I-don't-feel-like-making-meatballs Spaghetti Sauce

Here's the deal in our house. Meat. Meat is the deal. Especially when it comes in some sort of shaped mountainous form. Such as meatballs. Or meatloaf. Or meat patties. Whatever shape you can think of, my family loves it. Especially Officer Hottie.

Me: What should I make for dinner this week?
OH: Meatballs.
Me: Got it.
OH: Meatloaf.
Me: Got it.
OH: Did I already say meatballs?

And every time I make spaghetti without meatballs this is the conversation we have ...

OH: What's for dinner?
Me: Spaghetti.
OH: With meatballs?
Me: No. Just spaghetti with meat.
OH: You mean meatballs.
Me: Is this where I lie to make you happy?
OH: I don't think you heard me when I said meatballs.
Me: (Hang up phone)

Today I am in a very not so interested in shaping meat with my bare hands kind of mood. So, Officer Hottie, you are still going to get the meat, it just won't be balled up. I'm sure you can deal. Even though I know you're pouting.

You will need ...

1 lb ground turkey

1 lb Italian turkey sausage

(Using ground beef and regular sausage is just fine, and also, rather delicious. We're just trying to lose weight so we've had to make some sacrifices. If I were making meatballs, OH wouldn't even notice. Alas, he'll notice.)

A handful of chopped celery leaves

1/2 onion, diced

garlic
2 (26 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 bay leaves
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
2 T oregano
2 T basil
1 T salt
1 T pepper
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

In a large pan, pour a little olive oil and a little butter in. Heat it up over medium heat.

Add the onion, garlic and celery leaves. Cook them until they are soft and transparent, about five minutes.

Add the ground turkey and the Italian turkey sausage. Crumble it up as it cooks. Cook it until it is all browned and cooked through.

While the meat is cooking take all your tomatoes, sauce and paste and dump them into a crock pot.

Take all your spices and put them into a small bowl. Or not. You can put them directly into the sauce. But I like to make dishes dirty. I know I said to use 1 T of pepper and 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper but this makes for a fairly spicy sauce. I like it that way, and so does OH, but the kids aren't huge fans. You can always omit the crushed red pepper and use less pepper to make it less spicy. You may also want to adjust the amount of spices in the sauce to your own taste. I like a more savory type of sauce with lots of oomph. Maybe you don't? Adjust it so you will enjoy it!

Add the spices to the sauce. 

Mix it with a wire whisk. I like how the whisk incorporates everything so well. I seem to get chunks of spices if I don't use a whisk. Maybe it's just me.

Now add the meat. Yup ... it's been awhile since I've cleaned the outside of my crock pot. My grandma gave it to me and would be horrified.

And here's how unprofessional I am. I forgot to take pictures of the final product. Go figure. BUT it's good. This makes about 20 1-cup servings. It is hearty and delicious and is good for your heart. That statement has not been approved by the FDA. 

I started putting recipes on Recipe Zaar in order to make printing them a bit easier. Here is the link for this recipe. Enjoy!

Beef and Black Bean Chili

My family loves chili. And by loves chili I mean would eat chili every day if they could. And by every day I mean every meal. I have a few chili recipes in my box that I go back to over and over and this one is a slightly modified Weight Watchers recipe. Officer Hottie actually modified it, since he was the first one to make it. I'm glad he did. When I looked back over the original recipe it looked fairly blah but after the modification it's more like "Shazam!" Good stuff. 

This recipe makes 14 1-cup servings. If you are watching what you eat the original recipe has 4 WW points per serving, but with our added extras this version is probably closer to 5. And if a one cup serving doesn't sound like much, don't be fooled. This is hearty so one cup goes a long way!

Oh, and this is the doubled recipe. We always double this one because otherwise, there wouldn't be leftovers!

You will need ...

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 lb ground beef  (the leaner the better)

4 (15 oz) cans low sodium black beans, undrained

2 c medium chunky salsa

15 oz can tomato sauce

2 packets chili seasoning (that's cheating, isn't it? Oh well.)

1/4-1/2 c pickled peppers, chopped

Sorry. I forgot to start taking pictures until I got to this stage ... 

Cook the onions and garlic over medium heat in some olive oil (1 or 2 Tablespoons) until they are soft about 3 to 5 minutes. This part always gets me. Onions and garlic cooking are a happy smell to me. I can't be angry with that smell going on.

Add the ground beef and cook until it is browned. Drain if necessary. I have found that I like to cook the meat until all the fat has cooked back into the meat. I buy our ground beef at Costco so is is only 12% fat (at most) so there really isn't a lot of fat to cook out, but when the beef is browned and starts to get a little bit crispy - oh boy. I love love love that! I think I love it because then all the "meaty" flavor is gone. I realize, meat should taste like meat, but meat should not taste like raw meat when it is cooked. Yes, I get grief for feeling that way. I don't really care.

While the meat in browning, drain and mash two cans of beans.

 

My mother-in-law buys these for Officer Hottie when she visits family in Canada. He loves them and puts them on just about everything. For some reason we cannot find them here in the states - at least this brand. I'm pretty sure any brand of pickled hot pepper will do, even a can of diced jalepeños would be good.

Chop the peppers up

Then add everything to the pan. The undrained beans, the mashed up beans, the tomato sauce and salsa, the seasoning mix and the chopped peppers. And YES. I think chili seasoning mix is cheating. This is the only recipe I have that calls for it. I'm pretty sure it's because it's from a 5 ingredient cookbook. One of these evenings when I've thought it through a little bit better I will just mix up my own chili powder and cumin and whatever else in in there. Until then ... I'm taking the easy road.

What a mess. Trust me though; the mess is worth it.

Mix everything up and let it simmer for as little as 10 minutes or as long as you want.

Serve it up. Top it with cheese or sour cream or whatever you like on your chili. We eat it naked - it's that good. Ok, wait. We aren't naked when we eat it, the chili is naked. Whew ... that could have been embarrassing.

See how good it is Mom? See how I'm taking a giant bit? See how my bowl is almost empty? See? See? See how I'm the first kid finished? Did you see? Take a picture Mom!

Time to get a cookie for Lil' J. He did a great job.

For a printable recipe click HERE

Tacos and Shells

Tacos and shells? Seriously? TACOS AND SHELLS? That's as creative as you get?

Come on! Give me a chance! I gotta tell you, you ain't had tacos until you've had my tacos! Ok that's not even close to true. My tacos are sub-par BUT the shells...oh baby. This shell recipe was passed down from my mother-in-law and I'm pretty sure she got it from Hottie's paternal grandpa but I could be lying.

I'm not going to tell you how to make taco meat. That's pretty basic. I'm sure even college students can brown some meat and throw in some taco seasoning. The one thing uniqu-ish about my taco meat is that I usually add a can of drained black bean, 1/2 c of peas, 1/2 c of corn and a shredded carrot when I add the taco seasoning. It adds veggies for the kiddos so when they don't want lettuce or tomatoes on top I feel ok that they are still getting something fairly healthy.

Hottie's family calls these taco shells "Corn Tortillas" but they are larger and floppier than what a "real" corn tortilla would be. They are delicious and honestly, you will loathe the store bought stuff once you've tried them.

You will need ...

1 c whole wheat flour (all-purpose works fine too)
1/2 c corn meal
1 T chili powder
pinch salt
1 egg
1 1/2 c water

Using a wire whisk mix everything together.
The batter should be runny but not watery. You don't want it to be too thick or your shells will be more like pancakes. You can add more water if you need to.

Spray a little non-stick spray onto a non-stick pan and put the pan over medium heat.

Using a 1/3 c measuring cup pour batter into the middle of the pan. Then turn the pan a few times to get the batter to spread, trying to maintain a circular shape. Good luck with that.

(Wow...it's time to get serious about scrubbing my stove top.)


You will know the shell is ready to flip when it stops looking "wet" on top and the sides start to come up off the pan slightly.

Flip.
Now, here's the thing. The first shell usually gets messed up. I've been making these for nine years, and Hottie even longer than that, and almost every time the first one sucks. There's either too much spray on the pan, or not enough, or the batter is still too thick, or the heat is too high. Don't get discouraged if the first one doesn't quite turn out the way you want it too ... they'll get better!

Let it cook for another 45 seconds before you remove it from the heat.

Put it inside a kitchen towel to keep it warm while it waits for something fabulous to fill it up.

Now come on. Isn't that a good looking taco? These shells are awesome. They are a little bit flimsier than their cardboard counterparts you'll find at the store so they can frustrate young children, but as long as you don't overfill them you should be ok. How do I know? Here's my proof ...

Click HERE for a printable version of the recipe.