Food Fun Family

The Best Crockpot Chili Recipe

Lolli — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 06:00:00 +0000

When I was making my menu plan a couple of weeks ago, I asked my kids what they’d like me to add to the menu. My 16-year-old daughter didn’t hesitate to ask for homemade chili, and I was happy to oblige. Not only is chili delicious and GREAT for this time of year (hello, comfort food!) but I love meals that I can fix in the morning and forget until dinner time. Crockpots are the best, especially for busy moms like me who spend the entire afternoon driving kids from here to there. When is there time to cook?

This recipe was a bit of an accident. A happy accident. I often make “half-homemade” chili by adding a bunch “Extras” to a can of chili (so that it stretches farther and so it tastes a little better) but I was determined to find a better alternative. I turned to Pinterest, of course, and searched for “best chili” and came back with this pin, which led me to this recipe from Pink When. I tucked it away so that I could make it within the next week.

Before I had a chance to make the chili, I tried making some hamburgers one night. In an effort to stretch my hamburger meat, I decided to mash some black beans and add them to the ground beef. I add black beans to dishes with ground beef all the time. I did not expect what happened….

My black bean hamburgers were a complete flop. They were a crumbly mess. I gave up on my notion of black bean hamburgers, added the cooked black bean-ground beef crumble to a tupperware, and took the kids out for fast food that night (something we never do on a week night!).

The next morning, I grabbed that chili recipe I’d been saving, pulled out the crumbled hamburger, and started making my pot of chili. It could not have been easier, and the entire family RAVED about how delicious it was. Definitely a huge improvement over canned chili (or even the half-homemade chili).

Note: this recipe makes a large crock pot full of chili. If you don’t have a family as big as mine and don’t want a ton of leftovers, then I would recommend freezing half of the chili for a quick meal at a later date. Just pull the saved chili out of the freezer and stick it back in the crock pot to warm up!

The BEST Chili Recipe – In the Crock Pot!

5.0 from 3 reviews

The Best Crock Pot Chili Recipe

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

5 hours

Total time

5 hours 15 mins

Author: Lolli

Serves: 12

Ingredients

3 lbs lean ground beef, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic
1 can black beans, drained and mashed
1 medium onion, chopped
½ of a large bell pepper, chopped
½ tablespoon chili powder
1½ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon white sugar
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 oz) can Great Northern beans, drained
2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste
1 (28 oz) can marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe's Tuscano Marinara Sauce)
1 cup water
Shredded cheese to top

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix mashed black beans and ground beef. Add spices to season. Brown the ground beef mixture until cooked through. Drain grease, if necessary.
Add cooked ground beef mixture and all of the additional ingredients to a large crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for at least 5 hours (since your meat is cooked, you're mainly cooking the chili for that long to blend flavors). Serve warm with shredded cheese, if desired, and crackers or corn bread.

If you like this recipe, you are going to love these recipes, too:

Note: I used a canned marinara sauce from Trader Joe’s, which I think looks more like crushed tomatoes with spices than a spaghetti sauce.

For more Pinterest remakes, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:

Berry Sipper Mocktail by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Starbucks Cup Gift Card Holder by Homemaking Hacks
Ice Lanterns by Upstate Ramblings
Lip Scrub by Mom Always Finds Out
The Best Homemade Vanilla Extract by How Was Your Day?
Vintage Cheddar and Gruyere Mac and Cheese with Polish Kielbasa by A Day in Motherhood
Flourless Brownies with Craisins and Pistachios by Day by Day in Our World
DIY Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe by Just 2 Sisters
Tiger Nut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies by Home and Garden Cafe
Bang Bang Chicken by Jennifer Sikora
Frozen Banana Yogurt Peanut Dog Treats by 2Boys+1Girl=OneCrazyMom
Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Oatmeal by Sincerely Mindy
Garlic Monkey Bread Recipe by Gator Mommy
Homemade Vanilla Orange Mint Sugar Scrub by Baby Loving Mama
Valentine’s Day Strawberries by Sizzling Eats
All Natural 2 Ingredient Lip Gloss by The Socialite’s Closet
Pantry Tomato Pasta by The Guavalicious Life
How to Make Strawberry Pecan Bread by Mommy Snippets

Cajun Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes

Lolli — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 05:00:11 +0000

I recently started building my collection of cast iron skillets and pots, and I’ve been searching for recipes to prepare in cast iron. *Some members of my family are calling me slightly obsessed. They may have left off the word “slightly.”

So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that my obsession correlated with a new Pinterest board dedicated solely to cast iron cooking. (You should totally follow the board, because Oh.My.Goodness.YUM!). One of the very first cast iron recipes I grabbed from Pinterest happened to be a side dish – Hasselback Potatoes with Parmesan and Roasted Garlic (you can repin the pin here). I altered the recipe slightly to go with the main dish I was cooking that night (and our family’s tastes) and loved how they turned out…though next time I’m going to increase the time a little and choose smaller potatoes to give them more wiggle room in the skillet.

Another note: my cast iron skillet was busy that day handling the main dish (I told you I was obsessed) so I made the potatoes in my cast iron pot. Just ignore the pot and pretend my potatoes are in a beautiful skillet, k?

Cajun Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes

Yum

Cajun Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes

Ingredients

Olive oil
5 medium potatoes (or enough potatoes to loosely fit into your cast iron skillet)
5 to 6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup butter, cubed
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

Instructions

Heat oven to 375° F. Brush bottom and sides of a cast iron skillet with olive oil.
Slice potatoes to desired thickness (the thinner you slice your potatoes, the crispier they will get). Arrange potato slices loosely in prepared skillet. **You want your potato slices to be able to move around so the seasoning and butter get into everything. Don't over-pack your skillet or your potatoes won't cook throughout.
Sprinkle potatoes with garlic and Cajun seasoning, plus salt and pepper to taste. Top potatoes with small slices of cold butter.
Cover skillet with lid and bake in a 375° F oven for about 1 hour or until potatoes are tender. Remove lid, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or potatoes are cooked through and starting to get crispy.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by Yummly Rich Recipes

https://foodfunfamily.com/cast-iron-skillet-potatoes/

Before cooking…remember to take my advice and plan a little more space between your potato slices.

Do you have any favorite dishes that you make in a cast iron skillet or pot? I’ve tried SO many things…and I’ll have more of my own recipes coming shortly!

Note: If you don’t own any cast iron cookware, this dish can be made in a casserole dish.

Here are a few more fun Pinterest remakes:

Blueberry Apple Cider Vinegar Detox Drink by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Layered Berry Smoothie Recipe by A Mom’s Take
Veggies Cooked in a Dishwasher by Homemaking Hacks
Yellow Squash Croquettes by Mom Always Finds Out
Paint Chip Calendar by Upstate Ramblings
Fruit and Nut Trail Mix by My So Called Balanced Life
Grilled Chicken with Rootbeer BBQ Sauce by How Was Your Day?

Mexican Tortellini Salad #PinterestRemakes

Lolli — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 05:00:32 +0000

Around here, summertime cooking tends to be very different than school year cooking. The kids have swim team practice most days until 6:15 pm, and the time I have to get dinner ready and feed the family is even shorter than when they’re in school. Not to mention the fact that the afternoon and early evening are the hottest times in the kitchen, where we have the full late-day sun shinning through the window and sliding glass door. Who wants to heat up the kitchen even more than you have to?

I kept seeing this pasta salad (or something similar) around Pinterest – apparently, Pinterest thought I really needed to give this one a try. I decided to give it my own spin, using cheese tortellini instead of macaroni pasta and cubed pepper jack cheese instead of feta cheese. I loved how it turned out!

Because this Mexican Tortellini salad is served cold, I was able to leave it in the fridge and eat it for lunch for the next few days. That’s precisely what I need on hot and hectic summer days.

Yum

Mexican Tortellini Salad

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) package cheese tortellini
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.25 ounce) can corn, drained
3 ripe tomatoes, diced
3 green onions, chopped
⅓ cup finely chopped red onion
¼ cup chopped cilantro (I like to be generous)
1 cup pepper jack cheese, cut into small cubes

Dressing:

1 cup salsa
1 cup light sour cream
¼ cup light mayonnaise
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon lime juice
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cook tortellini according to package directions; drain and rinse with cold water. When tortellini is mostly dry, add to a large mixing bowl.
Add drained beans, corn, chopped tomatoes, green onions, red onion and cilantro to the bowl with the tortellini. Toss gently.
In a small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the pasta mixture.
Stir together until evenly coated, adding the cubed cheese at the end.
Refrigerate until ready to use. Best when eaten within 2 days.
Serves 8-12 people.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by Yummly Rich Recipes

https://foodfunfamily.com/mexican-tortellini-salad/

I don’t know…this may be the perfect salad to take to this weekend’s BBQs and picnics…

Have you made anything lately that was inspired by Pinterest? I love finding ideas there!

*Adapted from this recipe on The Recipe Critic.

For more fun Pinterest remakes, visit a few of my favorite bloggers:

Healthy Banana Coffee Frozen Frappe from Confessions of an Overworked Mom
Ranch Baked Zucchini Recipe from A Mom’s Take
Tropical Strawberry Lemonade Summer Drink Recipe for Kids from Our Family World
Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad from Mom Always Finds Out
Baked Mini Coffee Doughnuts with Cocoa Glaze from Sweep Tight
Peppermint Sugar Scrub from Upstate Ramblings
Maple Pecan Ice Cream from LW Vogue
Fresh Summer Melon Smoothie from How Was Your Day?
Floating Pool Noodle Toy Bin from Homemaking Hacks

Sand Pudding Cups

Lolli — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 04:05:33 +0000

A few weeks ago, when I was making (and then pinning) my Dirt Pudding recipe, I noticed a bunch of recipes for “sand pudding” kept popping up. I was introduced to dirt pudding in it’s many varieties as a teenager, but I had never heard of sand pudding.

My curiosity got the best of me and I clicked a few of the pins to see what this was all about. It seemed that, unlike dirt pudding, which is almost always a combination of Oreo cookies, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip, and gummy worms, sand pudding is not simply it’s vanilla counterpart.

I decided to make a version that took ideas from several of the ideas from the pins I found (like this one and this one and this one) and make it my own. My kids and I had a blast creating something not only yummy, but fun, too.

You are going to LOVE this recipe! Whether you’re making it for a summer party for a crowd or an afternoon snack just for the family, this is a treat that you do not want to miss!

Crockpot Barbacoa Tacos With Fresh Pico de Gallo

Lolli — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 05:00:19 +0000

How often do you scroll through Pinterest, finding gorgeous photos of food that you want to make someday….but those recipes end up remaining “stuck” on Pinterest, never to make an appearance in your kitchen?

I have so many recipes that I want to make, thanks to Pinterest, but I tend to stick with a lot of the old favorites that I’ve been making for ages. I’ve committed to trying more of the recipes I find on Pinterest – and of course, when I find a new recipe that my family loves, I love to share it here!

I hesitated to feature this particular pin for Barbacoa for this month’s #PinterestRemakes simply because the original author, Gimme Some Oven, is one of my most-admired food bloggers. Her images are gorgeous and, frankly, her recipe did not need any improvement. But, as luck would have it (you can call it good luck or bad luck, depending on how you look at it), I was missing a few of the key ingredients for her recipe, but had enough of them to justify making it anyway.

The first ingredient that we were missing was chipotles in adobo sauce. But….I had a jar of adobo sauce in the fridge AND some dried chipotles in my cupboard. I figured that the dried chipotles would soften up during the 6-8 hours of slow cooking. I wasn’t missing the can of chopped green chiles, but I had some frozen, chopped hatch chiles and love to use them whenever I can. Hatch chiles are hard to find fresh (they have a short “in-season” time) but I almost always have some on hand in the freezer.

And the third “change” that I made to the recipe was to add the pico de gallo, which is one of my favorite things to add to a shredded meat taco. Pico de gallo is such a fresh taste, and it always enhances the flavors of meat for me.

The tacos were a hit with the entire family and we’re definitely making it again!

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Tacos with Fresh Pico de Gallo

5.0 from 2 reviews

Crockpot Barbacoa Tacos With Fresh Pico de Gallo #PinterestRemakes

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

8 hours

Total time

8 hours 10 mins

The flavors in this slow-cooked barbacoa combine perfectly with the cool, fresh taste of homemade pico de gallo.

Author: Lolli

Ingredients

BARBACOA

3 pounds chuck roast, cut into medium chunks (bigger than bite-sized)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 dried chipotle peppers, chopped
¼ cup adobo sauce
⅓ cup chopped hatch chiles OR 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles
1 cup white onion, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ cup beef broth

PICO DE GALLO

4 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 medium white onion, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (or to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Combine all barbacoa ingredients (chuck roast through beef broth) in slow cooker and toss lightly. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 3-4 (I highly recommend planning ahead and cooking on low - the results are worth it!).
While barbacoa is cooking, prepare the pico de gallo by adding chopped tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, lime, salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Toss gently and refrigerate, covered, til ready to serve. I recommend preparing the pico at the beginning of the barbacoa cooking time to allow the flavors to combine.
When meat is finished cooking, shred with 2 forks (mine was so tender that I this step was very easy). Remove bay leaves and discard. Return shredded beef to crock pot with juices and turn heat to high for about 10-15 minutes.
Serve barbacoa in a soft tortilla shell with hot rice, pico de gallo, and any other toppings that suit your taste: cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

For more Pinterest Remakes, visit a few of my favorite blogs (I love the variety this month!):

Overnight Oats Recipe with Yogurt by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
DIY Serving Tray by Homemaking Hacks
Pumpkin Mini Baked Donuts Recipe with Apple Sauce by Our Family World
DIY Whipped Body Butter by My So Called Balanced Life
DIY Skin Detox Body Scrub by Oh So Savvy Mom
Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter and Chocolate by Mom Always Finds Out
Pinterest Inspired Bud Vase – A Simple DIY Craft by Three Different Directions
DIY Spring Clothespin Wreath by Simply Southern Mom
Oatmeal Energy Balls Recipe by Sweep Tight
Thumbprint Birthday Cards by Upstate Ramblings
DIY Nail Art: Easy Geometric Style by LW Vogue

Mason Jar Mini Key Lime Pies

Lolli — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 08:00:07 +0000

You guys. KEY LIME PIE. That’s pretty much the definition of pie-perfection in my book, and these mini key lime pies are to die for.

Love key lime pie like I do? You’ve come to the right place.

When a group of my blogging friends and I decided to do a monthly Pinterest Remake challenge, I knew that I would have a blast. What I didn’t realize was that spending hours on Pinterest (and, no, I’m probably not exaggerating) would lead me to find way too many projects that I wanted to try and far too many ideas to work on.

I narrowed my focus down to one particular pin for Key Lime Pies in a Jar, which lead me to a recipe found on Home Cooking Memories, one of my favorite foodie blogs. Although I’m sure that Brandie’s recipe didn’t need any changing, I was challenged to “remake” something I found on Pinterest so I gave it a slight make-over.

I started my makeover on the crust. I LOVE a good graham cracker crust, and graham cracker crusts are the only way to go when key lime pies are in the picture. But…I’ve been experimenting with coconut oil and other alternatives to butter and fats, and I thought that the graham cracker crust would be a perfect place to do a little experimenting.

I am also quite fond of cheesecakes, and I wondered how I might be able to give these mini pies a slight cheesecake texture. I added some light cream cheese and loved the result.

By the way, the key to making these delicious mini key lime pies so cute is the way they’re packaged…I used some wide mouth 8-ounce (half pint) mason jars that I found on Amazon (affiliate link). I vividly remember the first time I had mason jar desserts at a book club meeting years ago. Let’s just say that desserts packaged in mason jars are not only 1) great as single servings at parties and 2) great for portion control and 3) really convenient for transport (put a lid on each one, and there’s no mess!), but 4) they are stand-out adorable and make a BIG impression!

Ready for my Pinterest Remake of mini key lime pies in a jar? You have GOT to make this recipe!