Chocolate Chipotle Chili

INGREDIENTS

1-2	T olive oil
1	large onion, chopped
2	cloves garlic, minced
1	red bell pepper, chopped
1	lb lean ground turkey or beef
1/2	tsp freshly ground black pepper
1	tsp ground cumin
2	T chili powder
3	T brown sugar
1	T unsweetened cocoa powder
2	(15 oz ) cans diced tomatoes
2	(14.5 oz ) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1	(15 oz) can beef broth
	chipotle sauce from a 7 oz can of chipotle chilies (strain out the chilies)
1/2	oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
	Chopped green onions, sour cream, or shredded sharp cheddar cheese for garnish, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1.	Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic, bell pepper, and ground turkey or beef until meat is cooked through. Add salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, brown sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, tomatoes, beans, and beef broth.. Add all the chipotle sauce from a can of chipotle chilies. Heat to boiling and then reduce to a simmer uncovered. Stir occasionally, until thickened as desired, about 30-40 minutes.
2.	if desired, add some chopped chipotle chilies. Stir in 3T of red wine vingar. Add chopped chocolate a small amount at a time until desired richness is reached. If necessary, add more red wine vinegar to cut the sweetness of the chili.
3.	When thickened and seasoned as desired, serve with chopped onions or green onions, sour cream, and shredded cheddar cheese.

Tikka Masala

Recipe from Allrecipes.com. I have halved the cumin and quartered the amount of cayenne pepper from the original recipe.

Curry Stand Chicken Tikka Masala Sauce

INGREDIENTS

2	tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or sub regular butter
1	onion, finely chopped
4	cloves garlic, minced
1/2	tablespoon ground cumin
1	teaspoon salt
1	teaspoon ground ginger
1/4	teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4	teaspoon ground turmeric
1	(14 ounce) can tomato sauce
1	cup heavy whipping cream
2	teaspoons paprika
1	tablespoon white sugar
1	tablespoon vegetable oil
4	skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2	teaspoon curry powder
1/2	teaspoon salt, or to taste (optional)
1	teaspoon white sugar, or to taste (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.	Heat ghee/butter in a large skillet over medium heat and cook and stir onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook and stir just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric into the onion mixture; fry until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
2.	Stir tomato sauce into the onion and spice mixture, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer sauce for 10 minutes, then mix in cream, paprika, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Bring sauce back to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until sauce is thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
3.	Heat vegetable oil in a separate skillet over medium heat. Stir chicken into the hot oil, sprinkle with curry powder, and sear chicken until lightly browned but still pink inside, about 3 minutes; stir often. Transfer chicken and any pan juices into the sauce. Simmer chicken in sauce until no longer pink, about 30 minutes; adjust salt and sugar to taste.

Freezer Lasagna/Bulk Spaghetti Sauce

These recipes come from

Frozen Assets: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month

By Deborah Taylor-Hough

Bulk Spaghetti Sauce
Makes roughly 6 quarts of sauce, enough for 4 lasagna with sauce enough left for 2 spaghetti meals.

2 lbs italian sausage
2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cups diced green pepper
1/2 cup diced celery
2 tsp minced garlic
5 jars (12 cups) spaghetti sauce
4 cans italian stewed tomatoes
1 can large sliced olives

Freezer Lasagna
Makes 4 8"x8" lasagna
2 12 oz lasagna noodles
18 cups spaghetti sauce
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese
24 oz (2lb) mozzarella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
8 cream cheese (optional)

Layer ingredients. Noodles do not need to be precooked if frozen first.

Thaw lasagna overnight in fridge. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes. Enjoy.

Tortellini Soup

This is based off of one of the original recipes from that first freezer meal prep day with my friend. She was out of town and couldn't give me her recipe when I needed it and this was the closest Google resyltb from Taste of Home. The original recipe was more savory and didn't have the tomatoes. We like this version better. The flavors are more well rounded.

Spinach Sausage Tortellini Soup

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 1 package (6 ounces) fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• 2 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh basil or 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Dash crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Crumble sausage into a Dutch oven; add onion. Cook and stir over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the broth, water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
2. Add tortellini; return to a boil. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until almost tender, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; add the spinach, basil, pepper and pepper flakes. Cook 2-3 minutes longer or until spinach is wilted and tortellini are tender. Serve with cheese if desired.

Freeze option: Remove from heat just after adding tortellini and spinach so they do not cook much at all. Place individual portions of cooled soup in freezer containers and freeze. To use, partially thaw in refrigerator overnight. Heat through in a saucepan, stirring occasionally and adding a little broth if necessary. Yield: 6 servings (2 quarts).

DIY Ranch Seasoning

I got this recipe from Gimme Some Oven. I haven't tried it to make Ranch salad dressing yet, but I have used it to make Ranch Roast. Because of this I have ommitted the powdered buttermilk from the original recipe.

Ranch Seasoning Mix (yield 1 cup seasoning)

• 1/2 cup dried parsley
• 1/8 cup (2 Tbsp) dried dill weed
• 2 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 1/2 Tbsp onion powder
• 2 1/2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
• 4 tsps ground black pepper
• 4 tsps dried chives
• 4 tsps salt.
• 
  
• Pound or grind the spices to help them evenly incorporate.

*3 Tablespoons is roughly equivalent to one package of store bought mix.

• 
  

For a single use batch:

• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried chives
• 1 teaspoon salt

DIY Pancake Mix

This DIY pancake mix does not have to be stored in the refrigerator and is a just-add-water mix. I have added a little oil and an egg to make waffle batter.

I don't remember where I found this recipe originally, but there was a lot of searching for a true, non-refrigerated, just-add-water mix. The original recipe made a heavy/dense pancake, so I really upped the baking powder, from 2 Tbsp to 6 Tbsp.

DIY pancake mix
8 cups flour
1 1/2 cup dry milk
3\4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp baking powder

Add water to the consistency you prefer, bake and enjoy!

Why Blog?

I'm a working mom. Yes, a doctor, but I'm not a medical doctor so please don't ask me those kinds of questions. Meals have been hard. The first year after baby, I was lucky enough that my husband took over the cooking. With him in school, he is less able to do that. So I tried a slow cooker meal prep day. After staying up very late chopping and bagging vegetables (Thanks sis!), I was pleased with the packed-full freezer. Fast forward to when we started cooking those meals....yeah, not so great. Some of the recipes were okay, many were not. To be fair, I was trying to do "healthy" meals, so none of the recipes had canned cream-of-your-choice soup. They did have lots of vegetables, and my main complaint was that the raw, then frozen, then slow cooked vegies had a weird consistency. Anyway, rather than discuss the various factors and ways I could have done differently to make things better, let's fast forward.

My friend asked if I wanted to do a meal prep day. She asked me after having us over for a fabulous lasagna that was made without cooking the noodles (regular, not non-boil), freezing then baking. It was yummy! So we did a meal prep day and these results were much better!

So why the blog? I am a busy mom. I don't want a huge stack of paper recipes, spreadsheets and endless web bookmarks to search through to find my successful recipes. Plus if they are online and a friend likes the meal I make, I can easily get it to them. So here it is: Real meals, from my home to yours.

Also, you won't find any fancy pictures here. Sorry to disappoint, but ain't nobody got no time for that.