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

Eating Local,even in Winter

While working in the fields of a local organic farm last summer,  I had a lot of time to think ... One of the many bonuses to working outside with your hands :)  During harvest season life was great , fresh local veggies everyday , just picked 10 minutes before heading home :)   But what about winter ?  When I can't just simple pick something fresh, either from the field or from the grocery store.   I decided this year , I was going to challenge myself to continue to eat local thru the worst two months for fresh, local food here.  January and February ...   So i started stocking up ,  between a few farms and my own garden I managed to pack away a few hundred pounds of veggies...  lots to see me thru the two months I promised myself.    Quick numbers are 150 lbs of potatoes , 75lbs of acorn and butternut squash, 100lbs of tomatoes, jarred and frozen as a garden sauce,  50lbs of red peppers mostly all roasted and frozen , along with onion and garlic ( quick flavour adders ) ,100lbs of onions and 50 head of garlic .   I did have ambitions to put away more, but simply ran out of time and freezer space ...  It didnt help that the 20lbs of carrots went bad on me lol ..   Looks like I wont have a huge variety to choose from , but it should be fun , and best of all LOCAL :))  I'm already thinking ahead to next year ...   more frozen soups or puree's for sure , and more root vegetables carrots, parsnips, turnips etc...  More variety in canning , not just tomatoes :)

Four weeks in ,  Im really craving a nice big Caesar salad lol .... but its been fun,  Here are a few of my creations so far :)

Roasted Red Pepper n Garlic Hummus :) 

Roasted Red Pepper n Garlic Hummus, garden tomato sauce, red onions, garlic ,  ground beef , and roasted red peppers...  all local :)) Making  homemade hamburger helper :)   

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

Mushroom Beef and Ale Soup

Well, I for one am glad that I have finished the 10 recipes with 5 ingredients, as much fun as that was ... I do enjoy just a few more ingredients to a meal.   I have a couple of questions though... did you like the recipe format I used ? compared to my normal method of just showing you what went into the dish ?   Please leave a comment below , thanks.  
Soup , is always a great choice ... its good any season of the year , for lunch , dinner, even breakfast !!   I love a good soup,  my only problem with making them .. is that I tend to turn them into stews!!  So I was determined the other day to create one , that not only was healthy and tasted great , but that actually resembled a soup!!

Ingredients Required :  

1L of beef broth , or stock ( this is the last of my store bought , gone forever from my kitchen now) 

1lb of a variety of mushrooms   I had white , portabello, shitake and oyster 

2 cups of cooked ground beef 

2 onions 

3 cloves of garlic 

1/2 can of your favourite ale. ( This is a local craft brew , very good !! ) 

A couple of pats of butter 

Salt n Pepper to taste

Here is what you will need 

Simply slice everything up , bite sized for the mushrooms and a medium dice for the onion 

Add it right into the soup pot ,  butter in first then all the onions, mushrooms and garlic together . Season with your favourite herbs,  I went with basil , thyme and oregano/:) Med/High heat .  

Once the Mushrooms and onions have softened just a bit , add the beef in .  Give it all a good stir. 

Once the beef is in the pot for about a minute , pour in the liter of stock, and half the can of ale ...  stir , reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes to blend all the flavours.

Beef & Mushroom Frittata 10 with 5 recipe # 3

I was off to a slow start with this challenge, but have been picking up speed nicely since getting the first one done  and out of the way.  Ive already eaten and photographed #4 :) and have the next few already planned out.
So on, to today's photo recipe ... and post number Three.  Frittata's are one of my favourite meals, I usually have them on the weekend when I'm clearing out my fridge.. but they can make a nice easy dinner too.   This one was a little special for me , as I actually collected the eggs myself , just a few hours before making this.  Which reminds me , I should do a follow up post on egg collecting .  :) This is a medium sized one, good for 2 for dinner or 4 for lunch .  

You will need :


1/2 pound of ground beef - This was my favourite:  local, free range and grass fed .
4 large eggs - Preferably free range farm eggs
2 med/large onions
6 cremini mushrooms
1 red bell pepper

The assembled ingredients. I should point out that this is actually a pound of ground beef,  I only used half of it for the frittata , the rest was saved for another dish.  

All sliced , you can slice them how you like , but bite sized is best 

MMmmm Meatballs!!

Who doesn't love meatballs ??  You can make them out of almost anything .. Beef , Pork, Turkey , chicken or just about anything that can be ground up :)  They can be baked, pan fried, added to a stew or casserole...  the options are almost endless once you start thinking about what you can put in the meatball itself .  Today I'm going to show you one of my favourites,  simply, easy and loads of flavour.  For this meatball adventure, I'm going to start them in the pan , and finish them in the oven.  So if you are following along , you will need an oven safe pan.  

The minimum required is just a pound of meat , and egg and bread crumbs... but don't be afraid to have a look around in your fridge for some extra flavours.

Here I have diced Red Onion, Red Pepper, Mushrooms, some garlic/mushroom hummus, a couple loves of garlic,  a pound of free range ground beef, a dried chili pepper,  bread crumbs, salt and pepper, Lea & Perrins and a free range egg

Using your hands mix everything well, and form into balls. Ive made them as large as a 1/2 pound each, but golf ball sized is one of my favourites.