Three Recipes - Make One, Then Use the Leftovers to Make Chili

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Josh_Day]Josh Day

Here are three delicious recipes that I often make. Each recipe makes a lot, so you'll have leftovers... and here's the good news: you can use the leftovers to make some really great chili!

Spicy Italian Crockpot Roast

1 roast (boneless pot roast, bottom round, whatever)

1 bottle of Giardiniera vegetables

1 bottle of Pepperoncini (look in the pickle ailse, you'll usually find both Pepperoncini and Giardiniera together)

4-6 red new potatoes

Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup of water

Coat your roast with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning on all sides, very thoroughly with a lot of seasoning. Then sear in a pan until brown. This gets the flavors into the meat.

Wash potatoes and place at bottom of the crockpot. Put roast on top of potatoes.

Open bottle of vegetables. Pour out the juice then pour all the veggies into the crockpot. Do about half of the peppers, also draining the juice (I like mine really spicy so I do the whole bottle).

Finally add a tiny amount of water. Remember the potatoes and veggies will release water so you don't want too much.

Cook on low all day or high for 5-6 hours.

Sweet Crockpot Pork Tenderloin

This recipe is tender, moist, and great for holidays and special occasions. Also it's super easy to make!

1 pork tenderloin

1 can of cranberry sauce, jellied or whole (or you can make your own)

1/3 cup French dressing

1 onion, cut into quarters

2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix cranberry sauce and French dressing in a bowl until combined in an orange sauce. Place onions on the bottom of the crockpot. Add pork tenderloin. Sprinkle celery atop pork and salt and pepper to taste. Finally, pour in the sauce, making sure to cover the pork.

Cook on low for 5-7 hours or high for 3-4.

Chili

1 bag of Carroll Shelby's chili mix (you can spice it yourself but I find using his spices a lot easier)

1-2 pounds of ground chuck beef

1 8 oz can tomato sauce, NOT spiced

1 can diced or quartered tomatoes

1 can of red kidney beans, dark or light

1 can of black beans

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1/4 or 1 or 2 tsp of red pepper flakes (1/4 makes medium, 1 makes hot, 2 makes ultra-nuclear hot)

Pinch of cayenne

Optional: leftover pork from the sweet crockpot pork, or the spicy pot roast

Brown beef, draining grease.

Chop onions pretty finely, but you don't have to go crazy with it. Add to meat and stir for about five minutes until they're translucent. Now chop the garlic as finely as humanly possible. Add to meat and stir, letting the flavors absorb.

Now the important part... add your cayenne and crushed red pepper. The crushed red pepper is going to give you your heat, more so than the ground cayenne, so use sparingly if you don't like it too spicy. We're building our foundation right now so stir the hot spices in well.

Kick the temperature up on the burner. Pour in tomato sauce and diced tomatoes (you want the water the tomatoes came in!) Now add your chili seasoning, the Carroll Shelby stuff or your own spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, etc).

Finally, pour your beans into a strainer and THOROUGHLY rinse them. You don't want any of the juices the beans came in. Pour the beans into the chili and stir heartily. Also add whatever meat or anything else you like (some crunchy peanut butter, a dash of dark cocoa powder, crushed nuts, maybe another type of bean, etc).

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover for 20 minutes or so. (I let mine simmer for about an hour to really let the flavors come together.)

If you like your chili really thick, you can add some masa flour that came with the chili pack. Follow the directions on the chili kit.

Chop up some green onions or chives, finely. Spoon into bowls and garnish with green onions on top. Be sure to have sour cream.

Josh Day is a work-at-home dad who enjoys spending time with his son James. He and his wife Leah have written a practical guide to parenting for realistic people called Moderation Parenting. Learn more about their book and parenting method at http://moderationparenting.com

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