Culinary Stasis + Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili

There is maybe a half inch of snow on the ground and my children are going berserk playing in it. Scooping it into balls, making snow angels, forming it into little sculptures. Hours of fun. This is kind of how things have felt around here lately. Little blessings showing up all over the place. Making the most of each one of them. I'm starting to wonder if this might finally be a reprieve from all the heavy drama of recent months (years?) but don't want to jinx myself. All I know is, things seem relatively settled right now and I'm going to enjoy this feeling as long as I can.

A few pics of some of the little blessings we've been enjoying as of late...

Snow enthusiasts!

A surprise flower from the yard that managed to survive our first hard frost - maybe a relative of the periwinkle?

Succulents I brought indoors to hang out with the fairies for the winter. In the left back corner you can just make out the tiny nasturtiums I salvaged from outside plants that got frozen - they seem to be recovering nicely.

Our sweet and saucy little witch posing in front of a recent wonderful change -  the reopening of the general store/cafe that is the center of our little village. That means plenty more opportunities to run into friends and neighbors!

We recently discovered a great sunny trail near our house, with fantastic views of the surrounding hills.

And it's been lovely to have more chances than usual to hang out with my amazing stepson, who never ceases to inspire me - big hurrah for all the fall birthdays in our  family!

Part of what's working for us, I've realized, is that we're beginning to develop routines, something our household has never really had before. There is a joke between Stephen and I that whenever we discover a restaurant or hotel we like, we'd better fully appreciate it at that moment because it's highly unlikely that we'll ever make it back there again. That's just how we seem to roll - neither one of us is much of a habit-former, and we each tend to generate a fair amount of extra unpredictability in our lives. Maybe it's no surprise when you consider that the only Myers-Briggs attribute we share happens to be P, and "perceptive" types supposedly like to keep their options open...

In the realm of food, for me the words "routine" and "cooking" have never fit together. If I have a craving, I usually just drop everything and make whatever will fulfill it. That works just fine when you have only one other person with a limited sense of smell/taste to satisfy and no picky children whining that they don't like what you made. Cooking to meet my own cravings also worked when I had plenty of time to spend in the kitchen and a large food shopping budget. But over the past few years I've found out that this kind of cooking is not the best way to produce family meals. In fact, it might actually be the worst approach!

Just like with everyone else, as the kids have grown and our personal commitments have increased, our family's schedule has gotten busier and busier. Finally, I've gotten to the point where my mind no longer has the mental capacity to dream up my ideal meal each evening. Okay, I still do have days like yesterday, when I served French onion soup for dinner (if there is a more pointless food to serve hungry vegetarians I don't know what it is, but hey, I wanted it so I made it!) But then I made a batch of kale-mango yogurt smoothies for dessert because I felt guilty about not serving any protein or vegetables in the meal.

For the most part, though, my cooking lately has become uncharacteristically predictable. And rather than make me cranky, it's actually making me feel calm. No more performance jitters, hoping they'll like what I made. No more regrets that I blew twenty bucks on fancy ingredients I just had to have for a certain recipe. And no more frustration from trying to fit in an hour each day to make dinner. Saying no is hard for me, but I have finally learned to just say no to all of that.

So, you might be wondering, what have I been saying yes to? For starters, yes to making our tried and true favorites on a regular basis, even *gasp* once a week! So we now have a chili night, a pasta night, a soup night, a pizza night, and an eggs night. And when I make a dish, I double it and freeze half for another week. That also goes for rice, quinoa and pasta - they don't get frozen, but the extra is served a few days later.

I also recently scored a slow cooker at Goodwill and that's been interesting to use. It still feels a little funny to be chopping onions at 7:30 am, but it's also pretty damn satisfying to leave the house with a clean kitchen in the morning and know that when we all return at 5:30 that night, a delicious Moroccan stew will be waiting for us. The other cool thing about this plan is that it leaves me with enough time to continue making the things from scratch that I care about - bread, pita, granola, yogurt, muffins, cookies - because I don't spend so many hours planning and executing time-consuming meals anymore.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili
(this recipe comes from the delightful vegan cookbook author Robin Robertson)

Saute in 1 T olive oil for 5 minutes on medium heat:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, pressed

 Add the onions, etc. to slow cooker turned to low heat. Stir in:

• 1T minced chipotle chil in adobo sauce
• 1 T chili powder
• 1-1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 15-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1-1/2 c water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cook in the slow cooker on low heat for 6-8 hours. It's okay if it cooks longer than that, too. Serve over rice or on top of polenta or tortilla chips, or drain the liquid and fill a burrito. Sprinkle avocado slices on top, or shredded sharp cheddar cheese, or crushed tortilla chips. Trust me, these will be leftovers you'll look forward to eating the next time.