Slow cooker meal avoids oven heat

I’ve been avoiding the kitchen as much as possible lately. If it isn’t for work, I’m not cooking it.

The heat is partly to blame. But more than the heat, I’ve been dealing with one of the more unpleasant sides of homeownership.

We had a sewer pipe crack and send a terrible, foul odor throughout our house.

The process to fix the pipe released an even more wretched stench as it involved opening a wall of our more than 100-year-old house, which created so much dust I spent several days wearing a dust mask while home.

We also dined out. A lot.

And as I’m sure you could guess, all that dining out — not to mention the cost of the repairs — put a real strain on our budget. So as soon as the air began to clear, back to the kitchen I went.

But instead of toiling away over the stove, I let my slow cooker and freezer do the work for me, and I headed off to the least stinky parts of the house.

Slow Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowls

1 to 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs 1 (14 ½-ounce) can fire-roasted tomatoes 1 tablespoon minced chipotle in adobo

1 cup chicken broth, plus more as needed, divided use (see note)

2 teaspoons chile powder

2 teaspoons salt or to taste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup uncooked rice (brown or white) 1 (15-ounce) can beans such as pinto, black or kidney beans, drained

1 ½ cups corn kernels (I used frozen, but fresh would

be great)

Desired toppings such as diced avocado, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream, cilantro, minced green onion, sliced black olives

Combine the chicken, fire-roasted tomatoes and their juices, minced chipotle, ½ cup of chicken broth, chile powder, salt and cumin in the bowl of a 2- to 4-quart slow cooker. Make sure the chicken is covered and add additional broth if needed. Cover with the lid and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. Uncover and add the rice, beans, corn and an additional ½ cup chicken broth. Cover and continue cooking on low

for another 3 to 4 hours. Check the rice periodically in the last hour of cooking, stirring once or twice to make sure the rice cooks evenly and adding more chicken broth if the mixture seems dry. Cooking is done when the rice is tender.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and use 2 forks to shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Return shredded chicken to the slow cooker.

Serve in bowls with desired toppings.

Makes about 6 servings. Note: To turn this into a soup, add 2 or more cups hot chicken broth after shredding the chicken.

Recipe adapted from thekitchn.com

Cherry-Lemon Sorbet

1 pound frozen pitted cherries (about 3 cups)

2 tablespoons simple syrup, or

more to taste

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ teaspoon almond extract 3 ounces Limoncello lemon

liqueur, optional

Combine the cherries, simple syrup, lemon juice and almond extract in a food processor or blender; process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender as necessary. Add Limoncello, if using, and process again.

Transfer to a freezer-safe, airtight container and freeze until scoopable, at least 4 hours.