3 Chili Recipes In 5 minutes. Magical Chilis with an unexpected ingredient.

When I was asked to do a segment on a local TV station where I start off with a vegetarian chili base and then add ingredients to make 3 different chilis I was a little worried. Most of the chilis that I have had taste similar so I wondered if I could differentiate them enough.

Here’s what I came up with and I have to admit they are some of my favorite recipes to date. They all start with the base, a bean choice, add meat and then one special ingredient. (On the video we kept that from the hosts to see if they could guess it. They couldn’t)

Here’s the link to the life video.
http://twincitieslive.com/article/stories/S1389358.shtml?cat=10743

Seafood Chili, Steak Chili and Meat Lovers Chili.

Base:
1 29oz. can tomato sauce
1 29 oz can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 spoonful italian seasoning
1 spoonful chili powder
1/2 spoonful salt
1/2 spoonful pepper
olive oil

Place a little olive oil in the bottom of a big pan. On medium heat fry onions and garlic for 3 minutes or until just cooked.
add rest of ingredients and stir. Let simmer on low.

Bean options:
add just one of either:
1 16 oz cab Bush’s Chili beans medium
1 16 oz can Bush’s homestyle Baked Beans
or 1 16 oz Bush’s Red Beans (drained)

For Steak Lovers Chili
cut 1 1/2 lb of top sirloin steak in to small cubes. Fry on high heat until just browned, about 2 minutes, add to chili.
unexpected ingredient – 1/4 red wine

Let cook for a couple minutes then serve.

For Seafood Chili,
fry 1 1/2 lbs sea food, (1/2 lb deveined shrimp, 1/2 lb langostinos, 1/2 lb bay scallops) in a pan with a little butter. add to chili
unexpected ingredient - 1/2 log Philadelphia Cream Cheese, stir until melted.

Let cook for a couple minutes then serve.

For Meat Lovers Chili
Fry a red pepper (cut into small squares), 1/2 lb bacon cut in to small pieces, 1/2 lb italian sausage, 1/2 lb ground beef until meat is cooked. Drain and add to chili.
add 1/2 cup of your favorite Barbeque Sauce
unexpected ingredient - 2 spoonfuls Semi sweet chocolate chips

Let cook for a couple minutes then serve.

© 2010 Cooking for Dads

KickaCajun Burger with Southern Comfort Onions - Go Vikes, Kick a Cajun.

KickaCajun Burger

For each burger

1 handful lanogstinos (crawfish tails) or Uncooked Shrimp

1 handful Cheetos

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning

1 or 2 eggs.

For topping

1 onion cut in thin strips/rings

1" butter

1/4 cup Southern Comfort

Directions:

Take langostinos or shrimp and cut in to medium size chunks about 1/2 squares.

Smash Cheetohs in to small bits using a plastic bag and your hand. (Use one handful of each for each burger.)

Combine them together and add just enough beaten egg to coat. About 1/3 egg per burger.

Add a Sprinkle of Tony Chachere's seasoning and stir until wet.

Mold in to burgers and fry at medium high heat (with a little butter) until cooked through, about 3 minutes a side. Make sure shrimp is cooked all the way.

To make onions,

melt 1" butter in pan,

add onions and fry for 2 minutes, turning often.

Add 1/4 cup Southern Comfort, tilt pan to ignite and stand back.

Let cook for 3 minutes more or until starting to crisp up.

Serve burger with onions on top, Mayo, a little sprinkle of Tony's spice.

www.cookingfordads.net

©2010 Cooking for Dads

Healthy Wings, Better Than Deep Fried, Guaranteed!

Rob's Better than Deep Fried Healthy Wings, Teriyaki style

1. Preheat oven to 450

2. Start with fresh wings, don't used frozen.

3. Cut in to separate parts if necessary.

4. In a large plastic bag, add 1 cup of flour, 1/2 spoonful of baking powder, 1 spoonful salt and a little pepper. Shake bag to combine.

5. Add wings and shake to coat.

6. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay out wings making sure they don't touch.

7. Lightly brush wings with olive, vegetable, or peanut oil just on top side.

8. Place in oven for 20 minutes then remove and flip over the wings.

10. Cook for another 20 minutes or until wings are firm to the touch.

11. Place in one layer on paper towels for 2-3 minutes to absorb excess oil.

12. Place in large bowl and add teriyaki sauce or favorite sauce. stir to coat.

To make Teriyaki sauce add 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 sugar (or equal parts of a larger or smaller amount) and 1 spoonful fresh ginger chopped. Place in small pan and bring to boil for 30 secs. stirring to dissolve sugar. reduce heat to low and let simmer for 4 minutes. turn off heat. Sauce will thicken naturally.

© 2010 Cooking for Dads

Death By Slow Cooker

Anybody want some pork?

I've been asked to compete in a Slow Cooker Contest on a local TV show I often appear on. For 5 days, 5 chefs will show how to make a slow cooker recipe, and the station's weather guy will taste each one, one each day, and judge which is the best. I agreed to make a pork roast. I hope he's not Jewish.

So I've been doing some experimenting, as is my wont. I've made 7 different pork recipes, borrowing crock pots from all the neighbors. One night I had 5 going at once, each making a different idea.

So to say the least, we've had our fill of pork.

Throughout this Crock pot/pork odyssey I've learned two main things.

1. Not all Crock pots are made the same. We couldn't believe the differences in cooking quality.

Our old stand by, the Rival, stinks as does our neighbors mini Rival.

This Fagor Multi-cooker does a lot of things, one of them slow cooking, and it does it pretty well.

This Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker does a fair job but...

The All Clad Slow Cooker is AMAZING. The meat was so much more tender and evenly cooked. While they don't give it away ($199) if you're going to do any amount of Crock pottery, this is the one for you.

2. Slow cooking is quite different from the normal fast cooking that I love and practice.

I made 6 recipes (7 actually) and 2 were total bombs. Complete failures. Of all my experiments, of which there are many, I haven't had such losers like these 2.

I'll list the recipes. Which ones do you think FAILED and which was the best? Cast your vote in the comments.

I'm on tomorrow, wish me luck.

Rob

www.cookingfordads.net

Slow Cooker Thai Pork

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 4 pieces and sprinkled with salt and pepper

2 large red bell peppers, cut in to slices

1/4 c soy.

1/4 c sugar,

1 sp fresh ginger

2 sp rice vinegar

1 sp red pepper flakes

2 garlic minced

1/4 creamy peanut butter

green onions

chopped peanuts

spray slow cooker with non-stick spray.

place soy, sugar, ginger, rice vinegar, and garlic into cooker,

stir

add pork and red peppers,

cover and cook on low setting until pork is tender (8 or 9 hours)

remove pork, and cut into small pieces.

add peanut butter to slow cooker and stir to combine with liquid

Place pork back in cooker to coat.

Serve over rice, squeeze a little lime juice on top and add chopped peanuts and green onions.

and here are the other two I'll throw together just to show how easy it can be.

Root Beer Pork

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 4 pieces and sprinkled with salt and pepper

1 can Mug rootbeer

1 small onion cutt in medium pieces.

1 inch butter

Rob's Coconut Pork

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 4 pieces and sprinkled with salt and pepper

1 can coconut milk (shake before opening)

1 spoonful red curry paste

4 spoonfuls sugar

2 spoonfuls fish sauce

Dump everything in to the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove pork and cut in to small pieces or fork apart. Return to pot. Combine with sauce.

Serve on rice with sprinkled shredded coconut over the top

Rob's No Brainer Crock Pot Pork

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 4 pieces and sprinkled with salt and pepper

1 can Cream of Celery (Mushroom) Soup

1 small can crushed pineapple

2 spoonfuls tabasco sauce

1 spoonful Montreal Seasoning

Dump everything in to the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove pork and cut in to small pieces or fork apart. Return to pot. Combine with sauce.

Serve over rice.

Citrus Pork

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 4 pieces and sprinkled with salt and pepper

1 lime cut in half

1 lemon cut in half

1 orange cut in half

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

Dump everything in to the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove pork and cut in to small pieces or fork apart. Return to pot. Combine with sauce.

Serve over rice.

Saucy Pork

2 lbs pork tenderloin cut in 4 pieces and sprinkled with salt and pepper

1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup

1 small can crushed pineapple

1 spoonful Italian seasoning

Dump everything in to the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove pork and cut in to small pieces or fork apart. Return to pot. Combine with sauce.

Serve over rice.