Take Me to the Pilot of Your Soul

A Trump Storm

The great thing about  past news is that you rarely care about it just a short time later.  Months ago, Trump in church was the talk of the town on this day along with a gnarly windy sleet storm here in Brooklyn.  At the time it seemed important and I recall having tons of thoughts on it.   Yet, this slow cooker chicken chili is what will be etched in my mind from that cold day. 

Black Bean Chicken Chili

When The World is Cold

Crock Pot Black Eyed Peas with Smoked Turkey Necks

When it's awfully cold outside and there is nothing to be done about it, a slow-cooked pot of beans act as slow-simmering love in the house.  The best part is the ease of concocting these magical creations.  Sprigs of parsley, green onions, celery, carrots, jalapeno, stock, soaked beans and a turkey neck added to the vessel and 6 hours later a delicious hearty soup appears.  I took out the bones and shredded any meat, then mashed up the beans a bit in the pot to create the desired consistency.  

One bowl of this keeps you warm for hours.  This is great for lunch box meals and for freezing half for a lazy day. 

Once You Get Started

I got a slow cooker and was very excited to create something but I had already done my weekly grocery shopping.  I found this giant white corn that had an interesting pork soup recipe on the back that I was going to try using chicken.  Now I can make it in the crock!

I laid down the onions and red peppers, garlic, then a bed of spinach, the seasoned chicken and the corn on top, lots of seasoning and chicken stock.

 I left for work and kept imagining the fire running down the cord and the apartment in flames.  I envisioned the cats popping off the lid and knocking over the entire pot onto the floor and me coming home to find such a mess.  I Googled it like 10 times.  Did people really just leave it on and leave?  I knew they did.  I remember friends having crock pots but it's just so hard.  A plethora of horrid scenarios played through my mind all day just leaving this dang appliance on.  Since I tend to be forgetful, I'm always stressing about leaving the curling iron or the coffee pot, something on the stove.  But it was too late anyway.  I just had to wait and see what lurked when I got home.

But I came home and there it was, all smelling good and hot, safely on the counter.  I cooled it and then let the soup in the fridge overnight and heated it the next day, added the stewed tomatoes.  The giant white corn is like hominy or maybe it is hominy although it tasted a bit different. I believe it is from Peru.  Goya sells hominy so that's why I figured it was different.  I don't believe the giant corn is soaked in lime first, not sure.

For first attempt, I was happy.  The only predictable thing was that P came home and left it on after eating but locked the lid in place.  That is one thing the instructions say never to do.  But I forgot to leave a note even though I knew that's probably exactly what he'd do and he did.