‘Stock the Crock’: Simple slow cooker meals for the soup season

It’s going to rain — count on it. Soup season has begun.

For commuting-working people like us, it’s time to drag the slow cooker out of the closet. In the summer months, it’s easy to get by after work with a thrown-together salad.

But when the temperatures drop, there’s nothing like arriving home to a bowl of hearty soup. Sundays — which fill with all sorts of activities — also are a good time to use the crock. And if you add a bit more to the recipe, you can stretch the meal out with leftovers for several days.

Slow cookers aren’t just for soup, either. Phyllis Good’s new book “Stock the Crock” offers a fast and simple way to make an entire chicken dinner:

Rub a 5-pound chicken with paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Place it on top of sliced red onion, carrots, potatoes. Cook it your crock on low for 5-8 hours. Serve it with fresh rosemary. Oh, yeah! Easy and tasty.

Good’s cookbook includes 100 recipes, with chapters on pasta dishes, various meats and seafood, side dishes and desserts.

She also offers advice on how to use your newfangled pressure cooker instead of a slow cooker, gives recipe revisions for gluten intolerance and paleo diets, and suggests ways to enhance the meal or eliminate ingredients to make it more palatable for picky eaters.

Good also encourages cooks to keep a pen handy while your nose is in her book. Make notes on the pages with recipe changes you make, better cook times for your pot, etc.

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My husband and I have tried four of Good’s recipes, and so far our favorite is the beef and barley stew. It has excellent flavor and is even better the next day. Our suggestions are at the bottom of the recipe.

Beef and barley stew

3 onions, finely diced

¼ cup tomato paste

¾ teaspoon dried thyme

½ cup dry red wine

1 (28-ounce) can crushed unseasoned tomatoes

2 cups beef broth

2 cups chicken broth

3 carrots, chopped

3 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more if you want a heartier broth

¼ cup uncooked pearl barley

2 pounds beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat

Salt and black pepper, to taste

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Fresh topper — fresh parsley

Grease the interior of the slow cooker crock with butter or nonstick cooking spray.

If you have time, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a skillet over medium. Add the onions, tomato paste and thyme. Cook until the onions are softened and lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Stir wine into the skillet, scraping up the browned bits. Transfer the cooked ingredients to the crock. Note: If you don’t have time to brown, you can put the onions, tomato paste, thyme and wine straight into the crock.

Add the tomatoes, beef broth, chicken broth, carrots, soy sauce and barley a slow cooker.

Season the beef with salt and pepper; then nestle chuck roast into the crock.

Cover. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours, until the beef, onions, carrots and barley are tender.

Transfer the beef to a cutting board. Let it cool slightly, then use two forks to shred it or cut it into bite-size pieces.

Return the beef to the slow cooker, until the meat is heated through, about 5 minutes.

Taste the stew; season with salt and pepper if needed. Stir in the parsley. Spoon into bowls. Top with fresh parsley. Makes 6 or 7 servings.

What we changed: We used butter to grease the pot for better flavor. I browned the meat, even though Good advises that this is a waste of time. I thought it helped to cook down some of the fat, which I left on the meat for extra flavor and then trimmed off later. We used ½ cup uncooked pearl barley for a thicker stew, we added mushrooms, we used only beef broth and we added 3 more carrots.

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Got picky eaters and want to help them branch out? This is a good start. Serve it on brown rice.

Peanut ginger chicken

½ cup boiling water

½ cup smooth or chunky peanut butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or ¾ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ cup bottled cholula hot sauce or chipotle sauce

¼ cup soy sauce

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

fresh toppers — 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or cilantro, 2-3 tablespoons chopped peanuts

Grease the interior of the slow cooker crock with butter or nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk together the boiling water and peanut butter in the prepared crock.

When the mixture is smooth, stir in the olive oil and next 5 ingredients (through soy sauce).

Add the thighs to the sauce, turning each one over in the sauce so that they’re well coated.

Cover. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, or just until an instant-read meat thermometer registers 175 degrees when stuck into the thickest part of the thighs.

Just before serving, sprinkle the meat and sauce with chopped fresh parsley or cilantro, and, if desired, chopped peanuts. Makes 6 or 7 servings.

What we changed: We omitted the cholula hot sauce and used chipotle chili powder instead. Next time, I also will add a little honey to sweeten the heat.

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My husband likes to make chili, and he likes to experiment. Not long ago he rustled up a pot that tasted so hot I had to use sour cream to tone it down. I was glad when he found Good’s recipe for beef and bean chili. Serve it with warm, buttered cornbread.

Unforgettable beef and bean chili

1 pound ground chuck

1 pound eye round steak, cut into ¾-inch cubes

1½ cups chopped onion

¼ cup crushed garlic cloves

1½ tablespoons kosher salt

2½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon ground red pepper

1 pound dried red kidney beans, rinsed, any stones removed

1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

3 cups unsalted chicken broth

fresh toppers — chopped avocado, fresh jalapeno chile slices, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, fresh cilantro

Grease the interior of the slow cooker with butter or nonstick cooking spray.

If you have time, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium and cook the ground chuck, stirring to crumble, until the meat is browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the beef to the prepared crock. Add the eye round steak cubes to the skillet, and saute over medium until browned on all sides. Add the steak cubes to the crock. Discard the drippings. If you don’t have time to brown the meat, you can crumble the chuck straight into the crock and stir in the steak cubes.

Stir in the onion, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, red pepper, dried beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce. Mix well. Stir in the broth. Cover. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, or until the beef cubes cook and beans are tender.

Serve topped with the avocado, jalapeno slices, shredded cheddar and cilantro.

What we changed: Jon used canned beans instead of dried beans because he went with the shorter cooking time of 4 hours.

Good is the creator of the Fix-It & Forget-It series. All recipes excerpted from “Stock the Crock” by Phyllis Good. (Oxmoor House, 2017) Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Time Inc. New York, New York. All rights reserved.