"make this again" crockpot chicken adobo-ish soup thing

D & I went ot a costume party last night at our neighbors' house. It was fun & we dressed up for the first time - as Beaker & Dr. Honeydew melon. No-one recognized me for a few minutes as I had a bald cap & lots of green makeup on, which was pretty cool. We also entertained some old friends who were in town. We stayed up too late, but had lots of fun.

I was pleasantly surprised that I woke up early, went to the grocery store with Ruth (friend in town, she and her husband slept over our house & reported that the futon is very comfortable), and got a crockpot dinner ready. I figured something soup like would be best, since we usually need comfort food that's easy on the guts the day after a party. I had also seen this recipe in D's "Big Book of Slow-Cooker Recipes", and wanted to try it out.

The name is something along the lines of turkey & mushroom & rice soup, but I improvised (of course) because I did not have turkey, but I did have chicken. Chicken breast, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger, 2 cups sliced mushrooms, 2 carrots (sliced), 1.5 cups bok choy, 28 oz chicken broth, 2 T soy sauce, and 1 T hot sesame oil, cooked on high for 4-5 hours. Then mix in pre-cooked rice (recipe called for instant, I used 1 C brown basmati (dry weight, I think this is 2 C cooked), and cook for additional 1 hour.

It was pretty good, and I'm glad I bought some crusty bread to go with it. It was a little bland though, & I even added some fresh rosemary and pepper during the last couple of hours. I was worried it would be too salty, since the recipe called for low-sodium stuff & I used full strength, but in the end I should have added some more salt too. Maybe some cayenne or wasabi powder would be good too - it was missing something. But D pronounced it good, and said it goes in the make-this-again pile.

I also picked up two nice big pieces of beef on a buy one get one free deal, so there'll be beef stew sometime in the future (twice!). And I donated $10 to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, so I feel good about that. Which more than makes up for the moral failing I've demonstrated by eating Milk Duds all day :)