A can of diced tomatoes
• A couple of cans of veggie broth
• A good dose of dried basil, dried oregano, and black pepper
• Salt to taste
• A bag of fresh beans (mine were purple hull beans)

Stir it up, turn it on, and let it cook. I cooked mine on low for about 5 hours, but I think having it on high would have been fine. I would have liked everything to be a bit mushier, but I tend to like my veggies soft.

We served this over a scoop of rice and topped it with Parmesan cheese. It made quite a bit, though…I have to learn that I don’t have to fill the crockpot to the top. 🙂

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Source: poco-cocoa