Spicy Touchdown Chili

Last year I had two high school kids come to the door selling magazines. I subscribed to Taste of Home and, of course, I’m now obsessed. So many great recipes are shared from people all over the country…I love it! That being said, this spicy touchdown chili is now my favorite chili. I made a couple of changes, as noted below, and the chili was not very spicy. Next time I’ll probably add a couple more jalapenos and a little more chili powder just to spice it up.

Prep: 25 minutes (mainly just browning meat)

Cook: 4-5 hours on low

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork (original recipe calls for bulk pork sausage)
• 2 cans (16 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cans (10 ounces each) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, undrained
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes with onions, undrained
• 1 can (12 ounces) beer
• 6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1.5 Tbsp chili powder (original recipe calls for 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup chopped jalapeno (original recipe calls for pickled jalapeno slices)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until no longer pink (drain if not using lean ground beef). Transfer to a 6-qt slow cooker. Next brown the pork in the same skillet the beef was in. Transfer to slow cooker. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook, covered, on low 4-5 hours.

Yield: 12 servings

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Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili

This is quite the recipe. It is so incredibly easy and not to mention pretty darn healthy. For those of you that do not like quinoa, or are not sure if you like it, I promise you will like this recipe. My husband was so impressed that he couldn’t even taste the quinoa and loved the recipe!

Prep: under 10 minutes

Cook: on low for 6-8 hours (add more time if your chicken is frozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of quinoa, rinsed
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel)- medium or hot
• 2 16 oz cans of black beans, rinsed, drained
• 1 15 oz can of corn, drained
• 3 Cups chicken stock (I added 4 cups but it just depends how thick you like your chili)
• 2 large chicken breasts, frozen or thawed
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp chili powder

Directions: Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Right before serving scoop chicken onto a plate and shred with two forks. Return chicken to slow cooker and serve with cheese, tortilla chips, etc. Whatever you like on your chili!

Serves: 6-7 bowls

This is the website where I got the original recipe:

http://queenbeecoupons.com/crock-pot-slow-cooker-quinoa-chicken-chili-recipe/

Happy Eating!

Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

French onion soup is just one of those soups that really hits the spot. It’s got an incredible amount of cheese, which is so stringy and delicious, then there’s the salty flavor of the broth, and then the bread layered on top. It’s pretty amazing. That being said…this recipe is kind of sneaky. Since it says “Slow Cooker” it appears to be a quick and easy recipe. That is not quite the case. Caramelizing the onions on the stove before adding them to the slow cooker takes about 45 minutes. So, do not make this recipe unless you have time one morning to caramelize onions. I love french onion soup so I definitely thought it was worth the effort!

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Prep: 45 minutes

Cook: 4-6 on low 6-8 on high

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 4 large yellow onions- sliced into rings
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup cooking sherry
• 7 cups reduced sodium beef broth
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 8 slices of french bread
• 1/2 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons shredded Mozzarella

Directions:

Heat butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook and stir onions until translucent, about 10 minutes. sprinkle onions with sugar and reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir onions constantly (I went back and forth between stirring and shredding) until onions are browned, about 30 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add sherry to onion mixture. Pour onion mixture into Slow Cooker and add beef broth, sea salt, thyme, and bay leaf. Cover Slow Cooker and cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours (I cooked mine on high for 5 hours).

About 10 minutes before serving, broil french bread. To serve, dish up each bowl and add french bread and each type of cheese.

Serves 4

I hope you enjoy it!

Taco Chicken Soup

I love soup! And on a cold day there is nothing else I would rather have to warm me up. One of my favorite soups to make is taco soup because it can be thrown together so quickly and is full of flavor. This recipe was a compilation of a few different recipes I had and was a hit!

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• Rotisserie chicken or cooked and shredded chicken
• 1 taco seasoning packet- 30% less sodium
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can corn
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 tsp chili powder

Directions:

Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot. Saute onions over medium until translucent. Add all other ingredients to pot. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. Serve with chips and cheese.

*I made sweet cornbread for a side which was delicious and I will post that recipe soon!

Yields: 5-6 servings

Happy Eating 🙂

Skinny Broccoli and Cheese Soup

This is yet another recipe from the All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook.

My husband and I both love any kind of cheddar broccoli soup…so this was a hit for us! I do have to say that 1/3 of the soup is pureed at the end of the recipe. My husband said he would prefer “chunks of broccoli” so in the future I will not be pureeing the soup 😛 Also, this is not as thick as most cheddar broccoli soup recipes, but I felt it was just as flavorful!

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 26 minutes (I felt like it was faster than this…but maybe not)

Ingredients:

• Cooking Spray
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups fat free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (16oz) package broccoli florets
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk (I used non-fat)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 8 oz light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)

Directions:

Heat a large nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

Place one-third of soup in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return pureed soup mixture to pan. Cook soup over low heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Yield: 6 servings. I would say this is pretty accurate!

We had this soup with Rosemary Olive Oil Bread from Costco which we are obsessed with.

Happy Eating!