Each Month

Chef Mimi, a novice at slow cookin, will choose 1 ingredient (meat/veggie/fruit/herb) to be thrown in the crock. Chef Tiffany, an experienced slow cookin specialist, will then post a recipe featuring the ingredient of the week, challenging Mimi to learn new moves in the kitchen.

Join us
as we discover tips and tricks to getting down with your slow cooker.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The Consumption: Jammin' Jumbalaya

This crock recipe was a complete success!  I absolutely loved all of the flavors that melted together in this one.

As I previously posted, shrimp is my favorite type of seafood.  I only used shrimp for this recipe because I wanted that flavor to stand out the most.  I chopped all the veggies so I could simply dump everything in the crock during my lunch break from work. I got home, poured everything in and flipped the switch to LOW for the next 5 hours.

When I came home from work, I peeled and deveined the shrimp myself (something I will never do again)! I added the shrimp to a skillet, with a couple cloves of garlic, and organic peppers from my boyfriend's Grandmother's garden.  I added the rest of the ingredients to my slow cooker and waited as my kitchen filled with spicy, cheesy aromas.

EVERYTHING was covered in cheesy hot sauce!  Words can not express how much I love that combination.  Every bite had a little piece of shrimp in it! I served with "butter-me-not" biscuits.

I would recommend cooking this on a cool Autumn night for friends.  The recipe made plenty of food as I still have a dish or two in my freezer.

Tips & Tricks:

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Recipe: Cheesy Shrimp & Chicken Jambalaya

Prep:  20 mins
Cook:  Low 5 hours, High 3.0 hours
Serving Size:  6
Category:  Seafood/Poultry

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup sliced celery
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 14.5-ounce can tomatoes, cut up
  • 1 14-ounce can chicken broth
  • 1/2 of a 6-ounce can (1/3 cup) tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1.5 teaspoons Cajun seasoning or 1 recipe *Homemade Cajun Seasoning (ingredients listed; recipe below)
    • white pepper
    • garlic powder
    • onion powder
    • ground red pepper
    • paprika
    • black pepper
  • 1.5 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
  • 1 cup instant rice
  • 1 box Rice-a-Roni Creamy Four Cheese Rice
  • 8 ounces cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp 
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 1 red pepper chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons Texas Pete Hot Sauce
  • 3 teaspoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Salt Free Magic Seasoning Blend
Preparation:
*Homemade Cajun Seasoning:  In a small bowl combine 1/4 teaspoon white pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, 1/8 ground red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon paprika and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.  

Combine celery, onion, undrained tomatoes, chicken broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and Cajun seasoning in the crock. 

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2.5 to 3 hours. 

Stir in instant rice, the entire rice-a-roni box, shrimp and peppers. Cover and cook 10-15 mins or until most of the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

- Chef Tiffany

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Ingredient: Shrimp

Shrimp is one of my favorite crustaceans of the sea!

I chose this ingredient because over and over again the crock is proving to be so versatile.

This of course made me think of the most notorious scene from, Forrest Gump; when Bubba starts listing all the different ways shrimp can be prepared. Watch this clip below:


Tips & Tricks: