As I knew I would be, not two hours after that big ole salad (nearly the same one I had yesterday) I was slammed with stomach pains and hunger! Thankfully I had 10 sheet pans of granola to take from for a snack.
Clusters rock.
And I had a Siggi’s in the cooler to pair with them. (Unpictured: about 6 more giant nuggets of cluster!)
My afternoon was lovely (finished the recon! Yeah! I took a mastermind to figure out – so glad I have one of those) and then it was time to bike back home. It’s SO COOL here – only 85* and it feels fabulous! The forecast doesn’t have a single 90’* day coming up!
Dinner was simmering in the crockpot all afternoon! And boy was it good. I made this recipe from CD Kitchen that Karen brought over the ingredients for a few months ago. We just around to thawing the second half of the [lorganic = local/organic] leg of lamb we bought months ago from the Organic Butcher:
Moroccan Lamb And Fruit Stew
I absolutely LOVE stewed fruit!!
The only changes to the recipe I made:
- Omitted the onion and added a big eggplant in its place. Great decision – the eggplant was awesome
- Karen brought prunes instead of dates and left out the apricots. I LOVED the prunes!! So succulent and sweet on the inside
We served the dish with brown rice and sautéed spinach and topped it all with toasted almonds
A little KERFweiser to sip [sparling water + beer mix to lighten the load]
Winning recipe for sure!
Going to chill out!
Smooth move replacing the dates with prunes (tee hee)! I like prunes better too. Looks delish!
Okay. I LOVE prunes! And people think I’m weird for it and tell me that I’m not a 90 year old woman so I shouldn’t be eating them! Haha. Next time that comes up I am pointing people to this recipe in support of my love!!
Enjoy your (cool) night. SO glad the temps are lowering a bit lately, couldn’t take that heat for much longer!
That Moroccan Lamb and Fruit Stew packed a powerful punch!
I like the texture of prunes.
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
You sure can do amazing things with a crockpot.
For some reason, stewed fruit is not my favorite! I feel like a weirdo. But I love my crockpot — take my kitchen, but don’t take my crockpot! 😉
I love prunes! They’re so juicy. Prune juice, on the other hand- ewwww!
Yum! I have never had stewed prunes before, but love dates, apples and apricots stewed with meats and such. What a great looking dish 🙂
“lorganic” – you should patent that term! that’s perfect, I shall begin to incorporate it into my own vocab lol
Wow, that sounds really incredible! Very different from anything I’ve ever tried making!
Love your enthusiasm, because the reason I got into cooking as a tween was because I thought that, if I cooked dinner, I’d never have to eat mum’s lamb and prune casserole again 😛
That looks like a meal straight from a restaurant!
The stew looks so flavorful! I love cooking with my crockpot, it makes everything easier & I’ve yet to make something I didn’t like.
Ok I have a potty brain b/c the minute someone says prune juice, there is only one thing that comes to mind…lol
The meal looks divine, lovely, Kath!
Oh em gee. All of these cooked fruit dishes are killing me today. YUM!
I’m jealous of your cool weather! Send some of that in my direction!*
I should use my crock-pot more…
Watching SYTYCD. What do you think of Katie Holmes judging? She is well-spoken. Not sure where they come up with these judges though!
Well I LOVE Katie – she is so gorgeous – but her comments are rather fluffy..
I know – actually I found she commented more on what they were wearing than the performance…and yes she is gorgeous.
Did you read ‘The Hunger Games’ ? Katniss’ favorite meal, lamb and prune stew.
Haha – no way! I haven’t read it yet
Definitely make it a priority to read the series (3 books) – I loved them all & had ’em finished it less than a week. 🙂
Hello Kath,
Can you please tell me how do you make your brown rice? I keep trying, and trying… and… nothing :-(. Although, I must say that i was able to do it right only ONCE, once!! I really need help lol. Thank you 🙂
Get short grain brown rice. My favorite kind is Lungburg. I just do 2:1 water to rice and simmer for 45 minutes. It’s not my favorite grain, but the short grain is stickier and creamier. I hate long grain rice!
Also search online for mark bittman’s rice cooking techniques, he has one for baking the rice in the oven in a covered pot ( genius!) and another way of cooking in a big pot of water just like pasta- his cookbook “how to cook everything vegetarian” will be the best book uou ever ordered from amazon!
Ps
Add a cup of v8 when cooking your rice
I will vouch for cooking brown rice in a big pot of water just like pasta! It works like a charm! To drain the water, I use a colander and a cheese cloth to avoid having the rice escape through the holes. The rice turns out fully cooked and soft. I followed this recipe except I used more rice. http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Perfect-Brown-Rice
Prunes are one of those foods that have such a bad rep for being a nasty old person’s food…but they’re really delicious!
The stew looks delicious! I always forget about the crockpot until wintertime but what a great way to get a home cooked meal on a hot summer day 🙂
sparkling water and beer?? I’ll have to give it a try!
I LOVE prunes! I even add them to meatballs. So good. I bet the flavors were amazing. Yummy. 🙂
PS. Prune + cheese sandwich = Kath would love! (I think) 😀
Haha – That sounds great!
the words “prune juice” make me cringe b/c I think of being forced to eat them as a kid but, in this recipe it actually looks good!
Yum! I’ve never had lamb and am honestly not too big on the idea of it but that sounds sooo good!
No shame, I love prunes…. Like a lot! 🙂 ….Your kerfwiser sounds like a good thing! Especially on a hot day! …..Have fun relaxing! 🙂
I’ve never had a prune, I always associate them with issues down below if you know what I mean haha. So I’ve never given them a chance, but I like dates I’m sure they aren’t too different. Lamb is my favorite meat, yummm dinner!
I LOVE prunes, and I also love dates! I eat both daily – dates in salads, stuffed with nuts or all by themselves! I can’t even decide which I love more! My favorite chicken dish has prunes in fact – you must try Chicken Marbella from the Silver Palate Cookbook(even Oprah likes it! http://www.oprah.com/food/Chicken-Marbella) On another prune note, prune juice! Here is my version of Overnight Oats…. 3 ingredients
1/3 c. dry oat bran
1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
2 T prune juice
mix it all together, let it sit overnight in the fridge.
It becomes much more voluminous, sprinkle on chia seeds, or ground flax and maybe a scoop of pumpkin. A fiber-licious breaky-fast! Keeps me full for a LONG time.
Recipe for your crock pot Lamb dish? Looks divine!
Enjoy the weather!! It is gorgeous here in DC so I can only imagine how pretty it is in Charlottesville this week.
What a grand dinner! That surely looks yummy! Very Morroccon-ish, if I may say (minus the spinach of course).
i love stewed fruit too! when i married my husband, i was introduced to the jewish dish tsimmes, which is essentially stewed dried fruit and sweet potatoes.
Mmmm, looks delicious as always.
Only 85? Sorry, but for me that’s super hot as in Santa Cruz 75 is considered hot!
This looks so delish! Love sweet and savory combos!
Prune juice always reminds me of my grandmother; she’d keep a gallon in her bathroom!! :X
I love, love, love your blog!
How useful do you find the slow cooker? My only experiences so far have been ridiculously large portions (there are only so many days straight I can eat leftovers!) and pretty grandma-ish recipes. This looks delish, and only grandma-ish in the prune part. So, is the slow cooker worth the cupboard space?
I really like it when I use it, but I only do a few time a month. I would recommend getting a small one!! There are lots of smaller portion slow cooker recipes, and you can always halve the recipe too so it makes less. I used to have a 4 quart one (I think) and it was a nice size for serving two
Willow, If you look around you’ll find more websites with modern (and even healthy) recipes in the slow cooker. On my blog I use a 1 1/2 quart slow cooker for breakfasts and a 3.5 to 4 quart one for dinner. Most of my recipes make about 4 to 6 portions and freeze really well. Mostly if I have leftovers I just use them for lunch the next day.
Plus it’s great for baking in when it’s summer – I have a pound cake recipes I make in it and top with fresh berries!
I’m also a huge fan of stewed fruit, especially with meat — it is such a fantastic combo! I love this Chicken with Tomatillos and Stewed Fruit — its a Bon Appetit recipe that I tweaked a little to be a bit healthier, and include even more stewed fruit 🙂
http://eating-made-easy.com/2010/05/03/pre-partying-for-cinco-de-mayo/
Dinner looks delicious!
I’m glad to hear that it’s cooling down in Charlottesville – I’m moving to town on Monday from Portland, Oregon where we’ve only had a handful of days where the temp was above 85. I’m not ready to face the heat + humidity! 🙂
Oh really!! How fun! We should get together soon
Definitely! I can’t wait to stop by the bakery 🙂
That dinner looks SO delicious, I think it would have been on my mind all day knowing that it was simmering! The flaked almonds on top must have been a great touch!
Prunes are the only fruit I do not like but they look so delicious in your dish!
I am just wondering what watered down beer would taste like because my immediate reaction is…gross.
Well as a beer lover, that would be mine too!
It’s not watered down beer…it’s beer-flavored sparkling water. Different mindset. Big improvement from plain water.
Okay, that makes me feel a little better about it! 😉
Yum I love stewed fruit! This looks delish 🙂
75 here in Indiana and lovin every minute of it also. Also LOVE prunes…..
That meal looks quite creative and delicious!
OH THE HORROR!!!!!
Lamb? No not lamb! As a kid my dad used to have a sheep farm and we’d occasionally have to nurse a runt at home. I had 2 lamb “pets” affectionately named Kevin (Home Alone inspired) and Buddy (the only pet name that kids can think of).
I love prunes and feel like such an old lady for admitting it. They’re so sweet!
I love fruit in my dinner! I’ve never tried stewing them like this though. It looks good!
I have never even THOUGHT to stew fruit before. A lightbulb just went off! Gonna have to try this ASAP.
This looks so fabulous and unique! Fruit must add such a nice touch of sweetness to the meal!
i LOVE your retro daisy/asterisky glasses!!
Hi Kath,
Great Great Article!!!! Love how you demonstrated everything. I’ve cooked for a long time myself, and I like what you’ve done. And I don’t say that a lot, so whatever you do, please keep it up, because it’s obvious you have a love for food. Bravo once again!!!
I just ate a handful of prunes today and was thinking about how tasty they are. I won’t eat them in front of people because I feel like such a dork but I really enjoy them!