Easy Chili Recipe!

Traditional Chili

Serves: A lot! 

What you need: 

Crock pot

1 lb of ground beef (or turkey)

1 large onion

2-3 multi colored bell peppers

2 cans of spicy chili beans

1 can of dark red kidney beans (rinsed)

1 can of light red kidney beans (rinsed)

1 large can of diced tomatoes

1 large can of tomato sauce (use enough to reach your desired consistency)

1-2 tbsp of diced pickled jalapeños

Spices: salt, pepper, cumin, chipotle chili pepper

*Don't forget the sour cream and sharp cheddar as a garnish!

Steps: 

1. Brown the meat in a pan, drain, and add the meat to the crockpot. 

2. Saute the chopped veggies in the same pan, then add to the crockpot. 

3. Add all of the beans, diced tomatoes, and jalapeño to the crockpot. 

4. Add tomato sauce to the crockpot until you have your desired consistency. 

5. Season the chili with salt and pepper to taste. add 1 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of chipotle, mix and taste. Add more to your liking! ( I didn't measure the spices last time I made this chili). 

6. Cook on low for 3-4 hours. 

Enjoy! 

Stuffed Jalapenos

Perfect game-day appetizer. 

Yes, you guessed it: EASY & DELICIOUS...I feel like that's becoming a common theme among my posts.

One of Trey's buddy's from work brought these over for the UNC vs UM game and, yes, YUM!

If you eat meat (Italian Sausage) and don't mind some heat, try it! And don't let the word "jalapeno" scare you...if you seed the jalapenos completely, it will NOT be spicy. I, however, reserve the seeds and sprinkle extra all over the jalapenos!

Ingredients

20 Jalapenos

8 oz. of softened cream cheese

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 lb. hot Italian sausage

Steps

1. Cook Italian sausage until browned.

2. Preheat oven to 425f.

3. Prep the jalapenos: rinse, half, seed.

4. Mix cream cheese, parmesan and sausage.

5. Stuff each jalapeno half then bake until browned, about 15-20 minutes.

*Bacon optional :)

Creamy Chicken Jalapeño Supreme

This recipe was adapted from: http://busycooks.about.com/od/chickenrecipe1/r/chixsupreme.htm.

Servings: 3

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5-6 hours in crock pot

Ingredients:

3 hearty chicken breasts (fat trimmed)

7-8 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

½ onion, diced

4 jalapenos, sliced into rings with seeds

4 slices of your favorite spicy cheese (I suggest jalapeno havarti; we used Monterey Jack with jalapenos this first time)

1-2 sliced portabello mushrooms

2 cans of condensed cream of chicken (I will be switching it up and using one cream of mushroom and one cream of chicken next time)

Egg noodles (or rice)

Salt, pepper and garlic salt

Steps:

1.       Cook bacon until crispy and refrigerate until 10 minutes before serving dinner.

2.       Brown the chicken breast in the bacon grease on medium high heat, about 10 minutes.

3.       Dice onion, slice jalapenos, and chop mushrooms.

4.     Warm soup on the stove, add salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste (it's ok if its a bit salty, the juices from the chicken help with this).

5.       Place chicken, soups, onion and mushroom in crockpot, cover, and cook on low for 5 hours (there is no need to drain the juices from the chicken).

6.       After five hours, add jalapenos (if you submerge them in the soup they will cook faster) for 10  minutes.

7.       Once jalapenos have softened to your liking, cover each piece of chicken with cheese and top with bacon pieces.

8.       Cover and cook on high for about 10 minutes until cheese has melted.

9.       Scoop chicken with sauce over egg noodles and enjoy this delicious creation.

Browned chicken in crockpot.

Chicken, soup, mushroom, onion in crockpot.

Added jalapenos after 5 hours.

Cheese and bacon topped over chicken.

After 10 minutes of melting!

Bon Apetit

-SS

Mexican Masterpiece

Taco bake / Mexican Lasagna

Simple.

Cheap.

Good.



(This picture does NOT do this meal justice)

Ingredients

1 lime

8 flour tortillas

1 lb of ground beef

1 can of chili beans, drained

5 cloves of garlic

1 onion

1/3 jar of salsa (your favorite, I used taco bell brand-medium)

Taco seasoning packet

3 tablespoons of queso (or chili con queso….or shredded cheese)

Shredded cheese (Mexican blend) for topping

Sour cream (optional)

Jalapenos (mandatory)

Hot sauce (I used "Eros Pistas", a hungarian chili paste)

STEPS

1. Preheat oven to 375 f
2. Dice onion and garlic, then sauté (over medium, medium/low) until onion is golden (adding the garlic the last minute).
3. Over medium heat, brown beef in a separate pan, then drain.
4. Add onion, garlic, and beef back into a pan and keep heat setting at low
5. Mix your taco seasoning packet with ½ a cup of water and add to beef.
6. Add queso or cheese into the beef, stir.
7. Add drained beans into the cheesy beef, stir.
8. Turn up the heat for a minute, stirring. This is when you can add your spice factor (hot sauce, crushed red pepper, anything!).
9. Spray PAM or any non-stick agent into a casserole dish.
10. Align two tortillas (side by side) on the bottom.
11. Layer 1/3 of the beef/bean mixture.
12. Add 2^nd layer of tortillas.
13. Layer 1/3 of the beef/bean mixture with the salsa.
14. Add 3^rd layer of tortillas.
15. Layer the rest of the beef/bean mixture, cover with last two tortillas, and sprinkle with cheese and jalapenos.
16. Cook uncovered in oven for about 15 minutes (or until the tortilla edges begin to brown)
17. Squeeze lime over the top before serving with sour cream!

The Famous: Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala

This is probably my favorite thing to make. What started as an experimental dish, now is a staple in our home! The "go-to" meal for dinner parties!

It's a bit of a process, but worth every second of work. And don't get me wrong, I've managed to come home at 5:30 and have the meal ready by 8pm!

I've made this recipe a number of times by now. I have followed several different recipes, and still don't have a SET recipe I will use each and every time. However, for the sake of this blog and sharing with friends, I found one recipe that I think is a great start!

Link: http://www.food.com/recipe/chicken-tikka-masala-25587

 Tips:

• Serve with GARLIC naan
• Over rice is good, but in my opinion QUINOA is the way to go!
• USE garam masala, it's amazing.
• Don't be scared to play around with the spices, if it doesn't taste right, add some curry powder, just not too much. When in doubt, I add garam masala!!!
• I also double the sauce, everytime - love dipping the naan in it! This will change the amount of spices you need- be mindful of this...it's a tasting game!
• If you don't have a grill, broiling the skewered chicken works just as well. Don't skip the skewering part.
• I always add an extra pepper or two...jalapeno, poblano, and/or serrano!
• Double or triple the garlic; it won't hurt!

MARINATION

and the sauce....