Quick Crockpot Chili

This recipe uses one of those McCormick or French's chili spice seasoning packets, though homemade chili spice seasoning would work just fine. Basically, I think its a combination of chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and cumin. I use the packets for their simple convenience, though we do add extra chili powder, cayenne pepper and chipotle flavored tabasco sauce for some extra spiciness!

This recipe makes enough chili for us to eat for about three days! This is very impressive given Tony's appetite :).

I normally serve the chili over brown rice, but you could try all kinds of variations. Growing up in Ohio introduced me to Skyline chili (blech, gag, barf), which has a hint of cinnamon in it, and is served over spaghetti noodles. I've served chili over egg noodles before, which was actually surprisingly good! There is obviously a lot of room to play here (chili dogs, chili-cheese fries, etc.), so be creative!

Quick Crockpot Chili

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (between 85-93% lean)
1 packet chili spice mix (or about 1-2 Tbs of pre-prepared chili spice mix)
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can red kidney beans, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
(optional: 1 can corn, drained)
1 tsp Tabasco sauce*
1/2 tsp chili powder*
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper*

*only add this if you want a little extra heat

Garnish: shredded cheese and/or sour cream

Procedure:

1. Brown ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once beef is cooked through, drain and place in crockpot.

2. Add all other ingredients to the crockpot except the cheese and sour cream. Mix thoroughly.

3. Cook on high for about 1-1.5 hours, or until piping hot. Serve over rice or noodles, and garnish with cheese, sour cream, or whatever else tickles your fancy!

Breakfast for Dinner?? Let's Have Omelets!

I don't really remember having breakfast for dinner as a kid very much. My grandma cooked a lot when I was really little, and I'm pretty sure we were more likely to have fried Spam (yes, I ate that), or turnip greens and pork chops than bacon and eggs. This all changed once I married Tony--he introduced me to breakfast for dinner!

We decided to make omelets and sausage for dinner one night this week. Tony is the master of cooking omelets to perfection. I, however, am a bit eager and have a tendency to try to fold them over before they are ready. This usually means I make scrambled eggs whenever I'm trying to make an omelet. Ugh.

We have different taste in food, so omelets are fun because we can customize our dinner.

My omelet had asparagus (yes, and it was GOOOD), tomatoes, basil, crushed red pepper and colby-jack cheese.

Tony's had sausage, tomatoes, basil, crushed red pepper, chipotle tabasco sauce, and colby-jack cheese.

We both really enjoyed our respective omelets--give it a try with your own favorite toppings! The recipe below details the omelet I made for myself, but you should tweak the recipe to your taste!

Easy Omelets

(serves 1)


Ingredients:

3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup roma tomato, diced
3 asparagus stalks, steamed and cut into bite sized pieces
6-7 fresh basil leaves, chiffoned (or a shake of dried basil per omelet)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/8-1/4 cup shredded cheese

Procedure:

1. Salt and pepper the eggs, and lightly beat them to break the yolks with a fork

2. Heat greased, medium sized skillet on medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, pour the eggs in carefully. Don't stir!

3. Add all of the toppings while the eggs are beginning to cook onto one half of the eggs.

4. The omelet is ready to be folded over when the eggs have pulled away a bit from the side of the pan. Carefully take a thin, rubber spatula and work it around the half of the pan without any toppings, loosening the egg from the pan. Then, gently fold over onto the half with toppings.

5. Let this sit over medium heat for a minute or so, then flip over the omelet and cook the other side for a minute or so.

6. Serve with sour cream, salsa, or whatever else tickles your fancy!

Chicken and Broccoli Stuffing Skillet

Let me preface this recipe by saying that it's not totally made from scratch. In fact, you may be able to find this recipe on the back of a Stove Top Whole Wheat Stuffing box, because that's where I found it!

We have been trying to eat healthier, though it is hard for me to make EVERYTHING from scratch all the time. I work a LOT. So, most of the time I try to always have a fresh, normally steamed, vegetable as a side, and use a semi-prepared meal (stuff like stove top, shake-n-bake, or taco mix/chili mix packets) so I don't have to spend 3 of my 4 hours of free time cooking and cleaning up. It's worked out pretty well so far. I still like cooking more challenging dishes on the weekend, when I have the time, but during the week, I'm just trying to survive.

Anyway, this is a one-dish, skillet meal and it's perfect for a quick dinner!

Chicken and Broccoli Stuffing Skillet

(adapted from Kraft Stove Top Stuffing recipe)

Ingredients:

1 Tbs canola oil
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
4 cups broccoli florets (or about 2 heads)
1 box stuffing mix (or 6 ounces)
2.5 cups water
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown on both sides, or the internal temperature is around 170F. 

2. Remove chicken, blot off excess oil and keep warm. Add the broccoli and water to the skillet and bring to a boil. 

3. Stir in the stuffing mix and stir until moistened.

4. Add the chicken back to the skillet, sprinkle with cheese, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted.

Vanilla Extract Update, and A Confession

Is it really already Sunday night??? NOoooo.

For the next 2-3 weeks, I'm going to be unable to update this blog as frequently, because we're in the process of packing and moving. As much as I would love to experiment in the kitchen and take hours to get nice photos---it's just not going to happen. I'll be back soon, though, and my other blog should be updated at about the normal rate.

The vanilla extract will definitely be ready once we move into the new place! It's already a dark, amber color, and smells very similar to the store bought vanilla extract I have! When we get settled in, I'm going to have to do a taste test. 

Any suggestions as to what recipe I should use to test my homemade extract?