More Purple Food

We had an abundance of these purple beans from our CSA sitting in the refrigerator. Tonight I needed a quick vegetable (other than salad) and decided to saute them with a little butter and garlic as a side for the main course. They were pretty cool looking, purple on the outside, and bright green on the inside. I couldn't wait to test them out. Much to our disappointment though, they didn't stay purple. As soon as they started to cook, they turned green and looked just like any other bean. Luckily they were tasty and we had no trouble finishing them all. 

The main course was much more exciting. Jesse and I purchased a slow cooker a couple of weeks ago knowing that life with a baby just wouldn't allow us to spend hours in the kitchen tending the oven and stove. When I was coming up short on inspiration for what to cook (other than pulled pork), my good friend Lauren suggested I purchase the Gourmet Slow Cooker. I was pleasantly surprised when not a single recipe called for canned soup! 

I decided to delve into the Mexican section and prepared chicken in peanut chili sauce for dinner, which really turns out to be more like a mole. The recipes do require more prep time than the usual slow cooker concoctions that I've seen, which involve dumping cans of stuff and cooking the crap out of it. However, I browned the onions and garlic, blended the sauce, and prepped the chicken in the 30 minutes remaining on Miles' nap time. It cooked for about 3 hours on high and the chicken was perfect. We served it over a quinoa pilaf and sprinkled it with a bit of queso fresco. Paired with our hypercolor beans, I was really happy that dinner exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to try out the next recipe on my list, pork stew with tomatillo sauce.

I made quite a mess with the blender and sauce, so Miles and Jesse offered to help with the cleanup. What can I say, I'm one lucky gal.