Crazy name  I know… but I can explain.  Once you see a few of the ingredients you will catch on to the Italian part… oregano being the dead giveaway.  And for the stampede portion, I went with the stampede seasoning I have used in past on ribs.  The flavor is great, a little heat but a lot of punch.

I find chili is something that you can put together relatively easy and flavor it to your liking.  A dish this simple can really cap off the work day with an “Ahhh” moment.   Relax, enjoy your food and make it the way you like it.  As you read through the ingredients below, take it as a guide as you can throw whatever you have in the fridge or whatever flavors you feel.

Ingredients

• 1Lb. Lean ground beef
• 1/2 Cup green lentils, cooked
• 1 Can of Diced Tomatoes  28 oz
• 1 Can of Red Kidney Beans 14 oz, rinsed and drained
• 1 Can of White Kidney Beans 14 oz, rinsed and drained
• 1 Cup white onion, diced
• 2 Cups Mushrooms
• 1 Carrot, diced
• 1 Cup corn, frozen
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. Oregano
• 1 Tbsp. Coriander
• 1 Tbsp. Stampede spice
• Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Using a large pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and onion.  Begin to saute and sweat the onion for about 3-4 minutes.
2. Add in the mushrooms and half the stampede spice and coriander.
3. Once the mushroom and onions cook down for about 4 minutes, add the ground beef and let cook until no longer pink.  Add the remaining coriander and stampede spice.
4. Stir in the lentils.  Season with salt and pepper and cook down for 3 minutes.  This will allow the lentils to flavor prior too the liquid.
5. Toss in the diced carrot, can tomatoes and stir together.
6. Add both beans and bring to a simmer.  Cook for about 20 minutes on low heat.
7. Stirring occasionally, than before serving add the frozen corn and let cook for 3 minutes.
8. Adjust salt and pepper to your taste.
9. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip:  Adding the lentils, adds just another dimension of flavor and texture and a great way to fill you up.  Give it a try the next time you fire up the chili pot.

What is your secret chili ingredient?

Lots to do today and I am sure you do as well.  I will let you get to it.  I will talk to you on Friday with a dish to take you into the weekend.  Have a super Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

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A package of lean ground beef, 2 hot house tomatoes, 2 sweet potatoes and some baby romaine.

Turned into an Indian infused meatball that had reviews all around the table.  Things like:

• Wow, Delicious.
• Amazing flavor.
• Dad, another meatball please – these are double thumbs up.

Nothing makes me feel better than preparing food that everyone enjoys and remembers.  Last night’s meal was definitely one of those meals.  Nothing fancy or complex just a simple dish packed with flavor and using fresh ingredients.

The highlight of the dish was the sauce.  A reduction of tomatoes and balsamic vinegar hot with a shot of barbecue sauce at the end to balance it out.  We could have licked the pan dry on this one.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Lean Ground Beef
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup Raw Instant Oatmeal
• 1/2 Tsp. Coriander
• 1 Tsp. Garlic, minced
• 1 Tsp. Cumin
• 1/4 Tsp. nutmeg
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 tomatoes , cut into quarters
• 3 Tbsp. Barbeque sauce

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl, add ground beef, egg, oatmeal, all the spices and mix together.
3. Preheat a dry pan on the stove to high heat, and begin to shape your meatballs. Place the meatballs in the pan and sear on both sides.
4. Once seared, add the tomatoes and move to the oven to finish cooking – about 12 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and set the meat balls aside.  Returning the pan to a hot burner, add the balsamic vinegar and barbecue sauce and let reduce for your sauce.
6. Wait for the “fat” roasted sweet potatoes
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I find when you buy lean or extra lean ground beef it can dry out quickly and become pretty awful.  Adding the egg and hint of oatmeal will help add some moisture inside.  You can always add cheese as well.

Alright, I better go get cleaned up and on the road.  Have a super Wednesday and I will touch base you on Friday with something sweet.  It is time we made something sweet – dontcha think?  Oh Wow – I just remembered it is Mother’s Day this weekend. Hmmm I better get the hamster moving for some ideas.

Take care

zesty

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Can you believe it is Monday already? Time is flying by as of late and it is hard to believe. This weekend was action packed to say the least but an enjoyable one regardless of the less than ideal weather.  As a family we volunteered our time at our local elementary school to help build a new playground.  With over 200 volunteers it was quite a site and the playground is going to look amazing.

Maybe I was inspired from building because in the afternoon the family built a picnic table for the kiddies and chose to stain it a dark walnut color.  It looks pretty good and will be a great addition to the deck.  Saturday night included a Zesty nephew having a birthday as well as some great food to go along with it.  Dishes such as chicken asparagus lasagna, homemade spaghetti and meat sauce, chocolate cake with boiled icing and of course an ice cream cake.  I am going to feature the chicken lasagna upcoming as it was to die for.  Thanks Zesty-in laws.  Sunday included a shopping spree to Moncton, family dinner and a fun day with the family.

As I was preparing this post – i was unsure of what to feature for the food.  Earlier in the week, I had a clean the fridge meal and came up with this spicy beef and sweet potato plate that was decent but not amazing.

Ingredients

• 1 Sweet Potato
• 1 lb Lean Ground Beef
• Frozen green beans
• 1 Tsp. Ground ginger
• 1 Tsp. Red pepper flakes
• 1 Tsp. Soy sauce
• Splash of lemon juice

Method

1. Wash and fork the sweet potato and cook in the microwave for 6 minutes.  Peel and chop into cubes
2. Over medium heat, add the ground beef to a sauce pan and begin to brown the meat.  Add ginger, pepper flakes and soy sauce and continue to brown.  Once no longer pink add the lemon juice and sweet potatoes.
3. Continue to saute for another 4 minutes to get the flavor in the sweet potatoes; meanwhile follow the instructions for the frozen beans and cook them in the microwave.
4. Plate up the sweet potato and beef and top with the green beans.
5. Enjoy!

Zesty Tip: Storing you ginger in the freezer and using grater is a great way to avoid spoilage.  It grates easy and does not lose any of it’s flavor.

So an action packed weekend to say the least and an equally busy week ahead.  Have a great start to your day and I will see you on Wednesday!

Here is a snapshot at the picnic table.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Monday to you!  I hope you had a great weekend.  My weekend was action packed with “the house”.  We started painting the ceilings this weekend and I had to clean the whole house  before paint starts on the walls (today).  We are still having window problems – we had some more rain along with a couple of new leaks – grrrrrrr.

We had a lot of help at the new build with sweeping, cleaning and vacuuming.  It was greatly appreciated.  A zesty in law spent the whole day on Sunday pushing the broom, scraping the seam filling mud off the floor and vacuuming.  You gotta love great help!  Needless to say I didn’t spend much in the kitchen but we did manage to eat.  I wanted to share with you a old time recipe that I am guessing everyone has tried.

Now this is a super dish for leftovers, a great casserole in the winter and even better a pretty healthy dish over all.  I know this has ground beef on the bottom but if you are a vegetarian you could simple substitute out the beef for scrambled tofu or just use other vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini or even squash.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 – 2 lbs potatoes (3 large potatoes)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).
2. While the potatoes are cooking, add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink.
3. Add the carrots and let them cook until warmed through.Add salt and pepper.
4. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.
5. Add corn or peas near the end of the cooking process before adding to the casserole dish.
6. Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, add the milk to give some extra flavor and season to taste.
7. Place beef and vegetable mixture in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely.
8. Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Zesty Tip: There are a couple of tips that I would recommend with this dish.  Utilizing a can of vegetable soup is a great idea if you don’t have beef stock on hand.  It gives a nice flavor and keeps it moist.  Another idea is to rub a little milk and butter on top of the potatoes to ensure they get nice and golden brown.

My final idea, which I have yet to try, is to attempt this recipe with a “SWEET POTATO” topping.  I can only assume this would be delicious.

Open Sky NEW PROMOTION – 10% OFF SALE

We’ve launched a 10% OFF SALE!  This sale applies to EVERYTHING in every OpenSky shop, from Yes You Can Grill’s Outdoor Chef City Grill to Cooking With Friends’ Jarden Ball Home Canning Kit to Veggie Gardening Tips’ Composting Accessory Kit.

Here are the details:

• Coupon Code: Cory1009
• Offer: 10% off
• Expiration: November 15, 2009

Giveaway Update

I am really impressed with the results of my latest giveaway from Friday and I am really grateful for all your nice comments.  They really are fun to read!  I was thinking of a crazy idea and I wanted to run it by you to see what you thought.  What do you think if I get 350 comments on the giveaway that I actually give TWO Design Makeovers.  Let me know your thoughts and then tell all your friends and see if we can reach that number.

Wow  – I think that was a long post.  I hope you have an awesome Monday.  If I can remember to take the camera to the house tomorrow – you will be getting a house update.

Take care

zesty

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Well I think it is safe to say that at some point in our lives we have all been exposed to a box of kraft dinner or two.  I first have to tell you a couple of mandatory ingredients that are a must have for a successfull batch of the popular fluorescent orange meal.

To start it off – if one does not have real milk and real butter they should not even open the package of kraft dinner and get started.  These really are must haves to make the kraft dinner as it was intended.  While cooking it at our house – I usually add a little less milk and little more butter than they suggest to make it creamier.  I find if you add to much milk it becomes soup-like ( which I am not a huge fan of)

Now because Kraft Dinner preparation is not rocket science… I thought I would spice this post up and show you how I spent yesterday at the house.  I tested ( not for the first time for some) the below add-in recipes to make sure they turned out edible and worthy of letting the world see inside my unique kraft dinner add-ins.  So I hope you enjoy the recipes to follow and if you have any different or interesting comments about Kraft Dinner – I would love to hear about them.

Ground Beef

• 1 lb. ground beef, cooked
• add taco seasoning (as you would to make meat for tacos, according to the package directions)
• drained 1 can (15 oz.) Mexican style diced tomatoes
• 1 Cup mushroom pieces and stems

Tuna

• 1 can (6 oz.) tuna, drained chunk
• 1 celery stalk, sliced
• dash of Italian seasoning
• 1 can (10-1/2 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup each milk and frozen peas

Chicken

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1/2 lb.), cooked, chopped
• 1 can (15 oz.) Italian style diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup chopped green peppers (about 1 medium)
• dash of thyme

Pepperoni/Hotdog

• 1 cup Pepperoni or hotdog slices (about 1/4 lb.)
• 1 cup chopped green peppers (about 1 medium)
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 2 medium)

Ham

• 1 cup of cooked ham ( cubed)
• 1 cup of cooked spinach ( or baby spinach raw)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 cup Bread crumbs

For the Ham Recipe above I like to stir in the parmesan cheese in at the very end then transfer everything to a casserole dish and top with bread crumbs and baked it in oven at 375 degrees until golden brown and bubbly.  And of course you can do that for any of the above choices but I find it works best with the ham and spinach.

Just for the record – I am not a huge fan of Kraft Dinner and I rarely eat it but it is fun to experiment. No matter how much you argue – most kids in this generation really do love the infamous orange noodle.

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