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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tasty Tuesday: Family Slow Cooker Chili

Family Slow Cooker Chili

1 pound ground beef
1 large can tomato juice (or tomato vegetable juice, spicy or regular or low sodium)
2 cans kidney beans
1 onion chopped
garlic powder to taste
2 teaspoons chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef, drain off the fat.  Put into slow cooker, along with tomato juice, kidney beans, onion, garlic powder, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Cook on LOW for 10 hours.  If you are going to be home all day, you can also throw everything into a large cook pot on the stove and cook it on LOW for around 10 hours too. 
Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips.


Macaroni Chili:  Cook 2 cups of elbow macaroni according to package directions.  Spoon macaroni into a separate bowls, and spoon chili over it.  Do not add macaroni directly to chili to cook, or else it will turn mushy.

The lovely thing about this chili is that any kind of cooked meat can be added to it while it is in the slow cooker.  This is just a basic recipe.  We also cook chorizo or linguica and throw that in, too.  Or cut up pieces of leftover steak (beef or buffalo).  It freezes wonderfully, so I generally try to double or triple the recipe whenever I can.  I then put it into the fridge to cool off, and after it has cooled, put it into separate serving dishes and freeze.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tasty Tuesday: Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

I'm in love with my slow cooker.  So much so, I have two of them, and am considering getting a third one. Here's one of my family's favorite recipes.  The soup freezes really well, and is so wonderful, warm and filling on a cold winter day.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

1 pound split, dried peas, rinsed and sorted
1 ham hock (you know, the bone in the ham, with all the little bits of meat hanging onto it)
8 cups water
2 carrots diced
1 small onion cut up
1 stalk celery cut up
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine everything in the slow cooker, and cook  on HIGH for 2 hours.  Take out ham hock, cut the meat off the bone, and add the meat back to the soup.  Let cook for another 1/2 hour.

Serve with crust bread and lots of butter.  Yummy.  Winter comfort food!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Tasty Tuesday: Rich Turkey Vegetable and Noodle Soup

Rich Turkey Vegetable and Noodle Soup

2 quarts turkey broth
1 cup cut up potatoes
1 cup cut up carrots
1 cup cut up celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 package frozen baby lima beans
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup *UNCOOKED* egg noodles
2 cups cut up cooked turkey meat

In a large pot, put broth, vegetables, salt and noodles.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Add turkey, heat through and serve with crusty bread. 

This recipe also came from my darling Uncle Linford.  How lucky we were to have him in our family, and have so many fond memories from my childhood of spending time with him and his family!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tasty Tuesday: Turkey or Chicken Broth

Rich Turkey or Chicken Broth

Place into slow cooker:
Chicken or Turkey carcass (bones, neck, giblets, all that stuff leftover from dinner and what is pulled out of the bird before cooking)
Just enough water to cover bird parts
1 Chicken bullion cube
1 teaspoon salt
12 whole peppercorns
4 whole cloves
1 stalk celery, cut up
1 carrot, cut up
1 small onion, cut up

Cover, cook on HIGH for 4 hours. 
When finished, strain, let cool, and if you want you can skim a lot of the fat off the top. 
I like to separate the broth into 1 or 1 1/2 cup segments, and freeze.  This way whenever a recipe calls for 1 cup of broth, it's ready to go, no measuring needed!

This recipe came to our family from my darling dad's brother, Linford.  What a great uncle!  Next week, his fabulous Rich Turkey Vegetable and Noodle Soup!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Elfling Creations Giveaway on Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe: 11th Day of Christmas http://ping.fm/5mqgX

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Cute Belle Pixie with Racing Snail sculpture by ColtPixy on Etsy http://ping.fm/SHArF
Cute Belle Pixie with Racing Snail sculpture by ColtPixy on Etsy http://ping.fm/KzywQ