Easy Spicy and Beefy Crock pot Chili

My husband signed me up for a chili cook-off and I can't say I was too thrilled about it. Spare time being short to come by around here and all. He wanted something spicy so I took a basic chili recipe and added to it. Surprisingly enough - it won first place.

Ingredients:

• 2.5lbs of ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 - 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 - 10 ounce can of chopped tomatoes with habeneros 
• 1 - 10 ounce of chopped tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 - 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon of chili powder
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preparations:

1. Cook ground beef and drain.
2. Pour beef into 6 quart crock pot. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese. Stir and cook on low for 4 hours.
3. Right before serving, add cheese and mix. Serve with sour cream.

Makes 10 servings.

Paula Deen's Salmon Salad

I like Paula Deen's recipes but I try to stay away from the ones that are heavy on butter or mayonnaise. I don't have anything against either of those ingredients, I just like being able to wear jeans. If you want to save calories on this one, just use light mayo. I seem to be saying that a lot this week. :) Happy Friday!!!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked, flaked salmon
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, crushed
• 1 red or green bell pepper, diced
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 4 to 5 tablespoons mayonnaise, or enough to moisten
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Preparations:

1. In a large bowl, gently toss together the salmon and crushed hard-boiled eggs. 
2. In another bowl, combine bell pepper, cucumber, onion, and mayonnaise. 
3. Add seasonings and stir to combine. 
4. Pour mixture over salmon, add lemon juice, and toss lightly to combine. Serve over lettuce or as a sandwich.

We sprinkled each individual serving (it makes 4) with cayenne, salt and pepper. It made this salad superb. Also, baking the salmon is the easiest way I've found to cook it.

Easy Grilled Tuna Melt

Last season Crown Burger in Salt Lake City was featured on Man vs Food. They were featured for their pastrami burger and I thought that was a darn shame because their tuna melt is AWESOME. They grill it on sourdough bread and it's sinfully good.

My tuna melt is a bit on the healthier side but still tasty.  This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 6-ounce cans of albacore tuna, drained
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (make it light if you're counting calories)
• 2 tablespoons honey dijon mustard
• 1/2 of a large celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 large dill pickle, chopped
• 8 slices of whole wheat bread
• Sharp cheddar cheese

Preparations:

1. Combine tuna with mayonnaise, mustard, chopped celery and pickles.  Mix well. 
2. Use either  a large skillet or an electric fry pan and turn to medium heat.
3. Butter four slices of bread and place the butter-side down in skillet. Cover with lid. 
4. Let cheese melt.

When cheese has begun to melt, add tuna mixture and cover with another slice of buttered bread. (Put non-buttered side on tuna mixture.) Flip over. Toast until both sides are done. Serve with pickles or chips. :)

The Benefits of Food Storage

As a kid, I remember the concept of food storage being a strange idea for extremists and type-A personalities. My grandparents used their basement to store food and I considered it my own personal stage for playing imaginary games that involved me being a cashier.

Not that I'm older (and hopefully wiser), I see that food storage is a wonderful concept that can help your family during disaster - physical or financial and it can give you peace of mind that can only come from knowing that if something bad happens, your kids will still be able to eat. Building a solid food storage can seem overwhelming. Thankfully, there are plenty of sites like emergency food storage kits that can help you get started.

The advantage of sites like emergency food storage kits is that they're affordable and there's no hassle - you don't have to worry about preparing meals for storage. The work is done for you. There's also wide variety of food for even the pickiest of eaters and the shelf life is clearly indicated. So if you're interested in preparing for any kind of situation or just want a little peace of mind, check out emergency food storage kits .

Tuna Pasta Salad from Food.com

Babies make it really hard to do two things - sleep and eat which ironically are the two things they enjoy doing the most. I picked this recipe because it's easy to make and it tastes good cold. (Because my son doesn't care if I'm starving :) If you opted for eating it cold - try adding sugar snap peas and sliced cumbers.  The recipe calls for Penne pasta but I had an open box of Rotini that I wanted to use before opening a new bag of pasta.

Ingredients: 

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (use light mayonnaise if you are trying to cut calories)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 lb Penne pasta (cook as directed and drain)
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 (6 ounce) can of albacore tuna, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can of white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
• salt and pepper

Preparations:

1. Mix may and lemon juice in large bowl.
2. Add all remaining (prepped) ingredients. Mix well.
3. Salt and pepper to taste.

Better Homes and Garden's Italian recipes

I'm a big fan of Better Homes and Garden's cookbooks. My grandmother used one as her bible of cooking and it's awesome that they have even more great recipes online. Check out their wide selection of Italian recipes.

http://www.bhg.com/recipes/ethnic-food/italian/

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Smith's has Nestle Tollhouse morsels 2 for $4 through Tuesday. I had coupons for their Dark Chocolate chip morsels which are really good. So I decided to get creative and make something that would be good for the upcoming holidays. It's a rich cookie with lots of flavor. Adding pecans is optional. 1/2 cup makes them crunchy.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup dark chocolate morsels
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Preparations:

1. Combine butter, eggs, sugars and vanilla. Beat well.
2. Separately, mix flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add to egg mixture.
3. Slowly mix in rolled oats, morsels and cranberries.
4. Drop dough into small balls onto cookie sheet. 
5. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 12 minutes.

Beef Fajitas

I'm sitting in a quiet house with actual time on my hands. It's a rare event so I'm taking a minute to share an easy recipe. My husband loves steak and so does our youngest daughter. (She would rather get beef jerky than candy for Halloween. :) I'm constantly looking for new ways to cook steak not because anyone else cares but because I get bored cooking the same thing over and over again.

This recipe comes from my Super Suppers Cookbook. I love this cookbook and every recipe has turned out really well.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb flank steak or beef skirt
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup Olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Chili powder
• 2 cups sliced onion
• 2 cups sliced bell pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 12 6-inch flour tortillas

Preparations:

1. Mix lime juice, olive oil and chili powder. Pour into plastic bag. Add meat and shake bag so chili/oil mixture coats steak. Marinate meat for a minimum of 2 hours and no longer than 24.
2. Remove steak (save the marinade) and cook over medium heat until meat is medium rare. (Can be 10 to 16 minutes)
3. In separate pan, pour in marinade and add vegetables. Cook until tender and season with salt and pepper.
4. Slice steak against the grain. Combine with vegetables. Serve on warm tortillas and top with cheese, sour cream or guacamole.

More Pumpkin Recipes

I don't know if all new moms feel like they are going to lose their minds but I certainly feel that way these days. My son is continually demanding to be held and that makes it very hard to get anything done - especially cooking! If anyone has some tips about how to cook and keep a baby happy, please feel free to comment.

The kid that makes it hard to cook!

This is my last big push towards Halloween recipes. If you want a yummy pumpkin dessert for a party or just reward yourself for surviving another day, check out these recipes at Family Circle.

Food.com's 5 Smashing Pumpkin's recipes

I'm running behind on everything these days - cooking, laundry and cleaning. I didn't realize it would be so hard to keep up with a full time job and an infant. I feel like I'm juggling six balls and only catching two or three. (If you can relate, please comment!)

In the meantime, check out these recipes as we get near Halloween. Food.com

Betty Crocker's Tator-Tot Nachos

This recipe may sound kind of strange but it's actually kind of a cool take on nachos. It's also very kid-friendly. I made it mostly though because I love tator tots and the only way I could justify eating them was by using them in a recipe I could blog about.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (32 oz) frozen potato nuggets
• 1 can (15 oz) Progresso® black beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 can (4.5 oz) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles, drained
• 1/2 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz)
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Additional toppings, as desired (thinly sliced green onion, chopped fresh cilantro, seeded and chopped fresh jalapeño pepper, sliced ripe olives, guacamole, additional salsa) 

Preparations:

1. Heat oven to 450°F. Arrange frozen potato nuggets in single layer on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake 24 to 26 minutes until hot and crisp. Line another cookie sheet or pizza pan with cooking parchment paper or foil. 
2. In medium bowl, mix beans, chiles and salsa. Spread half of the potato nuggets on lined cookie sheet. Spoon half of the bean mixture over potatoes. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Top with remaining potatoes, bean mixture and cheese. Bake 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese melts.
3. Top with tomato and avocado. Serve with sour cream. Top with additional toppings as desired.

Pumpkin Spiced Cookies from Nestle

These cookies turned out light and fluffy and weren't too sweet. I highly recommend this recipe especially with Halloween coming.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips


Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. 
3. Beat in pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Chip cookies

I bought these chips because they were on sale for $1.79. (Not a bad price for Hershey's chocolate chips!) The recipe really isn't any different than their regular chocolate chip cookie recipe. The chocolate is touted as being "mildly sweet chocolate". I prefer milk chocolate chips but if you like dark chocolate - you'll like these cookies.

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/4 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of butter, softened (it's best to leave it out for a couple of hours so it can become room temperature)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 bag of dark chocolate chips

Preparations:

1. Combine eggs, sugars, vanilla and butter. Beat well.
2. Separately, mix flour, baking soda and salt. 
3. Mix both sets of ingredients together. Blend well. 
4. Add chocolate chips. 
5. Drop batter (around a tablespoon for each cookie) on to non-greased sheet. 
6. Bake at 375 for approximately 10 minutes (or more depending on how big you make them!)

Hershey's Brownies with Peanut Butter Chips

This was supposed to be pumpkin week but my husband (who literally works next to the base commissary that sells groceries) forgot to buy pumpkin. Oh well, here's a brownie recipe instead.

This recipe is pretty easy. Even if you use a brownie mix, it's about the same amount of effort.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted 
• 1-3/4 cups sugar 
• 4 eggs 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) 
• REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips, divided 

PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE

• 1/2 cup Peanut butter chips
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preparations:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together butter and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; beat with spoon or whisk until well blended. 
3. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring until well blended. 
4. Reserve 1/2 cup peanut butter chips for glaze; stir remaining chips into batter. Spread batter in prepared pan.
5. Pour batter into greased 9 x 13 pan.
6. Combine 1/2 cup REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips (reserved from brownies), 2 tablespoons butter or margarine and 2 tablespoons milk in small microwave-safe bowl. 
7. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 45 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
8. Gradually add 1/4 cup powdered sugar, beating with whisk until smooth. About 1/2 cup glaze.

Nestle's Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Halloween isn't too far off so why not get ready with plenty of pumpkin recipes? These cookies are very yummy!!! (I ate three. :) I used pumpkin pie mix instead of canned pumpkin. It worked just as well.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup Pure Pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup raisins

 Preparations:

1. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. 
2. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in nuts and raisins. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets. 
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and set in centers. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Food.com's Easy and Quick Steak Marinade

If you try "googling" for quick and easy steak recipes, you'll spend more time trying to find one that is actually easy and quick than you would just cooking the darn thing! I picked this one because it was easy and I had every single ingredient (on hand) that it called for. Given how little time I have to prepare meals in advance these days, it was AWESOME to find this recipe.

You can't tell but this steak is cooked medium rare.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic, from jar is fine
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Preparations:

1. Combine all ingredients. Mix really well. 
2. Pour into a zip lock bag (the big kind) add meat to bag. 
3. Seal bag, turn a few times so steak is well coated and let it marinade.

You can let the meat marinade for as little as 30 minutes or even overnight. The original recipe says that the longer it marinates, the stronger the garlic flavor. Cook meat to your taste. The men around here seem to prefer medium rare so I fried this in a pat of butter over medium heat. Covering the pan with a lid helps it to cook evenly. 

I was told that it turned out AWESOME. :)

Simply Recipe's Steak Fajitas

If you are starving, don't make this recipe. It takes an hour for the meat to marinate and my husband's exact words when I told him I still had to cook the vegetables were, "I'd rather kill someone than wait any longer!" Turns out, when some guys diet they can get a little homicidal. :) (It's like living with a model that's eating lettuce and snapping at everyone except for the fact that he's a balding man closing in on 40. LOL.)

This was pretty easy to make in spite of the time constraints. If you don't have yellow or red peppers, green will do just as well. We added green chilies instead of the Jalapeños and it was spicy.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb of flank steak, skirt steak or carne asada
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced with the grain, not against the grain as one would normally slice an onion. Slice first in half, and then slice off sections a half inch wide at widest point.
• 2-3 bell peppers of various colors, stemmed, seeded, de-ribbed, sliced lengthwise into strips
• Salt

Marinade:

• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 fresh Jalapeño pepper, seeded, ribs removed, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, including stems

Preparations:

1. Mix all marinade ingredients. Coat the steak with the marinade and let it sit at room temperature for an hour, or longer in the fridge. Before you cook the meat, wipe off most of the marinade and sprinkle the steak with salt. (You can choose not to wipe it off if you want to eat the jalapenos.)
2. Set a large cast iron pan or griddle over high heat and let this heat up for 1-2 minutes. Add the tablespoon of oil to the pan and let this heat up for 1 minute. 
3. Add the steak, frying on each side for 3 minutes, or to desired doneness. 3 minutes per side will yield approximately medium rare doneness for an average cut of flank steak. (Really you should cook it until the meat is done to your particular taste.) 
4. While the meat rests, cook vegetables in the same pan or a different one if yours was coated with leftover steak seasonings. Add oil if needed. Cook until tender.
5. Slice meat against the grain into strips. Warm tortillas by placing them over the vegetables and covering with a lid for one minute. 
6. Fill tortillas with equal amounts of meat and vegetables. (2 -3 strips of meat depending on how thick you slice it.)
7. Top with cheese, salsa and or sour cream.

Martha Stewart's Banana Bread with Sour Cream

I should really just stop buying bananas altogether. They never get eaten fast enough and I end up looking for another banana bread recipe. I chose this one because the idea of putting sour cream into the mix was rather intriguing.

I found out the hard way that the butter really does have to be room temperature. I tried to soften it but it was still too hard on the inside and I ended up with chunks of butter in my batter that wouldn't quite mix. Learn from my mistake and make sure your butter really is room temperature before you combine it.

This bread turned out very moist. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Martha Stewart's Slow-Cooker Pot Roast

This has NOT turned into the Martha Stewart blog. I'm just really behind these days and meant to post this last week. I was distracted by my 8-year-old niece ending up in the hospital with kidney failure that was most likely caused by e-coli. They haven't figured out the source of the bacteria but the infection was so bad that she had to be placed on dialysis and given a feeding tube. We are hopeful that treatment will restore her to good health.

A word of caution to the kind folks that read this blog, while I can't say for sure my niece contracted this bacteria from fruit (but there is a good chance), please wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them! And I hope anyone who reads this is in good health. :)

Be sure to season this dish to taste otherwise it could be rather bland. Check out Martha's site for variations on this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 8 medium carrots, cut into thirds
• 2 medium onions, each cut into 8 wedges
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 beef chuck roast (3 pounds), trimmed of excess fat
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Preparations:

1. In slow cooker, stir together cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth. Add carrots and onions; season with salt and pepper, and toss.
2. Sprinkle roast with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; place on top of vegetables, and drizzle with Worcestershire. Cover; cook on high, 6 hours (or on low, 10 hours).
3. Transfer roast to a cutting board; thinly slice against the grain. Place vegetables in a serving dish; pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve, if desired. Serve roast with vegetables and pan juices.