APPENDIX D

Crockpot Recipes

Sweet Vegetable and Meat Stew

These three recipes are my “go-to recipes” for making easy, nourishing, and rich-tasting meals. The recipes can be modified as you wish and still taste good. The Sweet Vegetable and Meat Stew is a variation on the traditional Jewish Passover stew called Tzimmes. Because each of these recipes has its own version of sweet—from dried fruit, to balsamic vinegar, to white wine or sherry—they are ideal for coming off sweets, carbohydrates, and alcohol addiction.

Ingredients

2 pounds stew meat or inexpensive fatty meat

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch coins

2 bay leaves

½ lemon, including peel, pitted and chopped into ½ inch pieces

½ juice orange, including peel, pitted and chopped into ½ inch pieces

¼ tsp. cinnamon

½ cup mixed dried fruit * (prunes, pears, apricots, and apples), chopped into 1-inch pieces

2 cups water

Directions:

1.  Cut the meat and carrots into 2-inch pieces and place in the crockpot with 2 cups of water. Cook for 2 hours on high.

2.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for 2 more hours.

3.  Serve in bowls.

*   Use organic fruit with no sulfites. Make sure you purchase dried fruits without preservatives because the preservatives can be allergenic or exacerbate asthma or breathing difficulties.

Lamb With Balsamic-Glazed Vegetables

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves

1 teaspoon dried mint

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground fennel

3 lb lamb roast, deboned and well-trimmed of fat

1 large red onion, cut into eighths

1 large parsnip

2 medium new potatoes, quartered

3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

1.  Combine the salt, pepper, coriander, rosemary, mint, thyme, and fennel in a small bowl. Rub the seasonings all over the lamb roast.

2.  Place the onion in the bottom of the slow cooker and add the lamb roast. Add the remaining vegetables. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the vegetables.

3.  Cover and cook on high for 1 hour, then turn to low for 10–12 hours.

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

4 stalks celery

8 small red potatoes

1 onion or sliced leeks

¼ cup sherry or dry white wine

2 lemons

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Directions

1.  Wash chicken and place whole in the crockpot along with vegetables, fluids, and only 1 lemon.

2.  Cook for 8–10 hours on low.

3.  Add the juice from the second lemon and lemon zest before serving.