Meatballs

Mouth watering, delicious meatballs

It's a family tradition to get together a couple of times a year to make pounds and pounds of meatballs for freezing and enjoying later. Today, we did our summer batch, and the stats are astounding: we used roughly 14 pounds of ingredients to yield 20 dozen meatballs for just $35 in under 3 hours. I'll walk you through how we did it, and then provide a pared down recipe at the end so that you can try it out for yourself without having to invest the amount of time we did. Don't worry, make these bad boys once, and you'll want to make big batches, too!

First up, groceries! We got all of our food at Walmart because I decided to do this at the last minute, but if you're making a bulk batch, we highly suggest you consider pricing out your meat at someplace that sells it in bulk such as Costco or Sam's Club.

5 lbs. Ground Pork

7 lbs. Ground Beef

6 Carrots (About 2 1/2 cups ground in food processor)

4 Stalks Celery (About 3/4 cups ground in food processor)

1 1/2 large onions (About 3 cups ground in food processor)

5 Eggs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

3 cups plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup mustard

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 tbs. salt

1/2 tbs. black pepper

1 tbs. hot paprika

1 tbs. oregano

1 tbs. basil

1 tbs. tarragon or thyme

3 tbs. minced garlic (roughly 6 cloves if you do it yourself)

A few of my mother's advice on the ingredients follow:

• You can substitute turkey for pork if you keep kosher or otherwise dislike pork. We use pork because it is delicious and more affordable.
• It may not seem like enough salt, but most sauces used with meatballs are salty, so you don't want to overdo it in your meatballs.
• If you want your meatballs to be sweeter, just add more ketchup.
• If you want your meatballs to have that pretty flash of green, add a tablespoon of parsley.
• You can do 3 tbs. of Italian seasoning mix instead of the oregano/basil/tarragon or thyme as listed.
• This is a "sniff and touch" recipe for my mom. You mostly want to make sure it smells like meatballs and feels like a meat play dough, smooth and elastic without being wet. If your recipe needs something else, you can tweak it.

Crockpot Curry

It's the youngest daughter here tonight, and I will freely admit that my idea for this freeze ahead crockpot meal is totally taken from my dear friend Steph over at Cupcakes and Curls. I did, of course, adapt it to be my own.

Here's Steph's original recipe:
Chicken Curry

4 Chicken Breasts - Cut up in strips or chunks
2 Bottles of Trader Joe's Yellow Curry
4-5 Red Potatoes sliced or cut into chunks

This one is easy - Cut up your chicken and potatoes, toss them in a Ziploc freezer bag and pour in your ready made sauce. Freeze. When ready to cook, defrost in fridge overnight and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with Trader Joe's Microwave Jasmine Rice.

I tweaked this in a couple of ways, mostly to include a bigger variety of veggies, since Steph's husband is notoriously picky about vegetables, but I am a huge fan of veggies of all stripes.

Here are the ingredients I used to make two freeze ahead bags of curry tonight.

Ingredients
2 bottles of either red curry or yellow curry
1/2 curry bottle of water, shaken to get lose curry
1 gallon size freezer bag full of the following:

• 2 of those massive frozen chicken breasts
• 2 red potatoes, cubed
• 2 gold potatoes, cubed
• 1 1/2 bell pepper, variety of colors, sliced
• 1/2 large yellow onion, sliced
• FREE CHOICE - Add more or less of any of the above ingredients, as well as different vegetables. I fully intended to include eggplant and bamboo, but I fell short on two accounts. My eggplant had gone bad and I forgot to buy a can of bamboo. I upped how much potato and pepper went in, accordingly. If you don't like veggies or use smaller hunks of chicken, you'll need to put in more breasts to fill the bag.

Steps

1. Label bag before adding food, as it is much easier to label an empty freezer bag. I specify what the dish is, the date it is made, and any cooking instructions (low 8 hrs).
2. Chop and slice all meat/veggies according to preference. I did not slice the chicken, as it was already frozen. I will just fish the chicken out and either cube, slice, or shred it when it is time to serve.
3. Dump all chopped meat/veggies to the ziplock.
4. Pour two bottles of curry sauce (yellow or red to taste) over top.
5. If you're like me and your crock is often on for longer than 8 hours--work, am I right??--this step is crucial to maintain moisture. Fill one bottle about 1/2 way with water; cap and shake it. Dump the curry water into the other bottle; cap and shake it. Dump into bag. This gives you extra moisture and maximum flavor!
6. Seal the bag and squeeze it to be sure all veggies are coated in cooking liquid. Freeze flat.
7. The night before you use it, leave in refrigerator to thaw.
8. The morning of, dump contents into crockpot; set it; forget it.
9. Cook rice when you get home to serve with curry. You can use instant rice, stovetop rice, or a rice cooker (my preference). 
10. Chop, shred, or slice chicken if need be.
11. Enjoy! This is really easy, delicious, and satisfying.

The bag between bottles. Is your mouth watering yet?

Date Night Italian Feast

Youngest daughter here, and let me tell you about how awesome my date night Italian feast went. My husband grasped my hand, looked me deep in the eye, and said, "Is there something I'm missing or forgetting? You're being so romantic." Yeah, success.

Yes, date night means light drinking to the tune of the baby monitor at our house.

What's my recipe for a great date night? Two very simple recipes taken and tweaked out of my favorite cook book, Better Homes and Gardens: New Cookbook, Prizewinning Recipes. I cooked "White Bean and Sausage Rigatoni" and used their directions for fresh zucchini.

I acquired the food for this from a few places, but you could easily get a comparable list all from just Walmart or any other standard grocery. I started at Trader Joe's because I wanted their delicious parmesan reggiano.

Shredded using my Cuisnart Food Processer

That trip was not my last because Trader Joe's was missing two key ingredients (Italian tomatoes and turkey sausage), hence the split between stores. Here's how my shopping split up:

Costco
Franconia Beer (a local brewery)

Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's Block Red Shiraz
Parmesan reggiano block of cheese
Rigatoni
1 can cannellini beans
Sweet Italian pork sausage
Ciabatta bread
Three-pack of zucchini squash

Walmart
1 Bag Marketside Caesar Salad Kit
1 can Italian-style tomatoes
Sweet Italian Turkey sausage
Dried crushed basil (I had this at home, but if I was out, I would have purchased it at Walmart.)

To start, we had the Marketside Caesar Salad Kit, which is assembled by opening, dumping, and tossing.

To accompany, we had the ciabatta bread. I dunked mine in a little olive oil and basalmic vinaigrette. My husband went with Country Crock. It's really a taste thing.

For the main dish of white bean and sausage rigatoni, I made a slight tweak to the recipe because I ended up acquiring both the type of sausage called for and a back-up flavor. I will note it in the recipe that follows the photo. I mixed both types of sausage because I wanted left overs of both types for an upcoming dinner party, and because I was skeptical of the flavor of the turkey sausage, as it was my first time to cook with it. As it turns out, either would have been fine alone because the two types were pretty indistinguishable. Turkey is lower fat and pork is cheaper. Pick your battles!

Ingredients
2 cups dried rigatoni (8 ounces or half the package, eyeballed)
1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans
1 14.5-ounce can of Italian-style diced tomatoes
8 ounces (1/2 package) sweet Italian turkey sausage (changed to be 4 ounces turkey and 4 ounces pork, not necessary... pick one)
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 cup shredded Asiago or Parmesan cheese (1 ounce)

Steps
1. Cook sausage and chop into bite size pieces. I put this in because I hate it when recipes assume you've already cooked and chopped your meat. This takes about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring your water up to boil. This time is also always left out of the recipe.
3. Open your two cans. Drain and rinse the beans. Leave the tomatoes be.
3. About the time the sausage is done, you'll be able to put the pasta in the boiling water. It takes 12 minutes if you use Trader Joe's variety. When it is done, drain it and place in your serving dish.
4. While your pasta is boiling, heat the tomatoes with the dried basil (if using) and sausage in a saucepan.
5. Shred a chunk of your big block of parmesan cheese in the food process. Skip this if you buy it pre-shredded or grated.
6. Add beans and fresh basil (if using) to sauce. Heat through.
7. Toss sauce with pasta and serve sprinkled with cheese to taste.

Nutrition Facts (for Turkey Sausage Only)
Per 2 cups: 432 cal, 10 g. total fat (3 g sat. fat), 46 mg chol., 961 mg sodium, 65 g carbo., 7 g fiber, 25 g pro.
Daily values: 4% vit. A, 3% vit C., 11% calcium, 23% iron

For my side dish of vegetables, I decided on zucchini. I prepared them the plain way that Better Homes and Gardens suggested, but they were a little bitter without seasoning, so I tweaked them to include garlic salt and olive oil on their way to the table. The tweaked recipe follows the photo.

Ingredients
3 zucchini squash
Pinch of salt
Pinch of garlic salt
Drizzle of olive oil

Steps
1. Boil salted a few inches of water in the sauce pan.
2. Cut off ends of zucchinis. Slice zucchinis into 1/4 width slices.
3. Cook zucchini in salted water for 4-5 minutes.
4. Drain zucchini and toss in a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of garlic salt to taste.

When it was all said and done, the meal was filling, wholesome, and delicious. I got the go ahead to make it again. I was surprised that the sauce was so hearty and flavorful considering how few ingredients it included, but it was great. The recipe really "stretches flavorful sausage with white beans" as the cookbook indicated. It was a ton of food, and it yielded a good deal of left-overs, even in our home of hearty eaters. I personally was skeptical of the cannellini beans, but they took on the flavor of the tomatoes and had a similar texture to the meat; it was a delightful addition of fiber and frugal protein. 

When it was all said and done, I wrapped up date night by putting away the laundry and my husband did the dishes. That's our love language, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cool-proof Cool Rise Pizza Crust

I first used this recipe with about 130 7th and 8th grade students and it worked well for all of them.  So I brought the recipe home to try with the grill master since he fixes pizza on his grill pretty much weekly.

Step 1:

2 1/4 tsp yeast ( this is the amount in one packet of yeast if you prefer)

1/4 cup warm water ( about skin temp)

1/2 tsp sugar

Mix the above ingredients in a small bowl.  The yeast will "dissolve" in the water and feed on the sugar. You should smell a familiar yeasty smell and the mixture should be bubbly.

Step 2:

2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1TBSP sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

1 TBSP olive oil

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Add the liquid ingredients and then the yeast mixture and stir.  The mixture should form a soft sticky dough.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 6 to 8 minutes, adding flour to the surface as needed until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky.  Form the dough into a ball and rub with additional olive oil to prevent it from drying out.  Put the dough into a one gallon zip-lock bag and let it rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.  The dough should have roughly doubled in size.  Punch it down.  It should be ready to roll into pizza crust within 30 minutes or you can put the dough into the refrigerator for up to two days.

Roll the dough fairly thin as it will rise in the baking process.  This recipe will make one thick crust pizzas or two thin crust pizzas.  After you roll the dough out on a floured surface, coat both sides with a thin layer of olive oil.  This adds a little flavor and crisps the bottom.

Top as you want.  Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes in the oven or using a pizza stone on the grill for about 5 minutes.

One of my favorites topping combinations is prosciutto and arugula. Add a thin layer of red sauce to the very thin crust.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or asiago cheese and top with prosciutto slices.  Bake the pizza and then top with arugula after it has cooled slightly.

Chicken Yakisoba

Well, friends. It's been months since any of us posted, but that's what happens when life happens :-). I've tried tons of great recipes and always forget to take pics! In fact, today's post nearly didn't happen. You see, I got all set up and took a nice ingredients photo: 

Then I got started prepping all those lovely ingredients. I was using a new knife that I'm not quite used to, and distracted by my two very tired and starving kids. Not to get into too much detail, there was a lot of blood, and my sweet husband had to help me wrap myself up. As I sit here, I can still feel my pulse in my finger, and I'm just hoping that my fingernail survives. But, there are hungry people to feed! So I finished up, but totally forgot to take any other pictures until it was on the table:

My husband compared this to restaurant food, and my son was literally slurping this off his plate (he's not even 2). The best part? I have most of these ingredients in my pantry, all I actually had to buy today was the ginger, ramen and cabbage. I also love dishes like this because they are super forgiving. Don't like onions? Leave them out. Love broccoli? Add more! All right, enough of that. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breast, cut into thin strips

1/2 head green cabbage, cut into thin strips

2 inches fresh ginger, minced (food processor to the rescue)

Handful baby carrots, shredded

1 crown broccoli, bite sized pieces

1 yellow onion, sliced thin

1 tbsp Sriracha (less if you want a mild dish)

1 tbsp ketchup

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp sugar

3 packages ramen noodles, seasoning packets discarded

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

Steps

1. Add ramen to boiling water and cook 3 minutes. Drain and return to pot. Toss with sesame oil to keep from sticking and set aside.

2. Heat vegetable oil in wok over medium high heat. Add ginger and sauté about 30 seconds. Add chicken until browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the veggies at once. The pile is huge, but stir often and they will wilt right down in about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile in a small bowl, make the sauce. Mix soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sriracha, ketchup and sugar. 

4. Add sauce and noodles to veggies until well combined and heated though. Enjoy!

Good Things Delayed

Those who know me well know that I have been substitute teaching this year.  My training is science but I have been in life skills for several weeks.  So anyway, the past two weeks, the science job needed doing so the cooking had to wait.  The Mac and cheese we made was a hit and tomorrow I'll be back and we will be cooking fudge.  The trial batch I made this afternoon tastes good and hardened quickly.  We'll try it several times tomorrow but I think we have a winner.  Keep you posted

Some Terminology for beginners (a good review for experienced cooks)

When I share a recipe, I throw around terms without giving them much thought.  Usually, my audience doesn't question them but as I am now teaching extreme novices, I realize that a precise definition can make or break a recipe. For example, what is the difference between bread and dredge? If I said to dredge something in a recipe, I would know what I mean, but will my reader? So for the next few days here some cooking terms and their definitions.

Bread(ing) Dip the food such as chicken strips or fish filets into a liquid, such as milk or an egg wash (lightly beated eggs with water or milk).  Then dip the food into seasoned or unseasoned crumbs made up of crackers, bread crumbs, corn meal or flour.  The breaded food can then be fried or baked and should develop a delicate crust.  Sometimes the food is dipped first into the dry mixture, then into the wet mixture, then back into the dry mixture to develop a thicker crust.  With some recipes, the food being breaded should be frozen to help the breading stick until the food is cooked.

Dredge refers to coating a food with a dry ingredient, such as flour.  Place the dry ingredient(s) into a large plastic bag. Add the food, a few pieces at a time and shake the bag to coat.  This technique is often used to coat meat such as beef or chicken, before browning in a stew or cassoulet.  Cookies or candies can be dredged in sugar either before or after baking although I prefer to place the sugar in a shallow dish for cookies and candies to maintain their appearance.

Cream of Potato Plus

This is youngest daughter here, and I have made my husband happy this week by learning how to cook an easy, cheap, and fairly healthy version of one of his absolute favorites--cream of potato soup! It was so good that I tried the recipe a second time, tweaking the ingredients a bit for even more nutrition, and it worked out great. I'll indicate the reasoning behind my tweaks after the photo of my recipe.

My ingredient list was what I tweaked from the original recipe. The use of red potatoes was because that is what I had on hand, but it came with an added health bonus--they're the least starchy potato variety. Furthermore, I chose not to peel the potatoes, but instead to wash them, thus preserving the skins. Did you know that the skins pack both extra nutrition and fiber? It means that your soup won't be creamy white, but the red skins looked pretty, especially when I crumbled a little bit of sinful bacon on top. Even better, I didn't have to peel potatoes! That's a relief.

The use of skim milk had obvious benefits; it is what we stock in our refrigerator, and it is fat free. I would like to see the nutrition facts for the soup with skim milk.

Finally, I swapped 1 cup of potato for 1 cup of broccoli florets. It was just enough broccoli to make the soup a faint celery green shade, barely discernable, as you can see in the above photo. Nutritionally, the addition of broccoli was a boon! It is lower in calorie, higher in fiber, lower in starch, and adds huge doses of vitamin K and vitamin C, plus it helps your body generate vitamin D, of which most adult Americans have a deficiency. Both my husband and I were pinned as deficient at our most recent physical. This choice made a hint of difference in the taste and appearance, but my husband slurped down what he deemed to be two huge bowls in pleasure!

----------------

Here is the original recipe from Better Homes and Gardens' The New Cookbook: Prizewinning Recipes. It is--hands down--my favorite cookbook.

Cream of Potato Soup
Time: 25 minutes
Makes: 4 side-dish servings

Ingredients
5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon dried dill or basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk, half-and-half, or light cream
1 dash black pepper

Steps
1. In a large saucepan cook desired potatoes and onion, covered in a large amount of boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Set aside 1 cup cooked vegetable mixture.
2. In a food processor, combine the remaining vegetables and broth. Cover and process about 1 minute or until smooth. Set aside.
3. In the same saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, seasoning, salt, and dash of black pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more.
4. Stir in the reserved cooked vegetables and blended vegetable mixture. Cook and stir until heated through. If necessary, stir in additional milk to reach desired consistency. If desired, season to taste with additional salt and black pepper.

Nutrition Facts
Per cup of soup (no indication of which milk product is used)
236 calories
5 g total fat (3 g saturated)
13 mg cholesterol
509 mg sodium
40 g carbohydrate
3 g fiber
8 g protein
5% DV vitamin A
47% DV vitamin C
10% DV calcium
10% DV iron

Fabulous French Toast and Middle School

I have been teaching Skills for Living for the past three weeks.  Last week we started a unit on cooking, definitely one of my favorite life skills.  Twelve and thirteen year olds with an occasional fourteen year old thrown in have few real life skills. We started cooking at an odd point.  Although I spend two days teaching about safe food preparation, there were no lessons on measurements and heat for cooking.  That was okay since the recipe we followed was pretty silent on both.  I learned the following things:

1. For some, cooking is a natural talent.

2. The level of previous cooking knowledge even at this young age is astounding.

3. As is the case with three year olds, if you specifically say not to do something, chances are the child will do it anyway.

So here is a no fail recipe for French toast

For four servings.

4 eggs

1c milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cooking spray

8 slices white bread, cheap and slightly stale is better

Break the eggs into a bowl.  Remove all the excess egg shell before continuing. Whisk slightly.  Add the milk and vanilla.  Whisk until the mixture is slightly frothy.  Dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture, coating both sides but do not soak.  If you over soak the bread, it will fall apart.

Place each slice in a preheated frying pay, sprayed with cooking spray.  Over medium heat, cook each slice until the bread is browned and dry, turning at least once. Use a spatula. If you turn more, no big deal.  If it breaks, you have now made French toast fingers.  If it is not quite done, put it back over the heat for a couple of minutes but turn the heat down.  If the pan starts to smoke, reduce the heat.  If there is nothing to cook, remove the pan from the heat.  You may need to clean the pan between slices, depending on the mess you made.

If you spill the bread or egg mixture onto the burner, it will burn.  You cannot clean it until the surfaces cool. Just turn on the vent fan and crack a window.

When your French Toast is ready, pour a liberal amount of maple syrup (imitation) over top after you put the toast on the plate.  No you cannot eat this directly from the pan.  Don't add extra vanilla, it won't taste better.  Cinnamon would be a nice addition.  Yes your Mom/grandmother has a better recipe but then they didn't teach it to you so you have to eat your own cooking.  Use a fork and clean up after yourself.

Actually each child made a pretty possible slice of French Toast and the recipe is a keeper.

This week, measurement lessons and from scratch Mac and cheese.

Cooking school

Tomorrow begins a first for me.  Although I have taken many cooking classes all over  the world, the only people I ever taught were my daughters and now the Grillmaster.  Tomorrow begins a month of cooking classes for me to teach for middle schoolers.  Yes, I am working as a Life Skills teacher.  We will cook breakfast (French toast) tomorrow, followed by lunch, supper and a dessert.  I already practiced the French toast with my 3 year-old granddaughter. I'll share the recipes and results on the blog but not the kids.  I promise to share any comments they make though.  I am a little nervous.

Last week we talked about food safety and preparation. I now realize that there is a lot of misinformation out on the web and other places about food, nutrition and safety.

Cooking with teenagers

For the next four weeks, I will be teaching cooking lessons to 130 middle school children.  This should be interesting. I will post the recipes and the results but no pictures of the kids.  We will start with French toast, then move to homemade Mac and cheese.  We will cook fudge and then, a two part lesson on pizza with homemade dough.  I would like to cook more complicated dishes but am also teaching food safety and recipe conversions.  This should be great. More details to come.

Greek Inspired Shrimp and Pasts

I am always inspired to cook with fresh ingredients in the spring, sometimes before really good quality fresh produce is available.  I am also inspired to shed a few late winter pounds as the layers I am wrapped in are decreasing as the temperatures rises.  This simple recipe is based on a few fresh ingredients and believe it or not, originally was published in a weight loss cookbook.

12 oz. cooked frozen shrimp, extra small, shelled, tails off

1 small yellow onion, medium chopped

4 spring onions(green) chop both the white and about 2 inches of the green stems

4 small or 1 large red pepper, chopped

Two cloves garlic, fine chopped

Sauté the above ingredients in a skillet with 1 tsp olive oil, while cooking 2 cups (uncooked measure) Orzo Pasta according to package directions.

When the pasta is al dente cooked, after about 8 minutes, drain and add to the shrimp mixture.  If there is excess liquid in the shrimp mixture, go ahead and drain that liquid off before combining.

Add

1 14 to 15 oz can diced tomatoes

4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

12 to 15 Kalamata olives, sliced in halves, lengthwise

1 Tablespoon Capers or 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350.

Serve with a salad and hot crusty bread. 

Makes 6 servings, calories less that 500 per serving.

Fresh Herb

The best flavor comes from herbs which are harvested directly from the garden and immediately added to your recipe.  I have been experimenting with herbs for the last several years and have had consistent success with many.  My garden this year includes sweet basil, Thai basil, Italian and Greek oregano, chives, cilantro/coriander, lemon thyme and silver thyme, plus fennel and dill.  They aren't all planted out yet but here's the start. 

I decided to skip the lavender this year.  I don't like the flavor much and it is a tough plant to nurture in such a small space. If you want to plant lavender, I think the Spanish lavender holds up well.

I am going to stagger planting my cilantro this year to make sure I have an even supply of tender leaves.

The Grill master has planted green beans and tomatoes this spring.  He also planted peppers, both hot and sweet.  We are trying cantaloupes and cucumbers. We may not have enough sun.  Okra is on  hold for another week or so as they don't do anything until the weather is miserable hot.

Tortilla Chicken Soup for the slow-cooker

Without a doubt, Chef Dean Fearing's Tortilla soup is the best. I loved it since the first time I tried it at the Mansion on Turtle Creek back in the 1980's.  I believe that it is in the simplicity and elegance of the ingredients.  But I followed his recipe only rarely because it is time consuming to start with a raw chicken and build a stock, then make that into a finished soup.

I have come up with my slow-cooker version of his soup which relies on some prepared ingredients.  If you have the time, make your own stock, the sodium content of the prepared ingredients is higher than it should be.

However, you can mitigate the sodium by using these ingredients and adding in some no salt added chicken broth.

Here is my recipe:

I 32 oz carton Swansons Mexican tortilla broth

1 26 oz carton Swansons Chicken Cooking Stock

1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 large yellow onion, puréed 

Rinse the chicken and lay flat in your slow cooker. Cover with the remaining ingredients.

Set the timer for 6 hours.

Go about life

About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, remove the chicken and shred it when cool.

Transfer the broth to a stock pot for finishing. This is much easier if you use the slow cooker bags.

Add

1/2 to1 Tablespoon cumin

1 to 2 teaspoons chili powder

2 bay leaves

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Many people like corn or black beans or both in their soup.  Some add potatoes or carrots. If you do, then they should be added now.

Add salt ( probably not necessary) and cayenne pepper to taste. Start with 1/2 teaspoon and adjust up!

Simmer for 30 minutes, then return the shredded chicken to the pot. Heat the chicken.

Garnish each bowl individually with avocado slices and shredded cheddar cheese. You can also add tortilla strips or pulverized corn tortillas. Either way, it is a flavor thing so pick the texture you prefer.  I like pulverized tortillas.  Garnish as desired.

The Grillmaster likes lots of hot so I added a Poblano pepper, charred and chopped to the condiments.

Enjoy!  

Chilly night, Chili Soup

I am a little surprised that it has taken me so long to post this recipe.  It is a version of Midwestern chili that was my first from scratch soup.  I started making this when I was in high school.  The recipe has changed over time, but the basics remain. My current version is one I developed about twenty-five years ago, as a healthier version.  Everyone has their own version for chili and the Grillmaster and I have at least three that we come back to each year.  But this is the original and remains the family favorite.

In a large Dutch oven, brown 1 pound lean ground beef. If you select less than 90% lean, drain and rinse before continuing. Do not rinse the pot before returning the beef to it.

3 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

3 stalks celery, cut into chunks

1 large yellow onion, cut into 8ths or smaller

Combine the vegetables in a food processor and add about 1/2 cup liquid (I prefer tomato sauce) and process until the vegetables are a purée. Scrape the sides down at about 30 second intervals. Add about 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped (3 to 4 cloves) and process for about 10 more seconds. 

This is actually the secret behind the rich flavor.

Add to the browned ground beef and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Not only have you added more flavor complexity, but the nutrition value had increased and you are stretching the ground beef. (Sorry purists, but this isn't a chili cook-off, it is dinner.)

Then add the balance of the ingredients.  

2 15 oz. cans of Ranch Style Beans (there are no acceptable substitutes)

Be sure to include all the sauce from the can.

1 can red kidney beans (14.5 to 15.5 oz)

1 can white kidney beans (14.5 to 15.5 oz)

2 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)

Add one can full of water for each can of beans, you need to start out with extra liquid as the soup will cook down some.

Add 2 tablespoons dark chili power and Tabasco sauce to taste.  Bring the mixture up to a boil and then simmer uncovered for at least one hour.  Adjust the heat of the chili to your taste.  Sometimes, I also add 4 oz. chopped green chilies, but usually only when Hatch peppers are in season.

To serve, place in a bowl and serve with grilled cheese.  This is Midwestern style. This is my favorite way to eat this hearty soup.

You can place about one oz of Frito chips in the bottom of the bowl and top with the chili and then top with  cheddar cheese, chopped onion, jalapeños, and sour cream.  This is Frito pie, a  Texas classic and one of my other favorites. 

Notice that I add no salt.  Between the canned beans and the tomatoes, there is sufficient salt.  Also, no oil.  If you attend the beef while It is browning, no oil is needed.

Soup's On, Split Pea and Ham

I hardly ever miss an opportunity to make a big pot of soup or stew in cold weather.  I just wasn't expecting to make one in March during a sleet storm. Tonight it is split pea and ham.

Dried peas, green and yellow are the basis for this soup.  If you accidentally purchase dried peas with a seasoning packet, please throw it away.  Seasonings are so easy to achieve and the packets always contain more salt than you need.

Flavor base:

1/2 onion, chopped, medium

1 small carrot, peeled, chopped

2 or 3 do the center celery stalks ( the ones with the leaves in the heart of the celery), include the leaves, chopped.

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Olive oil

In a heavy pot (2 quart or larger) sauté the vegetables until the onion is translucent.

Add about one cup of water for each ounce of split peas.  I used 6 ozs. Of split,peas so, 6 cups water.

Add ham bones to flavor base.

For the best flavor,use genuine smoked ham hocks or pork neck bones.  If these are not available, you can use chopped ham but it doesn't add the depth of flavor.  I like the neck bones because they are so low priced and gives that rich ham flavor.  If you are a vegetarian or avoid pork for religious reasons, just leave the meat out.  Your split pea soup will still be delicious.

Then add your split peas.

Cover the pot and simmer for about an hour

The peas will be soft.  Remove the ham bones and remove the meat.

Using an immersion blender, make sure the soup is completely puréed and then add the ham meat back to the pot.

Serve with a hearty bread.  I like pumpernickel.  

Enjoy! 

Garlic Egg Noodless: Super easy side

It's youngest daughter here, and I have a confession to make--I love egg noodles. I LOVE egg noodles. I finally decided tonight to find something to do with them other than boil them in chicken broth for a poor girl's chicken soup when I feel sick, and it turned out pretty great and very simple.

Ingredients:
1/2 package of egg noodles
1/2 package of frozen peas and carrots
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbs. butter
1/2 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
pepper to taste

Instructions:
(1) Boil egg noodles, peas and carrots according to package instrucitons.
(2) Drain noodles and vegetables.
(3) Return noodles and vegetables to pan.
(4) Add butter and melt while stirring.
(5) Add seasonings and cheese. Stir till consistent.

That's it! It's like having garlic bread, but with vegetables! I can't wait to serve this one to our son once he decides to cut some top teeth.

A Cutting Lesson

This one is for Sarah.

I use a lot of peppers in cooking, some sweet and mild and some hot and some even hotter.  Here is an easy way to slice the pepper while holding the stem so that you can partially avoid the heat in the seeds and membrane.

Holding the green stem, use a very sharp knife and slice diagonally.

Repeat until the flesh is cut from the bone.

Discard the stem, membrane and seeds. No muss and fuss.

Easy hot breakfast

How many of us dream about a hot breakfast that requires no input from us in the morning? Although the Grillmaster usually cooks us breakfast every morning, here is a quick and easy way to have a hot cooked breakfast with no morning work.

Be sure to use steel cut or regular oatmeal.  Instant or quick cook will not be so good.  Add the oatmeal and water according to package directions into a Pyrex bowl.

 Place this into your slow cooker.  Add sufficient water to the slow cooker and around the bowl so that it comes within one inch of the top.  Turn on the slow cooker for about 8 to10 hours.  Cover and go to bed.

Your oatmeal will be cooked and delicious when you rise in the morning.

Add nuts, fruit, milk or sugar as you desire.  Enjoy.  

PS cleanup is really easy too.