Crock Pot Cioppino Recipe

After some dallying and getting off track due to work and life, I'm finally getting this blog up and going.  To all of you that have commented on my Facebook posts about my recipes and shift to a wheat-free lifestyle, I thank you.  This blog is dedicated to you.

My intention is to post recipes and tips/tricks related to living wheat-free while still eating "normal" food and enjoying the taste and texture of gluten without the negative impact on my health.  I'll tell the story behind this change of diet in future posts, right now I want to jump into some recipes since the New Year's Eve festivities are  approaching.  

We have always thought New Year's Eve was a great time to stay home, have a great meal, and spend time with the family.  

If you want an easy meal for New Year's consider this Crockpot Cioppino.  Add a bottle of wine and some warm sourdough bread (for the gluten eaters in the house) and rice bread (for the non-wheat/gluten-free person, me!).  I like it served over Tinkyada gluten-free Brown Rice pasta but it could easily go over rice, spaghetti squash, or be eaten alone like a soup.  

Crockpot Cioppino

You will need:

• A crock-pot or a large stew pot with a lid.  
• A bag of mixed seafood (Stater Bros had a seafood marinara mix in the freezer case for under $3)
• 2 cans of stewed tomatoes (Italian or Mexican spice)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• green onion - diced
• white onion - peeled and cut into large chunks
• Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce 
• Spices (pepper, sea salt, paprika, turmeric, chipotle, cayenne)

Dump the stewed tomatoes, the tomato paste, the chopped up onion, and about 4 good shakes of Fish Sauce  into the crock pot.  Add the spices in whatever amounts feel good to you.  We like our Cioppino zesty so I went heavy on the chipotle and paprika.  Turn the crock-pot to low and leave it for about 6 hours.

About 1 hour before you want to eat, thaw the seafood mix in a bowl full of water.  When thawed, drain fully and add to crock-pot.  Turn the heat up to high, cover, and let it cook another 30 minutes while you make the rice or pasta, open a bottle of wine (I like a Shiraz with it), and warm the bread.  

Serve it in a bowl over whatever base you decide to put it on.  

Enjoy! 

PS - Gluten-free food has a reputation for being EXPENSIVE!  It can be...the ingredients for this recipe totaled about $10 dollars but there are 8-10 servings in here, including the brown rice pasta which was the most expensive ingredient, so I consider it to be frugal cooking despite being a seafood extravaganza.