Comforting Chili

It's now officially fall, and with it comes cooler weather. With cooler weather comes warm homemade soups. I'm really the only one in the house who eats soup (though Lu may when she's a bit older) so I tend to freeze quite a bit of mine and munch on them all year long. However, the one "soup" my husband loves is my chili. I tried making a Cincinati chili once, and it was awful. I came across this recipe, adjusted it to our tastes, and this is our go-to chili from now on. I know Dylan likes a bit more of a kick to his, but honestly, I can't take that much more. So, I figure if he wants more, than he can add some jalapñeos or something. ;)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce
• 46 oz petite cut canned tomatoes not drained
• 1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions

• Brown ground meat in a large pot. Season with the onion powder. Drain and place back into the pot.
  

• Into the pot, add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, cayenne pepper, sugar, oregano, ground black pepper, salt, cumin, and chili powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

My Take

As you can see in the pictures, I have several cans even though my ingredients just state one. Sometimes I can't find the right size of can, so I just get however many ounces I need, no matter how many cans it takes. Ha! I also tend to use 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of ground turkey. I usually use ground turkey in everything, though Dylan isn't a huge fan of it, so I compromise in this dish, and it comes out great since you cook them all together.

I'm sure you can cook this in the slow cooker, yet I've never done this before. I would cook it on low for 8-10 hours. That would be great for a dinner coming home from work during the cold weather days. 

BBQ Little Smokies

Football season is officially underway, and while our household isn't really into sports, I love the snack foods which normally accompany the game. This recipe is one of the recipes which my family enjoyed at get-togethers as well as on New Years watching the parades (along with our Peanut-Free Puppy Chow). My husband had these for the first time at my mom's house, so after we got married, I made him a batch. I succeeded! While these are normally just a snack food, we sometimes eat them with a meal (or, sometimes, as a meal!)

BBQ Little Smokies
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 2 pounds little smokies
• 1 (16 oz) jar of BBQ sauce
• 1 (16 oz) jar of grape jelly
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

Put everything into a slow cooker and cook on Low for 1 hour or until smokies are nice and hot.

My Take

Super simple, right? Sorry about not having an exact time for you guys. I forgot to write down how long it took for mine to get to the right hotness, but I know it was a tad bit longer than an hour. If you're serving these at a party or something, you can just leave them in the slow cooker and leave it on low, or on warm if yours has that setting.

Also, you may have noticed that I only used a pound of little smokies. Since there's only 2 of us eating this, I didn't think I really needed to make the whole thing. You may see this from time to time, but the techniques are still the same and I'll put the original recipe up instead of halfing it. :)

What's your favorite game-day food? Do you prefer to go tailgating or stay in the comfort of your (or someone else's) home?

Beef Pot Pie

Whenever I make pot roast, I always have too much leftovers. Dylan isn't a huge fan, and there's only so many days in a row in which I can eat pot roast. That's when I decided that I needed to figure out how to use up these leftovers so I wasn't throwing away food. My first idea was a recipe I remember eating as a kid, Beef and Noodles.

Then, one day, I got a brilliant idea. I love those cheap little beef pot pies that you buy in the frozen section, and I was craving one. Sadly, they aren't the greatest thing in the world for you. So I decided I was going to make my own. My first attempt was OK, though it was pretty bland as I didn't add any salt or other seasonings, assuming the gravy packets and the seasoning from the meat would take care of it. (Spoiler: They didn't.) So here is my improved recipe.

Beef Pot Pie
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 2 packages brown gravy mix
• 2 pre-made pie crusts
• 2 organic russet potatoes, skinned and diced
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 1 cup leftover pot roast, diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
• Salt
• Pepper
• Onion powder

Directions

• Put bottom crust in a 9 inch pie pan. Either poke a few holes in the bottom with a fork, or use dried beans or pie weights to keep it from bubbling up. Bake in a preheated 450 F oven for 7-9 minutes or until slightly browned.
• Meanwhile, cook gravy according to packages. Add the potatoes and carrots and simmer for about 15 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add the roast, mushrooms, and sweet peas and mix well.
• Taste gravy and add salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste.

• Pour the gravy mixture into the baked pie crust. Cover with the second pie crust. Put a couple of vent slits on the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving. 

My Take 

I didn't measure how much salt, pepper, or onion powder I put in. For salt it was probably close to 1/4 teaspoon or more. The pepper and onion powder was only a dash. But take my advice, taste the gravy! Once you put it in the pie crust, you won't have a chance to season it, so make sure you get it right the first time, otherwise you're going to have a bland pot pie.

You also want to cut up your potatoes pretty small. The first time I made it, the potatoes were too big and took over the whole thing.

Because this is a leftover dish, you can use whatever veggies you want. For instance, even though the recipe calls for carrots, I usually use the cooked carrots leftover from my pot roast and add them in when I add in the peas. This time, though, I didn't have any, as my baby carrots went bad. So, I used the frozen pea and carrot combo, and it worked out great. I also didn't have any mushrooms on hand, so I just omitted them. Yet, it still tasted great.

And remember, you can always sub your own homemade crust for the pre-fab ones. I'm not very good at making crusts (a future project of mine) so I just always buy the pre-made ones for now. I'm sure this would taste even better with a homemade crust. :)

Simple Pot Roast with Vegetables

When I think of pot roast, I think of family dinner after church on Sundays. It was a special meal with mashed potatoes and gravy, delicious cooked carrots, and ketchup. (My brother and I apparently didn't have very good taste buds when we were kids). Sadly, my husband isn't a huge roast fan, but I love it, so I've been on the hunt for a good roast recipe. I found several while searching the internet, but all of them used packets of gravy or dressings and it just sounded too salty for me. I also didn't want that much salt, because I was planning on feeding Lucy some.

So I do what I've done recently when I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for: I made something up. And this turned out great. More to follow after the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3-5 pound bottom round roast
• 1 (14.5 oz) can low sodium beef broth
• 5-6 organic russet potatoes, skinned and quartered
• 10-15 baby carrots or 3-4 large carrots cut into bite-sized pieces
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder

Directions

You have to get inventive sometimes to get all the sides brown

• Season the roast with a pinch of salt and pepper. In a large non-stick skillet, brown all sides of the roast. 

• Place the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the roast on top. Pour the beef broth over the roast and vegetables. Season the roast with a sprinkling of the garlic and onion powders.
• Cook on Low for 8 hours, turning the roast over about halfway through. Roast is done when meat thermometer reads 160°F. Allow the roast to rest for 15-20 minutes before carving, allowing the juices to set.

My Take

I love how this yummy roast can be achieved by just a few simple ingredients. They aren't overpowering and really allows the meat to take center stage.

What I like to do is to take the potatoes out about 30 minutes before the slow cooker is done and use them to make mashed potatoes. I find that when I cook them with the meat, they get a wonderful flavor. And as an added bonus, pot roast makes wonderful leftovers! I also strain the liquid leftover, heat it up in a saucepan with some flour, and make a gravy which I use on the whole meal. Sometimes I do have to add some salt since there isn't a lot added in the cooking of the meat.

"Bay Creek Camp" Lasagna

This title may seem a bit strange to you. "What is 'Bay Creek Camp'? Why are they making lasagna?" Well, Bay Creek is the name of a church camp that my parents worked at for a week each summer when I was growing up. This is the recipe which they used to feed all those hungry kids and teenagers. This is a huge recipe designed to feed 20 (though you may be able to squeeze more out of it, depending on how big you cut the pieces). I've cut it down in half before, but it still made waaaay too much for just my husband and I. So now I make it designed to feed about 5 people. Enough for us and enough for leftovers. I'm going to give you the original recipe. That way you can use it for all those big family reunions, pot lucks, and for when company comes over.

"Bay Creek Camp" Lasagna
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

Forgot the Parmesan...oops....

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 6 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 2 pounds shredded mozzarella cheese
• 6 cups cottage cheese (I tend to use small curds)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 tablespoons parsley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds lasagna noodles (uncooked)

Directions

• In a large sauce pan, brown the beef. Drain. Add the spaghetti sauce and mix together.

 

• Combine the cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper together in a seperate bowl. Mix until well blended.
• Spray a 12" x 20" pan. Layer the ingredients in this order, twice:
• Noodles
• Cottage cheese filling
• Mozzarella cheese (1 pound per layer)
• Meat sauce

Forgot to take a picture of the cottage cheese layer

• Cover and chill overnight. 
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Set lasagna out to warm.
• Bake for 45 minutes, covered.
• Let stand for 25-30 minutes to set up.

 My Take

It's hard for me to say anything bad about this lasagna, as it's the one I grew up with. Not only was it the one they made for us at camp, but it's also the one my mom always makes. You can substitute ground turkey instead of beef which is usually what I do, but I had some ground beef that needed to be used up this time around. I'm thinking next time I may use Italian sausage and see how that adds to the flavor.

Please note that you need to let it chill overnight if you are using regular uncooked lasagna noodles. When this recipe was made, they didn't have those fancy oven ready noodles. I did use the oven ready kind, but I still chilled it over night. I'm not 100% sure if I needed to do that, but better safe than sorry.

Do you have a family recipe that you love and use on a regular basis? If so, what is it? Share with us in the comments. :)

Beef and Noodles

Pot roast is a wonderful meal for a nice quiet family dinner, but what do you do with the leftovers? My mom use to make this wonderful recipe of beef and noodles using the leftovers from our pot roast dinner. I loved it so much, that I have taken the liberty of making it and writing up a recipe for it.

Beef and Noodles
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 1 cup leftover pot roast, diced or shredded
• 1/2 package extra wide egg noodles
• 1 cup gravy
• 1/2 cup cooked carrots, sliced (optional)

Directions

• Cook egg noodles according to package. Drain.
• Add roast, carrots, and gravy. Mix well. Cook on low in a sauce pan until heated through.

My Take

And that's it. Pretty easy to throw together and have on a weeknight with a leftover Sunday pot roast. I didn't have to add any extra seasoning since I used everything that was already seasoned, but if you feel it is a bit bland, feel free to add a pinch of salt and some other seasonings. I think I may have added a touch of salt and pepper. You can also add some more veggies to it. I typically just stick with the carrots, as that's what's leftover when I cook a roast, but I think peas would be great as well.

This is a great base which you can personalize and really run with. Have you made this and made  it your own? How did you personalize it?

Chile Colorado Burritos

Find the original here

 I found this recipe via Pintrest, and it just looked too good to pass up.I knew this was going to be one of those Pins that I just *had* to try. And so, the other night, I did. It didn't turn out quite like I thought it would, but I have some ideas to make it better next time.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds stew meat or other beef cubed
• 1 large can mild (red) enchilada sauce (at least 19 oz.)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/2 can refried beans (optional)
• 5-7 burrito size flour tortillas
• 1 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions 

Place the beef, enchilada sauce, and bouillon cubes in a large heavy sauce pan. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer. Let it simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the meat is very tender (flakes off when you stir it). 

Heat up the refried beans and spread them out over the tortilla. Then, using a slotted spoon, dip out some beef and place it into the tortilla. Wrap it up like a burrito. Place it onto a cookie sheet or an oven-safe plate. Cover the burrito with the enchilada sauce and some cheese. Put it in your broiler, and broil until the cheese is nice and bubbly, about 2-4 minutes.

I also added some extra toppings

My Take
  
There were several ways on the original blog of how to cook this, but I chose the stove top way as I don't have a Dutch oven, and I thought of making it too late to cook it in the slow cooker. Next time, though, I'll be trying it in the slow cooker with a different kind of meat.

I'll admit, I forgot to set a timer while letting it simmer, but I'm nearly positive that I let it cook long enough. Even so, the meat (I used 2 pounds of stew meat) never really got that super tender. I'm not sure if it was because of the cooking time or because of the meat. The meat itself was tender, but it never got to the "flaking" stage. Next time, I may attempt to do something like my pulled pork and cook it for awhile in the crock pot, shred it, then cook it for a bit longer in the sauce. 

The original blog also said something about tasting it after it was done cooking and adding salt if needed. Mine did not need any salt, and it even tasted a bit too salty. I used the low-sodium beef bouillon cubes, so I don't completely understand where the salty taste came from. Probably because I used canned enchilada sauce instead of making my own. I'll probably do that next time. I also added a bit of homemade taco seasoning because in the comments, people were saying they couldn't taste the enchilada sauce, so I was hoping this would help. 

Also, if you don't feel like turning the oven on, you can also just melt the cheese in the microwave. However, the tortilla will be a little mushy, as it can get a little bit crispy when broiled. But the taste is all the same.

Ooey gooey goodness

Overall, this was a very good dish, and something I'll definitely make in the future.