Tweaked and Spicy This was my very first crock pot dish. After reading the reviews I decided to take their negatives and make mine better! It worked! Instead of the chili powder (I didn't have any) I used 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper powder I doubled the garlic amount(because I love garlic) used a small red onion only used 5 cups of water added a half cup of reduced sodium chicken broth and added three diced Roma tomatoes( although next time I'll use spicy Rotel). With the dumpling I cut out the lime all together and added cheese before adding the buttermilk. It turned out great! Very spicy but not melt your face hot just how we like it. I will be making it again!
Slow cooker Pinto bean stew w/Jalapeno corn dumplings I soaked the beans overnight and after 7 hrs in the crockpot they still were not done so I transferred the whole thing to a large stockpot and finished cooking it on the stove. To the stew recipe I added: 2 diced Jalapenos 7 diced Roma tomatoes 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 1/2 tsp cayenne 1/2 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp mexican oregano and 1 small can of El Pato sauce I used fresh corn cut from the cob. We like things on the hot side and this turned out delicious!! The family loved it. =)
Bland and Boring I'm always looking for new yummy slow-cooker recipes. Sadly this one is not a keeper. The stew turned out bland. After adding a lot more chili powder to each dish we ended up with something that at least had some flavor. The dumplings were even disappointing. I could taste lime in a few of the bites but otherwise the dumplings were about as tasteless as the stew. Pros: easy Cons: tasteless bland
I really liked this recipe though I did make a few substitutions (yeah I'm gonna be one of those people haha). First I used vegetable broth instead of water (I never use water in anything if I can add more flavor with broth). I also added more spices than the recipe called for. I just kept adding until it tasted good to me. Finally at the last minute as I was about to put the lid on and let the stew cook I added a little chopped turkey bacon for extra smokiness. All of these additions were really simple and really I find cooking is more about finding the flavors you like than following a recipe to the letter but I digress. The only complaint I have is I feel the dumplings had a little too much lime flavor and little else. I followed the instructions for the dumplings exactly so next time I make this I might half the amount of lime and increase the amount of salt in the dumplings. Overall this recipe turned out a delicious hearty stew that you can make even in the summer and not worry about heating up the kitchen by turning on the stove. It's very filling too - my boyfriend who eats like a horse lol was stuffed after one bowl. I will definitely make this again.
Not Great as Written I didn't have the problem others did with the beans getting done but I did a quick soak method - boiling them to soften then I mixed everything the night before and put the crock from my crockpot in the fridge overnight. The next morning I put it on low for about 8 hours and then added the dumplings turning to high for the last hour. The beans were cooked through and had a good flavor but the flavor was very weak and watery. The dumplings weren't terrible but they weren't good either. They tasted strongly of the lime zest and I couldn't taste the jalepenos at all. I followed everything as written except I doubled the beans (I wanted it to be more like bean soup plus I have a large family to feed). When I did this I increased all the other ingredients by half in addition to what was called for in the recipe. Everything was still very bland. I gave this 2 stars because it has potential. I plan to make this again but next time with the following changes: Add either bacon/turkey bacon/ham or vegetable boullion to give more depth of flavor Use 2lb of beans Triple the spices called for (except the chili powder as we don't like heartburn:) Increase the liquids by half plus what was originally called for Make the jalepeno cornbread from another recipe separately in the oven and serve it as a side dish The beans had such a wonderful smell I think if they just had more spice they would have been very good. I recommend tripling the spice only
After reading the reviews I used half the beans and half the water - everything else stayed the same. I don't think it would have had any flavor had I used the full amount of beans and water.
More of a Soup Made it in a crockpot and after 8 hours on low beans were edible but not done. Turned it up to high for a couple hours more. Was not an issue because I was making it ahead of time but if it were from dinner it would not of been done. Calories are high for 1 1/4 cup so will not do the dumplings for myself and will recalculate the calories. Was a good 'soup' though and great leftover.
Don't use this recipe! I liked the idea of pinto beans and cornbread but I had to do a lot of doctoring to get this to taste good. Also wound up using jiffy mix mixed with jalapenos instead of the dumplings. Those weren't good either. I added a can of diced tomatos and next time i'll start from the bottom up by caramelizing the onions first and try to build it up instead of dumping everything in at once. I transferred it into a pot on the stove to boil it more. I had it in the crock pot all day and the flavors just weren't coming together. Cross your fingers I can it from the trash! Pros: healthy Cons: no flavor
Bland I read the reviews and decided to add a lot more seasoning. I also swapped the water for chicken broth & I had already put in a chopped anaheim chile & a poblano pepper. Even with the added seasoning (a lot more cumin & some cayenne) I thought it was really mediocre. I did like the dumplings however. I would make those again. Pros: Healthy Cons: Has to be drastically altered to have any real flavor
