Playoff Baseball, Football Season, and Chili!

I am re-re-posting a couple of chili recipes in anticipation for the St. Louis Cardinals being in the post season (again) and the Rams not stinking it up too badly either.  There are a couple of our favorites.  Hope you enjoy!

P.S.  If you have any recipes that you have tried over the last several months, I would love to give them a try on my food blog.  I plan on posting on there again very soon . . . check it out here (if you haven't already) Meals For Real

Chicken and Bean Chili adapted from Meatless Monday
1lb ground chicken
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 can black beans, drained
1 can navy beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 16-oz can diced tomatoes
2 8-oz can tomato sauce or 1 16oz can
1-2 cups water
1 small can (4 oz) green chiles
1-2 Tbsp chili powder
1-2 tsp cumin
1 tsp basil

Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup dry red wine (optional)


Directions:  Saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper in olive oil until soft. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.


Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream if desired.

Here's what you'll need:

Chop up the onion and garlic.

Put the ground chicken in a Dutch oven to brown.  Throw the onions and garlic in with the chicken.

Drain and rinse the beans.

Add the beans to the pot. 

Add the can of diced chilies.

Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Add the seasonings.  Simmer and serve.

Good 4 You -White Chicken Chili


1 or 2 Lbs. cooked & cubed chicken breast (I cut it up and cooked it in my crockpot for 30 mins on high with the oil)

1-2 Tbs oil

Packet of McCormick chicken chili seasoning

1 ½ cups chicken broth

1 or 2 cans great northern beans with liquid

1 can white or yellow corn

2 small cans green chilis –optional


Directions:  You can cook the chicken in the crockpot.  To the cooked chicken, add seasoning mix and broth. Then add beans, corn, and green chilis, keep on low in crockpot for 2-4 hours…OR stovetop for just 20 mins…top with lowfat shredded cheese, lite sour cream, and chopped green onions…serve with baked corn tortilla chips ! YUM!


Modifications:
-I added a can of pinto beans.

-I left out the cheese, sour cream and chips.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I put 2 frozen chicken breasts in a crockpot with a couple Tbsps of olive oil and let it cook for about an hour.

#2 After the chicken and thawed and cooked for about an hour, I cut it up into chunks and then seasoned it with Home Seasoning.

#3 I added the white chicken chili seasoning, chicken broth, corn, green chiles and beans to the crockpot and let it cook for about 5 hours.

The Finished Product:

A Recipe: Pioneer Woman's Guacamole

We have really been enjoying this the last few days, even my kids ask for it!

After making the Pioneer Woman's pico de gallo, I wanted to go ahead and make her guacamole so I added 4 ripe avacados.

Here's what you'll need:  (Click on the above link for the pico)

Cut around the avacado down until you hit the pit.  Twist the avacado open and pull out the pit.

Scoop out the meat of the avacado.

Use a fork to mash up the avacados.  You can make it as smooth or as lumpy as you prefer.

Add the mashed up avacados to the pico and mix.

Here's what you'll end up with:  (I sprinkled with a little more coarse salt to finish)

Our Thoughts:

I could go on and on and on about this guacamole.  It was fantastic.  NEVER buy store-bought or pre-made guacamole again.  It is way too easy to make this fantastic recipe.  Seriously awesome!

Hope you enjoy!

April

A Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

In honor of St. Patty's Day, I thought I'd post (or re-post) this Shepherd's Pie recipe from my Meals For Real blog (have you joined yet?).  I wouldn't necessarily call it 100% authentic but it sure is tasty.  You could always substitute the ground beef for lamb or any other variety of meat (or non-meat) that you choose.

Also, please pray that there is no rain tomorrow.  If you remember, GracieAnn (see here) is obsessed with the St. Patty's Day Parade.  She has asked me everyday for the past year "when is the parade again?".  When I finally told her that it was THIS Saturday, you can imagine her excitement.  Now . . . they are calling for rain-BOO!

Pay careful attention because I forgot to take a picture of the potatoes.

Shepherd’s Pie Recipe from Dawn’s Daily Life

9 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 dash Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 (15 ounce) can green beans, drained

1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons milk

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and cook over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat; drain fat. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce to taste, salt, pepper, green beans and corn. In a separate bowl, mix flour with the 3 tablespoons water and stir into beef mixture. Pour this mixture into a casserole dish. Stir all together well. Drain the potatoes, mash and spread over the beef mixture. Place 2 to 3 vent holes through the mashed potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Brush the milk over the potatoes for the last 5 minutes of baking.

Modifications:

-I added 2 cloves of garlic, 1 onion and 1 green pepper to this recipe.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

Preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

I peeled and cut up about 10 potatoes and put them on to boil

I cut a green pepper into long slices.

 I then cut up an onion and coarsley chopped 2 garlic cloves.

 I browned about 1.25lbs of lean ground beef.

Then threw in the garlic, onion and green pepper.

I added 1 small can of tomato sauce.

Then I drained a can of corn and a can of green beans and added it to the mixture.

I added 7 or 8 good shakes of worcestershire.

While that was cooking, I measured out 2T of all-purpose flour and 3T of water. I mixed it together and then mixed it into the pan.

I then greased a 9x13 baking dish and put the mixture in it.

I drained the potatoes and then added a tad of butter so that I could mash them up into chunks.

 Once they were mashed up, I scooped the potatoes over the meat mixture and poked 4 holes in it.

Popped it into the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

With a few minutes left to go, I measured out 3T of milk and started to brush it on the potatoes. That was too much of a pain so I just drizzled it all over the top.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Review:

This recipe was SOOOO good! As I said earlier, I had never had shepherd's pie before. I knew that it sounded like I would like it because of the ingredients so I wasn't really worried about myself but sometimes Scott and Kanin have this "I don't want to mix my food" issue so I wasn't sure that they would want the potatoes on top. I almost just made the mashed potatoes on the side and served it that way but I really wanted to try to stay as close to the recipe as possible. I'm glad I did!

I added the garlic, onion and green peppers and it did add a lot of flavor. In hindsight, though, I think I should have left out the green peppers. The texture was pretty close to that of the green beans and while it wasn't bad, it just didn't add a lot to it.

If you aren't going to be all critical about the authenticity of what you put in the dish, I think you could really add anything you wanted--mushrooms, ground turkey, beans, etc.

I'd say to definitely give this recipe a try. It was easy and tasty!

Hope you enjoy!

April

A Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

I made this meal a couple of weeks ago and my family went crazy for it.  Scott said it was one of the best things I have ever made!

Shepherd's Pie adapted from Taste of Home Everyday Light Meals magazine

6 medium potatoes
1lb carrots, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 1/2lblean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 jar (12oz) fat-free beef gravy
1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:  Peel and cube the potatoes; place in a large saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cover and cook for 20 minutes or until tender.  Add 1inch of water to another saucepan; add carrots.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer until crisp-tender, about 7-9 minutes.  Drain.

In a large nonstick skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the carrots, gravy, 1/2 tsp salt, sage, thyme, rosemary and pepper.  Transfer to a shallow 3qut baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray.

Drain the potatoes; mash with milk, butter and remaining salt.  Spread over meat mixture.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until heated through. 

Nutrition Facts:
Cal 390
Fat 13g (6g sat fat)
Choles 53mg
Sodium 859mg
Carb 43g
Fiber 6g
Protein 30g

Diabetic Exchange:  3 lean meat, 2 starch, 2 vegetable, 1/2 fat

Modifications:
-I used ground chicken instead of ground beef.
-I added a can of Italian styled diced tomatoes.
-I used a packaged gravy instead of a jar.
-I did not sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Here's what you'll need:

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Slice up the carrots.

Dice up the onion.

Put the carrots in water to boil and soften.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Brown the ground chicken.

Cook the potatoes, drain and add the butter.

Add the onion to the ground chicken.

Once the chicken is cooked through, add the carrots.

I decided to use a can of Italian-style diced tomatoes.

Add the tomatoes and the herbs.

Make the gravy.  If using jarred gravy, skip this step.

Add the gravy to the pot and let simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Pour into a greased baking dish.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:
We love shepherd's pie around this house and this one is no different.  The addition of the brown gravy in with the mixture of onions and tomatoes really gave an extra depth.  Scott said it was one of his favorite meals that I have made in a long time and he had 3 helpings! 

This is a perfect comfort food dish!

Hope you enjoy!
April