Crock-Pot Crazy Pineapple Chili (Courtesy of Two Healthy Kitchens)

 •  Freezable  •  Make Ahead  •  Gluten Free  •

Prep Time10 min.

Cook Time4-8 hours

Total Time10 minutes

Serves About 10 cups

    

Ingredients

·         20 ounces sweet Italian turkey sausage (bulk, or links with casings removed)

·         1 medium onion, chopped to equal about 2 cups

·         1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits in juice (divided)

·         2 28-ounce cans seasoned diced tomatoes (such as Dei Fratelli)

·         1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained

·         1 6-ounce can tomato paste

·         1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder

·         4 teaspoons ground cumin

·         2 cloves garlic, minced

·         shredded reduced-fat cheese, reduced-fat sour cream and hot sauce (such as Tapatío) for serving, if desired

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Directions

1.    In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, cook sausage and onions, stirring to crumble sausage. Once sausage is cooked through, drain off any fat and transfer the sausage and onions to your slow cooker.

2.    Drain the pineapple, reserving both the juice and the fruit separately. Add the juice to the slow cooker. Cover and store the fruit in the refrigerator (it will be added toward the end of cooking).

3.    Add tomatoes, black beans, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin and garlic to the slow cooker.

4.    Stir everything to combine.

5.    Cook on low (6-8 hours), adding reserved pineapple during last hour or two of cooking, or on high (4-5 hours), adding pineapple during last ½ hour - hour of cooking.

6.    Serve topped with cheese, sour cream and hot sauce, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Pineapple: The texture of the cooked pineapple is completely controlled by when you add it. We prefer to add it toward the end of cooking time so that it's still fairly firm. If you prefer it to be more melded into the chili or you simply won't be able to add it toward the end of cooking, then you can toss it in at the beginning – it will be cooked down and much less pronounced in texture, but still very good.

Beans or no beans: If you don't want beans in your chili, you may certainly leave them out, and can also increase the amount of meat. We love the texture and the health benefits of the beans, but feel free to try it different ways!

Spice: This recipe is intentionally fairly mild and kid-friendly. If you'd like more spice, you can increase the chili powder and/or sub in spicy Italian turkey sausage. Perhaps the best way to make it versatile for different palates, though, is simply to pass hot sauce at the table so everyone can season to taste.

Make-ahead: You can prepare the meat and onions the evening before, and then refrigerate until you assemble your ingredients in the slow cooker. You can also make the chili entirely in advance and freeze it in large batches.

Recipe from Two Healthy Kitchens
https://twohealthykitchens.com/crock-pot-crazy-pineapple-chili/

Buffalo Chicken Soup

I was catching up on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and a recipe for Buffalo Chicken Soup in the crockpot caught my eye.  I was oddly intrigued trying to imagine what buffalo chicken wings would taste like in a soup. I made a mental note that I should try and make it sometime and for the life of me, I couldn't find it again when I wanted to make it for a potluck at work.  So I did what I always do... summoned up my magic Google powers, read about a dozen different recipes and put the best of what I read together to make my own version that was pretty dang tasty. Oh, and I added the secret, totally white trash but delicious ingredient:  Velveeta. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
diced carrots (about a cup)
diced celery (about a cup)
diced onions (about 1/4 cup)
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
2 cans of white meat chicken- could add more
(I'm going to use rotisserie chicken next time I think)
1 package of cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat kind)
1/4 of Frank's Hot Sauce (or more to taste)
1 big package (48oz) chicken stock
Velveeta queso blanco, about 8 oz or 1/3 the chunk

Rinse and prepare vegetables. (My Home Chef recipes always start like that so I thought I'd throw it in.  Just in case you were going to use dirty whole vegetables or something.) Place in crock pot along with chicken stock, cans of chicken (and chicken juice) and pretty much everything else on that list-- nothing special except cut the Velveeta up into cubes.  Cook on high 4 hours or low for 8, stirring occasionally to incorporate cheeses as they melt. You can top with shaved carrots, shredded cheese, and/or drips of Frank's to garnish.

Chicken and Rice Soup

This is the foundation for post-Thanksgiving Turkey and rice soup but works just as well with rotisserie chicken remnants.   Recently my local grocery was ransacked in anticipation of snow and the rotisserie chickens were no where to be found so I started with a couple of chicken breasts on the bone in the crock pot. It turned out great too.  The concept is the same and the secret ingredient is cracked black pepper. Lots of it. The rest is pretty simple but delicious.

Boil carcass to make your stock. Add celery and onion (big pieces) for flavor. This is where I use the leafy celery since it’s just for flavor. Boil until it’s coming apart and pour into a new pot through a colander. Pick through the solids and chop up the good white meat you find. Throw the rest of yuckky stuff and big pieces of celery and onion away.  Note: my aversion to “gick” limits me to white meat only in the soup. If you feel differently, it’s your soup. Include it!

If you have time and want to save on calories, cover and chill overnight. Skim the fat from the top before proceeding.

Basic ingredients:
Celery- chopped. About a cup
Carrots (a cup or so- I like to use baby carrots to make round bits but any kind will do)
Finely diced onion- about 1/4 C
1 1/2  C Rice or so (any kid- white is my go to but wild or brown also works)
Garlic powder
Cracked black pepper- never have measured... 1 Tbs?
1 Bay Leaf  (maybe 2)
Chicken buillion- a cube or two depending on how flavorful the stock was. (I prefer Knorrs)
Water

Start with the rice and bring the broth to a boil. Add water as needed. I would say at least two cups. Maybe 6 by the time It’s all said and done depending on how much gets soaked up by the rice. Boil for about 10 minutes and add the chopped vegetables and spices.

Continue cooking over low heat until rice and vegetables are  tender and you’re ready to serve. I like to add crackers.

Enjoy!

Snack Basket Chicken

I have kids so we have lots of small bags of snacks- especially Goldfish.  If your kids are anything like mine, I also have lots of half-eaten bags of snacks that end up in the "snack basket".  One day I thought I would use my repurposing skills and make breadcrumbs for chicken, and voila!  Snack Basket Chicken was born.  I've used Cheetos, Potato Chips, Pretzels, Cheez-its, etc in the mix and it all seems to turn out well.  Heck- my 5 year old sous chef actually requests Snack Basket Chicken regularly.

4 (or whatever works for your family) boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Various snacks as listed above
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Parmesan Cheese

Place random snack assortment in a food processor and crush to breadcrumb consistency.  Add spices- listed above and/or add your favorites.  I don't measure, so if I had to guess, I'd say 2 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp seasonings, 2 TBS Parmesan cheese, dashes of salt and pepper.

I don't dip the chicken in eggs or anything to save some calories, but you certainly could.  I just take the rinsed chicken and dredge it in a bowl with the crumb/seasoning mix.  I flip it over and make sure it's well coated and place it on a greased (sprayed) cookie sheet, allowing space for each chicken breast.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, or until the thermometer says "Safe!!" (160 degrees)

Oh….FUDGE!

For some reason I had it in my head that making fudge was some big ordeal that was majorly complicated.  I had memories of my Gramma with her candy thermometer and a kitchen full of pots and pans.  So imagine my surprise when I used my Google powers and found out that fudge is actually easy to make!  I changed the white chocolate one enough to truly call it mine, but the chocolate one is courtesy of allrecipes.com where you can find several yummy variations.

I wanted to make a little "Christmas Happy" for my work friends, and thought a little bag of home made sweets would be nice.  It seems to have been a hit!  My 5 year old sous chef suggested we make another batch of the white fudge with pretzels, hence the recipe below, although we originally did the cookies and creme version from allrecipes.com and it was yummy.  I keep thinking of other variations-- Craisins, crushed candy canes, dark chocolate covered blueberries…the possibilities are endless!


White Chocolate Pretzel Fudge
2 packages of white chocolate chips
2 cans of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/8 tsp salt
6 cups of crushed pretzels



Chocolate Fudge (found on Allrecipes.com)
2 packages of semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 cans of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 stick of butter


Place chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a pan on low heat. Add the stick of butter. Occasionally stir as the mixture melts.  Line a 9x13 inch pan with waxed paper or foil and put the mixture in and smooth out.  Cover and refrigerate over night.  Turn upside down on a large cutting board and cut into little squares.

Retail Beef Cuts

Here is some valuable information from Rick Bakas, who I recently started following on Twitter. Rick has a wonderful website: http://www.rickbakas.com/ which is a "cornucopia of wine and food geekery." Rick is a Certified Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers. His passion is finding the perfect wine and food pairing. His blog is a place where he shares success stories and not-so-successful stories while on this quest.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the choices of beef cuts avaiable, so I found this very helpful. I hope you do too! Just click on the image to see the full size graphic.

Chicken Tortilla Soup- Crockpot Style

Yesterday was a snowy, stay in the house kind of day and I had chicken. I looked at cookbooks several cookbooks, and finally found inspiration on the Tastefully Simple website. Did you know you can enter in a product you have and an ingredient and it will list all of the recipes using those ingredients? It's pretty helpful- you should check it out.

Anyway, I found a recipe there that was an inspiration for this creation. I loved the fact that I threw everything in the pot and let it go all day. If you don't have the Tastefully Simple ingredients, you can improvise, of course. OR- you can always call me or visit my website to order ;-) www.tastefullysimple.com/cferguson1


3 Chicken Breasts
1 Jar of Corn & Black Bean Salsa
1 Can of Black Beans
1 Can of Corn
1 Can of diced Jalapenos (mine were hot, and well...quite frankly this soup was even spicy to me!! I would suggest medium or mild)
1 Can of diced tomatoes
4 Cups of Water
4 Chicken Bullion Cubes
2 TBS of Fiesta Party Dip (TS)
Salt, Pepper, hot sauce to taste
Some crushed tortilla chips if desired

Combine all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high, stirring occasionally. Before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with forks and place back in pot.

Serve with shredded cheddar and sour cream, if desired.