Roasted Broccoli

So a nice friend would give you, on this week of Thanksgiving, a great recipe that was easy, could be made in advance, would economize on oven space, and would become a new favorite at your Thanksgiving table (we are not even going to get into how hard it is to introduce new foods at the Thanksgiving table. I'd rather perform a root canal on a cat).

But, no, I'm not going to give you any of those things. I'm going to tell you about roasted broccoli.

I roast probably 75% of the vegetables I make and I have the blackened pans to show for it. I love this method because it's really tasty, really easy, usually goes along with whatever else is going in the oven, and works great with a lot of different vegetables. I have made converts out of vegetable haters with this method.

Roasted Broccoli

About 1 pound Broccoli (You can use the entire piece of broccoli: stem, leaves, and florets. When broccoli is in season at my local farmstand, it comes with lots of leaves attached which is my favorite part. The leaves get all crispy and crunchy)

2 Tbls. olive oil

1 tsp. finely minced garlic (1/2 tsp. of the jar stuff) (optional)*

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450'. Chop the florets into bite-size pieces. Peel the tough part of the stem and cut into 1/2 inch thick circles. Place on baking sheet with leaves and drizzle the olive oil over the broccoli and toss to coat completely. Season with salt and pepper. Shake the pan to make a single layer. Roast 10 minutes, then stir. Roast another 5-10 minutes until done. Serves 4.

*I see a lot of recipes that call for tossing the garlic in at the begining but I can never keep mine from burning, so I either throw the garlic in during the last 5 minutes or wait until it comes out of the oven and sprinkle it with a little garlic salt.

Slow Cooker Chicken Burritos

I want to like my slow cooker (actually, slow cookers, I have three of them in various sizes). The slow cooker has all the possibility of being a workhorse in the deep trenches of  the daily war against fast food. It gives the promise of a complete meal with merely a dump of ingredients and a quick flick of the On switch.

Except...Um...Well...Do you know what I mean if I say that everything that comes out of it tastes "slow-cookery"? Everything comes out soupy or all tastes the same. I love a good roast but I don't want overcooked beef juice carrots and potatoes with it (I know this is exactly what some people love about it).

I have my handful of things I make in the slow cooker which are in the meal rotation every week or two so when I find a new one I am tinkled pink! This is a recipe that my friend Alicia created and it is the bomb! So easy. No pre-cooking and just out-of-this world tasty. We had these with avocado and sour cream and they would have been so good with Monterey Jack cheese. 

With 3 chicken breasts we got 8 burritos and leftovers for 4 enchiladas. I made enchiladas by rolling up the filling and monterey jack cheese inside of 4 flour tortillas (you could also use corn) then pouring about 1/2 can of green enchilada sauce over the top, toppping with more cheese and baking at 350 for about 30 minutes.

The leftover filling froze very well and if you make enchiladas you can freeze those too just increase the cooking time to 1 hour if still frozen or 45 minutes if defrosted.

Slow Cooker Green Chile Burritos

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

4 oz. can chopped green chilies

1 cup salsa (I used Herdez)

1 cup chopped onion (I used frozen pre-chopped)

1 chicken bouillon cube (Alicia uses chipotle cubes but I couldn't find those at my store)

1 clove garlic (1/2 tsp of the pre-chopped stuff)

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp ancho chile powder or regular chili powder

15 oz. can green enchilada sauce

Combine everything except the enchilada sauce in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 4-6 hours until chicken is cooked through. Drain everything into a colander, remove chicken. Place contents of colander back in slow cooker, shred chicken, add back to slow cooker and pour in can of enchilada sauce, Stir, cover, and cook until just warmed through. Serve wrapped in tortillas with avocado, sour cream, and cheese.