Make Healthy Meals in a Slow Cooker
These one-pot wonders make it easy to eat more good-for-you fare.
In Provence, the garlic-infused mayonnaise called aioli is typically served with a platter of raw and boiled vegetables and sometimes fish. With its intense creamy texture and deep garlic flavor, it turns a humble meal into a spectacular one. In this recipe, an assortment of colorful roasted vegetables stand in for the raw and boiled ones. It makes a very elegant side dish to an entrée of roasted fish or meat, or can be the main event of a vegetable-focused meal. The aioli can be made up to three days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
What is a “chaffle”? The arguably unattractive name comes from the combination of cheese plus waffle, and signifies a waffle made from an egg-cheese batter, rather than a flour-based one.
Or at least that’s what it meant in the beginning. Now you’ll find cheese-free chaffles as well, including one that chaffle fans swear tastes “just like Wonder Bread!” That may not sound like an admirable goal to some of us, but for many people whose diets limit or prohibit bread, the Wonder Bread chaffle suddenly makes sandwiches part of their lives again.
While we preferred udon noodles, lo mein and even spaghetti are fine substitutes. A simple chili oil, made by infusing vegetable oil with red pepper flakes, can be adjusted to taste. To soften the bite of the scallion whites, we add them to the hot oil.
Don’t walk away while heating the oil. The sesame seeds can burn in an instant, and the red pepper flakes will blacken and become bitter. The seeds should be just turning golden, and the pepper should be pleasantly fragrant.
Cumin, lemon and parsley add fresh, bright flavor to this lighter take on Thanksgiving sweet potatoes.
I was well into my twenties before I learned to appreciate cauliflower — and I am so glad that I did. This bland and oddly textured food is totally transformed when it is roasted, and it becomes a rich, buttery and nutty meal. High in fiber, as well as B-complex and C vitamins, the humble cauliflower is antioxidant and anti-inflammatory — both qualities that contribute to general good health and a radiant complexion. Cauliflower is an abundant source of sulfur, which is thought to help reduce breakouts.
This sweet and savory comfort food fiesta always hits the spot; is packed with fiber, potassium and disease-fighting antioxidants; and requires zero tortilla stuffing or rolling. I beg you to try this vegetarian wonder as is, but if you or a loved one is prone to “where’s the meat?!” meltdowns, go ahead and add some shredded chicken or browned chicken sausage to your pot. — Serena Wolf
For a creamy, rich green gratin with a crisp, flavorful bread-crumb topping, we started with a mixture of kale and Swiss chard. Sturdy kale kept the gratin fluffy and tall; Swiss chard collapsed when cooked, but its plentiful tender stems added bulk. Steaming the greens in a Dutch oven cooked them quickly and eliminated the need for blanching or sautéing in multiple batches. To keep the gratin from being liquid-y or sogging out the crumb topping, we kept the amount of cream to 1 cup, just enough to give the dish a silky richness.
For those of you who love lasagna's edges, where sticky tomato meets crisp cheese, this whole dish is for you — even the middle. A tube of tomato paste here mimics the deep flavors of sun-dried tomato. Frying a few generous squeezes caramelizes the tomato's sugars and saturates the olive oil, making a mixture that's ready to glom onto anything you stir through it. Here, it’s white beans, though you could add in kale, noodles, even roasted vegetables. Then, all that’s left to do is dot it with cheese and bake until it’s as molten or singed as you like.