Slow Cooker Curried Pork Roast

Whenever I find pork roasts for cheap, I buy alot of them.  They are great for popping in the slow cooker and always end up tasting great.  Unfortunately, with work, it is hard to use the slow cooker because it takes 4 hours on high and that means we are not eating until 9 or 10.  This was a new recipe I was trying in the slow cooker with the pork. It turned out well! I put it on top of the mashed sweet potatoes that I made for a different dinner the day before.  It added another layer of flavor and turned out tastier than I thought it would.  When I make it again, I think I would use couscous.  Its interesting to notice that all three of my last meals are orange...weird.  

Slow Cooker Curried Pork Roast

1 2 pound pork roast

1 large yellow onion

2 cups water

1/4 cup of quick tapioca

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 cup raisins

2 granny smith apples

1.  Cut up onion and put into the bottom of the slow cooker.  Rub the pork roast with the curry powder and paprika. If there is any left, put on top of onions.  Place the pork on top of the onions.  Mix the tapioca, chicken bouillon and water then pour into the slow cooker. Add the raisins.  

2.  Cook on high for 4 hours.

3.  Peel and slice the apples into skinny wedges and put into the slow cooker.  Cook on high for another 1/2 hour.  

4.  When the food is done, take out the pork roast and shred in bowl.  Then pour sauce in bowl.  You may want to reserve some of the sauce for another dish (because there is alot!)  

Pasta with Chickpea Sauce

This pasta dish is one of my favorite, and is vegetarian which is very unusal for me (I love meat!).  I really enjoy chickpeas (garbanzo beans).  They are great in hummus, chickpea curry, etc.  If I had to be a vegetarian, I would probably live on chickpeas and avacados! This dish has a more subtle taste.  Dave would prefer if I added more spices or meat but I think the rosemary and chickpeas is a great combination.

Pasta with Chickpea Sauce

Ingredients cooking before pureeing

The final dish

2 medium yellow onions (chopped)

4 garlic cloves (chopped)

1 1/2 tablespoons of dried rosemary (crushed)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 15 oz cans of chickpeas

salt and ground pepper 

1 pound of pasta (I have made it with linguini and smaller pasta, but prefer the larger)

Heat olive oil in pot. Put in onions, garlic, and rosemary on low heat for 10 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and one can of chickpeas and cook for 10 minutes.  Puree the sauce until it is smooth.  Add salt and ground pepper and additional can of chickpeas and cook for 3 - 4 minutes.  Pour over cooked pasta.  Add parmesan cheese if you like.  

African Peanut Soup

The last few days in Chicago have been freezing.  Thursday and Friday we had a funeral and had to be out of the house in the -7 (-33 with windchill) weather.  After the funeral and the cold, we needed some comfort food for dinner on Friday.  I decided to make one of my favorite stews.  Although it has peanut butter, there are no whole peanuts, so I haven't had any problems with it.

African Peanut Soup (adapted from Foodnetwork.com)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/african-peanut-soup-recipe/index.html

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder

2 medium onions chopped

4 garlic cloves minced

2 large sweet potatoes (2 pounds) peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks

2 cups of chicken broth

1 28 oz of chopped tomatoes

1 pound of ground turkey

salt and pepper to taste 

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

Put oil in the pan on medium heat with the curry powder and stir for one minute.  Add the chopped onions and stir for two minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute.  Add in the sweet potatoes, chicken broth, and tomatoes and boil soup.  Then reduce head and simmer with the top on for 20 to 30 minutes.  

In another pan add the ground turkey and cook thoroughly.   Add salt and pepper to season the turkey.  Then drain the turkey on paper towels on a plate to get the excess oil off.  

Combine ground turkey along with the cayenne, peanut butter and coconut into the soup mixture.  Simmer the soup for 20 minutes.

Although I like this soup (which is much more like a stew) on its own, I've made naan before as a side.  We have added rice to the soup to stretch leftovers and it has worked well.  This is also a great recipe to make, eat for dinner, and freeze since it makes alot and it thaws perfectly.

 

American Chop Suey

So, it would have been neat to start my food blog with one of my favorite recipes or one that was spectacular.  Instead I start with the one I made last night!  A week ago I read a food blog (sorry, since I just started I cant cite it) that talked about American Chop Suey.  The dish looked interesting but the blog did not have a recipe.  So, I went searching for one.  Some websites had very basic ones and I had to search around till I found one that was interesting.  Finally I came around to cdkkitchen and a recipe for American Chop Suey that had been rated 3 stars so I decided to try it out.  

I use way too many pans, bowls, and spoons when cooking

The final product:

Here is the recipe with my changes from CDKitchen at http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/255/AmericanChopSuey69032.shtml

American Chop Suey

• 1 teaspoon olive oil 
• 1 red onion -- finely chopped 
  
• 1 large green bell pepper -- cored, seeded, and chopped 
  
• 4 cloves garlic -- finely chopped 
  
• 1.5 pounds lean ground chicken 
  
• 1 can (28 ounce size) crushed tomatoes with celery and green peppers 
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  
• 1 tablespoon grill seasoning 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
  
• salt and black pepper -- to taste 
  
• 1 pound macaroni, ziti, or penne
  
• parmesan cheese
  

In a large pan heat the oil. When it is hot, cook the onion and green pepper over medium heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the vegetables soften. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the ground chicken and grill seasoning and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the meat is cooked. Tip the pan and spoon off any fat.  Add the tomatoes and their liquid to the meat mixture. Stir in the tomato paste, water, oregano, red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes.  Cook the pasta.  When both are done, combine and top with cheese as needed.

So how did it taste?  Ok.  I thought it was a little bland while I was cooking so that is why I added more garlic and some more grill seasoning.  If you make it, it does taste better the next day and you might want to up the seasoning even more. Honestly, even though it has an interesting name it is basically the typical pasta that we usually make with chicken added.  Nothing really exciting.  

Why its called "The Broken Stomach"

Well, welcome to my food blog.  It seems weird starting one, but I read so many each day searching for recipes that I could eat with my specific diet that I thought I would post some of them that I have tried to help people in similar situations.  Around a year ago I was diagnosed with gastroparesis, though I had it for almost a year prior and noone accurately diagnosed it.  Gastroparesis happens when the vagus nerve, which causes your stomach to contract and empty, is damaged.  Right now my stomach is completely useless, hense the blog name of "The Broken Stomach"! Unlike most people with gastroparesis, I am not diabetic and do not have any thyroid issues.  Instead I caught a "super virus", probably from working with children, and it killed the nerve.

To deal with gastroparesis, many people take medicine.  I have found that mine is completely controlled if I follow the low-residue diet that my GI doctor provided (I had bad side effects with the meds).  This is what makes me feel normal, but makes cooking and enjoying reading food blogs and recipes difficult.  On the low residue diet I cant eat:

• breads and pastas with whole grains or corn meal
  
• strong cheeses
  
• raw vegetables
  
• tough meat
  
• crunchy peanut butter
  
• oatmeal
  
• beans or peas
  
• dried fruits
  
• raw fruits other than bananas
  
• chocolate (but I havent had a problem with it)
  
• juice with pulp
  
• popcorn
  
• nuts and seeds
  
• limit amount of milk products

I also find that I cannot eat food with large amounts of fat- which cuts out things like pizza and fries- and have to eat small portions.  Starting the diet was hard because we used to eat out constantly.  My boyfriend owns a bar and is the GM for 3, so he would bring home food or we would go out to try out other places.  Eating out has now become almost impossible because nothing really fits the diet well, and even if it does, generally it has too much oil or I eat too much and get sick.  The answer was to start cooking at home.  I began on websites such as MarthaStewart.com (I listen to her channel on Sirius all the time) or foodnetwork.com.  However they didn't update their websites often enough for me.  Then I discovered food blogs and photograzing and have been hooked on it ever since.  

Now my complaint about reading the foodblogs and websites- the push for fiber.  I know that diets with high fiber lead to better health and right now there is a huge movement for it-whole grains in everything, raw vegetables, fruits, etc.  But how about we who cant eat it?? I would like to have a salad every now and then (especially the chop salad from Wildfire) but it makes me sick.  I would like to eat cornbread with sweet maple butter but a few hours from now I will not be functioning.  So, heres a place where I can post recipes that I have found that work, or may work, that follow the low residue diet.  They may not all follow exactly, but I know what works for me and, if you have similar GI disorders, it may work for you.

Enjoy!

Sara