Made From Scratch: Slow Cooker Maple-Bourbon Applesauce

Take a lot of apples, add in a little maple syrup and a shot of bourbon, and with the help of your slow cooker, you'll make some really delicious applesauce.

One of my favorite fall activities is hitting up one of our local apple orchards and picking a peck of apples. This year we had the foresight to visit our favorite orchard on a weekday afternoon, which meant we weren't tripping over crowds of other people, or, perhaps more importantly, have to wait in long lines to get tasty apple treats.

Because, okay, yes, I'm there for picking apples ... but I'm also there (okay, maybe mostly there??) for the delicious freshly-baked apple treats, including apple cider donuts (a must!). This year we started our apple orchard visit with some sweet sustenance – I had a slice of caramel apple pie and hot apple cider while Dustin enjoyed an apple dumpling and hot coffee. Fully satiated, we grabbed a bag for our apples.

This year we picked a peck of cortland apples, which have a sweet and slightly tart flavor – perfect for applesauce. Once back at home, I made a couple different batches of slow cooker applesauce. Each of the batches produced about 2 1/2 pints of applesauce. Instead of canning, I opted to freeze the applesauce I made. It should keep in the freezer for up to three months. Though theoretically you can use glass canning jars in the freezer, I've had bad luck with breakage in the past, so I've been using these plastic freezer jars from Ball instead.

Slow Cooker Maple-Bourbon Applesauce
makes just over 2 pints

4-5 pounds apples, any variety
1/2 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon bourbon
pinch fine sea salt
3 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks

1. Wash the apples. Core, peel, and slice each apple. (I love my handy dandy apple peeler/corer/slicer machine.)
2. Place the sliced apples into the bowl of a slow cooker.
3. Pour in the cider, lemon juice, maple syrup, and bourbon. Sprinkle with salt and stir to combine. Add in the cinnamon sticks. (I like to bury them in the apples.)
4. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours. Stir occasionally.
5. Use an immersion blender to puree the applesauce to a smoother texture if you prefer. Spoon the applesauce into freezer-safe containers. Let the sauce cool slightly before placing the lids on each container and placing them in the freezer. Applesauce can be kept frozen for up to 3 months.

What's For Dinner: The Easiest (Seriously!) Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken

Dinnertime doesn't get easier (or tastier) than this recipe for The Easiest Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken. 

This slow cooker BBQ shredded chicken is one of our weekly go-to dinner recipes. It couldn't be simpler to make and takes less than 5 minutes to prep the ingredients for the slow cooker.

If I were feeling particularly ambitious, I could make the barbecue sauce from scratch (see the bottom of this post for a sample recipe), but on a weeknight, I'd much rather throw a couple of ingredients together and call it a day. So, obviously, choose your favorite barbecue sauce to use in this recipe, as it is a feature flavor, and you don't want to skimp here.

For a simple dinner, we'll serve the BBQ chicken over rice, but it can also just as easily be made into slider sandwiches served with coleslaw and a little extra slather of barbecue sauce. For best results, use a slow cooker with an automatic warm option after the cook time is up; too long in the slow cooker, even on the low setting, and you could end up with less-than-appetizing dried out chicken. And no one wants that for dinner.

Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken (printer-friendly version)
makes 4-6 servings

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (reserve a few tablespoons for serving)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
water
1 cup cooked rice, for serving

1. Pat the chicken thighs dry and place in the slow cooker. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Cover the chicken with barbecue sauce and gently stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour and 30 minutes or cook on low for 3 hours.
2. After the chicken is cooked (it should reach a temperature of 165 degrees), remove from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Add the water to the cornstarch and stir to make a slurry. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the slow cooker and stir to combine. Place the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker and cook on the low setting for 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
3. Serve over rice alongside extra barbecue sauce, if desired.

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken

A few minutes of prep time and a couple of hours in the slow cooker is all it takes to make this delicious recipe for Honey Soy Chicken. 

And then it was 2017. Oof! Question: Am I the only person in the world that didn't start a Whole 30 on January 2nd? Because by the looks of my instagram and blog feeds, I appear to be the only one.

I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to start the year off with a post about healthy salads or green juices, but I'm more of an ease-into-the-healthy-eating-in-the-new-year kind of girl. Even if I'm totally in the oy-I-ate-too-much-over-the-holidays camp. After a week spent out of town visiting family in Georgia and Michigan, I was definitely ready to hit up large plates of greens for several meals upon our return to Northern Wisconsin. (I may not have been as excited to trade Georgia's 65+ degree temperatures for our sub-freezing weather, though there's a chance I also may have complained about it being too hot the entire time we were down south.)

That's not to say this recipe for slow cooker honey soy chicken is an unhealthy choice ... it's actually quite wholesome and delicious. And perfect for eating on a cold winter's night ... which appears to be in our forecast as I think I spied a high of -2 for this Thursday. Urgh.

Slow Cooker Honey Soy Chicken (printer-friendly version)
makes four servings

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 green onion, thinly sliced for garnish
sesame seeds, for garnish
1 cup cooked rice, for serving

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the diced onion, minced garlic, honey, soy sauce, ketchup, toasted sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.
2. Pat the chicken thighs dry and place in the slow cooker. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Add the honey-soy mixture and gently stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour and 30 minutes or cook on low for 3 hours and 30 minutes. After the chicken is cooked, remove from the slow cooker and shred. Add the water to the cornstarch and stir to make a slurry. Pour the cornstarch mixture into the slow cooker and stir to combine. Place the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker and cook on the low setting for 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
3. Serve over rice. Garnish the chicken with sesame seeds and sliced green onion.

(adapted from this Damn Delicious recipe)

What I'm Drinking: Slow Cooker Apple Cider

You'll be a hit at the party if you bring along this Slow Cooker Hot Apple Cider. 

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to start featuring all sorts of peppermint and chocolate recipes. However, my calendar still says it's November, so I think I can get away with sharing this recipe for Slow Cooker Apple Cider.

My friends had a get-together recently and I wanted to bring along a warm beverage to share. This slow cooker hot apple cider is super-easy to make and gives off a delicious aroma, too.

When I first considered bringing along hot apple cider to share, I looked through a few recipes that actually start with whole apples. But I kind of wasn't in the mood for all that effort. This recipe starts with a gallon of (unsweetened) apple cider, but once you add a pile of spices to the mix, it will taste way better than it does straight out of the bottle.

I brought along a bottle of rum for folks to spike their own mugs of cider, but if you prefer, you could stir in a cup of your favorite booze (rum, bourbon, or brandy) before serving. Just make sure you let your guests know that it's been spiked before they imbibe!

Slow Cooker Apple Cider (printer-friendly version)
makes 12-14 servings

1 gallon unsweetened apple cider
5 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon cardamom pods
5 whole star anise
1 orange, sliced thin
1 apple, sliced thin
additional orange slices, apple slices, and/or cinnamon sticks for garnish

1. Add the apple cider to a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the cinnamon sticks to the cider.
2. Place the spices in a tea infuser ball, or wrap in a double layer of cheesecloth or a coffee filter and tie closed with a string. Add the spice pouch to the cider.
3. Top the cider with the sliced orange and apple.
4. Heat on low for four hours. Serve hot with cinnamon sticks and sliced fruit for garnish.

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Venison Chili Mac

Classic chili mac recipe gets a Northwoods spin by replacing ground beef with ground venison. 

It is a bit blustery and gray out today, which is perfect slow cooker weather. We make a lot of chili in the fall, and there's something quite comforting knowing that dinner is ready in the slow cooker after spending a day out in the chilly fall weather.

More often than not, our choice for red meat in our house is venison. I don't tend to purchase much ground beef, as, if we're lucky, we (and by "we," I mean, "my husband") will fill our freezer with venison during the fall deer hunting season.

Of course, if ground beef is more your thing, you can easily substitute it in this recipe, no problem.

In my book, a bowl of chili requires plenty of garnishes. My favorites include chopped scallions and plenty of shredded cheese. Oyster crackers are always a good idea, too. And then, if you've got the time, freshly-baked cornbread on the side is never a bad thing.

This recipe makes a whole lotta chili, so be prepared for plenty of leftovers. On the positive side, choosing what's for lunch the rest of the week is a tad bit easier.

Bring on the chilly fall weather! Me and my slow cooker are ready.

Venison Chili Mac (printer-friendly version)
makes 8-10 servings

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 pound ground venison
3 15-ounce cans tri-blend beans (or 1 can each of kidney, pinto, and black bean), drained and rinsed
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 cups elbow macaroni
shredded cheddar, sliced scallions, and corn bread, for serving

1. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to a medium skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until softened, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the salt, chili powder, and cumin and cook for an additional minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and carefully transfer the veggies to the bowl of a slow cooker.
2. Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet and add the ground venison. Cook until browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to remove any excess grease. Then transfer the browned meat to the slow cooker.
3. Add the beans and diced tomatoes to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Then stir in the vegetable broth. Set the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 5-7 hours.
4. Right before you are ready to eat, place the slow cooker on high and stir in the elbow macaroni. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Serve immediately with your favorite garnishes.

(adapted from this Real Simple recipe)

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken Sliders

Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken Sliders are a delicious way to end the day. 

While I have used a manual slow cooker for eons, this past Christmas Dustin gifted me with a programmable one. And while I still use my manual one a lot, a programmable slow cooker is super-handy to have when you aren't around during the day, especially when a recipe calls for a shorter cooking time period. With a programmable slow cooker, you can preset the cook time and then it automatically switches to warm mode once the cook time is complete. Brilliant!

This past weekend I had both my slow cookers going; one held a batch of applesauce from some apples we picked at an orchard, and the other held a batch of this delicious recipe for BBQ shredded chicken sliders. Served on top of a bed of coleslaw and served with a side of roasted fingerling potatoes, these little sandwiches really hit the spot.

Slow Cooker BBQ Shredded Chicken Sliders (printer-friendly version)

makes 4-6 servings

1-2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for serving if desired
1 to 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the smoked paprika, salt, and several grinds of black pepper. Stir in the barbecue sauce and let simmer for 2 minutes.
2. Add the chicken to the bowl of your slow cooker. Carefully pour the onion mixture over the chicken. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 5-7 hours. Once the cook time is up, remove the chicken from the slow cooker and use two forks to shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. If you prefer a thicker sauce, pour the sauce into a saucepan and reduce over high heat. Pour the sauce over the shredded chicken and stir.
3. Serve the chicken with buns, coleslaw, and extra barbecue sauce.

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Barbecue Pork Ribs

These no-muss, no-fuss Slow Cooker Barbecue Pork Ribs are full of flavor and get a delicious just-grilled-like flavor with a short stay under the broiler before serving.

When I was growing up, I never imagined that I would find myself someday living on a farm and raising a whole bunch of chickens and hogs.

But here I am, a regular ol' pig farmer. And truth be told, as much as it messes with my summer vacation (or lack thereof) I kind of love it. We are about as small-scale as you can get, as we raise just four pigs a year (up from three last year), but we like to keep things small and manageable. Our hogs are Tamworths, a heritage breed, and are meant to live outdoors, forage, and do all the things pigs naturally like to do. (Like wallow in big ol' mud puddles when they get the chance.) We supplement their diet with organic feed purchased from a Wisconsin feed supply company. To paraphrase the famous agrarian Joel Salatin, our pigs "live a very good life, and then have one bad day."

We sell our pork as half-shares and keep one share for ourselves. We're almost through our half-share from last year, and this past week we enjoyed pork ribs for dinner. I made them in the slow cooker and then finished them under the broiler to get a bit of a caramelized grilled flavor in them. Long story short, they were delicious. And they made me appreciate all the hard work that goes into raising our pigs and giving them a good life on our farm.

Slow Cooker Barbecue Pork Ribs (printer-friendly version)
makes 4 servings

4 half-racks of pork spareribs
1 tablespoon all-purpose spice rub
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups Maple-Bourbon Barbecue Sauce (or a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce)

1. Remove the ribs from their packaging and blot dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle each rack with the spice rub and massage in. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Generously brush barbecue sauce onto the ribs and set into the slow cooker. Make sure to evenly coat both sides of each rack of ribs.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Once they are cooked through and tender, carefully remove from the slow cooker and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet line with aluminum foil. Brush more barbecue sauce onto the top of each rack of ribs.
4. Set the oven to broil and broil the ribs under the broiler until the sauce begins to bubble and caramelize. Serve immediately.

Made From Scratch: Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

This rich and meaty spaghetti sauce tastes like you spent the day stuck in the kitchen stirring a pot on the stovetop. No one needs to know that the slow cooker did most of the work – that can be our little secret.

Back in my vegetarian days, I used to joke that I was really a "pastatarian," as I ate pasta for dinner more often that not. Truth be told, I was kind of a terrible vegetarian, mostly due to the fact that I had no desire to spend a lot of time in the kitchen making dinner for one after a long day of work.

Oh, how the times have changed. Not only am I no longer a vegetarian, but now I actually enjoy spending time in the kitchen.

However, my weekdays are still busy with work, and when dinnertime rolls around, I'm all for whatever's quick and easy to put together. This slow cooker spaghetti sauce requires a little bit of work (about 30 minutes) at the beginning, but then the slow cooker works its magic for 6-8 hours.

And when the work day is done, all you need to do is cook up some pasta (I'm a fan of angel hair pasta, which takes less than 5 minutes to cook), and dinner is ready and on the table. Now that's my kind of meal!

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce (printer-friendly version)
makes 6-8 servings

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium carrots (3/4 cup), finely diced

1 stalk celery (1/2 cup), finely diced

1/2 large onion (1 cup), finely chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 pound grass-fed ground beef (90 percent lean)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

pinch nutmeg

pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup 1 percent organic milk

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 28-ounce can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes

1 bay leaf

To serve: 

cooked pasta, such as spaghetti

fresh basil, for garnish

1. Add the oil to a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery, and onion, and saute until the vegetables have softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and the tomato paste, and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. 

2. Add the beef, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, and cook it until just browned. Stir in the thyme, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, thyme, nutmeg, and crushed red pepper flakes.

3. Stir in the milk and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering until the milk has reduced completely and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Stir in the wine and simmer again until almost completely reduced, about 10 minutes. Transfer the beef mixture to the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker.

4. Strain the tomatoes through a fine-mesh strainer, reserving the juices. Carefully add the tomatoes to the slow cooker, smashing them against the side of the slow cooker with a spoon or smooshing them through your fist to break the tomatoes down into bite-size pieces.

5. Add the bay leaf to the slow cooker and stir everything together. If the mixture looks too dry, add a little bit of the reserved tomato juice.

6. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. 

7. When only 30 minutes of cooking time remains, check the sauce. If it looks very liquidy, remove the lid to let the excess liquid evaporate. If it looks too dry, stir in a little bit of the reserved tomato juice. 

8. Serve the sauce over pasta and garnish with fresh basil. You can keep the leftover sauce in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to one week. 

(adapted from this recipe from The Kitchn)

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Southwest Chicken Soup

Not sure what to do with that leftover chicken? This slow cooker southwest chicken soup is a tasty way to put those leftovers to use.

As I've mentioned before, chicken is on our dinner menu quite often. So, by the end of the week, we typically have all sorts of odds and ends in the fridge. (Doesn't that sound delicious? Don't answer that question.) The great thing about all these leftovers (so long as the chicken wasn't cooked in a super crazy sauce) is that they can all end up in a soup recipe.

For my most recent chicken soup adventure, I used leftovers from a dinner of chicken thighs, a roast chicken, and the meaty bits left over from making a batch of chicken broth. This soup recipe would also work quite well with a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, if that's your thing.

This soup can be made in the slow cooker, or you can make it in about 30 minutes on the stovetop. I tend to make things in the slow cooker since that means I can put everything together and basically forget about it until it's time to eat. Especially since I recently got a programmable slow cooker which automatically switches to "warm" mode when the cooking period is over. 

I garnished my bowl of soup simply with chopped fresh cilantro, but you can definitely go to town on toppings if you'd like – a dollop of sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt), avocado slices, or crumbled queso fresco would all be delicious options. Note: this soup is a little spicy; if you're sensitive to spiciness, dial down the amount of jalapeño pepper and red pepper flakes. 

Slow Cooker Southwest Chicken Soup (printer-friendly version)
makes 6-8 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper (about 1/2 medium pepper)
1 tablespoon finely minced jalapeño
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 cups low-sodium (or homemade) chicken broth
1 can diced fire-roasted tomatoes with roasted garlic (and juices)
3 cups pre-cooked shredded chicken
1 can black beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
fresh cilantro, for garnish

1. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium skillet. Add the scallions, chopped red pepper, and jalapeño and sauté until softened, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add the cooked vegetables to the bowl of a slow cooker. Stir in the salt and red pepper flakes.
3. Stir in the chicken broth, fire-roasted tomatoes, and cooked chicken. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.
4. Stir in the black beans and frozen corn kernels. Cook on high for an additional 30 minutes.
5. Garnish each serving with fresh cilantro and serve.

To make on the stovetop, replace the skillet in step one with a medium stock pot. After sautéing the vegetables, add the rest of the ingredients through the shredded chicken to the stock pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the black beans and corn kernels and simmer until warmed through, 5-10 minutes.

What's For Dinner: Maple-Bourbon Pulled Pork

Although as I type this I can see snowflakes flitting about outside, this weekend we're supposed to reach 45 degrees. (Heat wave!) Which can only mean one thing –  spring must be right around the corner. With the big caveat being that up here in the Northwoods, a big dump of snow in late April is not unusual.

All that to say that we have started looking into finding our next batch of pigs to join the farm this summer. (Is it weird to talk about raising pigs on a post about pulled pork? Not if you're into hyper-local food, I suppose.) Last year we raised three Tamworths, and this year I think we'd like to find the same breed. Let's just say they are just as tasty as they were friendly. (OK, now that's a weird sentence.) If we can find the customers (which proved to be quite easy last year), we may in the very least double our number to six pigs, although we are considering getting a full litter (8-10 pigs). I really enjoyed having the pigs around last year, and I definitely shed a tear or two when D drove off with them in the back of the trailer last October. But it was a bittersweet moment, as it's also super important to me to know exactly where the meat I'm eating came from, and you can't get any more local than your own backyard.

Pork shoulder (also called pork butt or Boston butt) is my favorite cut of pork, I think, solely because I love pulled pork so much. And it's just so dang easy to make! This recipe features a smoky-sweet flavor with the addition of maple syrup and Bourbon. Once pulled apart, you can eat the pulled pork as-is, or stir in some of your favorite barbecue sauce before serving.

Maple-Bourbon Pulled Pork (printer-friendly version)
makes 6-8 servings

1 red onion, cut in half and sliced (half-moons)
1 3-4 pound pork shoulder
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1/2 cup Bourbon (mid-range is fine)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (unsulphured)
bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce, if desired

1. Add the sliced onion to the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Pat the pork shoulder dry and season all sides liberally with salt and pepper, then set atop the onion layer.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the Bourbon, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, and molasses. Pour over top the pork.
4. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or until the pork is tender and shreds easily.
5. Use two forks to shred the pork into bite-size pieces. You can then serve as-is, or stir in barbecue sauce as desired. (I stirred in about 1/3 cup of barbecue sauce, but we like our pulled pork lightly sauced; you may opt to add in more.) Serve on toasted buns (I highly recommend pretzel buns) with coleslaw.

What's For Dinner: Slow-cooked Hasenpfeffer Stew

Does it sound more appealing if I call this "hasenpfeffer stew" rather than "rabbit stew"? I think we can all agree that bunnies are super-cute, but, turns out, they are also an excellent source of lean protein. Rabbit meat has recently gained popularity among the local and slow food crowds and it is becoming a more common sight on restaurant menus around the country.

Still, I totally understand that rabbit is not for everyone. (Particularly if you have a pet bunny!) But since D brought home a snowshoe hare after a day of hunting in the field with our Deutsch langhaar Franka, I had to give it a go.

Because wild rabbit can be a bit tough, it is best suited for braising or slow-cooking. Rabbit is a fairly popular European dish, so I looked to the British for a recipe to try. The following recipe is lightly adapted from the BBC's Good Food magazine. The resulting dish is delightfully boozy (with both brandy and red wine!) and flavorful.

Slow-cooked Hasenpfeffer Stew (printer-friendly version)
makes 4-6 servings

16 whole prunes
1/4 cup brandy
1 rabbit, jointed
unbleached all-purpose flour, for dusting
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 strips of bacon, sliced into thin strips horizontally
2 carrots, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 thyme sprigs
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
few tablespoons fresh parsley, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place the prunes in a bowl with the brandy, stir, and let soak.
3. Lightly dust the rabbit with flour. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat and brown each piece on all sides. Set the browned meat on a platter.
4. Add the thinly sliced bacon to the skillet along with the carrots, onion, celery, crushed garlic, and thyme sprigs. Fry until the bacon is browned, about 5 minutes.
5. Pour in the red wine and chicken broth. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the rabbit pieces back into the dish along with the prunes. Cover the Dutch oven with the lid and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the rabbit is tender. Scatter with fresh parsley before serving.

(adapted from this Good Food magazine recipe)

What's For Dinner: Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

After coming in from the cold, there's nothing I like better than a steaming bowl of hot soup to warm me back up. Well, that and a huge cardigan sweater. And maybe my fuzzy slippers, too.

This past summer we pasture-raised 40 broilers on our farm, so now our freezer is stocked full of roasting chickens. Which means we probably roast a chicken once or twice a week. I hate to let any part of the bird go to waste, so after eating our fill of roast chicken, I immediately place the carcass (not the most appetizing word) into my slow cooker, along with some chopped carrots, celery, onion, a pinch of herbes de Provence, and a couple of bay leaves. The slow cooker is then filled to the brim with water and when I wake up in the morning, chicken stock is ready to be strained and jarred for my fridge.

I immediately used about one jarful of homemade chicken stock for this chicken and wild rice soup recipe. I like to saute my vegetables before throwing them into the soup to add a little tenderness (I'm not a fan of crunchy vegetables in my soup), but you could make things even easier by skipping that step and tossing everything into the slow cooker as-is. I like this recipe because it immediately uses up some of the leftover chicken from the night before, and it is hearty enough to serve for dinner. (Even better when served alongside a salad and crusty loaf of bread.)

Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (printer-friendly version)
makes about 8-10 servings

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped celery (1 celery heart)
1/2 cup chopped carrots (1 medium carrot)
1/2 cup finely chopped shallot (2 medium shallots)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup uncooked wild rice
2 cups pre-cooked shredded chicken
8 cups homemade chicken broth (or low-sodium vegetable broth)
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (gluten-free AP flour would also work)
1 cup 1 percent organic milk

fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery, carrots, and shallots along with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and saute until tender, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute until fragrant, 30 seconds Then carefully spoon the cooked vegetables into the bowl of your slow cooker.
2. Add the wild rice, cooked shredded chicken, and chicken broth. Top with herbes de Provence and rubbed sage. Set the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 2-3 hours, or until the wild rice is tender and the kernels have split open.
3. When the rice is finished cooking, make a slurry with flour and milk to thicken the soup: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and milk until smooth. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker bowl and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

What's For Dinner: Butternut Squash Coconut Curry

Sometimes I make things, and I'm like, well, this tastes good, but is it awesome enough to share on the blog? And then I have leftovers on day two, and I'm like, this is amazing. So, yes, you can definitely eat this butternut squash coconut curry the day you make it. But ... after spending a day in the fridge, allowing all the flavors to meld and the squash to become even more tender ... this dish is truly delicious. Is that a weird way to sell a dish? Maybe. But I'm sticking to it.

Even when we lived close to an Indian restaurant (oh, Indian Restaurant – yes, that was really its name – how I miss your less-than-two-blocks-away proximity), we would typically order an extra entree to have as leftovers the next day. And it always tasted just as good – if not better – on day two. So I guess I really shouldn't be shocked, nor is it all that weird, that this curry dish improves with a little age.

Made as described, this dish is vegetarian/vegan; if you'd like a more protein-rich meal, you could stir in some pre-cooked tofu cubes or shredded chicken before serving.

Is it lunchtime yet?

Butternut Squash Coconut Curry

makes 6-8 servings

1 - 1 1/2 pound butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 red pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch fresh ginger piece, peeled and minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons red curry paste
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 ground coriander
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
1 - 2 tablespoons cornstarch [if necessary]

cooked jasmine rice, to serve
chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

1. Cut each end off of the butternut squash. Then cut the squash horizontally, separating the neck from the bulb. Cut each portion in half vertically. Use a spoon to remove the seeds from the bulb end. Then carefully peel each portion. Cut the peeled squash pieces into 1/2-inch cubes. Place the cubes in a 4-quart slow cooker bowl.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and red pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Carefully add the sauteed vegetables into the slow cooker.
3. Top the ingredients in the slow cooker with the red curry paste, turmeric, paprika, cumin, coriander, and salt. Stir in the vegetable broth and coconut milk.
4. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 1-2 hours, or until the squash is fork tender. If the liquid is too thin, make a cornstarch slurry: dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of water and add to the slow cooker. Stir to combine, and simmer for 5 minutes. Repeat once more if you would like to thicken it even more. Season to taste with additional salt.
5. Serve over rice with a garnish of chopped fresh cilantro.

What's For DInner: Slow Cooker Beef Chili

Last winter, D and I became friends with a group of young, progressive farmers in Central Wisconsin. The group meets on a monthly(ish) rotating basis for a potluck and a pasture walk to share what has and hasn't worked on their farms. It's super-educational for D and I, who are just dipping our toes into farming, and don't really have plans to make this anything more than a hobby. (Though it can be quite tempting to go bigger.)

After a break in meeting together during the busy summer months, D offered to host the most recent potluck at our little farm -- which is a fair distance north (at least an hour and a half) of anyone else's farm. (There's a reason they all farm farther south!) However, several folks and their families made the trek north on Sunday, so I made a big vat of chili (alongside some cornbread) as our main meal, to be complemented with whatever anyone else brought along to share.

The chili was a big hit -- it's more warming than spicy, which is how I like it. And as a Cincinnati native, I couldn't help but add in a little unsweetened cocoa powder to give it that Cincy-style flavor. My favorite way to serve chili for a big group is to set up a toppings bar right next to the slow cooker. For this round, my toppings bar included shredded cheese, plain Greek yogurt, chopped scallions, oyster crackers, and Frito's (which D contributed).

After filling up on chili, we tromped through our pasture, and our friends provided some great ideas on where to set up fencing and a high tunnel (imagine a greenhouse-like structure) on our property in the future. All in all, it was a great get-together with friends, and a wonderful way to spend a beautiful sunny fall afternoon in Northern Wisconsin.

Slow Cooker Beef Chili (printer-friendly version)

makes 10-12 servings

1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 pounds 90 percent lean grass-fed ground beef
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper (seeds and ribs removed), chopped
1 small jalapeño pepper (seeds and ribs removed), minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can tomato puree
1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 (15.5-ounce) cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Add the chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, and red pepper flakes to a small skillet and, while stirring frequently, toast over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully transfer to a bowl.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, cook the ground beef (breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon) over medium-high heat until browned. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel to absorb any excess fat, then place the ground beef in the bowl of a 6-quart slow cooker.
3. Wipe the skillet of any excess grease, then add the onion, red pepper, and jalapeño pepper and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Carefully transfer the pepper mixture into the slow cooker. Add in the tomato puree, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, and kidney beans. Top with the toasted seasonings along with the cocoa powder, salt and ground pepper. Stir to combine. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-5 hours. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.
4. Serve with your favorite toppings. My top-your-own chili bar options included plain Greek yogurt (or use sour cream), chopped scallions, shredded cheese, and oyster crackers.

(adapted from a Cook's Country magazine recipe found via One Perfect Bite)