Crock Pot Chili-Lite

It has been getting chilly for Southern Cal... down into the 40's at night. Burr! This winter weather has me hankering for a slow cooked warm meal in my crock pot. I am not a bean connoisseur, but I am a healthy meal and leftovers connoisseur... My kids will eat up anything that has beans in it, so making a meal full of beans not only uses what I already have in my cupboards, but gives me a meal that seriously will last all week if I want it to. Here's how I made it and there are a few different ways to serve it up!

CROCK POT CHILI-LITE

INGREDIENTS
2lb. can Pinto Beans
14oz. can Black Beans
14oz. can chopped tomatoes
4oz. can tomato paste
1 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots peeled & diced
1 brown onion diced
1/2 Green Bell Pepper seeded & diced
1/2 Red Bell Pepper seeded & diced
1/2 Anaheim Chili seeded & diced (more to preferred spice)
1/2lb lean ground turkey
4oz. Gimme Lean Ground Sausage (vegetarian)
1 Chili seasoning packet
Salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Seed, peel & chop all veggies. Start cooking in a pan over medium heat by sauteeing onion, diced peppers, ground turkey and sausage in 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add a dash of salt & pepper as well as some of the chili spices. Cook until meat is not pink.

Rinse beans and drain. Add beans, meat mixture and the rest of the ingredients to the crock pot. Add more or less water as needed. Note, I use a half of the small can of tomato paste. This chili is mild - so my kids would eat it, if you like it spicy add the seeds from the peppers (the seeds are what hold the majority of the spice) and include the whole Anaheim chili and additional 1-2 jalapeno peppers can be diced and added if you like to really turn up the heat.

Turn the crock pot on Medium. Thoroughly mix all ingredients. Cover the crock pot and leave it set for 4-6 hours. Since the meat is pre-cooked, you can technically eat at anytime, it just tastes better if all the ingredients are given some time to melt into eachother.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
Chili over Baked Potatoes
Chili Hot Dogs
Chili 'n Mac 'n Cheese
Chili & Grilled Cheese

Not only did this recipe warm my home, but it also warmed all of our bellies many times over. Bonus, I felt like a good mama since there was not really any added fat and we all got an extra serving of veggies in the form of the peppers & carrots. My kids had no idea. And it reminded me, I need to make some split pea soup again because it's a similar idea and they devour their veggies like there is no tomorrow!

Potato Mushroom Gratin with Chicken

No sooner did I scrape my plate clean than I jumped to the computer to share this recipe. Seriously, this is one of those easy peasy recipes that seem like you've been slaving away all day in the kitchen. So when you get the accolades, and you will, just say thanks and be at peace because you still have energy to make dessert if you want!

This recipe starts from one I found in my Nigella Express Cookbook, by my favorite foodie, Nigella Lawson. She emphasizes using your preference in the ingredients and amounts, things can be substituted easily and added just as quick. So although, her original recipe was much easier. I found myself at a loss for protein and wanted to make use of the leftover Rotisserie Chicken I picked up at Costco a few days ago. Here's how I adapted her recipe.


POTATO MUSHROOM GRATIN WITH CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

3 average-sized/1-1/2 lbs baking potatoes, thinly sliced

1-1/2 cups milk

3 Tbsp white wine

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 tsp chopped garlic, approx 1 clove minced

4 oz shitake mushrooms finely sliced

3 stalks green onions sliced

1/2 rotisserie chicken leftovers cut small

1/4 lb jack cheese cubed


DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 425'F and butter a shallow baking dish or gratin.

2. Bring the sliced potatoes, milk, wine, salt and pepper to a boil in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, and leave at a simmer while you get on with the mushrooms.

3. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, garlic, mushrooms green onions and cook stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes.

4. Pour the mushrooms and their garlicky, buttery juices into the pan of potatoes, stir to mix. Warm up the chicken in the pan you were cooking mushrooms in. Once done, add to the potatoes. Mix to combine ingredients and pour straight into the gratin dish. Fold in cubed cheese. Bake for 45 minutes until piping hot, and crisp on the top.


The original recipe called for double the mushrooms - and cremini's, but I didn't realize that when I sifted through the bin at Henry's. In addition to the Chicken, the onions & cheese were wonderful additions that might make the dish a little more complex, but were much worth the extra few minutes to prepare.

Including chopping and extracting the chicken, this dish only took about 15 minutes to prepare. If I had planned it properly, I would have also combined some vegetable, maybe asparagus - and popped it in the oven 1 hour prior to dishing up for dinner so it had a few minutes to cool. Instead I just popped the kids dishes into the refrig. for a few minutes and we were good to go. I'm so looking forward to eating up the leftovers!

Homeade Spaghetti Sauce and then some

Family dinner is important in our household. I have always loved cooking, but was never really good at making just a simple dinner. So when hubby and I made the commitment, and believe me, it is a big commitment to have a family dinner every night - give or take a special occasion or two, I determined the only way I could possibly do it is if I had a weekly meal plan. Well, after a few weeks of fumbling around with dinner, I found it easiest to make a meal plan if we had some staple meals. I have always loved spaghetti or some sort of pasta dish... It's easy. Can come in many variations! So spaghetti dinner, or some form thereof has become a weekly dish at our home.

I was never one to purchase spaghetti sauce. Although, my Italian friends tell me that Classico Spaghetti Sauce is the best jarred sauce out there - so on occasion, I pick up a jar to keep on hand for those really busy nights. And having a few Italian friends, I've heard a lot of secrets to making a good sauce from scratch. Unfortunately, if you are looking for an exact recipe, I do not have one. I was taught to wing it when it comes to cooking...

When I was about 7 years old, my dad made me some cream of broccoli soup. I am not a soup fanatic, and cream of anything sounded disgusting to me as a 7 year old. But I loved his soup. A few days later, I believe I bugged him to make some more. This time he showed me how he added a few seasonings and after that, I was hooked. I'm always altering my foods with seasoning. Maybe too much sometimes, but what can I say... it's fun! And somehow I get this delicious satisfaction in thinking that I have stumbled onto a better recipe than what the manufacturer could ever think of!

So here's my stumbled upon recipe for Homemade Spaghetti Sauce. There are few measurements, because I add different things and amounts all the time. I will start with the must haves to the sauce, and then list off the optional seasonings and other ingredients that you can add if you have or so wish.


SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Ingredients (must haves)

Tomato Sauce from can

Oregano

Onion

Bell Pepper

(Optional Add-ins)

Garlic, Garlic Salt

Pepper, Red Pepper Flakes

Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Fennel

Carrots, Zucchini

Tomato Paste, Chopped/Stewed Tomatoes canned or fresh

Sugar/Honey

Wine, Red Wine Vinegar

Sausage, Meatballs, Ground Beef, Ground Turkey, Tofu

Parmesan

Mushrooms


Directions

1. Chop approx half Onion & Bell Pepper (any color or mixed) Tomato, if using, and sautee on Medium in pot with oil until onions start to become clear. If you are adding raw meat, cook with onions & peppers. Add garlic towards end of sauteeing, to lightly brown. If you are adding chopped mushrooms or veggies such as Carrots or Zucchini shred as desired (sometimes I shred on the smallest shred option and you can't even see them in the sauce, I add them for more nutrients for the kiddos) add into the sautee with garlic. (If you added meat, you can skim the grease from pan if you wish, or leave it in for added flavor).

2. Add seasonings and stir - Oregano, and whichever else you might desire. Pour can of Tomato Sauce over all ingredients cooked so far. You can combo it with Tomato Paste and add 2-3 additional cans of water. Stir and bring to simmer. Add Wine, or Red Wine Vinegar to bring a richness to the flavor, 1 Tbsp or so of Sugar/Honey helps counter balance any bitter taste that might be developing, 1 Tbsp or so of Flour adds a rich thickness - especially if you've left any fat from meats in the sauce. Let simmer some more and taste. This is when I add more seasonings and then I let it stew. Add whichever you like. I always like lots of oregano, it reminds me of the movie Heathers:) Let simmer on low.

3. After you've let simmer for an hour or two, the seasonings should be pretty set. You can serve or keep on low for later in the day. I will prepare this around naptime and let it sit 'til dinnertime.


4. LEFTOVERS - this is the greatest part about the sauce. I keep leftover sauce in the refrigerator for a variety of uses - pizza sauce, lasagna, spaghetti pie, bread dipping, etc... and mostly, I keep it in the refrig for the start of next weeks sauce. Here's how I get that started.


5. NEXT WEEKS SAUCE - Break out the onion, chop and sautee. Add leftover sauce and another can of Tomato sauce. Then you can add veggies, meat, seasonings as you so desire. But since you've already gotten the sauce to a good point when you first made it, you don't have to spend all the time. Tonight's spaghetti sauce was ready in 20 minutes based on a heapload of meat sauce from last week. Just added half onion, half green bell pepper, some garlic, fresh basil and 1 can of tomato sauce.

Mmmmm... Rosemary

Last night, we entertained some relatives from out of town. We decided to go to the park in the morning, which turned into a day at the bay... come afternoon, I was tired, sunburnt and in no real mood to make anything for dinner, let alone clean house!

So get to the cooking, my cousin is a vegetarian and hubby wanted to BBQ steak & ribs. So, I found a few veggie dishes to make for everyone to enjoy. In this weeks Seabreeze Organic Farm food delivery, I received fresh Rosemary! I love the fragrance of Rosemary. And after tasting Rosemary Cornbread at House of Blues for the first time, I was in love with the idea of cooking with Rosemary. Could hubby add it to the steak and ribs, sure... but didn't happen. Mmmm, could I add it to Roasted Potatoes, you bet!


ROASTED POTATOES w/ ROSEMARY
Ingredients
6 Potatoes (approx. 1 per person)
Pepper
Sea Salt
Oil (preferably Olive Oil)
Butter
2 cloves minced garlic (~1 tsp. prepared)
1 sprig Rosemary (Optional)


Directions
1. Bring large pot water to boiling. Clean and chop potatoes into approx 1/2" cubes. Add to boiling water and cook for approx 5 minutes. They should be firm, yet not raw/crisp. Drain and let dry a bit.

2. Heat large skillet on Medium High. Pour generous amount of oil into pan and let it get hot (approx 1-2 minutes). Add potatoes to pan and let cook. As it is cooking add garlic (more or less for your taste), chopped rosemary and pepper (to taste). Turn potatoes while adding bits of butter every few minutes. Butter will add taste and help brown.

3. When potatoes are browned to your preference, add salt, turn once more and ready to serve.


If you don't have Rosemary on hand, you can always make these roasted potatoes without. This is a recipe I used to watch my friend's mom, who was French, make when I was younger. Every Sunday they would prepare lamb, roasted potatoes and veggies. It's a great option to mashed or baked potatoes, and they cook surprisingly quick - pre-cooking in boiling water, making sure pan is hot enough and adding enough butter are all the little secrets in speediness I figured out along the way.

We accompanied the Roasted Potatoes with a Pasta Salad (lemonade chicken leftovers on the side), green salad with lots of fresh veggies and the Ribs & Steak hubby cooked on the Q. Overall dinner was a success, and we even had a few leftovers... No potatoes though!

Lemonade.... Chicken?

My car was telling me it is 85' outside. A hot dinner did not sound appetizing. Neither did cooking it. But hubby brought home groceries... and I asked for chicken (although I only needed to cook it so I could make a cold chicken pasta salad another night this week). So tonight I was going to find something easy & traditional to do with the chicken.

After leafing through Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, I ran across a recipe for Braised Chicken with Orange and Scallions. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the ingredients -you will start to notice this is a theme with all of my cooking- and I was craving lemonade. So I decided to adapt and here's what I came up with.


LEMONADE CHICKEN RECIPE
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts (or 1 chicken cut into 10 pieces)
coarse salt
lemon pepper from grinder
1/2 bunch scallions, trimmed & halved
3 small bunches bok choi, trimed & halved
1/2 real lemon juice
1/2 cup Simply Lemonade (or whatever lemonade you have)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450'. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking, about 1 minute. Season chicken with salt. Swirl oil in skillet. Working in batches if needed, add chicken, skin side down, and brown on one side, about 5 minutes (mine was skinless and I browned for 3 minutes, so it wasn't too tough).

2. Turn chicken, skin side up, and season with salt and lemon pepper, add scallions, bok choi and juice to skillet. Transfer to oven and cook until chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes. (I cooked 10 minutes and let sit with lid on for another 5 minutes and all was cooked through, moist and tender)


I plated this on top of a bed of garlic infused, buttered rice. Added a bit of the juices and just a drizzle of soy sauce. I like all of my dinner dishes to have a full range of protein, starch/carb and veggie. Bok choi was more of a garnish and it was too hot to think about cooking anything else, so reached into the refrig. for some coleslaw I made a few days ago. Wallah, done!


It can be really tough to get a 2 year old to eat. As toddler was running around the room, probably spinning from the lemonade he begged for when I was cooking, he managed to get a good handful of rice and chicken into his tummy. Baby couldn't get enough and insisted on grabbing the fork out of my hands so she could feed herself.

After all are full, I've saved the largest breast and a half for the cold chicken pasta I will make later this week... Leftover rice, great for baby & I'm hoping I have extra meat this week to make some fried rice!

Spaghetti Pie

Yumm! What do you do with leftover spaghetti and no interest in cooking dinner. Well, I've been dying to try this new recipe I found for Spaghetti Pie from Deceptively Delicious. Of course, I added my own twist. Here's what I did:

SPAGHETTI PIE

Ingredients (approximates)

1 cup leftover spaghetti

1 cup leftover spaghetti sauce w/ meat & veggies

1 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup fresh shredded squash

1 cup mozzarella

8 meatballs (Trader Joe's frozen)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350'.

2. In a 9" pie plate covered with plastic tupperware lid, warm up the meatballs 1-2 minutes in a microwave.

3. In a large bowl, stir the cooked pasta, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese and squash. Spoon the mixture into the pie plate and mix with meatballs. Smooth over the top and sprinkle with mozzarella.

4. Bake 25-30 minutes uncovered until the center is firm and the cheese is bubbly.

I accompanied this dish with some homeade garlic bread and mini-bagels. Hubby tought me this trick, to make any bread, delicious garlic bread.

GARLIC BREAD

Ingredients

Bread of your choice

Butter

Olive Oil

Garlic

Garlic Salt

Parsley or Oregano

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix mainly butter, dash of olive oil, pinch of garlic salt, pinch of parsley and a good 1/4 tsp or more of crushed garlic. Make enough to spread over the bread you have chosen.

2. Spread heapingly onto bread & toast

This dinner was a success. Not only because it took me almost no time to prepare, but also because it freed up some much needed room in the refrig. And there is nothing I like more than putting my leftovers into use. Waste not, want not... someone once told me. I guess you never forget some of those things your parents tell you. Anyways, it said it feeds 8-10, but we ate heartily and my toddler & 1 year old only had a few bites, but it is more than half gone.

For those of you wondering about the spaghetti sauce. I make mine fresh, from scratch every week or so. Will share the recipe later. Always have leftovers, and never follow the same recipe. So if you aren't as bold, use any premade spaghetti sauce meat or no meat, you'll have plenty of deliciousness regardless!