Pinterest Pick of the Week! Slow Cooked Chili

Ah ha!

After a week end of issues signing in, I'm finally back!  Wooo!  (Not sure what was up...)

Either way, it's that time of week again. Time for my latest Pinterest Pick!

"We want the room reveal!" my imaginary readers are shrieking.  I know you do... But I think I'm going to hold off for OOOOOONE more project. Just one. I promise.  It'll be worth it.

Instead, I'm going to explode with enthusiasm over the chili recipe that I found!  

Okay, so I'm a HUGE chili fan.  There are few things I find as satisfying as a bowl of chili.  Especially when it's slow cooked for.ev.er. So when I cam across this awesome base recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a go.

The recipe itself is simple. Throw the handful of basic ingredients into a crock pot for 8-10 hours on low and tada!!!! Chili.  But like i said.  It's a base recipe.  The beauty of this recipe is that you can add nearly anything you want and it's going to be amazing.  So I added corn, mushrooms, extra ground turkey, black beans and a can of Rotel.  You know... for an extra kick.

Wanna know what I got at the end of the day?

This amazingly amazing chili.  It was hearty enough to eat on it's own but we paired it with cornbread.  (Which, by the way, was too dry. Gotta work on that...)  Not only did it smell and taste amazing, it made enough for hubby and I to enjoy leftovers for DAYS. (I even gave some away!) All for next to nothing. 

Wanna try it too? Here's the base recipe, which started out on allrecipes.com before being pinned!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 (16 ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• Shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a slow cooker. Add the next nine ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4 hours. Garnish individual servings with cheese if desired.

Holy wow! One step. That's awesome. 

If you make it (and you should!) leave me a comment and let me know what YOU added to it.  I've been reading all over the net the different things you can. Everything from beer to cocoa powder. Please, some one tell me they've tried the cocoa powder and it was amazing.  Cause for some reason, it sounded delicious to me. 

Ah, chili. You are a delicious dish indeed.

I like to think of myself as a 50s era domestic goddess...

And by that, I mean I love love love making casseroles. So you can imagine my excitement upon discovering French Toast Casserole a few years back. There's nothing quite as wonderful as the smell of french toast wafting through the house early in the morning.

And fortunately, getting that lovely scent is easy as ever.



Just grab a few mainstay ingredients, a bowl, a whisk and an 8"x8" baking dish and you'll be ready to go!



Lightly butter the baking dish and line with 5 cups of bread cubes. Typically, this equals out to about 8 slices of bread.



In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla.





Pour the mixture over the bread cubes and dot with butter or margarine. Allow the dish to stand for about 10 minutes. You'll want to preheat the oven to 350 at this point.

Of course, no french toast recipe is complete without a little bit of cinnamon and sugar so you'll want to sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar over the top.

After 10 minutes, bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown.




While you're waiting, catch up on some finger painting. You should still have some leftover from when you made DIY finger paints.




You should definitely, DEFINITELY sneak a peek at the casserole about 30 minutes in. Unless you can't make it that long. The heavenly aroma is irresistible.

Once golden brown, remove from the oven and enjoy!






French Toast Casserole

• 5 cups bread cubes
• 4 eggs
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Lightly butter 8x8 inch baking pan. Line with bread cubes.

Beat eggs, milk, 2 tbsp sugar, salt and vanilla in a bowl. Pour egg mixture over bread and dot with butter/margarine. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until top is golden brown. Serve with syrup, fruit or whipped cream.


Try using different breads for some amazing flavors. Raisin bread is particularly wonderful, as is banana bread.

Summer = Strawberries? (It's recipe time!)

It's that time of year again. You know, the time of year where you can't go more than 30 feet without seeing one of these signs as you drive.



I'll tell ya, normally I drive right on by these signs without even thinking of stopping. I'm just not a big strawberry fan. In fact, I'm not a fan of most berries. I know, I know. You're shocked. This year, however, I decided to enjoy the strawberry season (and support some local farms) by making a family favorite.

Strawberry Shortcake.

"But that's so boring!" I know. Trust me, I do. So let's up the ante and make it Strawberry Chocolate Shortcake. (Women around the globe are rejoicing. Wait... maybe it's just me who loves chocolate enough to rejoice.)




The recipe is simple. Mix your shortcake ingredients in a bowl, turn the dough onto a flattened surface and press it out into a half inch thickness. Then cut 3" rounds with a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter oooor you can be classy like me and use the rim of a wine glass. Place the rounds on a greased sheet and bake for 17 minutes.


While the shortcakes are cooking, you'll wash, hull and slice your strawberries. Toss the strawberries in a few tablespoons of sugar and put to the side.

Next, beat some heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla together for an amazing whipped cream. Unfortunately, I missed getting any pictures of this process. It's tough to take pics AND beat the mixture. (Please don't ask what happened when I tried...)

That's it! Assemble your shortcakes by slicing each cake in half and sandwiching strawberries and cream and adding a dollop of cream on the top. Garnish with a strawberry if you'd like


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Finally, Enjoy!





Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup plus 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut in pieces
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 quart strawberries
• 2 cups whipping cream (or heavy cream)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the over to 350 F and butter a baking sheet.

Sift together flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Mix with a spoon. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry mixture until the mixture takes on a coarse consistency. Stir the milk in until a dough forms. Don't be afraid to use yours hands to mix as the dough stiffens.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and press into a 1/2" thickness. Cut 6+ 3" inch rounds from the dough, place on the sheet and bake for 17 minutes or until the centers are firm.

Wash, hull and slice strawberries. In a medium bowl, toss with 1 tbsp of sugar. Feel free to add more, if you prefer a sweeter strawberry.

Pour the whipping cream into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium high till the cream forms soft peaks. Beat in 4 tablespoons of sugar and the vanilla.

To assemble, slice each cake in half and places berries and whipped cream on the bottom half. Add the top portion plus more whipped cream and a crowning berry.