Monday, April 23, 2012

a vegetarian crock pot

Acquiring a crock pot has been on my mind for several months now.  I hesitated to bite the bullet as all of the crock pot meals of my youth were meat-based and I wasn't sure what kind of use my crock pot might see in a vegetarian household.  Fortunately crock pot cooking has come a long way from pot roasts, and when a friend who was relocating offered hers for free, I decided to dive in.


I spent a few nights perusing vegetarian crock pot recipes online, then did what I typically do: find a recipe I mostly liked and adapted it to suit me.  This Indian Curry dish was our inaugural crock pot feast, although I subbed the chicken for whatever veggies I had on hand, green beans, peas, carrots, onions, and corn.  This was a winner and will definitely become part of our recipe repertoire.


I also tried to find a Chili Pie recipe, although I basically used our standard veggie chili topped with the cornbread batter.  I used some chili tickler cheddar in the cornbread, and it was deliciously spicy.  Paul and I loved it, and Finn really enjoyed it, despite the "hot" he kept mentioning.


I was a bit nervous about the cornbread topping setting in the middle, but it came through just before serving.


Tonight's broccoli and cheddar over brown rice turned out pretty well too.  I used the amount of water that I normally use for rice, and it was clearly too much so it was a bit soupy.  Maybe the broccoli contributed to the extra water?


Everyone enjoyed it though so I'll definitely try again with a little bit longer time and little bit less water.  I didn't have a recipe for this one either, just threw some brown rice, sauteed onion, minced garlic, salt and a little bit of veggie broth into some water then layered broccoli and cheddar on top.


We've only had one true flop in the crock pot thus far.  I tried a spinach lasagne last week that was a bust. Mushy noodles and crispy cheese, although the boys like that; it definitely needed less time in the crock pot.  I'll try again at some point though and see if I can find a lasagne that works.

Do you have any good vegetarian (or easily adaptable) crock pot favorites? I'd love to find some good recipes to continue my exploration!

5 comments:

  1. Oo, that chili pie looks scrumptious! I very rarely use mine. Like you, I want to use it more but don't really know how to use it to cook vegetarian. Mainly, I cook beans in there.

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  2. I too have been adapting crock pot recipies. I have used the fake ground meat in place of groud beef/chicken. And in any mexican style I have used soaked black beans for the meat.

    I have used a creamy muchroom gravy as a base then added a bag of frozen veg. And I put it over biskets, rice or noodles. This is really fast and filling.

    I have converted some other recipies as well.

    With All That I Am
    Carrie "The Handmade Homemaker"

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  3. I used this book a bunch when I had the crockpot. It's got great stuff in it. I mostly made beans, chili, and split pea soup but there are lots of other cool ideas. http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Vegetarian-Slow-Cooker-Recipes/dp/1558322566/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335448281&sr=8-1

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  4. I'd love to hear more about your successes. We're also vegetarian and I finally bought a crock pot 6 months ago, made a flurry of recipes (about 10?) of which only a couple worked out well enough to try again. I haven't touched it in months. =(

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  5. If the electricity connection goes and comes back after a while does the crock pot have 1. restart automatically, 2.start from where it left off... coz for ppl who r not home the whole day this would be ideal if it had these features.
    thx

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I love to hear what you think!