When you don't have a kitchen...

I have no tolerance for eating out terribly often. My body rebels in some seriously unpleasant ways in which a food blog has no business listing, I start having irresistible cravings for strange foods like raw celery root or grass, and I start having small psychotic breaks in which I imagine that my husband is raw celery root and I bite him. Okay I'm just kidding about that last one but regardless, even when my kitchen was wildly unusable and looked like a house from the Gaza Strip, I managed to cook at home. It is the delights of the Crock Pot that got me through without getting arrested for domestic violence a la Chris Brown. Some were successful and after a few months of making sweet dinner love to my stove I will make again and some were just okay and will probably never grace my home again.

Crock Pot Fajitas

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 pepper- green, red, yellow, orange, purple, pink, azure...doesn't matter

1 onion

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons fajita seasoning OR 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon ground cummin

Slice Chicken breasts, peppers and onion into 1/2 inch strips and add to Crock Pot. If you are using the chipotle chile, garlic and cummin, mince the chile and add to pot and add a dollop of adobo sauce to the pot. If you are using the fajita seasoning, add that to the pot. Mix and put the lid on and cook on low heat for 2-4 hours. Turn the heat to high and take the lid off and cook for an hour. Serve on tortillas with lots of toppings such as limes, sour cream, salsa and cheese.

Okay, this was thoroughly fine. Absolutely better than McDonalds, but it isn't as good as chicken, peppers and onions cooked in a pan on the stove. It's a good option if you don't have access to a stove burner.

Sausage and Chicken stew

1/2 pound spicy sausage

2 chicken thighs, skin off

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 can cannellini beans, drained

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen green beans

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1 bay leaf

1-2 teaspoons dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste...of course

Crumble up the sausage and place into the pot and add the chicken thighs whole. Add the onion, carrots, canellini beans, wine, stock, bay leaf and thyme. Stir and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in the green beans and peas and turn to high for 30 minutes. Don't forget to pick out the bay leaf before serving!

This stew was really comforting and warm. It was hardy and filling and yet chocked full of veggies. It also reheated really well for lunches or left over. It is something I will absolutely make again.

Twisted Up Chicken Chili

1 pound ground chicken

1 can cannellini beans, drained

1 28 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and grated

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder or granulated garlic

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cummin

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

Toss all of the above into the pot, stir and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Top with whatever you think sounds good. I used sour cream.

This was really really good. I loved the sweet potato. I only used 1 chipotle chile because chipotles are so so smoky and I honestly could have done with only using a half of a chile but if you like some slow warm spice and some smoke, load up on the chipotles. I'm not usually a big chili person but this was different enough from the normal ground-beef-in-red-goop that I really liked it. Again, this dish will grace my home again after I stop practically orgasming whenever I walk in my finished kitchen.