The Joy of Snacking: Slow-Cooker Roasted Nuts

A series of ideas for flavored nuts, from Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker. These are very easy to crank out on a slow evening, and you can store them in a container in the fridge for snacking over the rest of the week.

Cajun Nuts
Ingredients:
1 pound (or 4 Cups) of any raw unsalted nuts
1/4 Cup olive oil
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preparation:
In a slow cooker, combine the nuts with the olive oil, and mix until they are evenly coated. Cover and cook on High for 15 minutes. Add the spices, and stir thoroughly to coat. Reduce the temperature to Low and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for 2 1/2 hours. When finished, spread the nuts on a baking sheet to cool.

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Ginger-spiced Nuts
Ingredients:
1 pound (or 4 Cups) of any raw unsalted nuts
1/4 Cup corn oil or other mild-tasting oil
1/3 Cup packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground crystallized ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Preparation:
In a slow cooker, combine the nuts with the oil, and mix until they are evenly coated. Add the brown sugar, and stir thoroughly to coat. Cover and cook on High for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to Low and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the nuts are coated with a crisp glaze, about 2 hours. In a separate bowl, mix the spices, and sprinkle the mixture over the nuts, stirring to coat evenly. When finished, spread the nuts on a baking sheet to cool.

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Tamari Nuts
Ingredients:
1 pound (or 4 Cups) of any raw unsalted nuts
3 Tbsp peanut oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preparation:
In a slow cooker, combine all the ingredients, and mix until they are evenly coated. Cover and cook on High for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to Low and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for 2 1/2 hours. When finished, spread the nuts on a baking sheet to cool.

Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Let me start this post by geeking out about the Vegan Recipe Search Engine. A coworker of mine who isn't even vegan told me about it, and it is wonderful! You can look up recipes you get a hankerin' for, or do what I often do and search based on a main ingredient you have if you want to do something with it and need ideas. That was how I found this recipe, which I've modified here some for this post. The combination of cumin with cinnamon is intriguing and delicious.

Egyptian Lentils and Rice

Ingredients:
4 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 Cup brown lentils
1/2 Cup brown rice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
5 Cups water or vegetable broth

Preparation:
Pour the olive oil into the bottom of a Crock Pot or slow cooker and set it to high. Chop the onions small, then add them to the slow cooker and let cook for 15 minutes. Add the lentils, rice, spices, and broth or water. Cook on high for about 3 hours or until the rice and lentils are soft.

You'll notice that there is much more broth than necessary, and the dish seems more like a soup. Strain the dish to serve, and keep the extra broth. You can add a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to it to make a savory gravy! Or, if you'd rather not, just use about 3 cups instead of 5 to begin with - I've never experimented to find the right volume since I love having the extra broth to use gravified with soysauge and biscuits, or bread.

No pictures since I'm an awful photographer. The link to the original recipe though has some pix.

Better Living through Crock-Pot Cooking

I'm going to make an admission here: I really don't enjoy cooking. Don't get me wrong - I love eating ethically, I just hate working for my food. I'm kind of lazy, washing up afterward blows, and I'd rather be playing video games than slaving over a stove, especially when I was still a student and working full-time, and my leisure hours were precious to me. For years, dinner was pizza, microwave noodles, or instant mashed potatoes, because cooking is a chore and I didn't want to bother.

And that is why I love my crock-pot. I have come to believe that no vegan should be without a slow cooker. With 5-10 minutes of prep time, you can leave for work or school, and come back 8 hours later to a hot meal ready and waiting. I've made chili, stews, pastas, wheat-meat 'roasts', potatoes, and bean dishes in my crock-pot, and that's only scratching the surface of possibilities, thanks entirely to Robin Robertson's book "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker". It's the easiest possible way for someone like me to get fresh vegetables and variety into their diet, and it solves the problem of typical dinner recipes where you have too much food left over if cooking for just one person - you can refrigerate the entire ceramic insert and pull out what you want to eat. Here is one of the best chilis I've ever eaten (and by far the best I've ever made for myself). From "Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker".

(onion not pictured)

Farm Stand Chili with Chickpeas
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 celery rib (I left this out and used celery salt instead)
1 eggplant, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 Tablespoon chili powder (or to taste - I used 2)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (or 1 and 1/2 Cups cooked chickpeas)
1 can corn kernels, drained (or 1 Cup fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels)
salt and black pepper to taste (I used a lot of red pepper too)

Preparation:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, eggplant, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook covered about 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the chili powder and cook another 30 seconds.



Put the diced tomatoes, chickpeas, and corn into the slow cooker. Add the vegetables from the pot and stir, adding salt and pepper to taste. Add about 1 and 1/2 cups water. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

When cooking in a crock-pot or slow cooker, make certain not to overfill the ceramic insert. If making something like a chili that tells you to add water, add the water last so that you can better gauge how well your vegetables will fit. I have a very small crock-pot, so I have to be careful with recipes that call for a lot of ingredients. Also, no matter how delicious it smells while cooking, try not to lift the lid and taste it very often. It's estimated that each time the lid is removed, it pushes your cook time back an extra 30 minutes. But most importantly, food in a slow cooker can burn if left in too long. If you can't be home within a 6 to 8 hour time window, save the recipe for another day.




Enjoy!