Crockpot Quinoa Enchilada

Crockpot Quinoa Enchilada

Posted on by Carie Perrino

Crockpot Quinoa EnchiladaA couple of months ago I started part time consulting at a local migrant Head Start program. As their nutritionist, I plot all of the kids on a growth chart to identify where they fall in terms of weight for length (height). For the kids that plotted above the 85th percentile I was able to sit down one on one with the parents of the overweight/obese kids and discuss the importance of exercise and a healthy diet. Majority of these kids are getting multiple sweets per day and limited vegetables. Just a few weeks ago I was able to host a meeting with all of the parents to share my role at the school and answer any questions.

During the meeting we were raffling off a crockpot so I made a healthy twist on the classic mexican dish – enchiladas. The director of the school told me that the kids are given quinoa and really seem to like it. Quinoa cooks very similar to rice but if a complete protein – meaning that it can replace meat in a meal.

Try this recipe with: crusty dutch oven bread!

Crockpot Quinoa Enchilada
 
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Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
Crockpot Enchilada
  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 1 - 15oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 - 15oz can corn, drained
  • 2 - 15oz cans diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups enchilada sauce
Enchilada Sauce
  • 3 cups broth
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp allowed oil
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp paprika
  • Optional: start with ¼ tsp cayenne pepper for spice. Add more to taste.
Instructions
Enchilada Sauce
  1. In a small bowl, mix flour, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika.
  2. In medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.
  3. Add tomato paste and bowl of spice mix.
  4. Cook 1 minute, whisking continuously.
  5. Whisk in broth, increase heat, and bring to a light boil.
  6. Reduce to simmer. Cook about 8 minutes until slightly thickened, whisking occasionally.
  7. Add salt/pepper to taste.
Crockpot Enchilada
  1. Place pinto beans, corn, tomatoes and quinoa in a crockpot. Stir everything together and top with enchilada sauce.
  2. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8 hours.
Notes
Nutrition information is not provided due alterations that can be made to accommodate food sensitivities.

Quinoa Enchilada

Products:

Here are other great recipes to make in your crockpot: Crockpot Whole Chicken

Would love to know what you think and if you made any alterations!

Enjoy!

Crusty Dutch Oven Bread

How to Make Crusty Dutch Oven Bread

Posted on by Carie Perrino

Crusty Dutch Oven BreadI found this dutch oven bread after several years of trying to perfect the art of making bread. And it truly is an art. The right amount of yeast, salt, flour and time to rise all contribute to flavor and texture of your bread. Some batches were too dense or they didn’t rise enough to look like a fancy artisan bread – more like a flat disc…

Finally, I found this recipe that is fool proof! This crusty dutch oven bread is almost impossible to screw up. It is simple – mix the ingredients together and leave it alone for about half a day. Bake it and its delicious 100% of the time.

The hardest thing about this recipe is just letting the bread sit and doing nothing!

As you could probably guess by the title, this bread is made in a dutch oven. This is the dutch oven that I use, it was a hand me down from Brandon’s mom and I make everything in it now! Bread, soups, stews, etc. Having a heavy bottom cast iron pot is great for all sorts of cooking and would be a great investment if you don’t have one already. In doing a quick google search it looks like they range in price from $25-$300+ if you want the fancy name brand Le Creuset Signature Dutch Oven.

Need something to eat with your bread? Try our 5-ingredient cauliflower soup! I like to make croutons out of my bread to add a nice crunch to this soup.

Crusty Dutch Oven Bread
 
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Cook time
Total time
 
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Recipe type: Bread
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 6 C all purpose flour
  • 3 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 3 C water (warm)
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl mix together flour, salt and yeast. Pour water into bowl and mix ingredients together until incorporated. Cover bowl with a clean towel and let sit in a warm place for 15-20 hours.
  2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Add dutch oven and lid to the oven during the preheat time. You want the dutch oven heat up as well
  3. Flour your work surface and hands. With floured hands gently remove the bread dough from the bowl. The bread can be very sticky. I find that it helps to sprinkle some flour over the top of the dough, especially around the edges of the bowl so that it drops down the sides as you pick up the dough.
  4. Shape your dough into a ball and drop it into the hot dutch oven. Put the lid back on and place it in the oven.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
  6. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Notes
I have a very large (6.5Qt) dutch oven so this recipe makes a lot of bread. If you have a smaller dutch oven you can cut the recipe in half and it still works great!

**Nutrition information is not provided due alterations that can be made to accommodate food sensitivities.

 

Alternatives:
Flour – I wouldn’t get too crazy with gluten free flour blends unless you have a blend that you use as all-purpose flour. I have not had a chance to experiment with gluten free bread at this time. You can use whole wheat flour for a different flavor profile. This would be used in the same quantity.

Additions: 
If you are feeling fancy, add some spices/herbs to your bread like garlic, basil, oregano, etc!

Products:

Here are other great recipes to make with these products: Cauliflower Soup

Did you add any other flavorings? We would love to know what you tried!

Enjoy!

5-Ingredient Cauliflower Soup

5-Ingredient Cauliflower Soup

Posted on by Carie Perrino

5-Ingredient Cauliflower SoupGrowing up my dad would always make soup with the Thanksgiving turkey leftovers or after having a roast chicken for dinner. They were always so good! I was intimidated by making soups but one day I just decided to jump in and try it out. At first I made a green chicken chili and then I royally screwed up a black bean chili (who knew a whole can of ancho chiles could be SOO spicy… whoops!)

There has been a big kick with cauliflower lately. Roasted cauliflower. Cauliflower “mashed potatoes”. Cauliflower pizza crust. etc. etc. etc. Well you should try my cauliflower soup! I wish I could get Brandon (remember.. the veggie hater) to even give it a try but because he knows the ingredients he won’t even give it a shot.

I like to cut up all of the ingredients first so that I can throw them all in the pan at the right time. After the soup cooks for about 20-25 minutes you will need to blend the soup so your cuts don’t have to be beautiful but they should be relatively uniform so that they cook at the same pace. It is not good to have some super mushy and others raw… been there, done that!

 

Heat 1/2 T of the oil of your choice in a heavy pot/dutch oven. For this recipe I would use a mild flavored oil: olive oil, unflavored coconut oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, corn oil.

Brown garlic and onion in the pot. This process takes about 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Browning the onion and garlic gives the soup an additional depth of flavor.

Once brown, add broth and chopped cauliflower. I prefer to use my own broth if I have some available but in a pinch I do keep some clean broths on hand.

Here a couple of brands that I like:
–Swanson Chicken Cooking Stock: chicken stock, salt, carrots, cabbage, onions, celery, celery leaves, parsley
–Progresso Vegetable Stock: water, celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, salt, parsley, leek, sugar, garlic, thyme, bay leaves

The Progresso brand is not approved for the initial phases of the LEAP diet but is a great clean broth if you are past phase 5 or not following the LEAP diet!

After the soup contents are soft add everything to a blender and puree until creamy. I had to do this in batches because my blender is not big enough to hold all of the soup. If you have an immersion blender, this would be the perfect time to use it. When everything is blended pour back into the pot and heat back up to serve!

I enjoy croutons with my puree soups so I made some homemade croutons with crusty dutch oven bread. The soup is also great with cut up scallions.

 

5-Ingredient Cauliflower Soup
 
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Easy 5 Ingredient Cauliflower Soup that the pickiest of eaters will enjoy!
Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • ½ T oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 head cauliflower, chopped
  • 32 oz clean broth or homemade broth - chicken or vegetable
  • 1 tsp salt
Instructions
  1. In dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook until slightly browned, about 5-7 minutes.
  2. Add broth and cut up cauliflower. Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until cauliflower is softened.
  3. In batches, pour contents of pot in blender. Blend until smooth. Continue until whole pot is smooth.
  4. Pour each batch back into dutch oven. Add salt and stir.
  5. Heat soup and serve with sliced green onions or homemade croutons.
Notes
Nutrition information is not provided due alterations that can be made to accommodate food sensitivities.

Products:


Here are other great recipes to make with these products: Crusty Dutch Oven Bread and Zucchini Pizza Bites

What’s your favorite homemade soup?

Enjoy!