Crock Pot Chili

Crock Pot Chili
Source: Cooking Classy

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large yellow onion , finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic , finely minced
2 (14.5) oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilies*
3 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup water or beef broth
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz) can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Serve topped with:
Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese , sour cream, chopped red or green onions, cilantro, roasted peppers, or hot sauce
Optionally serve with:
fresh cornbread or biscuits , baked russet potatoes, saltine crackers or tortilla chips

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large and deep non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add onion and saute 3 minutes, then add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer. Pour onions into a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker.
Return skillet to medium-high eat, add beef and cook stirring occasionally until beef has browned. Drain most of fat from beef, leaving about 2 Tbsp in with beef (this is optional, I think it ads flavor but you can drain it all if you'd prefer). Pour browned beef into slow cooker.
Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1/2 cup water or beef broth, chili powder, cumin, paprika, cocoa powder, sugar, coriander and season mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Stir mixture, cover with lid and cook on low heat for 5 - 6 hours.
Stir in dark and light red kidney beans and allow to heat through, about 10 minutes (if you want the soup to have more liquid you can add in another 1/2 cup water or beef broth). Serve warm with desired toppings (I say the cheese and sour cream is a must, everything else is optional).
*If you don't like heat then you can use canned tomatoes without green chiles since they are a little spicy.

Garlic Red Potatoes

I've not really found a red potato side that we actually liked all that much. Turns out, we don't care for rosemary, and most recipes that have red potatoes also call for rosemary. Now that I've figured that out, I'm much happier with my results! I adapted this recipe using flavors that we do like and it was by far the best red-potato side dish I've ever made. I call that a blog-worthy success. (I also attribute the success to using butter instead of vegetable oil, which I almost always use because it's easier and less expensive - but the butter really did make it better.)

Garlic Red Potatoes

6 medium red potatoes
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Additional parmesan cheese to top.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a small bowl combine melted butter, garlic, parmesan cheese, seasonings, and lemon juice; pour over potatoes and stir to coat. Sprinkle additional parmesan cheese over potatoes.
Bake, covered, in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden brown and tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes more.

Broccoli Bacon Cheddar Chicken

In an attempt to help our kids appreciate healthy food, we frequently look up the physical benefits of the specific vegetable we are eating and summarize it for our kids. Every child knows that carrots help you see better, right? (you know, because of all that K12?) Broccoli has loads of health benefits, but at our house "Broccoli helps you run fast." (because of all the benefits to muscles and the cardiovascular system). And even though it's covered in bacon and cheese so it may not be truly "healthy", our kids always run races after finishing each and every bite of broccoli on their plates.

Broccoli Bacon Cheddar Chicken

Source: Adapted from Julia's Album

Ingredients:
8 chicken tenders
salt and pepper

garlic powder

seasoning salt
2 cups broccoli florets , blanched, chopped
3 strips bacon , cooked, chopped
1 cup Mozzarella cheese , shredded
1 cup Cheddar cheese , shredded

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, when ready add broccoli and leave for about 2 minutes. 

Add chicken breasts to the casserole dish. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper, garlic powder, and seasoning salt.  Top with chopped and blanched broccoli florets.
Add chopped cooked bacon, shredded Mozzarella cheese, and shredded Cheddar cheese.
Bake, uncovered, for about 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. 

1 Hour Breadsticks

1-Hour Breadsticks
Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 cups flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted (for the baking sheet)
Dried herbs, garlic salt and grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
In an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix together the water, yeast, sugar, salt and one cup of the flour
Continue adding the flour until the dough just clears the sides of the bowl; knead for about three minutes. It should be soft and slightly sticky without leaving a lot of residue on your fingers.
Let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes.

While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the melted butter onto large, rimmed baking sheet (about 11X17-inches).

On a lightly greased countertop, pat the dough into a long rectangle, about 16-inches by 7-inches or so. Cut the dough every 1-inch (more or less) into strips with a pizza cutter.
Twist each strip slightly and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with dried herbs of choice, garlic salt and Parmesan cheese.

Let rise for 20 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes until golden.

Easy Round Steak and Gravy

My Grandpa Walker owns an Angus cattle ranch in Wyoming. He and my Grandma have always been very generous and shared an abundance of meat with us (both my family growing up, as well as David and I after we were married). If they didn't actually fill the freezer with meat, they would send meat money. We've been so incredibly blessed. A couple of months ago, my Dad showed up to my house to fill our freezer with a shelf-full of freshly packed meat. A variety of ground beef, roasts, steaks, etc. Not only is it the best quality meat you can find, but everytime I open the freezer to make tacos or some other dinner I am filled with gratitude for my Grandpa.

This story is going somewhere. Tonight I made this new recipe using a couple of round steaks from my freezer and again- not only was it so delicious but I was so grateful to just have the meat stocked up in my freezer. I guess that's where this is going.

My favorite thing about this, other than the flavorful gravy and tender meat, was that the way to prepare the meat made it easy for me to split it into two pans and add mushrooms to one and not to the other. David doesn't love mushrooms, and has recently reminded me that mushrooms soak into everything that they touch with their mushroom-y flavor, but I love them and so it worked out perfectly.

Easy Round Steak and Gravy

Source: Clark's Condensed 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2 pounds thin cut round steak
Steak Seasoning and Seasoning Salt

1/3 cup flour
1/2 C cooking oil
1 C diced onion
1 small can mushrooms
2 cans beef (or chicken broth + one cube beef bullion)
1 T worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Cut each steak into desired serving sizes. Salt and Pepper to taste.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cooking oil. Brown the steaks on both sides and set aside.
Pour off most of the oil, leaving about 1/3 of a cup. Add 1/3 C of flour to the oil and stir over medium/low heat until light brown. (For a gluten-free option, add cornstarch with chicken broth below.) Stir continuously so it doesn't burn. Add onion. Cook and stir for about a minute.
Slowly add the beef and chicken broth, stirring constantly. Add the worcestershire sauce and simmer for about five minutes.

Season steaks with steak seasoning and seasoning salt. Place in oven-safe baking dish, separating into two seperate dishes if you need a mushroom-free option. Pour half the gravy over one pan, then return to the stovetop while adding the mushrooms to the remaining gravy. Pour mushroom gravy over second pan. Bake at 275 degrees for one hour. (Or 200 for two hours)

Serve with mashed potatoes. 

Pork Loin Roast with Potatoes

I served this up for Sunday dinner and David looooooved it. He requested it go on the blog- so on it goes. (He was saying things like "best roast you've ever made" - but it was fast Sunday and we all know how good food tastes at dinner on Fast Sunday.) I think the biggest difference was making my own onion soup mix. I was just out of soup mixes, so I searched for a homemade one but it was really good. Unless you're in a huge hurry - it's totally worth it.




Pork Loin Roast with Potatoes
Source: Taste of Home
Onion Soup Mix Source: AllRecipes

Ingredients:
1 envelope onion soup mix OR

{1/4 cup dried onion flakes
{2 tablespoons low-sodium beef bouillon granules
{1/4 teaspoon onion powder
{1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes
{1/8 teaspoon celery seed
{1/8 teaspoon paprika
{1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups water, divided
1 bone-in pork loin roast (4 to 5 pounds)
2 to 3 pounds small red potatoes, cut in half (I used regular potatoes)
1-1/2 cups sliced onions


Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Stir in 1/2 cup water; let stand for 3 minutes.Place roast, fat side up, on a greased rack in a roasting pan. Pour remaining water into the pan. Combine potatoes and onions; spoon around the roast. Brush vegetables and roast with seasoning
mixture.
Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 2-1/2 to 3 hours (or 300 for 3-4 hours) or until a thermometer reads 160° and potatoes are tender. Baste and stir potatoes occasionally. Tent with foil if browning too fast.

Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Yield: 8-10 servings.
Thicken juices for gravy if desired. (Add juices and about 1 cup of cold water and 1 tbs cornstarch to a small pan, heat until boiling.)

Best Breadsticks

I have a few breadstick recipes that I really like, but I was looking for one that was a little different and I was very pleased with this one. It calls for butter, but I replaced it with vegetable oil to make it dairy-free (Jacob/Jason safe) - it was a success!

Best Breadsticks

Source: Food Network

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons unsalted butter,softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fine salt
For the Topping:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter,melted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of dried oregano


Directions:
Make the dough: Place 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a mixer; sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, fine salt and 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.

Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, 3 minutes. Roll into a 2-foot-long log; cut into 16 1 1/2-inch-long pieces. Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7-inch-long breadstick; arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make the topping: Brush the breadsticks with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt with the garlic powder and oregano. Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.