The Best Chili Recipe Ever

!±8± The Best Chili Recipe Ever

Cold wintry weather makes us long for comfort foods and chili is one of the most popular. Many people settle for canned or deli chili because they think they don't have time to make it 'from scratch.' However, prepared chili just doesn't have the same level of satisfaction as the homemade variety.

Here is a quick and easy recipe that will satisfy your family's craving for warmth without taking up hours of your time. It can be prepared completely in a large skillet in about 45 minutes or use a crock pot to let it simmer until dinner time for even more flavor.

6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 pound of lean ground beef or ground turkey 1 medium onion 1 tablespoon chili powder 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon celery salt 1 teaspoon salt (optional) 1/2 cup salsa 1 16 ounce can of kidney or pinto beans in chili sauce (chili beans) 1 14 ounce can of diced chili ready tomatoes (or use plain diced tomatoes and increase salsa to 3/4 cup)

Peel and chop the onion. Crumble lean ground beef or turkey into a large skillet. Add the chopped onion and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the onion is tender and the meat is light brown.

Skillet Option:

Pour the cooked mixture into a large colander to drain all liquid. Return the meat and onion mixture to the skillet. Stir in the spices, salsa, chili beans, and tomatoes. Bring to a low boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about thirty minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve immediately or store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Reheat on top of the stove in a skillet or sauce pan, stirring frequently, or use individual serving bowls and put in a microwave for 1 to 2 minutes.

Crock Pot Option:

While the meat and onions are cooking, combine salsa, chili beans, tomatoes and spices in a crock pot. After draining the liquid from the meat and onions, add the mixture to the ingredients in the crock pot. Stir well. Cook on low for 2-3 hours, then reduce heat setting to warm until time to eat. Stir before serving.

Variations:

Instead of celery salt, add 1/2 cup of chopped celery to the meat and onion mixture while cooking.

Add 1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper to the meat and onion mixture while cooking.

Chili-Mac Variation:

Add 1 cup water and 1/2 cup rotini or penne pasta to cooked meat mixture before draining. Continue cooking over medium heat until pasta is tender. Drain and continue with either the skillet or the crock pot option.

Vegetarian Variation:

In a 10 inch skillet, saute the onion and spices with 1/2 cup celery, 1/2 cup of bell pepper, and 1/2 cup sliced carrots in four tablespoons of olive oil.

Add:

1/2 cup of vegetable stock 1 cup of rotini or penne pasta

Bring to a low boil and simmer until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally, Combine cooked ingredients in a large soup pot (or crock pot) with salsa, chili beans, and tomatoes.

Add:

1 16 oz can of black beans with liquid 1 can of whole kernel corn with liquid

Stir well and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally (or cook in crock pot on low for 2-3 hours, then lower heat to warm until ready to eat).

Garnishes:

Shredded Mexican style or Cheddar Cheese Finely chopped raw onions Sliced Jalapeno Peppers or Banana Pepper Rings Corn Chips Oyster or Saltine Crackers

Sides:

Corn Muffins Chips and salsa Grilled cheese sandwiches Roast Beef or Ham sandwiches Hot Dogs, Brats, or Polish Sausages A Garden Salad with your favorite dressing.

Get another perspective on how to make chili here.

The Best Chili Recipe Ever

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Mexican Crockpot Recipes

!±8± Mexican Crockpot Recipes

I love Mexican food and love using my crockpot, so combining the two makes perfect sense.  Here's a list of some Mexican Crockpot Recipes.

Crockpot Enchiladas

A fabulous dish my whole family loved!
 
Ingredients:

2 cans shredded chicken breasts
1 cup salsa
1 can enchilada sauce
24 oz can diced green chiles
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
14 oz can sliced black olives
2 thinly sliced green onions
10 corn and flour tortillas

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Mix chicken, salsa, enchilada sauce, green chilis, and soup in a bowl. Cut corn and flour tortillas into 1 inch pieces, mix pieces together. Place a layer of sauce mixture on the bottom of the crockpot. Place a layer of tortillas, then a layer of cheese. Repeat until all the sauce mixture has been used. Top with cheese, olives, and green onions. Cover and cook on low 6 hours. If desired, serve with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, and tortilla chips.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Easily one of my favorite recipes - a fabulous "throw it in and let it cook" soup. See the notes below for and extra flavorful twist.
 
Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds shredded cooked chicken
1 drained 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 - 10 oz can enchilada sauce
2 medium chopped onions
14 oz can chopped green chiles
2 cloves minced garlic
2 cups water
1 - 14 ½ oz can chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp black pepper
1 large bay leaf
1 tbsp cilantro
1 ½ tsp southwest seasoning mix
1 - 10 oz pkg frozen corn

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients in crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. If desired, serve with sour cream and baked tortilla strips. For baked tortilla strips, preheat oven to 400*. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with vegetable oil, cut into strips. Spread on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.
 
Notes: For extra flavor, I make this in two steps. First, I put 1-1 ½ pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts in a crockpot with 1 ½ cups water (or 1 can chicken broth) and Mexican seasonings. (A package of taco or fajita seasoning or southwest seasoning mix works well.) Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours. Remove chicken and shred for soup. Often, I will make 2-3 pounds of chicken to make soup along with shredded chicken tacos or fajitas.
 
Crockpot Taco Appetizer
Although I serve with chips, this could be a main meal by using hard or soft shelled tacos instead!
 
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
½ cup water
1 envelope taco seasoning
18 ounce can tomato sauce
1 undrained 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
3 chopped green onions
1 cup sliced black olives
1 bag tortilla chips
 
Spray crock pot with cooking spray. In a skillet, brown meat over a medium flame. Drain and add to crockpot. Add water, taco seasoning, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes. Cover and cook on low 6 hours. Serve with toppings such as cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions, black olives, and other desired toppings.
 
Notes: As mentioned, this could easily be a main meal by serving with hard or soft shelled tacos rather than tortilla chips.

Mexican Crockpot Recipes

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Happy Thanksgiving Boy!

!±8± Happy Thanksgiving Boy!

Happy Thanksgiving Boy!

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10 Easy Ways to Shop for Healthy Foods at Your Local Supermarket

!±8± 10 Easy Ways to Shop for Healthy Foods at Your Local Supermarket

We've all done it before. We're late. We've had a long day at work and there's no food in the house, so we quickly dash through the supermarket like we're contestants on Supermarket Sweep and throw whatever we need in the shopping cart and get out.

Well, it's in these reckless binge runs that we can do our bodies harm by carelessly throwing whatever comes to hand first into our carts. We usually grab food items that easy to make and that tastes good. Unfortunately these items tend to be highly processed foods packed with sugar and sodium!

Now, if you're like most people, you probably think you don't have the time or money to spend buying healthy foods, or you think if you want to eat healthy you need to go to a special health food store to shop. Well, throw all those excuses out the window. Your local grocery store packs on average about 40,000 items and many of these are healthy alternatives to what's in your shopping cart.

So get ready as we show you 10 ways to easily shop for healthy foods without breaking your budget or wasting time looking for a health food store.
Shop with a List! Don't just wander aimlessly through the store. Know what you need and keep it neatly organized on a list you can easily read while shopping. Spending just a little time each day putting together this list will save you time later when you are actually in the grocery store. It also helps if you know your grocery store and categorize your items by the department they can be found in.This way you can avoid backtracking through the store when you realize your forgot something back in the dairy aisle. Keeping a list also prevents you from succumbing to the junk food aisle, saving you from unhealthy foods that are full of empty calories and sugar.
Don't Shop on an Empty Stomach! You know this is a bad idea. Once you hit the aisles and your stomach starts growling, you're liable to pick up anything that moves! By making sure you shop for food on a full stomach, you'll eliminate buying foods that are bad for you as well as food you just don't need. This saves your body and your wallet. If you can't shop after a meal, make sure you at least drink a glass of water before you go in to help alleviate some of your hunger.
Buy Fresh Food! It really can't get any simpler than this when it comes to eating healthy. By adding fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables to your list, you can easily add the needed vitamins and minerals you need to maintain a healthy diet. Take a look at what you're currently buying. If more than 50 percent of your groceries are coming from a box or a can, you need to reevaluate your choices and head toward the fresh food.
Shop the Perimeter of the Store. When you're searching for the freshest foods, it helps to stay out of the central aisles unless absolutely necessary. In your local grocery store, the perimeter of the store is where they keep all the fresh food items including produce, dairy, and seafood.
Don't Walk By the Organics. When it comes to fresh food, quality counts, and your organics section should be one of your first stops in the grocery store. It may be a little more expensive than the regular section, but the added benefit of not having chemicals and pesticides is well worth the price. If you shop these sections right, you can target the items that are on sale and even get your organic food for less then your non-organics.
Stay Away from Foods and Drinks with Corn Syrup. There is no nutritional value to corn syrup. It's just an empty sweetener that is almost as bad as refined sugar. Don't be fooled! Make sure you read the labels carefully and if corn syrup is one of the first four ingredients, put it down and walk away. You'll be surprised at how many foods are packed with corn syrup including fruit juices, spaghetti sauces, and even some bread.
Fresh Is the Best but Frozen Is Good Too. It's not always feasible to have fresh foods all the time. So when fresh foods aren't available, head toward the frozen aisle for a backup. Frozen vegetables and fruits are most often flash-frozen, which locks in nutrients. It's always a good idea to keep a couple bags of frozen fruits or vegetables in your freezer. You can toss them in the microwave for a quick side dish, make fruit smoothies, or toss into plain yogurt for a fresh fruit taste.
Keep Canned Tomato Products in Your Pantry. Fresh tomatoes are great but here's one exception where fresher actually isn't better. Studies have shown that tomato sauces, crushed tomatoes, and stewed tomatoes actually have an increased amount of the antioxidant lycopene. That's because they are concentrated. Keeping these kitchen jewels handy can help you out the next time you are wondering what's for dinner. Just throw some chicken and sauce in a crock pot or add crushed tomatoes to a soup, and you've got a healthy meal in no time!
Avoid Processed Foods. Remember all those boxes and bags you were throwing in your cart earlier? Most likely it was all processed foods like chips, cookies, and frozen pizza. Save your money and your body. Skip the junk food and stock up on your fruits, vegetables, and meats instead. You'll avoid the sugar rush and feel better in the long run.
Try Whole Grains. The availability of whole grains has increased and it's not uncommon to find whole grain products next to their processed counterpart. Whole grain pastas, brown rice, and whole wheat flour are great alternatives that not only are healthy but they taste great too. One warning when it comes to whole wheat products. Because more and more people are reaching for whole grains these days, packaging has gotten a little tricky. For instance, wheat bread is a good alternative to white bread, but look closely next time you pick up a loaf of wheat bread. If the first ingredient is refined wheat flour, then put it back. It's made from the same stuff as white bread and quite possible is dyed brown to make it look healthier. As a general rule, whole wheat breads tend to be heavier and denser than white bread.

You don't have to be a health nut to shop for healthy foods. With just a little discipline and by practicing the steps above, you'll see how easy it is to shop for healthy foods in the comfort of your own local grocery store.

10 Easy Ways to Shop for Healthy Foods at Your Local Supermarket

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What's for Dinner? Corned Beef & Cabbage

!±8± What's for Dinner? Corned Beef & Cabbage

Greetings! It has been 2 weeks since I showed you how to start your brine and prepare your brisket for your own homemade corned beef. Today I will show you how to cook and serve this wonderful dish. Here is what you will need to complete this recipe: 1 corned beef brisket 1 bunch of celery chunked 2 cups carrots chunked 2 onions quartered 2-3 cups water 1 head of cabbage (for 4 servings) quartered 6 red potatoes quartered I cooked my brisket in my Nesco roaster oven (my preferred method), but you could easily cook this in a larger crock pot or in a roasting pan covered with aluminum foil. Place the celery, carrots and onion in the bottom of the pan. Place the brisket atop the vegetables. Pour in the water and set to cook at 300 degrees for 4 to 5 hours or until the meat is tender, but not disintegrated. After all, you do want to slice it and not have to eat it like mush right? When the meat is cooked, remove from slow cooker to another dish and allow to rest, covered for about 30 minutes. In the mean time place the cabbage and potatoes back in the roaster oven or roasting pan. I turned mine up to 400 degrees and let the cabbage and potatoes cook for about a half hour while I was in the shower. Slice your brisket on the bias so that you will have nice tender slices of meat. The fat cap can easily be removed and actually comes off with little effort. Serve with the veggies and enjoy a real St. Patrick's Day meal any time the craving strikes. You can freeze your sliced ...

What's for Dinner? Corned Beef & Cabbage

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Barbecue Beef Brisket - Crockpot Method

!±8± Barbecue Beef Brisket - Crockpot Method

This is an easy and quick version of Texas Barbecue Beef Brisket. All the preparation is done in a Crockpot. The brisket is marinated and refrigerated for several hours or overnight in the liner of the Crockpot. It will cook on either Auto, high or low settings and needs no watching. Great to fix in the morning and serve that evening. You can find the full recipe here: maryahearn.com

Barbecue Beef Brisket - Crockpot Method

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Corned Beef and Cabbage

!±8± Corned Beef and Cabbage

Decided to make Corned Beef and Cabbage one night and broke my camera out to film it. Not my usual genre, I know, but its something to mix things up here on youtube! I will list the ingredients out below. But it was delicious and I am probably going to make it again very soon. Recipe: 3.25 lb. Corned Beef 1 Large Yellow Onion - Quartered Potatoes - Desired amount Carrots - Desired Amount 3 Whole Cloves Garlic or Desired Amount Peppercorns 1 Head of Green Cabbage - 8th'd into Wedges 4 Harps (Lagers) Bring to a boil and then simmer it all together (except the Cabbage) for 50 minutes per lb. of meat. Then for the last 20-30 minutes after your meat becomes fork-tender, add the cabbage and continue to simmer until the cabbage reaches your desired firmness/softness. Then your ready to slice the beef and drain the liquids from the veggies and dish yourself out a plate of delicious corned beef and cabbage.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

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