Like a kid on Christmas morning, I get excited about getting a new toy. For me, it’s my Hamilton Beach 3-in-One Slow Cooker that we purchased just a few days ago. Coming with 3 different sized bowls (2, 4 and 6 quart respectively), I thought that it would be a great excuse to make some chili. One of the huge bonuses about having a slow cooker is that you can prepare a nice warm meal without slaving over the stove for hours on end. With a little preparation, you can put everything in your slow cooker and set it and forget it. Now, just a warning for all chili enthusiasts: this is not a traditional chili. Traditional chili is pretty much beef and sauce. My chili (well, mom’s chili recipe with a few tweaks), is like a thick soup, but I make it like this so I can add crackers to bulk it up a bit. Admittedly, not much in the way of measuring is done with this recipe, utilizing the pinch or dash method of measuring out spices and the like. Here’s the basic recipe for the chili:
• 2lbs ground beef
• ½ lb bacon, cut up into small pieces (I used low sodium bacon in this
recipe)
• 3 medium sized cans dark kidney beans, including liquid
• 2 cans Campbell’s Tomato soup (no water added)
• 1 medium can stewed tomatoes (seasoned or unseasoned, your choice)
• 1 medium sized onion, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 medium sized green pepper
• 1/2lb mushrooms, sliced
• Chili powder, salt, and pepper, all to taste
In a medium sized frying pan, brown up your ground beef and season it with a pinch of salt, and four grinds of ground pepper. Once the ground beef has browned, drain off the grease and put into slow cooker, along with your stewed tomatoes, kidney beans, and tomato soup; brown up bacon until medium crispy; drain. Add bacon to the slow cooker. Using your tomato soup can, measure out ½ can of water and add to the slow cooker. Using a grater, shred up your peeled onion, and two cloves of garlic (this is great for people who think they hate onion or garlic-hide the evidence!). Wash and pat dry green pepper. Remove ribs and seeds from pepper and cut up into medium sized pieces. Add in chili powder until desired chili taste is reached. Set slow cooker on low, and let simmer for 4-6 hours. After about 3 hours, add in sliced mushrooms. Serve with some crackers and a freshly baked roll. Chili will taste better the next day. Be sure to refrigerate any unused portions.
Newfoundland Style Buns-after hunting down a recipe for these buns for what seemed like a year, I finally found it. Posted on a Facebook fan page showcasing the wonderful food of Newfoundland, I quickly jotted it down, and then tested it out. I was impressed! The bread that came from my oven brought me back to my childhood, where I would watch my aunt Verna and my cousin Patsy bake dozens upon dozens of loaves for their family. So tasty, and at their best when they are fresh out of the oven with a bit of butter slathered on, it’s a little slice of Newfoundland right here in Ontario. So far, from what I can tell with this recipe, there are two differences. One, the recipe that I found doesn’t require you to “proof” the yeast with sugar and warm water, you just add it into the initial flour mixture, and two, this recipe has a triple rise method: One initial rise of one hour, then a 15 minute rest and rise, followed by another one hour rest period in the loaf pan/bun tray. If you would like this recipe, send me a message with your email, and I’ll be more than happy to send it off to you. For now, take a look at the tasty goodness.
Happy eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment