Oh So Tasty Chili

I love making chili.  I can never make just a small batch either.  Its one of those dishes that's even tastier as leftovers (since the flavors have a chance to develop more as it sits).  You can also use the leftovers in a variety of ways; chili dogs, chili fries, you can even add rice or noodles to make it even more filling.

Crock Pot Chili

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 14.5 oz cans petite diced tomatoes (juice and all)
2 15 oz cans of dark red kidney beans, drain only the top part of the juice off the beans
23 oz of tomato juice (1/2 a 46 oz bottle or big can)
1 Knorr Homestyle concentrated beef stock
3 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1/2 c homemade brown sugar, recipe to follow
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
Optional:  any extra veggies you may have on hand

Cook your ground beef, green pepper, and onion together, drain.  In a crock pot combined all the ingredients listed above, and stir well.  Cook on low for 4-6 hrs.  Make sure to taste often and adjust your seasonings as needed.

Homemade Brown Sugar

1 c white sugar
1 tbsp molasses

Combine sugar and molasses in a bowl, and mix.  There will be a point in time while you are stirring that it may look like you aren't doing it right, but keep stirring.  It takes a few minutes, but it will eventually begin to look like it should

Stuffed Crepes with Raspberry Sauce

Tonight I decided I wanted to do a little bit of experimenting in the kitchen.  I bought some raspberries earlier this week, and they needed to be used up.  I thought about doing a cobbler, but I that just didn't sound all that appealing today.  Instead I decided to go with some stuff crepes.  We love having breakfast for dinner in our house, and usually we'll do it once a week.  Here's what I came up with for tonight.

Stuffed Crepes with Raspberry Sauce

Crepes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 c water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, melted


Combined all ingredients in a mixing bowl, adding the butter last (you may need to add a little extra water if your mixture is too thick...it should be slightly runny).  Heat a frying pan or griddle on medium high heat, and lightly butter or spray cooking surface.  Use a 1/4 c measuring cup to pour batter on to the pan.  Cook both sides until light browned.

Raspberry Sauce

6oz red raspberries, mashed
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c water
1 tsp cornstarch

Mix berries, sugar, and water in a pot.  Heat on medium high height, whisking occasionally.  Don't boil, just heat until sauce is hot and just begins to thicken.  Remove from heat and add 1 tsp cornstarch.  Whisk well.

Sweet Cream Cheese Filling

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Use a hand mixer to thoroughly combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

Assembly:
Lay out one crepe.  Spoon as much or as little cream cheese filling on one side, and roll it up so cream cheese ends up in the middle.  Spoon raspberry sauce on top.



I paired my crepes with some tasty bacon.  My favorite way to cook bacon is in the oven.  I use a wire cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet.  This way the fat drains away from the bacon.

Taco Salad

This is a great recipe for parties, pot lucks, and get togethers!

Taco Salad

1 lb of taco meat (I cook mine ahead of time)
1/2 head of lettuce, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 green pepper, diced
4 green onions, diced
3/4 of a bag of dorritos, crushed
1/2-3/4 of a bottle of catilina dressing (more or less depending on your taste)
1 c of Mexican blend shredded cheese

This is by far the easiest recipe ever!  Once everything is chopped, diced, and prepped, mix it together in a large mixing bowl.  That's pretty much it :-)

Veggie Pizza Appetizer

I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day!  Here's a fun little recipe perfect for parties.


Veggie Pizza Appetizer

2 packages refrigerated crescent rolls

1 cup

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 cups fresh broccoli, finely chopped

1 carrot, grated

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F). Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Make a crust with the crescent roll dough by laying it out across the pan and connect any pieces/seems.  Bake the crust for 10 minutes, and then let it cool to room temp.  In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese, dill weed, and ranch dip mix. Spread this mixture on top of the crust, and arrange veggies on top.  Cut and serve.  This recipe is great for parties. 

Save a Little Time During the Week

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen to save time is cooking and portioning off meat that I plan on using in my recipes for the upcoming week.  I just went grocery shopping today, so before I freeze my meat, I'm going to work on cooking, prepping, and portioning.

I bought 6lbs of ground beef, 2 cornish game hens, and 2 bags of frozen chicken breasts.  I am just going to focus on the ground beef in this post.  The chicken breast are individually frozen in the bags, so there is no need for me to portion them.  I can just grab how ever much I need straight from the bag without defrosting the whole thing.  The cornish game hens will be used later in the week for a recipe, and since they are frozen solid, I'm not touching them today.

This is what I plan on making with the ground beef:


1 lb of taco meat
1 lb for chili
1 lb cooked off and frozen for future use
2 lbs portioned off for meatloaf
1 lb portioned off for burgers



This can take a little while to do, but it will save you time later on. I start by cooking off my 1lb of ground beef I plan on freezing for later use.  I like to keep 1 lb of unseasoned ground beef in the freezer for random days I don't have anything planned.  I can use it in a variety of dishes, and since its already cooked, I can defrost it and add it in to whatever I'm cooking.

I cook the ground beef for my chili next.  I always cook it with green peppers and onions (one of each).  It adds a little extra flavor to the beef.  I make a very tasty chili.  I'll post my full recipe for this one later on in the week, so make sure to check back in.

The last one I cook off will be the taco meat.  Since it is the most seasoned, I save it until the end.  I'll be using this one to make a taco salad.

Make sure you drain the fat from the meat prior to placing it into a container to freeze.  I like to use microwave safe containers, but you can use quart size freezer bags.  Make sure you label and date your foods, especially if you plan on freezing them for later.

The remaining 3lbs of ground beef I decided to just portion off and freeze.  I could have made these ones in advance, but I also plan on doing future blog posts about these items, so I left them plan for just that reason.

Total time spent in the kitchen was a little more than an hour, but just this little bit of work ahead of time will save me so much more time when I go to cook later on in the week.

Sorry for No Updates

I have to apologize.  Between everyone getting sick, and trying to finish up projects for my last week of my math class, I've had no time to update.  Since everyone's been sick we've been eating a lot of our leftovers from this past week.  Don't worry, I'm thinking of new recipes and checking out my pinterest boards for some ideas.  I'm hoping to have a couple good deals to share in the next week or so too.