Chili for the Chilly Weather

I have the recipe for the perfect chili. I found it 12 years ago in a cookbook made up of recipes from Evan's great aunt Jewel.
This recipe is so easy and so tasty that I thought I would share.
If you do make it, let me know what you think.
P.S. if you are a no beans chili kind of person, this is not for you- just sayin'

The Perfect Chili
1 pound ground beef
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 can stewed tomatoes (get the ones that say diced)
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 can light red kidney beans (not "lite", but "light red") DO NOT DRAIN

Saute the onions and bell pepper in a saute pan and add the beef. Cook until the meat is browned and drain off any oil.
Transfer the meat mixture into a pot big enough to cook soup or chili.
Add all of the other ingredients and maybe a 1/4 c. of water if it seems too thick.
Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Stir occasionally.
Enjoy with cheese, sour cream and saltine crackers!
Makes 6 servings of roughly 1 and 1/3 cups.
Weight Watchers Points- 5

Featured Question #3- What Deanna wants to know

This is a pretty simple question to answer from my good friend Deanna.

"Since you don't eat seafood, what do you eat when you go to the beach?"

Here's my answer:

Steak- cooked medium

Baked potato (butter only)

Salad with Honey Mustard dressing

That's it. I pretty much eat it every night of every vacation. Unless of course someone gets crazy and decides we should go to a Mexican restaurant (as if we don't eat enough Mexican at home!).

Oh and there is that one time we went to The Crab Shack on Tybee Island and they had 2 non-seafood choices on their menu- BarBQ and BarBQ ribs. Ah the choices. Really. BarBQ or seafood? Vomit.

So I had ribs. They were ok at best but "that is what I get for not eating seafood at a seafood restaurant" (to quote my people throughout my life).

Recipe #1- Crock Pot Bar-B-Q Chicken

Dear Tiffany, This is such a Lori Bryant recipe! Put 2 items in a crock pot and turn it on. Amen!
And so that every one else can share in the fun, here is the recipe:

Easy Squeezy Bar-B-Q Chicken

Chicken breasts (I used giant bone-in ones b/c they were on sale at Publix) You can use boneless, skinless ones for ease
2-3 bottles of Bar-B-Q sauce (Purchased BOGO free at Publix)

Directions:
Pour 1 bottle of sauce in the bottom of the crock pot.

Put the chicken in (I put mine in frozen!)

Pour the other bottle of sauce on top

Turn the crock pot on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours (I used the high for 4 hrs)

Take the chicken out and serve as-is or shred for sandwiches.

This is fabulous and so easy I feel guilty for not making it before. And this recipe can be used with pork chops as well. And I have heard rumors that you can make the same recipe with salsa instead of bar-b-q sauce for a Mexican dish-yum!

Thanks again Tiffany!!

Thanks recipe people!

Thank you to everyone who has sent me a recipe in the last 24 hours.
I now have about 2 weeks worth of yummy goodness to cook.
If you haven't sent me a recipe yet, it's not too late.
And to those of you that have already submitted yours, check back often for pictures of me making your recipes. I'm looking forward to learning how to turn on my crock pot. And I'm afraid I can't use my oven to store pans anymore. I'm gonna be using it to cook!

I need YOUR help! No really

If you are reading this post, I need your help.

Actually, my kids need your help.

They need you to give me some recipes that are both kid-friendly, nutritious and can be prepared by someone who thinks that preparing dinner is worse than cleaning a toilet.

No joke- I hate making dinner.

If it were up to me, we'd eat out every night. And some weeks we do (yikes!).

So be a good friend. Imagine my kids little faces and give me your favorite recipe.

You can email it to me (evanandlori@bellsouth.net), message me of FB, or you can even leave it as a comment on this here blog.

As a reward for your kindness, I will take pictures of myself preparing your recipes and post them so that all of the masses will know that you are the reason my kids might eat at home again.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

For Keight, Because I like your spunk and I'm hoping that this will cure your morning sick. Probably not since it's hot sauce and cheese- but one can hope!

And for everyone else, you should try this at least once because it is heavenly.

The Best Ever Must have Buffalo Chicken Dip

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs.)
1 (12oz) bottle of Frank's hot sauce
1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese
1 (16oz) bottle bleu cheese salad dressing (you can use ranch if you must)
(8oz) shredded Sharp cheddar

In a saucepan, boil the chicken until cooked through (about 15 mins), drain and then shred with two forks. (Don't try and cut it up- it's not the same!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 13x9 baking pan, combine the chicken meat with the hot sauce, spreading to form an even layer.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream cheese and the bleu cheese dressing, stirring until smooth and hot. Pour the mixture evenly over the chicken mixture (already in the pan). Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, then sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes to avoid causing molten lava harm to your mouth.

Serve with tortilla chips, Scoops, celery or lick it off your fingers.

Warning- it's very good and highly addictive

Hell did not freeze over, I just cooked dinner

That's right people, I did something I never do- I cooked dinner. I know for most people that sounds odd. But I'm just not a cook. I can cook. It's not from a lack of ability. I just don't really enjoy it and it is so time consuming that I get bogged down. But I have been inspired by this wonderful woman. And so tonight I tried a recipe and I would say it turned out pretty darn good.

It's from foodnetwork.com and specifically it's from the show "Five Ingredient Fix". The recipe is called Bleu Cheese Stuffed Filets. I think anyone can make this recipe and most people would enjoy it. But 4 year olds aren't especially fond of the bleu cheese flavor.

FYI- If you decide to make this recipe, follow my version of it and use a lesser quality steak than filet. I used sirloin filets and paid $12 for 4. I priced the filets and they would have been $44. Plus, I use Danish Bleu Cheese from Publix for $5.59. Stilton was $20 for the same amount and that is what the original recipe called for.

Here's the recipe and how I changed it up a little:

Ingredients
1 stick butter, room temperature
6 ounces Bleu cheese, cut into chunks
4 4 to 6 ounces steaks (I recommend a sirloin filet- cheap but good- not filet mignon- too pricey

Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
In a food processor, pulse butter until whipped, and then add cheese. Pulse again just until incorporated. Dollop the compound butter towards 1 side of a piece of plastic wrap. Roll into a log, twisting opposite ways on both ends to create a tightly wrapped log of butter. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to set. (Can be stored up to 1 week in the refrigerator and up to 1 month in the freezer.) This could be made into 2 logs, as you will only need half this recipe for the steaks.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Once butter log is set, slice 1/2 the whole log into 1/4-inch disks. Cut a slit in the side of each fillet, and stuff with a butter disk. Tie each fillet with kitchen twine to keep it shape and sprinkle pepper each side.
Add the olive oil to a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, sear each fillet until brown on both sides, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Move skillet into the preheated oven to cook to desired doneness. Put another disk of the compound butter on top of each fillet just about 3 minutes before removing from oven, to just begin to melt but not melted completely. Remove from the oven and place on serving plates. Eat and enjoy!