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Veg4Health
Healthy Eating,
Vibrant Living!
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Veg4Health Newsletter
Getting
Ready for Christmas!
I
love
this time of year as do most of you. The anticipation of
Christmas celebrations and all of the preparations are exciting - and
exhausting!
It always seems there is so much to do during December and never enough
time to truly relax and enjoy the sights and smells of the holiday
season. One of the ways I "create" more family time is to use
my
crockpot to simplify my life. When it's the end of a long
day,
everyone is tired and starving and the last thing I want to do is head
to the kitchen and prepare dinner. So, what do I
do? Rather
than grab anything in sight, we set the table, slice some bread, dice
some fresh fruit, gather the family and open my crockpot. A
delicious and healthy ready-to-eat meal is ready and
waiting!
Cooking
in the Crockpot (or the slow cooker) is easy, fun and
healthy.
Instead of thinking all day about what to make for dinner, a little
prep time in the morning ensures a healthy, hot meal at dinner
time. A crockpot is a great help in preparing nutritious
meals
with a minimum of work. Most crockpot recipes call for 6 to 8
hours of cooking. If your day stretches longer than that, use
a
timer to start the crockpot a few hours after you leave in the
morning. Without the use of dairy and meats, a few extra
hours on
your countertop won't harm anything. And if you have prepared
the
crockpot the night before and stored it in the refrigerator overnight,
those few extra hours simply let the ingredients come to room
temperature before cooking. After a long and busy day,
nothing
beats a hot, hearty, homemade meal for dinner. (As a side
note, I
also love to use my crockpot during the summer months. I hate
heating up my kitchen during the long hot days, so I put the crockpot
in the garage and let it cook all day. No heat and only one
pot
to clean after dinner - you can't beat that on a hot summer evening!)
Here are three
wonderful recipes for those cold winter nights:
As
simple as this recipe sounds, we were quite surprised at the wonderful
taste it had the first time we tried it. The liquid smoke is
optional, but it really adds a unique hint of a flavor I wouldn't want
to leave out.
This
recipe is a great crowd pleaser. It appears to be so simple,
yet
the taste is robust and hearty. We serve it with hot sauce on
the
side for those of us who like it a little more spicy than the rest of
the family. The recipe calls for vegetarian sausage links,
but I
substituted cooked and choppped Boca Burgers the other night and it was
fine.
This
recipe takes just a little more prep time than the other crockpot
recipes but it is definitely worth it! It's loaded with all
kinds
of wonderful winter vegetables and packs a great nutritional
punch. When I prepare my menu for the week, I make sure this
dinner follows one where I am cooking greens. Then, I just
cook
an extra bunch and use the leftovers to add to this soup at the end of
the day. The recipe calls for collards, but spinach, turnip
greens or kale works just as well.
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