7 Pepper Birthday Chili

Whats your favourite Birthday meal ??   Mine is a nice juicy steak, with a jacket potato ... but this year for the first time in ages , birthday dinner with Mum ( We share the same Bday ) was a few days early ...  leaving me with a big question ... What to have on my Birthday !!   It didnt take long to realize Id been craving chili all month .. so Chili it was !!    Simple, Good Food !

Basic Ingredients ( I dont cook with a recipe , or even write anything down hahaha )

2 lbs of Ground Beef from local butcher
2 large mexican sausages from local butcher
1 lb of braising steak , Crossrib - Flour for dusting
4 tins of Beans ( Unico , 3 Red Kidney , 1 Romano ) - I prefer dried , but am using up old stock
2 large sweet red peppers
2 large chili peppers
2 cayenne chili peppers
6 long green chili peppers
3 small dried red chili peppers ( Very hot ! )
8 medium onions
1 head of garlic
1/2 tin of chipolte peppers
2 green bell peppers
1 pint of dark ale
1 pint roasted tomato sauce ( Homemade )
1 quart of stewed tomatoes ( homemade )

Chili Powder, L&P, Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Start by sauteing the onions ...  transfer to slow cooker when done 

Next step, the beef , best to add flavour here , chili powder, S&P, L&P, and half the can of beer 

 In the meantime,  I rinsed and boiled the tinned beans ... rinsed again and added to the slow cooker

While the beef is browning ... add in the beans, stewed tomatoes , and roasted tomato sauce 

Once the ground beef has finished, add the sausages , and cubed and flour dusted steak ..   just need to brown these , then add to the slow cooker 

Once done with frying ...  use the other half of the beer to deglaze the pan , add to the slow cooker, this is some amazing flavour here !  

Its starting to look like chili :))   Let simmer for 2 hours 

Once the base chili has simmered , its time to add the peppers in for the last 1 to 2 hours of cooking 

All sliced and diced, and ready for the pot!! 

Five hours after slicing the onions ...  CHILI!    Mmmm its time to eat ! 

The leftovers....  usually i portion this out and freeze it up for easy meals later , this time I decided to pressure can it ...   a future post maybe ??

MmmmMmmm  I do hope you enjoy my spicy chili , this one was quite the sweat inducing bowl of goodness !!  I wouldnt change a thing .. but if your not a big fan of spicy, i would cut back considerable of the hot peppers and add more sweet :)

Don;t forget , you can always follow the daily fun over at https://www.facebook.com/RichsGoodFood

Peace, Love and Good Food to everyone !
Rich

Spicy Meatball Pasta Bake - Good Food Cheap

Lets try this again !  I typed this post up a week ago , only to have the whole thing disappear on me just as I was finished up . For someone that has a hard time writing , that was a major bummer....  so I took a week , and figured I would try it again . This time Ill be typing it up on Word , and will copy and paste to blogger.   I just love this series , Good Food Cheap !  What could be better ? Besides free! Hahaha that and its a one pan dinner... which is great as there is not as much clean up .   So ... here we go , first recipe post in 7 weeks for me ... where does the time go ??

You will need :

Meatballs :

3 Cloves of Garlic
2 Small Red Onions
1/2 a Large Red Bell Pepper
2 dried chili's
1lb of  ground beef
1 egg and ...
a touch too much bread crumbs ( kinda knocked the jar over .. ooops :)
To Taste : 
My chili powder
Basil
Smoked paprika
Sea salt
Black pepper,
L&P

Note : Normally I would have added mushrooms too .

Pasta Bake :

1 Pint Jar of Tomatoes, juice and all
1lb of cheese tortellini
2/3 cup of beef stock
1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli
90Gm of Mozzarella

Total Cost :    Just under $10 for dinner for four!

  Start by chopping the veggies for the meatballs :)

Add the veggies to the  beef and the spices , Mix well with your hands , and let rest for at least 30 minutes for flavour developing time :)

Roll them into balls, I decided to go with small ones this time . This made about 36 little ones.

I pan fried them in a spoonful of sunflower oil , for about 5 minutes each ( in two batches ) just long enough to get some colour on the outside of them. Preheat your oven right about now to 350F

Meatballs are browned up and, ready for the oven

 Now its oven time, the tomatoes were added juice and all , the pound of cheese tortellini and the beef stock . set the timer for 15 minutes at 350F 

 At the 15 minute mark , give it all a good stir , and set it for 15 more. Add the chopped broccoli & mozzarella at the 30 minutes in mark , and leave it for 10 more minutes.

 Total oven time 40 minutes :)) Mmm smells good!!

 My finished plate :)) Spicy Red Pepper/Onion Meatballs, with garlic tomatoes, cheese tortellini , broccoli and mozzarella . 

Well there you have one of my favourite one pot cooking meals !  Simple, easy and cheap!  Hahaha what could be better ??   Besides having someone make it for you ?  

This is the first Good Food Cheap post where I didnt break all the costs down ?  Does this work for you ? Or would you prefer a more itemized price list like i have done in the past ?

I hope you have enjoyed my Spicy Meatball Pasta Bake :)) Happy Cooking