Turkey Kielbasa & Black Beans

We got this recipe from a friend and decided to try it for its simplicity and for a reason to make cornbread!

Ingredients:

1/2 to 1 package of turkey kielbasa, sliced

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cans Rotel

1 can corn

cumin, red pepper, smoked paprika, garlic to taste

Cooking instructions:

Put it all in the crock pot, stir it up, cook 4-6 hours on low. Serve with cornbread.

What we did differently:

Believe it or not, we didn't change much! I'll admit to shaking a liberal dose of the spices (yes, I have a heavy hand). I also added some chipotle chile pepper as well. Instead of regular cornbread, I followed the Southwestern Cornbread recipe on the back of the package of Martha White Mexican Cornbread mix. The cornbread was very moist & added to the flavorful kick of the kielbasa & beans.

Serving suggestion:

Though you might not think about serving this grownup version of franks & beans with wine, we decided to open a nice Spanish red (Bodegas Piqueras Castillo de Almansa) and were very pleased with how well it went with the meal. The bottle says to match it with hearty meals and this dish definitely fit the bill!

Game (or Race) Day Chili w/ Cornbread Bake

I found this chili recipe while clipping coupons (in an ad for Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners - recipe courtesy of reynoldskitchens.com) & decided to give it a try. We were very pleased with how flavorful it turned out!

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cans (15 oz) red kidney beans, undrained
2 packages (1.25 oz) chili seasoning mix
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes & green chiles (aka Rotel)
Cheese & sour cream (optional)

Cooking:

1. Brown ground beef, bell pepper & onion over medium-high heat in a skillet, drain well.
2. Add beef mixture into slow cooker.
3. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl, then add to beef; gently stir.
4. Place lid on slow cooker, cooking on LOW for 6-7 hours OR on HIGH for 3 to 3 1/2 hours until heated through.
5. Serve with cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips if you desire
5. Makes 5-6 servings.

What We Changed (because that's what we do):

1. We used ground chuck instead of ground beef.
2. We used an equivalent amount of orange & red peppers, because we didn't have a green pepper around.
3. Instead of kidney beans (because I'm not a fan of big beans), we used 1 can of Great Northern White Beans and 1 can of black beans.
4. The tomato sauce we used was no salt added. Can't tell the difference & less sodium is always a good thing!
5. End result was a very savory, but not spicy-hot, chili!

What We Served With It:

Also while coupon-clipping that day, I found a recipe for Birds-Eye Cornbread Bake & decided it would make a good side with the chili. Yummy stuff!

Ingredients:

2 pouches cornbread mix (6.5 oz each)
1 container sour cream (16 oz)
2 eggs
1 jar chopped pimento, drained (2 oz)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 bag Birds-Eye Sweet Kernel Corn, thawed & drained (about 8 oz)
1/2 cup sliced green onions (we didn't use this)

Cooking:

1. Stir cornbread mixes, sour cream and eggs in a large bowl until smooth.
2. Add 1/2 cup cheese, corn, green onions, and pimento, stir until just combined.
3. Pour into a greased 11 x 7 inch oblong casserole dish.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese before serving.
6. Serves 12.

Ed's Chipotle Chili

We belong to the Grassy Knoll Tailgate which gathers for fun, food, and BEvERages before (and we continue after) Wake Forest football games. This year the tailgate sponsored a charity chili cookoff before the Clem(p)son game with the proceeds going to the charity of the winning chili chef's choice (the winners chose Make-A-Wish Foundation & the tailgate donated $250!). Ed had never made chili before, so he thought this was a great opportunity to try his hand at chili chefing. He thought a chipotle flavor would be a unique style, so he found a recipe to use as a base & then adapted it to make it his own. Ed was quite pleased that on his solo venture, he placed 3rd out of 17 entries!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. bacon, cut into small pieces
1 lb. ground beef (we used ground sirloin)
1/2 lb. steak (we used stew beef tips), cut into small pieces
1 jalapeno pepper, stem & seeds removed, minced fine
1 cup corn
1- 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 bottle wheat beer
2 cups water
2 tablespoons chipotle puree (we used La Costena Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce...with a liberal hand & left the peppers whole, rather than pureeing them)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons brown sugar (we used regular Splenda)
16 oz. pinto beans (we don't like pintos, so we used 16 oz. of black beans)
1 large tomato, diced small (we used a can of petite diced tomatoes)

Cooking Instructions:

In a medium pot over medium low heat, add the cut bacon. Cook until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towel until needed.

Turn up the heat to high and add the ground beef & steak. Cook until browned. Drain off the excess fat.

Return the pot to the heat & add the cooked bacon and all of the remaining ingredients except for the beans & diced tomato. Mix well. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

If the chili gets too thick, add some water.

Twenty minutes before you're done simmering, add the beans & diced tomato.

Serves 6-8.

Our Comments:

1. Obviously the recipe originally was not done in a slow cooker. Here is how we would adjust for using a slow cooker:

• Cook the bacon & meats as directed.
• When the meats are done, add them to the slow cooker & mix with all of the remaining ingredients, except for the beans & tomato.
• Cook on low for 5 hours. Halfway through, add the beans & diced tomato.

2. The chili turned out to be medium to hot on the spice scale.

3. The meats were well-balanced - so much so that the judges & other samplers were trying to figure out exactly what meats were used! Several judges commented on how much they liked the use of steak tips.

4. We recommend serving with shredded cheese & your favorite tortilla chips.

“Not Gonna Win” White Bean Chili

We belong to the Grassy Knoll Tailgate which gathers for fun, food, and BEvERages before (and continue after) Wake Forest football games. This year the tailgate sponsored a charity chili cookoff before the Clem(p)son game with the proceeds going to the charity of the winning chili chef's choice (the winners chose Make-A-Wish Foundation & the tailgate donated $250!). The chili recipe below came in 2nd in the competition. The chef named her chili “Not Gonna Win” White Bean Chili prior to the judging...LOL!

Ingredients:

4 cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
1 large onion, diced
4 cups cooked shredded chicken breast
4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 jar Salsa Verde
1- 4 oz can diced green chiles
1- 4 oz can diced jalapeños
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chiles, lightly drained
1 can white corn, drained
1 can yellow corn, drained
4 cloves minced garlic
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

Cooking Instructions:

Heat in crock pot (ours is a 5 quart one) on low 7-9 hours.
Mix in one 8 oz bag (2 cups) shredded Colby Jack cheese until melted.
Serve.

Our Comments:

1. We used 2 cans of Kroger-brand combination golden & white corn, no sugar added.
2. We used the original Rotel blend with chiles, not the one marked "Mild". We like our chili with kick!
3. Since we didn't have a whole onion on hand, we used 3 Tablespoons of minced onion which equates to 1/2 cup chopped onion. Seemed to blend well.
4. We served with Tostitoes Whole Grain Chips w/Hint of Lime. The lime in the chips really highlighted the flavor of the chili well.
5. I just realized that I left out the minced garlic. Ooooops! It'll be interesting to see how different the chili tastes next time we make it. I really didn't notice it missing while eating it!
6. Overall impression: dandy tastin'!!

Catfish Gumbo

Ed came across a recipe for fish stew that he wanted to give a try, and it turned out mighty tasty...especially good for a chilly winter night!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. catfish, cut into 2 inch pieces (we used catfish nuggets from Kroger)

2 Tablespoons butter or EVOO (we used butter)

1 medium to large clove garlic, minced

1 large onion, sliced

1 green bell pepper, seeded & cut into 1 inch pieces

1 to 2 small zucchini squash, sliced (we used 2)

1 can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes (we used a can of diced tomatoes with green pepper & onion)

1/2 teaspoon dry leaf basil

1/2 teaspoon dry leaf oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine (we used some Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling that we had on hand)

4 oz. sliced fresh mushroom, optional (we opted for shroomage)

Parsley for garnish (we chose not to garnish)

Cooking:

Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Stir gently, but thoroughly. Cover & cook on high for 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours. Makes 4-6 servings.

What we did differently:

1. Added an extra 1/4 cup of wine in order to have a little more liquid since we had a little more fish than the recipe called for.

2. Used dry chipotle pepper in place of ground black pepper.

3. Used garlic powder instead of a garlic clove.

4. With an hour left to cook, Ed added some niblet corn...because Ed likes corn.

5. We cooked it for just over 4 hours & it was ready to eat.

6. We served the gumbo over Bisquick Drop Biscuits (see the side panel of your Bisquick box for instructions, or see the biscuit recipe in our Italian Pot Roast blogpost).

How did it turn out?

Both of us really liked the consistency & flavor. The fish was cooked thoroughly as were the veggies. The flavors blended very well. The biscuits made a nice base to mix in with the gumbo. It really reminded me a lot of the gumbo made by my Great Aunt Nooney, who made gumbo in the creole tradition she learned from her husband!

Italian Pot Roast

Winter weather equals comfort food and a nicely flavored pot roast is the epitome of comfort food, so Ed went searching for Italian Beef recipes and found one that was pretty darn easy.

Ingredients:
4 lbs. thawed boneless beef roast
1-1 oz. envelope Au Jus mix
1-0.7 oz envelope Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing mix
1-10.5 oz can beef broth
1/2 soup can water

Cooking:
Place roast in slow cooker. Combine seasonings, beef broth, and water in a bowl & stir. Pour over beef. Cook on low for 8 hours. At the end of 8 hours, the roast will be fork-tender & will easily shred.

What we changed (because we always do something...LOL!):
1. We used two 2 lb. shoulder roasts. These fit nicely in our 5 quart slow cooker and was a very tender cut of meat.
2. We found that Kroger has a low sodium beef broth in a 14 oz. can. We used the entire can to ensure that there would be plenty of gravy and that the meat would not be dry. Low sodium is always a plus too.
3. Ed applied some regular Italian seasoning as a rub to the roasts before placing in the slow cooker. You can never have too much seasoning on your meat.

Serving ideas:
Try serving over French bread for an open-faced sammich. We decided to ladle the Italian beef over Bisquick drop biscuits instead and found that the biscuits blended perfectly with the beef & gravy.

Bisquick drop biscuits:
2 1/4 cups Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Stir ingredients until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 9-10 biscuits.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I've always made this in a 9x13 Pyrex dish & baked in the oven, but I decided to see how it would do in the slow cooker since it is so much easier to transport in the insulated Crockpot bag instead of risking it leaking in the shallower Pyrex dish in the Pyrex Portable bag. I was very pleased to taste little difference between the two cooking styles! Here is my lazy version of the popular dip version (lazy because I used canned chicken instead of 3-4 cooked chicken breasts):

Ingredients

2-8 oz packages cream cheese (or Neufchatel works just as good as a slightly healthier substitute)
3 large cans (12.5 oz each) chunk chicken
1/2 cup Frank's Original Red Hot Sauce
1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Wing Sauce (Buffalo flavor)
1 cup blue cheese salad dressing (the light version works nicely & is lower in fat)
2-8 oz bags shredded Colby Jack cheese (use 1 1/2 bags in the dip, reserve the remaining 1/2 bag to sprinkle on top 5 minutes before serving)

Mix all ingredients together in slow cooker. Cook on high 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Serve with celery and/or chips for dipping. Tostitos Scoops or Tostitos Multigrain chips hold up well under the weight of the dip.