Recipe + Vintage Apron: Chili

This is my favorite chili, my mom makes it the best, and this is the first time I have tried making it myself. It makes a ton, meaning an almost overflowing crockpot, but I imagine it would freeze well or you can make it for a get-together and then eat it all week long like we did. Delicious with toppings like freshly grated cheddar, sour cream, and tortilla chips, and/or cornbread muffins.

Ingredients:

2T oil
2 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 lb beef sirloin, cubed
2 cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 can dark beer
1 cup strong coffee
12 oz tomato paste
2 cups beef broth
1 T chipotle chili powder
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
1 T cocoa powder
1 t coriander
1 t salt
2 cans chili beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 poblano chilies, soaked in water overnight

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pan, add garlic, shallots, meat, and spices, and cook until meat is browned.
2. Seed and chop chilies, reserving soaking water.
3. Add all ingredients to slow cooker along with one cup soaking water and stir to combine.
4. Cook on high for 1 hour, then turn down to low and cook for about 6 hours. Delicious!

 

-Twill

Recipe + Vintage Tablecloth: Beef and Butternut Tagine

I just received my new Cooking Light magazine in the mail, and thought I would give the recipe for Moroccan Beef and Butternut Tagine a shot. Alex and I are trying to make at least one new-to-us recipe a week, as we tend to gravitate to the familiar few. It is forcing us out of the box a little, and we are finding new recipes that we are definitely adding to our repertoire. He went for a long day skiing on the mountain Sunday, so I thought I would adapt it slightly and make it in our good old slow cooker, so it would be nice and hot whenever he got home. A tagine is an earthenware pot that is typically used for this dish, so I guess I did not make it in the traditional sense, but it was a delicious slow-cooked sweet and spicy stew anyway. I think cooking it even slower than the recipe suggests made the meat melt in your mouth tender, and I simply added the butternut squash at the end, so it didn't get mushy.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1-lb beef shoulder roast or petite tender roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes (I found this at the Whole Foods butcher already trimmed and cubed)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 shallots or 1 onion, chopped (I only had one good sized shallot and it worked fine)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes undrained
3 cups (1 inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 pound) (I used frozen cubed butternut squash)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add beef, toss well to coat.
2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add beef and shallots, cook 4 minutes until browned, add garlic, cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in broth and tomatoes, bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes. Add squash, cover, reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes, sprinkle with cilantro.

Note: I skipped all of the second step and placed the herb coated beef into the slow cooker, added the shallots, garlic, tomatoes with juice, and broth, and cooked on low for 8 hours. I added the butternut squash for the last 30 minutes.

Serve with couscous. Delicious!