A warming trend....

You need a good vegetable stock recipe.

See that?  Yumminess.  Trust me on this.

This is made in a crock pot and is simple.  There is no micro-dicing.  There are no fancy ingredients and the result is delectable.

I promise it is simple.  

3 - 4 carrots, washed and cut in large chunks
4 - 5 celery stalks, washed  and cut in large chunks.

The number will depend on the size of each of these.  What I had on hand was fairly large. Be sure to chop them. I suppose you could do this with them whole, but unless you have a long strainer the steps ahead may be difficult or cumbersome.

 1- 2 turnips, washed and chopped in large segments
1-2 rutabaga, washed and chopped in large segments
Again, if you have small turnips and rutabagas then get 2.
No turnips or rutabagas in the market?  Grab 4 parsnips and 1 medium sized head of fennel instead.

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped in large segments

1 head of garlic, cut in half so that all of the cloves are exposed
1 bunch of parsley, rinsed
Now do not scoff at that picture.  I had neither of these ingredients available to me, but what I did do was use what was on hand. Many home cooks do this. The old adage "Waste no, want not" is common in our home.  What you see here are frozen garlic cloves and frozen parsley oil.
We freeze garlic when it is about to go bad and the parsley oil is made in the food processor.  It changes nothing, but the flavor of the olive oil is infused in the stock.
YUMMY!!

1 Tbsp of kosher salt

8 whole black peppercorns

Place all of this in your crockpot.

Cover the entire thing with purified water.  

Then place the cover of the crock pot, set the cook setting to low, and let it cook overnight.  

The next morning, you will find this and, along with it, your home will smell glorious.  My husband loves stock night because he wakes to what he refers to as, "the smell of fall." Do not be afraid of this photo.  If you do not use parsley cubes you will not have this but a light, amber liquid.

You will need to strain the stock into a large bowl.  Place all of those veggies into your compost pile.

Transfer the stock into a seal container or cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  You choose!  Let the stock cool for 2 hours on the countertop or in the fridge if you have places to be.  

When you get home place cheese cloth over a fine mesh strainer and strain once more into another, clean container with an air tight lid.

You can skip this step if you did not use parsley oil cubes or do this if you want a more clear color for your stock

I recommend it no matter what.

Now we use all of this in a week, but when we do not we do the following...

Place it in quart freezer bags, lay them flat on a sheet tray, place in the freezer and them it freeze for 4 hours.  Then remove the sheet tray from the freezer and stack your stock!

If you want chicken stock instead, remove the rutabaga and turnip and add a few chicken wings.  or you can add a chicken carcass from the last time you roasted a chicken. Follow the same method.

When it is done you will have a rich and deeply colored stock.  Taste it and make sure to salt it some more if you need to.  I am not big on salt when it comes to stock because we use it in so many ways and salt the other ingredients.  However, you may want it to have a little more salt in this.


Some ideas for using your stock:
1. Use it to make Spanish rice instead of water.  Do this and then send me a thank you note.

2. Use anywhere you would use chicken stock. We are all trying to eat a little more healthy.  Even in chicken noodle soup this stock offers a wonderful flavor.  We like it better this way.

3. Replace part of the cream in your mashed potatoes with this stock.  I do this all the time.  DO NOT tell my husband!

4. When you make beans in the crockpot mix this with the water.  Use a 50-50 ratio and let it simmer away all day.  Add one chopped onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.

Now go make some of your own and let me know how it goes!

Because a crockpot should not collect dust.....

Please don't tell Buela I do this, but I make pinto beans in a crock pot.

I know!  But look at the end result.....

When I was a child Buela used this to make her beans...

It took ALL DAY and the day before to soak the beans and then cook them.  In the end we had tender, but firm beans that we used for everything.  Did you know I never had refried beans until I ate at an American restaurant that served supposed Mexican food.  Yes....that was a little dig at the industry.  It was also the first time I heard the word "burrito." Buela just called it dinner.

Now onto the recipe...which is not really a recipe.  It's more like a throw in the pot and walk away...NOT a recipe.

Say hell to my friend....Carlotta.

I think I should mention that I name my appliances.  No comment necessary.  I have already gotten the weird looks and commentary from this guy...

Remember him?  This is the husband.  He loves to fish and I told him I wouldn't put another picture of his face on the blog.  So I chose a picture of his backside.

So now you will need homemade vegetable stock, about 8 cups, or you can use one box of stock.  We use vegetable stock, but I have a friend who uses chicken stock.  I say go for it!  But DO NOT use beef stock!!!  It WILL NOT give you the flavor you are looking for.

You also need these....

We love beans around here.  We spent a brief time as vegetarians and really loved using these and other varieties in so many ways.  For this recipe you need two cups.

I pour them into a strainer, look for any beans that need to be removed and then rinse them.  

Then there is the garlic powder, about 1 tablespoon....

NOT GARLIC SALT!!  DO NOT SUBSTITUTE!

Now add two cubes of this....

Just trust me on this one!  You can get them at Trader Joe's or you can simply omit them.  I have a friend whose husband would LOVE to keep these out of the pot because he does not like garlic.  I know!  Crazy!  We will bring him over to the dark side one of these days.

An onion chopped...

2 teaspoons of sea salt....

Fresh cracked black pepper....

All of it goes into Carlotta....

That thin, frozen substance is our homemade vegetable stock.  We freeze it once it is made in 4 ounce Ziploc bags. We have tried other bags and I so want to tell you to use whatever you want, but then I would be lying.  Use Ziploc and avoid catastrophe when freezing foods.

Set it on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours...

Walk away and come back to perfect beans!

You can make these into the refried beans, but Google a recipe for that.  Buela never did it and we love them just like this!  

My favorite?  I love them in a flour tortilla....

A little bit of cheddar cheese....

Roll it up and eat away!!!

Or go simple and serve it with homemade cornbread and crumble some bacon over the top.

You can also serve it over white rice...we make ours but Trader Joe's sells one you can pop in the microwave.  That would work too.  We also love it over what people refer to as Mexican rice.

Give this a try and then let me know how it turns out!

Christmas...Christmas time is here...time for joy...AND TIME IN THE KITCHEN! Oh....and Chex Mix!

See this lovely bowl.....

It has a story.  One that may not make sense, but in the end you will have a story and a GREAT chex mix recipe.

But before we get to any of that...Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

My loving and sweet spouse comes from a very loving and interesting family. I have never introduced you to him but here he is...

Kevin is the kind of man I believe all men should strive to be.  However, he and his family have the strangest food traditions during the holidays.

And one of these traditions involves...

His Aunt Brenda started it.  I am not one to point fingers, but she started it and I am soooo thankful!
Now about that bowl....Kevin did it.  I mean...he purchased it for me so I can mix large amounts of food in it.  I was learning to cook and was frustrated with all the small bowls in the house so he got this.

In the bowl right now there is one bag of wheat chex, rice chex and corn chex.  Go to Costco or Sam's Wholesale and you will find a box with all three.

Add one small bag of cashews, one bag of slivered almonds, and peanuts (if there is no one with allergies).  I have to skip the peanuts this year.

Now add a bag of pretzel sticks and a bag of plain crackers of your choosing. For some reason, this is my favorite part.

Then two bags of goldfish crackers go in to add to the rich buttery taste.  Told you it was a big bowl.

Now....the sauce...yes....that is butter.  Three sticks of butter.  Don't judge!  It is A LOT of chex mix!

Don't worry.  I added the other stick of butter!

Then there are the dried spices...
2Tbsp of dried and chopped onion
1Tbsp of dry mustard
1Tbsp kosher salt

Then some tabasco sauce....about 3Tbsp

Some worcesteshire sauce.....about 6 Tbsp

Did I spell that right?

Now DO NOT cringe at this one.....

I know!  But to be honest, this is how Aunt Brenda does it.  Far be it from me to break tradition!
2tsp of crushed garlic

You could also use fresh garlic here.

Now heat this up until the butter melts and stir until it comes together.

See how pretty!

Now go back to that bowl, pour half of the mixture in and stir.  Then repeat.

It will get this glossy look, but keep stirring until every nook and cranny is covered in the sauce.

Then place it evenly amongst several glass, rectangular, oven safe dishes.

Place them in the oven, evenly spaced for 2 hours.

Did I mention you need a lot of time to do this one?  Do it on laundry day. Or a snowy day.  Or a day when you are feeling more anti-social than you would like to admit.

After two hours you will need to remove the trays, one by one and do something no other chex mix recipe tells you to do.

Sprinkle 2 tsp of this all over the mix...

and then stir it up.  It is granulated garlic and salt.  2 tsp of each onto each try of the chex mix!  Then taste.  Add more of either one to your taste.

Then back into the oven it all goes!

Lower your oven temperature to 175 degrees and leave them in for another two hours.

When they are ready, the mix should be dry and crisp, and taste spicy.  Remove them and place them on wire racks to cool.  Then it is time to pack them up!

They make the best gifts!  Here is the beauty shot...

Now go make your own and tell me how they turn out!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Auntie Cheena