Quick and Easy Paleo Chili

It is February and cold out and I don't know about you, but nothing warms me up like a nice bowl of chili. If you know anything about paleo, then you know that strict Paleo does not allow legumes. The idea of chili without beans seems criminal to me - I love beans! As it turns out Texas Chili is known for not having beans so I thought I would give it a try. I was sure I would miss the beans and the chili just wouldn't be the same, but that didn't happen. I enjoyed the nice warm bowl of chili and never even missed the beans. This recipe turned out wonderfully delicious, but maybe a little on the spicy side so in the future I may adjust the spices depending on who I am cooking for.
The original recipe can be found on the Paleo Eats website.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 can organic tomatoes 14.5oz (petite-diced)

1 can tomato sauce (I added this because I wanted the chili to have more sauce)

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3-4 tbsp chile powder

2 tsp dry oregano

1-2 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a pan on medium heat, brown ground beef with chopped onion and minced garlic.

2. Add tomatoes, bell pepper, chile powder, oregano, cumin, and salt.

3. Bring the chili to a boil then simmer for 20 mins.

Enjoy! This recipe is definitely a keeper in my recipe box.

Crock Pot.. Pot Roast (Take 2) with Gravy

In my effort to continue to perfect my recipes and determine what is "my" recipe for certain things, I have tried another pot roast recipe. The first recipe I tried (see previous post was basically the meat itself with seasonings. In this recipe, condensed soup is used for flavoring and it makes more of a gravy. Both recipes turned out fantastically delicious and I would recommend both. If I had to make it again, I am not sure which I would choose. Neither is far superior to the other. I think the first pot roast would be less calories since it only has seasonings and not the gravy along with it. This would be good for just a meat and vegetable dinner, however if I was making a pot roast with mash potatoes I probably would choose this recipe. The orginal recipe can be found here on Allrecipes.com.
I have learned that the different cuts of meat come out differently (more tender and less dry) than others, so the cut of meat is important!

Ingredients:
2 cans condensed mushroom soup (I used one can cream of mushroom and one can golden mushroom)
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups beef broth
5 1/2 pounds pot roast

Directions:

1. In slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and broth.

2. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
Cook on low setting for 8-9 hours.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot.. Roast

I've have never in my life made a pot roast, so this one is definitely new to me and there are a LOT of recipes out there. Unfortunately I didn't have the ingredients in my cupboard for the recipe I wanted to try so I found another that seemed to work with what I already had here in my cupboard. I choose to make the "To Die For" Pot Roast from Food.com. I wanted something with basic ingredients and this seemed to fit.
I only made minor changes to the original recipe.

Ingredients:

1 (4 -5 lb) beef roast
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package brown gravy mix, dry
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package dried Italian salad dressing mix (I didn't have this so I substituted italian seasoning and beef broth instead of the 1/2 cup water to make up for the salt)
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package ranch dressing mix, dry
1/2 cup beef broth or water
garlic
liquid smoke

Directions:


1. Place beef roast in crock pot. Add garlic and liquid smoke

2. Mix the dried mixes together in a bowl and sprinkle over the roast.

3. Pour the water/broth around the roast.

4. Cook on low for 7-9 hours.

After cooking....

This turned out delicious and fell apart with a fork.
I put some in smaller containers and froze for later, which after defrosting was just as good!

Crock Pot Lasagna

I came across this recipe for crock pot lasagna - and I said, "really? no way.. how would that work? how would it come out of the crock pot? In slices? " Well I tried it... it works and it was delicious! Was it easier? Sure, I guess. Kind of. Not really. It still involved layering and cooking so how much easier could it be? The sauce didn't need to simmer then cool on the stove - that was about the only difference. Regardless, I would suggest giving it a try. Why not?

The original recipe can be found at Kraft.com. I made some minor changes to recipe after reading some of the reviews, but some people cooked the recipe as is and said it turned out just fine!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup water
1container (15 oz.) Polly-O Original Ricotta Cheese
1pkg. (7 oz.) KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/4 cup Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1 egg
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
6 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1/4 cup Red Wine
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
Onion and Garlic

Directions:

1. Saute garlic and onion in large skillet.

2. Add meat, brown, drain.

3. Stir in spaghetti sauce, water, wine, and italian seasoning.

4. Mix ricotta, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, egg and parsley.

5. Spoon 1 cup meat sauce into slow cooker; top with layers of half each of the noodles (broken to fit) and cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles (broken to fit), cheese mixture and meat sauce. Cover with lid.

6. Cook on Low 4 hours or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; let stand, covered, 10 min. or until melted.

Last look....

I had read a lot of the reviews of the recipe and people had warned about burning the bottom, so I only cooked it for 4 hours and pulled it out of the cooker to cool. It didn't burn, but I could have likely cooked it 3.5 hours and been fine as well. It came out looking terrific!

I was busy, so I let it cool in the crock pot and I think this was the best thing to do because once it cooled it came out of the crock pot in perfect slices.

Baked Ziti

As I explore different recipes and try to determine which recipe really is my "go to" recipe, I am trying out different versions of some of my favorites. They may not always be "skinny," but I think that a good cook needs two versions of things - the real version of a favorite and a skinny version.
The original version of this Baked Ziti recipe was from AllRecipes.com. I really enjoyed the casserole overall. As I was looking for which version I wanted to cook, I was very skeptical of the sour cream as an ingredient. The sour cream gave it a slightly unique taste but also made it incredibly creamy. This dish was delicious, however I look forward to continuing to search and seeing if this really was my favorite.

Ingredients:

1 pound dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.

2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

4. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.

5. Layer in the following order: 1/2 of the ziti, sauce, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

6. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

It comes out of the oven looking like this... enjoy!

"Popeye's" Pasta

Have you ever tried sweet italian chicken sausage? I hadn't until this recipe!

I get (almost) daily recipe updates from skinnytaste.com and this recipe for Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach came across in the beginning of the month. I just had to try it!

It turned out well and made a fairly large casserole. The dish did have an (in my opinion) overwhelming italian seasoning taste. My second eater also wasn't too impressed with the green spinach though I didn't mind it - he isn't impressed with any veggies. Actually, he cringes with "green things" in food. I have found that so many recipes these days are laden with veggies, which makes it sometimes hard to cook healthy for someone who really doesn't appreciate them.

Lessons Learned: Try LESS sausage as I think I had too much. I would also reduce (to make it less noticeable) or eliminate the spinach.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated Romano
8 oz fat-free ricotta
8 oz part-skim mozzarella, shredded
14 oz uncooked sweet Italian chicken sausage, removed from casing (I think I had more...)
12 oz WW rigatoni pasta
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves smashed garlic, roughly chopped (I used a little diced garlic)
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
salt and fresh pepper to taste
4 cups Marinara Sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray 9 x13-inch baking dish with olive oil spray.
3. Bring a large pot water to a boil (salted)
4. In medium bowl, combine ricotta, 6 tablespoons of the Romano cheese and half of the mozzarella cheese. Set aside.

5. In a large (deep) skillet, brown sausage making sure to break it up into small pieces until cooked through.

Remove from skillet.

6. Add the oil to the skillet and sauté garlic about a minute.
7. Add spinach (if you are using) and season with salt and pepper; cook another minute.
8. Return the sausage to the skillet and add the marinara sauce; cook on low about 2-3 minutes.

9. Cook pasta according to directions for al dente, but undercook by 4 minutes. Drain and return to pot.
10. Put half of the cooked pasta into the baking dish and top with half of the meat sauce.

11. Spoon ricotta mixture over the sauce evenly.
12. Cover with remain pasta and sauce.
13. Top with rest of mozzarella and romano.
14. Cover with foil; bake for 20 minutes.
15. Remove foil; bake for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges are slightly browned.

Enjoy!

Swiss Chicken Casserole

Cheese, chicken and rice? How can it not taste good?

This casserole turned out well, though I could have eliminated the ham and would have enjoyed it just the same.

This recipe came from the Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook (p.87).

Ingredients:

4 cups boiling water
2 boxes (6oz each) florentine long grain & wild rice mix
4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (~2 lbs)
8 slices of ham
1/4 cup diced bell pepper - any color (I used green)
4 slices swiss cheese, halved.

Directions:


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray glass baking dish (13x9) with cooking spray.
3. Combine boiling water, rice and seasoning mix in baking dish.
4. Cut chicken breasts in half (lengthwise) and wrap ham slice around each piece of chicken.
5. Stir bell pepper into rice mix.

6. Place wrapped chicken over rice.

7. Cover with foil; bake for 40-45 minutes.
8. Uncover, bake ~ 10 more minutes (or until liquid is absorbed and juice of chicken is clear).
9. Top each piece of chicken with cheese; bake uncovered 3-4 minutes (or until cheese is melted.

It comes out like this - yum!

Chicken Taco Chili

I wanted to try another slow cooker recipe, so I found this Chicken Taco Chili Recipe from Skinny Taste.

I modified the original recipe slightly, but it turned out great!

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 16-oz can black beans
1 16-oz can kidney beans
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 sm can of tomato paste --> I added this to thicken it
10 oz package frozen corn kernels --> I chose not to add this.
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 package (3-4) boneless skinless chicken breasts

The picture shows two packages of chicken - I only used the one package of chicken breast though.


Directions:
Combine beans, onion, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours. Half hour before serving, shred chicken (I was able to do this without removing from slow cooker). Stir in in chicken.