Tag: hamburger

Ancho Chili

Posted on by M.

I have been craving a really good bowl of chili with a side of cornbread for weeks now. Fortunately it’s also the perfect time of year for it as the weather has gotten ‘chili-er’ hahah…see what I did there? No, it just looks wrong without the extra ‘l’. Chillier. Is that even a word? It could be the sleep deprivation or I might actually have lost my grasp of the english language.

Regardless…I’m quite happy with how this turned out since I started with no spice guide in my head. Sometimes, going with your gut pays off.

I’ll spare you the photos of me chopping veg. Here is EVERYthing at once.

This is my favorite part.

Stir it all up and let the vegetables get to know each other for a few minutes.

My hamburger was still half frozen, ok, so I had literally just pulled it out of the freezer. Don’t judge me. Anyway, I browned the meat separate because of this but you can just dump it into the veggie mixture if it’s thawed.

I like to use at least one can of red kidney beans and one can of black beans. The third is always the What-the-hell-is-this-kind-of-bean-and-what-do-I-put-it-in can. Mine was White Acre Peas. Worked great, who knew?

I didn’t this time, but you can always add canned corn, black olives or anything else. Chili is a canvas in my world. Whatever paints you want to throw at it, it makes you look like a Picasso in the end.

I don’t remember who that is, but I know he painted something, somewhere at some point, ok? He seems to be kind of famous, since people are always referencing him. Actually, was he a him? I don’t even know that. Ok, moving on.

Isn’t it beautiful?

I should do this for a living.

Oh yeah, we’re not done. This is a less pretty picture but it shows the bubbling pot after all the tomato stuffs have been added. What tomato stuffs, you croak? THESE. Ha, you thought I forgot, didn’t you?

Honestly, you could dump it all in and it will still be delicious. The more tomatoey goodness the better, I say. Spell check tells me that is not a word. I didn’t ask you, sir. English is entirely borrowed, stolen and fabricated anyway. I have made a new word. You may thank me later.

Allow everything to bubble happily on medium low for, I don’t know, an hour or so? Cooking time in my house is more often determined by how hangry everyone is. Like spaghetti, this meal just gets better the more it’s cooked. As long as you don’t scorch it.

Quick & Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Posted on by M.

Traditionally, shepherd’s pie is made with lamb.

But the whole purpose of these cottage-type recipes is to do with what you have and make a delicious meal. So remember, my recipes will always be predicated on the idea that you should use what you have, season the heck out of it and it will be a success!

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melted cheese on top of mashed potatoes, vegetables and ground meat for shepherd's pie

Simple Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients

  • 1/2 – 1 lb. Ground Meat Stuffs (use anything you like, even plant-based)
  • 4 – 5 Potatoes (I peeled mine just because they had super tough skins this time.)
  • 4 Carrots, peeled or 1 small bag Mixed Vegetables
  • Handful chopped Celery
  • 1 Small Bag or 1 Can Peas or Peas and Carrots (even if you have nothing else, some peas or corn make the difference)
  • 1 Small Bag or 1 Can Sweet Corn
  • 1/2 Onion
  • 2 – 3 Cloves Garlic
  • 2 T. Montreal Steak Seasoning
  • 3 T. Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1/4 c. Butter (any kind)
  • 1 – 2 t. Salt/Garlic Salt/Lawry’s Salt
  • 1/4 c. Milk (any kind)
  • 1/4 c. Sour Cream (optional, but makes a difference!)
  • 4 oz. Cheese Block (or use grated cheese or sliced cheese…there are no rules here.)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350*.
  2. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat or 'meat'.
  3. Place a large pot of water on the stove at high heat.
  4. Add a couple dashes of salt.
  5. Throw in your potatoes, peeled or not, according to your preference.
  6. Boil the potatoes until they are very soft.
  7. Meanwhile, chop your chosen vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
  8. Dice and saute the onion and garlic in a large skillet. (I like to use iron or stainless steel so that I can shove the whole thing in the oven to finish it off.)
  9. Add the chopped vegetables to the onions.
  10. Stir the cooked meat into the vegetables.
  11. Generously season the whole mixture with the steak seasoning and Worcestershire sauce.
  12. Save 1/4 c. of water from the potato pot.
  13. Drain the rest of the water from the potatoes.
  14. Add butter, salt, milk and sour cream to potatoes and mash vigorously.
  15. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat and vegetable concoction.
  16. Grate the cheese and sprinkle liberally over the whole pan.
  17. Bake in the oven just until the cheese is melted!
© A Kitchen of Herbs
Category: Dinner

This is one of my favorite dishes to throw together at the last minute because even if you don’t have time to thaw the ground meat, it will cook just fine from frozen. Just throw it in the pan and cover it with a lid. Dinner doesn’t have to wait just because you didn’t remember to pull the meat out of the freezer or simply couldn’t decide what to make until just now.

If you have a mixer, I like to let it do the work with a whip attachment. If you don’t even have a potato masher, like I apparently don’t, a sturdy wire whisk is an effective tool as well!

Delicious Homemade Spaghetti with Extra Veggies

Posted on by M.

I grew up eating homemade spaghetti, as I’m sure most of you did.

Of course, everything we ate was from scratch, because in the jungle back then, we didn’t have access to things like sauce in a jar.

cooked homemade spaghetti pasta with sliced tomatoes and green leafy

Over the years, the recipe has morphed a good deal, but this is my current version. It works well for us, is simple, tasty and very versatile.

One of my favorite adjustments to my spaghetti sauce is the addition of about 3 times the vegetables. It’s amazing to my how much heartier and tastier it became because I started using piles of peppers and onions.

It is also quite a bit cheaper, since meat is almost unnecessary and I use 1/2 the amount I used to. (Thank you, inflation, for helping me see the light.)

spaghetti

Spaghetti

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Red Bell Peppers
  • 1 Yellow/Orange Bell Pepper
  • 1 Green Bell Pepper
  • 1 Large Onion
  • 6 Garlic Cloves or 3 T. Minced or 3 T. Garlic Powder
  • 1 lb. Any Ground Meat
  • 1 T. Olive Oil
  • 4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme or 2 T. Dried Thyme
  • 6 Sprigs Fresh Oregano or 2 T. Dried Oregano
  • 1 T. Garlic Salt or Salt
  • 1 t. Black Pepper
  • 1 T. Smoked Paprika or Paprika
  • 2 T. Italian Seasoning
  • 1/4 c. Worcestershire Sauce
  • 2 T. Beef Broth Base or 2 Bouillon Cubes
  • 1 T. Montreal Steak Seasoning
  • 3 Bay Leaves
  • 1 Large Jar Spaghetti Sauce
  • 1/2 Large Jar Water
  • 1 Large Can Crushed/Diced/Stewed Tomatoes
  • 1/2 Large Can Water
  • 1 Large Stockpot Water
  • 1 T. Olive Oil
  • 1 t. Salt
  • 1 Package Spaghetti Pasta

Instructions

  1. Chop peppers and onions. We like to keep our sauce very chunky, so I cut them into about 1″ pieces, but you can chop yours as fine as you like.
  2. Peel and dice garlic (if using fresh).
  3. Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium high.
  4. Add ground beef/meat and cook until mostly browned.
  5. If you need to drain the meat, this is your moment. I don’t, but I know some people prefer to.
  6. Stir in garlic, onions and peppers and cook about 1 minute, just to get a little bit of flavor going.
  7. If you are using fresh herbs, remove the stems before adding leaves to the mixture.
  8. Add all herbs, spices, seasonings and bay leaves, mixing well.
  9. Pour in all tomatoes and sauces, including filling the jars/cans with water. This rinses out the remaining sauce and also adds necessary liquid to the spaghetti sauce.
  10. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 1 hour. Longer is better, but an hour will do the trick.
  11. Pasta:
  12. Bring large stockpot of water, 1 T. oil and 1 t. salt to a boil over high heat.
  13. This is for flavor and to keep pasta from sticking together.
  14. Add 1 package of spaghetti noodles (I like using whole wheat thin spaghetti).
  15. Cover with lid and turn off heat.
  16. Set timer for 11 minutes.
  17. Pasta should be perfectly al dente when the timer goes off. Adjust time to suit your taste.
  18. Immediately drain pasta. If you are afraid it will be overcooked, you can also run cold water over it right away to stop the cooking process.
  19. Serve with sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese!

Notes

    • This sauce has great flavor and actually uses less meat than my previous recipes because the amount of onions and peppers add so much substance.
    • I make this batch and freeze half of it for another meal. It works great!

© A Kitchen of Herbs
Category: Dinner