Easing in bbq season, part 2

You may remember this bbq sauce from such blog entries as easing into BBQ season, and... oh, I guess just that one.

But here's a second!

When I made the bbq marinaded pork chops, I used about a cup of the 2.5cups of bbq sauce I made. I planned to use the rest on pulled pork, which has been sitting in the back of my mind ever since I came across a recipe for crock pot pulled pork a month ago.

Pulled pork: this has always been a bbq joint treat for me. I haven't liked it that long, but I always thought it required a fancy secret recipe for the sauce (completely unreplicable by a northerner such as myself) and a big meat smoker thing, a la Gina Neeley's awesome pink one (I'm not a huge Neeley fan, but any woman with a pink smoker gets a gold star from me). Therefore, I thought I'd never make it myself.

Until I find you can make it with a bottle of bbq sauce and a crock pot. Score!

I based mine on this recipe from Good Housekeeping.

I took 1.5cups of my bbq sauce
Ingredients of that were:
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2T red wine vinegar
1T worcestershire sauce
1T molasses
1t ginger
1t allspice
2T lime juice
1.5 cups canned pineapple/peaches
all blended together, after cooking.

To 1.5cups of that, I added
2T brown sugar
2T cider vinegar
1t paprika
1/2t chipotle powder
1t turmeric
1t stone ground mustard
and 1 chopped onion.

(I added these things to copy the Good Housekeeping recipe a bit more closely, and because I thought the pulled pork should have more of a punch than the bbq pork chops. And note: the sauce recipe in the Good Housekeeping article is very easy, and I expect it to be very tasty, based on the ingredients. It's just a little tiny bit more work than opening a bottle of readymade bbq sauce, so I suggest trying the recipe- unless you have some spectacular bottle you're just itching to try)

I dumped all that in the crock pot and stirred.

I had a 2.5lb pork loin with fat trimmed off. I cut it in half and added the two halves to the crock pot. I moved the meat around to cover in sauce.

And I cooked on low for 7hrs (recommended was 6-8). I stirred it around every hour or so so the meat remained coated in the sauce.

I removed the meat, turned the crock pot to high so that the sauce would reduce a bit, and began to pull apart the meat. This was far easier than I thought, I really just pinched with my tongs (planning to hold it while I pulled the meat with a fork) and it fell apart.

After about 30 min (of cooling the meat and then pulling it), I added the pork back to the sauce and stirred it around, to coat it well and to warm it up again. After about 10 min (I would say warm it longer, 20-30 min), we made very simple sandwiches with some snowflake rolls.
And also had some roasted sweet potatoes and roasted beets with garlic oregano chevre.

Easing into bbq season

In New England, we tend to get a few sudden summery days in April. These days are characterized by driving with all windows open, quick rummaging through the bottom drawer or attic closet for a tshirt, and the smell of charcoal grills.

Of course, we don't have a charcoal grill (yet), so I couldn't do that third part. I could only smell it as my neighbors did.

Which is so unfair.

So, I got out the grill pan, and learned to make bbq sauce.

I made Sarah's Pineapple BBQ sauce, because 1. I love pineapple (despite being partially allergic to it- I can only eat canned), 2. I like bbq sauce, and 3. I never thought of putting the two together.

I sauteed 1 onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic in 1/2T olive oil, with some salt and pepper.
Next, I added 1/2cup tomato paste and 1/2 cup pineapple juice (from the canned pineapple rings). Sarah's recipe called for 1cup of canned tomato sauce, but I used what I had in the pantry.
I stirred it in,and cooked for a couple minutes.
Then I added 2T red wine vinegar, 1TWorcestershire Sauce, 1T molasses, 1t ginger, 1t allspice and 2T lime juice,
cooked for a few min more,
and transferred to my food processor, along with 1.5 cups of pineapple and peaches (I was very short on pineapple with that silly little can, and I didn't have time to run to the store).This yielded a bit more than 2.5 cups of sauce.

I used about 1cup (which was quite a bit more than I needed, oops) to douse 2 thawed bone-in pork chops, which marinaded for 30 min at room temperature, and then for 2 hours in the fridge (I was trying to work in preparing dinner around getting to zumba on time and eating afterwards).
After marinading, I heated the grill pan over high heat, and slapped on the pork chops. I grilled for a few minutes on each side.
And I served with ham and asiago polenta and asparagus. (the polenta, I admit, was kind of a random pairing, but the asparagus is nice and fresh, and complements the bbq chops well).

Iron Chef wamozart12: Battle Ham

Well, it's been a while. I haven't been cooking as much, and what great recipes I have tried I just haven't had time to even download the photos from my camera. Life has been a little intense lately, and on top of that, work has been even more intense.

But anyway, Battle Ham.

Every year for Easter, my family has a ham. We're not big lamb eaters (except for Clint and me), we have turkey for Thanksgiving only, and chicken isn't really a holiday food. So, ham. And like most family gatherings, we end up with many, many, many leftovers, especially this year, with all the salt-free eaters. I took one for the team and took about half the ham home with us (twist my arm, why don't ya!).

Battle ham has had a slower start than I first anticipated; I truly envisioned a week of a different ham dish each night. It's been a full week now, and I've made a total of 2 ham dishes (and have one planned for tomorrow). However, quality, not quantity.

Ham Dish #1: ham and asiago polenta
Boil 2cups of water with a dash of salt. Slowly sprinkle in 1/2cup of cornmeal (or polenta, I find cornmeal more versatile and therefore, more worth giving up cabinet space to), whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, whisking every few minutes, for about 25min total, until thick. Stir in 1/2cup of asiago, herbs/spices of choice (I added 1/2t nutmeg and 1/4t cloves, which was a little blah- I wish I'd tried marjoram and savory, like I used in Ham Dish #2, below), and 1/4-1/2c diced ham. Serve as a side or as a light meal.

Ingredients:
2cups water
dash salt
1/2cup cornmeal
1/2c asiago
1/2t nutmeg
1/4t cloves
1/2c diced ham

(I served my polenta as a side for grilled bbq pork chops and asparagus, and I need to give the bbq pork chops their own post. And yes, that's ham as a side for pork. I would have added bacon if I'd had any)

Ham Dish #2: Ham, asiago and aspargus risotto

AKA: Ham and other contents of my fridge.

I haven't made risotto in a while. I'm not big on rice (except for sushi rice and rice pudding) except as a way to soak up delicious sauces, but I do really like risotto. I think because it's like savory rice pudding. And I thought it might do well as a dish to use up some ham.

I am a little disappointed that so far I can only think of things to stick ham in, not an actual dish that shows off the ham. Maybe next time.

I based this on a Martha recipe.

I chopped 2 small yellow onions and 1 shallot, and sauteed them for a few minutes in 1T olive oil, with a dash of salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I heated 7 cups of the last of my latest batch of homemade chicken stock in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it started to boil, and then turned the heat to simmer, just to keep it warm.


I added 1cup of arborio rice and stirred, and cooked this (still stirring) for 3 min.
And then I added 1/2cup of white wine (chardonnay, usually I'd prefer pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) and stirred to coat the rice. Then I began to add the chicken stock. For risotto, the stock needs to be added just a little (1/2-3/4cup) at a time, so that the rice doesn't overcook. This means that you have to stay with your risotto as you cook it, because you'll need to add more stock every few minutes. However, you don't need to stand over it constantly, so it's a good way to clean the kitchen in 1-2 minute bursts. After the first stock addition.
After a couple more additions.

Halfway through the stock additions (i.e., when I'd gone through half of the warmed stock), I chopped up some ham and asparagus.
I used 8 stalks of asparagus (ends snapped off, cut into bite-sized pieces, not cooked at all- they'll cook enough in the risotto) and 5 slices of spiral cut ham. And yes, I do practice the "one for the pot, one for me" rule when cooking with wine.

Near the end of the stock additions,
I tossed in some herbs. About 1T each of marjoram and savory.
I stirred and continued to cook until that last bit of stock was absorbed, and then added the cheese.
I used 1/2cup sharp (orange) cheddar and 1/2cup asiago. Even though this is the same amount Martha suggests, I do admit it's a little cheesey. (Clint declared it too cheesey, but I say that nothing can ever be too cheesey) Anyway, whatever your cheese preferences are, I think you could go as low as 1/2cup. Well really, you could omit the cheese altogether, it doesn't do that much for the creaminess of the risotto, because it's already creamy before the cheese addition. It's up to you.

Stir, and that's it. You've made risotto.

Now go eat it. (note: I really like the pairing of marjoram and savory with ham.)

Ingredients:
2 small/1 medium onion, chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1T olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
6-8c chicken (or veggie) stock
1cup arborio rice
1/2cup dry white wine
1/2bunch asparagus
3/4-1cup diced ham
1T marjoram
1T savory
1 cup grated cheese, any combination of asiago, cheddar, gruyere, parmesean

Candied Citus Peel: A Saga

In January, my husband bought me 2 cases of grapefruit: one white, one red. As I ate grapefruit after grapefruit (one of my very favorite fruits), I was sort of sad that I ended up with all these grapefruit rinds in the garbage. Is there any way to use these? (short of composting, I mean, there are too many wild animals in our neighborhood to make me comfortable with a compost heap in our tiny backyard)

Well, yes, there are things to do with citrus rinds. The first thing I never got around to making, but I still think it's a cute idea: cupcakes baked in orange rind "wrappers".

The second thing is to candy the peels. I like this idea. I've wanted to candy a number of things for a long time (citrus peels, violets, basil), but I never had.

Thus started the grand experiment. This is a blog post 2 months in the making.

First, I cut up all my grapefruit and orange peels. You don't want to know how many I had, let's just say each individual batch had the rinds of 15-20 fruits, and we're currently (as of March 17) on batch 4, with at least 1 more batch to go. Yes, we eat a lot of citrus. The funny part is I used to have a citrus allergy- either I outgrew it or I fought it and won, because after years of allergic reactions, I get nothing from 4 grapefruits a day. (I simply adore grapefruit.)

I cut the rinds first into halves, then quarters, then each quarter into 3 or 4 long strips.

Then you boil them. Throw as many strips as will fit into whatever pot you have, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil for about 5 min, drain, fill with fresh cold water, boil again. Then do this once or twice more- the point of this (while probably getting rid of the residue covering the outside of the peels as well) is to make the peels less bitter.
Boil 1

Boil 2
Boil 3.

This next part is where I got into trouble. Martha says to combine 1.5 cups of sugar with 1 cup of water and bring to a boil over medium heat (no temperature recommended, but they says it takes about 3 min for the sugar to fully dissolve) and throw in the peels. Boil about 12 min, then turn off heat and let the peels sit in the syrup for about an hour. Drain the syrup (save for sweetening iced tea or other drinks- good point, citrus bellini, anyone?) and use the peels.

However, what it doesn't say is that there are several types of candied peels out there. The ones I'm thinking of are generally dipped in chocolate and are dry and solid. There are also the sticky candied peels, commonly used in fruitcakes. Martha's are the second kind, which are soft and basically wet/sticky. But I didn't know that.

So I consulted another recipe that had essentially the same recipe, but ended with drying the peels spread out on a rack 4-5 hours, then coating them in granulated sugar. I tried this.

I let them sit overnight, I was tired. I coated them in sugar, and let them sit longer.

And you know what? After a few hours, they were soaking wet. They were so waterlogged from the candying process that all the sugar coating them basically melted into a sticky goo.

So I tried drying them. In the oven, at 250oF, for an hour. I coated them in sugar, and left them alone (inside the turned-off oven) for 48 hrs.

They were still soaking wet.

And I despaired a bit. I had a ton of grapefruit peels waiting to be candied, and I was failing miserably at it.

So I found a new recipe. I boiled all those wet, sugary peels in another round of water, and followed the new candying process.

I combined 1.5cups water with 4.5cups sugar in a large pot over high heat, until it reached 230oF (took about 10 min on my electric stove, 15-20 min on my parents' gas stove). I added the peel, stirred a bit to make sure all the peels were coated in the syrup, and ignored it for 45 minutes.

The result was a mass of solid, slightly stuck-together peels, coated in sugar of a maple sugar candy hardness- solid, but not rock-hard.

The leftover syrup, which I was told would make a nice simple syrup for iced tea, was a mass of maple sugar candy-like citrus-flavored substance (actually quite tasty). I also burned the bottom layer of peels, oops.

However, this was more of the consistency I was looking for.

The next batch were boiled in the syrup for only 30 minutes, instead of 45. I did not burn any peels, the leftover syrup was still pretty solid, and the peels had exactly the texture I was looking for- very similar to candied pineapple you can buy.

Phew! I seem to have figured this out.

The third batch I made was at my parents' house, where I actually reread the recipe.... and noticed that you're supposed to turn the burner down to low after adding the peels to the boiling sugar. Oops. So I tried that, and ended up with a much softer peel that's still wet after 3 days.

So, now I can say I've figured out how to do this.

Boil your peels. Use 6-8 fruits' worth of peels for a manageable batch. Boil them 3-4 times as described in the beginning. Combine 1.5cups water with 4.5cups sugar, bring to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Boil until temp reaches 230oF. Add the peels, and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium-high. Boil for 35-40 minutes, stirring gently a couple times during the process, so the peels on the bottom don't stay there the whole time and burn. Remove the peels, spread out on a rack to cool and dry.

And that should work.

What did I do with the wet peels from the third batch? Why, I incorporated them into Bread Sunday #8.

Hot Cross Buns with candied grapefruit peel and flame raisins

Normally I would give you a King Arthur Recipe, but honestly (and this is probably the only time I'll ever say this, I'm such a loyal KAF girl), I don't really care for their HCB recipe. They're kind of dense and dry. I've made them for many Easters now, but this time I branched out, with great success.

Combine 1 envelope/2.25t of active dry yeast with 1t sugar in 1/2cup warm water. Let sit for awhile (10-15min). Note: do this in the bowl you plan to make your bread in, to save you from washing multiple bowls unnecessarily.

Whisk together 2cups flour, 1/2t allspice, 1/2t cinnamon, 1/2t salt, 1/2cup sugar. Add half of that to the yeast. Add 5T softened butter and 1 egg, mix well. Add a second egg, Mix. Add the remaining flour.

Knead for a few minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. This dough is pretty soft.

Let rise in a warm place, about 2 hrs (I let it sit for 4, and it was enormous- very fun.)

Knead in your fruit of choice: I used about 1/3cup each of flame raisins and finely chopped grapefruit peels. Divide dough in half, roll each half into a snake/log, and divide each log in half and then into thirds (12 pieces total), and roll each piece of dough into a ball. Spread out on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap/a towel and let rise for another 45 minutes. Quickly slice an X into the top of each bun with a sharp knife. Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes.

Optional (and I didn't do it, but will next time I make these): when buns are cool, make a milk/powdered sugar glaze (mix 1t milk and 1/2cup powdered sugar, stir until lumps are gone) and drizzle over the buns (or in an X shape on the tops).

Spicy!

This weekend, I was visiting my parents, and my mom and I visited the Penzey's spice store in town. It's been there maybe 3 years, and my mom was elated when she heard it was coming. I, on the other hand, was very snobbish about it, and insisted that, while they might have nice blends, their prices and selection could never even come close to the spices I could get at my wonderful grocery store's bulk section. I went in a few times, and I admitted they had a really nice store- attactive, good layout, easy to find everything (and it's all organized by spice type, which is nice- curries there, sweeter spices here, herbs in the back, peppers in the corner), but I refused to buy anything.

So on Saturday, we ran our 3 important errands, and then mom suggested we go to the spice store- mostly because she had a coupon for a free 1/2oz (or so) jar of Cajun Seasoning. We had time, so we went in the store, and examined every single spice. If you're a foodie (or even if you just love to smell delicious things), you need to do this. I finally shed my spice-snob attitude and had a splendid time.
In the store (which, like I said, is conveniently organized), each spice has its own little cubby/shelf. On the shelves are generally 2 sizes of jars, 1-3 sizes of ziploc plastic pouches, and a large, wide mouth jar of the spice, meant to be opened and sniffed, with a description of the spice on the label: where it's from, what cuisine uses it, what it tastes like. I think this is part of what sold me on this store- to have everything so organized, and clearly explained is golden.
Oh, and they sell their spices in bulk ziploc bags. Ah.

In case you never really thought about it, when you buy spices at the run-of-the-mill chain grocery store, they're expensive, right? Something like $6 for a little jar of allspice. What are you really paying for here? Is allspice that expensive? No. The glass jar is that expensive. You're probably paying $1 for the contents of the jar. And then what do you do with an empty spice jar? Why, you throw it out. The replacement jar of spice already has its own jar.

This is why I'm such a spice snob, I refuse to pay for little glass jars all the time.

So anyway, Penzey's case in point: At my NH grocery store, I can buy 1lb (yes, that's 16oz) of cinnamon for $5.99 (ok, that's the special price, but the normal price is $10.99). The second-last time I went in Penzey's, I looked at the jar of cinnamon that my mom said she needed, and it was $4.39 for a 2.2oz jar- that's $32 per lb. (I simply gave her some of my pound of cinnamon). This weekend, when I gave the store a chance and took the time to figure it all out, I saw that 1lb of cinnamon was $13.60. Ok, that's more than I paid, but it's not a ridiculous price. Cardamom, for example, was about $44/lb, I used to pay $35/lb. This is ok. And Penzey's is closer than my old grocery store now. So now my opinion is, "this store's acceptable."

And as we continued on our way to all the spice cubbies, looking at every single spice in the entire store, I saw things I'd never heard of. Galangal (related to ginger, a flowery and more intense flavor than ginger), charnushka (tiny black seeds often found in Jewish rye bread), aleppe peppers (a Turkish chili pepper, similar to ancho chilis), annato seeds (common ingredient of latin american food, generally sauteed in oil, and the oil is used in the food). It's been a long time since I encountered spices/flavorings I'd never even heard of.

So then started the frenzy. I bought peppers, spices, spice blends, dried herbs, and collected recipes from all the "take one" recipe posters. I spent $42 on 12 different packets (I bought everything in bulk), then took the catologue, read it over lunch, and had to go back for more.

With my bounty, I plan to make galangal cookies (the ginger-like spice), and pork vindaloo (with a vindaloo blend- hopefully it's not too hot, I generally can't eat more than a bite of vindaloo). I'm going to figure out what all the other things I bought are, and how in the world to use them.

Oh, and did I mention they carry 4 different types of cinnamon, as well as their blend of the different kinds? And (news to me), the type of cinnamon you can generally buy in US grocery stores is a lower grade of kortinje Indonesian cinnamon. Mom thinks we should buy all 4 types and have a cinnamon-tasting.

So, in conclusion:

1. Go to Penzey's

2. Buy all your spices in bulk.

Of course, after purchasing all these spices, I had to get right to work using them.

I made pork vindaloo.

I started out adapting a recipe in the current Penzey's catologue, until Clint pointed out that it's just some woman from Virginia making up a dinner recipe to use the vindaloo spices, and is definitely not a proper vindaloo.

So I made up my own improper vindaloo.

In a pan, heat some oil (about 1T), and add 1 chopped onion and 3 cloves of minced garlic. Saute over medium-high heat for about 4 min. Meanwhile, make a paste of 2-3T Penzey's vindaloo spices (I used 2 level tablespoons, which was spicy but not overpowering, definitely no where near authentic vindaloo), 1t salt and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Add the paste to the onions, stir to coat, and saute for another 2 min. Then add about 1lb of pork tenderloin, chopped into bite-sized chunks. Sear over medium-high heat for 2 min, then add in 2 potatoes (peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks), cook for about 5 min. Finally, add 1/3 cup of yogurt and 1/3cup of milk (the Penzey's recipe called for coconut milk, but since coconut milk is very high in saturated fat, and I don't want to kill high cholestoric husband, I used low fat dairy instead- also, Indian curries generally don't use coconut milk, so I have no idea what the VA woman was thinking- although I'm sure it's tasty), stir, and cook for about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and the pork is cooked through.

I had some issues- I stepped away from the stove for a few minutes, and the liquid all cooked down and burned. So I quickly dumped the contents of the tea kettle in the vindaloo, which made kind of a stew. In the next 20 minutes, all the water cooked off, leaving a thick sauce coating the vindaloo. I'd like to tweak this, but our end result was still very good.

The last step of the vindaloo is to add 1lb of washed fresh spinach, let it wilt down (you may have to do this in 2-3 batches, depending on the size of your pot) and stir to coat with the vindaloo sauce.

Our accompaniments were basmati rice:

Soak 1.5cups of basmati rice in enough water to cover for 20-30 min. Heat 1T oil (or ghee) in a pan, add 1 2in cinnamon stick, 2 green cardamom pods, 2 cloves and 1T cumin seeds. Stir and cook for 2 min, until toasted. Drain the rice and add, stir for 2 min to coat with oil and spices adn to toast the grains. Then add 2.5 cups of water and 1/2t salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook (covered) until the liquid has all been absorbed, about 15-20 min.

and naan. I've made naan before, but it's never been any good- until now! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, and kind of modified it.

Wake up 2t yeast in 1/2cup warm water and 2t sugar. Leave for 10 min, then add 2T milk, 2T yogurt, 1T sugar, 1t salt and 2-2.25cups flour, combine to form a soft dough. Knead 6-8 minutes, then let rise for an hour. Form golfball-sized balls and leave on a tray/cookie sheet for 30 min, covered, to rise. Roll out each dough ball with a rolling pin (I used my hands, they were too thick) 

and cook on an oiled grill pan, about 2 minutes per side, over high heat.

Brush with a little melted butter, and I sprinkled with my new dried basil.

So far, I can tell you that the naan is still delicious the next day, as is the rest of the meal. I was politely informed, however, that naan is an incorrect pairing for vindaloo: vindaloo is a traditional Goan dish (on the western coast of India), and naan is more common in northern India. The person providing me with this information suggested I make sannas if I want a bread to go with the vindaloo, and I'm fascinated- I've never heard of sannas before. They appear to be a rice/coconut yeasted bread. One can use vinegar in place of toddy (since I still don't know what toddy is), but the glitch for me is how to deal with the coconut. I have coconut milk and unsweetened shredded coconut, but I'm not going to go deal with a whole coconut. Any ideas on how to modify that? The original suggester wasn't sure. In either case, I'm thrilled to learn of a new Indian food, and can't wait to somehow taste it.

Chili, and more bread

I woke up this morning and thought, what bread shall I make today? Then I joked to my husband that when I worked primarily on yeast for my research in grad school, I never made bread, and now I make it all the time- I think it's because I miss my yeast.

Today required a little more searching before I could get started. What to make? I made raisin cinnamon bread (which could be improved upon), cheesey sesame seed bread to get a break from all the nutella sweets, then rye bread, solely because we'd found some rye flour in the baking cabinet. But what about today?

As usual, I made a recipe from my King Arthur Flour cookbook. In flipping through the "yeast bread and rolls" section, I found a number of good looking recipes, but the Simple Sweet Bread page caught my eye. I ended up making Swedish Cardamom bread.

Step 1: in a medium-sized bowl, combine 1 cup lukewarm milk with 1 cup flour, whisk together, then add 1 heaping tablespoon yeast. Stir a bit, then leave alone for a little while- 45 minutes today.

Step 2: add 2 eggs, 6T softened butter, 1t cardamom, 1.5t salt. Then at 3.5-4 cups of flour, one cup at a time. Knead for 4 minutes, let rest for a few minutes, knead 4 more minutes (I kneaded all in the mixer, as usual), then place in a greased bowl, cover, and leave in a warm spot for about 2 hrs.

Step 3: punch down the dough, and divide into halves, then each half into thirds.
Roll each third into a snake, and braid each set of 3 dough snakes- for 2 braided loaves.



Step 4: let rise again, covered, for an hour. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350oF for about 30 minutes.

Then eat.

We also made more chili. This is the same recipe I used (with some minor alterations, frozen corn instead of canned, chipotle powder instead of cayenne pepper) on Super Bowl Sunday. I adapted Sunny Anderson's Interstate Chili recipe.


In a crock pot, combine:
2 red peppers, diced
2 jalapeno peppers, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 yellow onions, diced
3T cumin
2T oregano (dried)
1T cinnamon
1T chili powder
2t chipotle
3T worcestershire sauce
1T tabasco
2cups chicken broth
1 bottle dark beer (we used Long Trail Hibernator)
1 giant can kidney beans (or 2 regular cans)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 bag frozen corn kernels

While your husband's doing that, brown 1.25 (or so) lbs ground turkey and 6-8oz sausage (smushed into bite sizes bits, and we used some sort of smokey spicy delicious-smelling portuguese sausage) in a pan, then drain off the grease and add the meat to the crock pot.

Stir it all around. Cook- last time we cooked on low for 5hrs, this time we're trying it on high for an hour, and low for 2-3hrs, until we feel like eating.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, and cornbread.

Cornbread: 1 full recipe, in an 8x8 dish.

1.25 cups flour
3/4cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1/2t salt
2t baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup thawed frozen corn kernels

Whisk together first 5 ingredients, then beat together eggs, milk, oil, and add to the dry ingredients. Stir in corn. Bake at 325oF for 25 min in an 8x8 baking dish.