Confetti Chili CEiMB

Three Bean and Beef Chili    Ellie Krieger,  

This week we are making Confetti Chile or Three Bean and Beef Chili in our cooking and baking group.  I made mine in the crock pot so that it cooks while I work and I don’t have to be concerned with it.  The recipe from Ellie calls for traditional cooking.  This turned out to be a warm and comforting dinner.  My husband hardly realized there was no meat in MY recipe.  It is amazing how much flavor one can get from the vegetables.  I did substitute chili beans for (I think) kidney beans.  That gave it quite a whack.  I also used those frozen chili flavored cubes.  I now have quite a few different flavors.  I have used ginger the most.

 Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, diced (1 cup)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
• 2 carrots, diced (1/2 cup)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 pound extra-lean ground beef (90 percent lean)
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• chili cubes 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano                                                                                                                               
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can chili beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

I omitted the meat.

Directions

Heat the oil in large crockpot                                                                                                                                                 

 Add the onion, bell pepper and carrots.                                                                                                                         

Cook for one hour on high.

Lower heat and add the cumin and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add the ground beef; raise the heat to high and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink.

Stir in the tomatoes, water, frozen chili cubes, oregano and salt and pepper.

Leave covered and allow to cook for another three hours.

 Stir in the beans and continue cooking, for the last hour.

 Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

A last-minute addition – Instead of making the rice separately, I put a cup in the chili and it came out just beautifully.  It was properly done and it blended right in.  If you look at the photo of the crock pot, you can see the rice floating.  I had just put it in and snapped the photo.  In kitchen – have camera.  I don’t know how to cook without it.  The camera is my most important kitchen tool, these days.                                                                                                                   

Enjoy.

      

Pepper Steak – My Girl Paula

This week, we are cooking pepper steak, a recipe, I make quite often.  Paula’s recipe found on page 77 of  The Lady and Sons, Too is a basic recipe, similar to my own.  It is a quick and easy one.  I have not eaten it yet.  I left off the tomatoes to be added, tomorrow, when we plan to have it for dinner.  I am sure, based on the ingredients, it will be very good.

The only differences, tonight, was I used Tamari instead of soy sauce and left out the garlic salt.    Join us at My Girl Paula and have fun and good food.

Add tomato wedges and reheat for a delicious dinner.  Serve with brown rice and mushrooms.

Green Pepper Steak – Crock Pot

For years, I have made pepper steak in the crock pot and each time, I make changes to the recipe.  Actually, I usually do not use a recipe.  I know what I have done in the past and do it, throwing in some new ingredients or altering the sauce.  It seems, I made this one, rather green.  I think I overdosed on the green peppers.

GREEN PEPPER STEAK

1 pound pre sliced pepper stead 2 tablespoons Tamari Sauce 1/ frozen cube ginger     2 onions, in thin slices 1 cup green bell peppers, sliced 1 stalk celery, sliced thin 1 cup water 1.2 cup  orange juice 6 small tomatoes cut into wedges.  I used fourths. 2 ounces mushrooms, sliced  (Had a few leftover so I threw them in.  What could be bad about mushrooms?  We like them)    Combine tamari sauce and ginger. Add beef. Toss and set aside while preparing vegetables. Spray crockpot with cooking oil.  Add beef and toss over high heat until browned. At low or medium add vegetables and orange juice.  Cook for four hours in your crock pot. Add tomatoes and heat throughly. Serve over a bed or rice or noodles. The pepper steak seems to have blended into an overall green.  Next time, the tomatoes go in later.  In the recipe above, I added them in, after I actually did, in this cooking.

Meatball-less Soup

I have a bunch of meatballs left over from a sweet and sour meatball dish.  I froze the meatballs in small containers but left the sauce out to make a rich tomato soup with an Italian flavor.I decided to make a soup with the remaining sauce and the meatballs.  Please check the meatball and sauce recipe here.  (Meatballs were a combination of veal and chicken.)

1 pound mushrooms cut into halves

two large onions, chunked

2 carrots cubed

1 green pepper cut into one inch squares

1/2 red pepper cut into squares

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt sense

1 cup organic vegetable soup

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

I decided to use the crockpot to make this in so I would not have to babysit the soup.

Pour leftover sauce into crockpot.

Add all the vegetables .

Add the soup and seasonings.

Cook for one hour on high.

At this point, add one cup homemade orange cranberry sauce or store bought.

Cook  for two additional hours on medium or low,  depending how your crockpot is calibrated.

For creamier soup, add 1 cup Tofutti sour cream.

If you want a heartier meal, skip the added liquids.  Add some of the meatballs and serve with rice.

This is a half finished bowl of soup from hubby.  I, stopped his eating, and pulled the bowl away, respectfully and took a photo.  I had meant to take a nice new bowl with no slurps but I forgot.  Thanks to Hubby.

Mock Grilled Thai Beef Salad

This is recipe with appeal.  Even so, I had to make several changes to it to accommodate preferences.  I can’t wait to see what others have done with this recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly. 

This week is generously hosted by Jen B’s Cooking Carveout.   You will find, in a few days, a group of recipes demonstrating how each of us approached this recipe.  The recipe scan be found here.

Now to my “creation”.

1  pound pepper steak

3 tablespoons lime juice

3 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

3 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup fresh chives

1/2 teaspoon dried ginger

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 medium onions sliced

1 teaspoon basil

I did not marinate because I made this in the crock pot. 

Saute onions in crock pot for 30 minutes on high.

Bring down to medium setting.

Combine all ingredients above except the meat. This is a delicious marinade. I would use this again and again on different dishes such as fish or chicken.

Add pepper steak to crock pot.

Cover with marinade. 

Mix every hour to make sure meat gets cooked in the marinade.  I turned the meat slices over each time.

Speaking of the meat slices, I can’t find the photo of them.  I know I was rushed but I thought I took a picture.  That is the marinade in the snapshot above.  I am sorry about this.

 Cook 4 – 5  hours.

Instead of serving it cold in a leafy salad, I served it hot with rice and broccoli.   My husband and daughter gave it the thumbs up and ate the whole thing up, not realizing I had not eaten yet.  Good thing I tend to taste what I cook.

This was a success despite the changes.