Slow-Cooker Chili

Here's to the humble, hard working slow-cooker. These silent chefs of the kitchen are truly built for comfort, not for speed. We're having chili for supper tonight, and I'd like to share the recipe with you.

Slow-Cooker Chili

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

Two 15-oz cans red kidney beans, undrained

Two 1.25-oz packages chili seasoning mix

One 15-oz can tomato sauce

One 10-oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies

Shredded cheese and sour cream, optional

Directions

1. Brown beef, bell pepper and onion in skillet over medium-high heat; drain well. Add beef mixture to slow-cooker.

2. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except cheese and sour cream.) Add to beef mixture; stir gently. Place lid on slow-cooker and cook on low 6-7 hours, or on high 3-3.5 hours until heated through. Garnish each serving with cheese and sour cream, if desired. Serves 8.







Speckled Butter Beans

I'm cooking this simple recipe for dinner this evening. It has become a fovrite side dish at our house. These beans go very well with any combination of down-home dishes. I'm planning to serve them with oven fried chicken and okra.

Speckled Butter Beans

Ingredients

Two 16-oz packages frozen speckled butter beans

2 Tbsp jarred ham soup base (in case you aren't familiar with this wonderful substance, you'll find it next to the bullion and broth at your grocery store) 

2 Tbsp butter, cut up

4 cups water

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine beans, ham base and water in a large saucepan. Bring to boil oven medium-high heat.

2. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 30-35 minutes or until beans are tender. Stir in butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4-6.



Slow and Easy Steak with Chicken-Mushroom Gravy

This recipe tastes like you put a lot more work into it than you actually will, but that can be your secret. Of all my recipes, this is hands down my wife's favorite.

Slow and Easy Steak with Chicken-Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

1 to 2 lbs cubed steak

One 10.75-oz can cream of chicken soup

One 10.75-oz can cream of mushroom soup 

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Garlic salt, to taste

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown cubed steak in vegetable oil; drain well on paper towels. Season to taste with garlic salt.

2. Transfer steak to crock pot. Add soups (do NOT add water); mix well. Cook 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Serve over hot homemade biscuits, egg noodles, rice, or mashed potatoes.

Sausage and Broccoli Skillet

If you're like me, when you think "sausage" you assume sausage patties like you might have for breakfast. While I do enjoy that type of sausage, there are many other varieties that should be considered. Sweet Italian sausage goes very well with pasta, and since October is National Sausage Month as well as National Pasta Month, I offer the following recipe to celebrate both:

Sausage and Broccoli Skillet

Ingredients

1.5 lbs sweet Italian pork sausages, casing removed

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

2 cloves garlic, minced

One 10.75-oz can condensed cream of broccoli soup

1/2 cup milk

1 bag (about 16 ounces) frozen broccoli cuts

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

4.5 cups corkscrew-shaped pasta, cooked and drained

Crushed red pepper

Directions
 

1. Cook the sausage in a 6-quart sauce pot over medium-high heat until the sausage is well browned, stirring frequently to break up meat.

2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and garlic to the sauce pot and cook until tender. Pour off fat.

3. Stir the soup, milk, broccoli and 1/4 cup of the cheese into the sauce pot. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the broccoli is tender, stirring occasionally.

4. Put the pasta in a large serving bowl. Pour the sausage mixture over the pasta. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Serve with red pepper, if desired. Serves 6.





Deddy's Spaghetti

In keeping with the theme of foods that are celebrated during October, and with one of those foods being pasta, I'd like to share the following original spaghetti recipe.
I've made this simple spaghetti recipe for years, and it was always one of my daughter's favorites. She called it, "Deddy's Spaghetti."

Deddy's Spaghetti

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

One 16-oz package spaghetti

One green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

One small onion, coarsely chopped

Two 23.75-oz jars pasta sauce (I use Prego Chunky Garden Combo)

One 26.5-oz can spaghetti sauce

2 small cans mushrooms stems and pieces, drained

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp garlic powder

Garlic salt, to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions

1. Prepare spaghetti according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, lightly coat a large saucepan with cooking spray. Add beef and vegetables to prepared pan and cook over medium-high heat until beef is no longer pink and vegetables are crisp tender; drain in colander.

3. Return beef mixture to saucepan and add Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and garlic salt. Add mushrooms, pasta sauses and spaghetti sauce. Mix well and heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for a few minutes.

4. Drain prepared spaghetti in colander and return to pot. Pour hot beef and sauce mixture over spaghetti; mix well. Top servings with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Refrigerate any leftovers (spaghetti is even better the next day.)



Pecan-Stuffed Pickled Jalapenos

Yep...October is National Pickled Pepper Month, and Papa's picked a pickled pepper with pecans that is sure to be a people pleaser! (Please pardon the puns)

Pecan-Stuffed Pickled Jalapenos

Ingredients

Whole pickled jalapeno peppers

Spreadable garlic and herb cheese, softened

Toasted pecans, chopped

Directions

1. Slice peppers in half lengthwise; remove and discard seeds and membranes.

2. Pipe cheese spread into each pepper half.

3. Press peppers, cheese sides down, into chopped, toasted pecans.

Five-Star Vegetarian Chili

October is not only national chili month, it's also national vegetarian awareness month.
I am NOT a vegetarian. I like me some meat. I also like the t-shirt I saw recently that said, "I didn't climb to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian."
Now, with all of that said, Here is what I think is a pretty good vegetarian chili recipe:

Five-Star Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 Tbsp dried oregano

2 tsp chile powder

1 tsp ground cumin

One 28-oz can unsalted diced tomatoes (do not drain)

One 15-oz can unsalted tomato sauce

2 cups water

1/3 cup bulgur

Two 15-oz cans cannellini and/or kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Directions

1. Warm oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic chile pepper, oregano, chili powder and cumin. Cook 2 minutes

2. Add tomatoes (with juice), tomato sauce and water. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in bulgur and beans. Reduce heat to medium and cook 15 minutes or until thickened. Serves 4.