Clever Chicks Blog Hop #17 AND Secret Chili Recipe

 

GIVEAWAY, The Chicken and the Dog children's book !

This book is a fun-filled story that follows the adventures of backyard chickens 

and a dog as they outwit a gang of wily, neighborhood raccoons.

 To enter:

1. FOLLOW this blog by subscribing via email, Google Connect, NetworkedBlogs or RSS feed

and

2. Leave me a COMMENT BELOW.

. Winners chosen from eligible entries & notified in reply to their comment or by email if provided. Giveaway ends 1/20/13 at 9pm EST

 _______

With the Superbowl right around the corner, I'd like to share my Fast & Fabulous Chili Recipe. The secret to making it quickly is to chop, cook and freeze the three main ingredients in advance.

Many of my dinner recipes include sauteed onions, peppers and/or ground beef and I have found that cooking and freezing large batches ahead (when they are on sale) saves me at least 10-12 minutes per meal. After cooking each ingredient, I portion them into ice cube trays, cover with plastic wrap & freeze. When hardened, I remove them from the ice cube trays and store in zip top bags in the freezer. When ready to use, I place a few cubes in a microwave safe dish and zap on high for one minute.

The trick to quickly thawing ground beef is to freeze it FLAT. I store it in one pound packages. 

MY SECRET CHILI
 INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground beef (or one bag pre-cooked/frozen)

1 tblsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped (or 4 frozen cubes)

1 large red bell pepper, chopped (or 5 frozen cubes)

2 garlic cloves, chopped or pressed

2 Tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to the heat you desire)

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1, 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

2-3 tablespoons tomato paste

1, 15.5 ounce can, small white beans, rinsed and drained

½ kielbasa link, ground in a food processor to the consistency of ground beef

1 bottle of beer

Optional: leftover beef, cut into small pieces. (I freeze leftover, cooked steak for this dish in particular)

Directions: 

In a large pot or dutch oven on medium high heat, either add frozen beef, onions, peppers & raw garlic, heating until garlic is softened 

OR 

brown ground beef & skim off excess fat. Remove from pan and set aside. Add olive oil to pan and over medium heat, add onions and peppers. Saute until onions are translucent.

Add all remaining ingredients to ground beef mixture. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally until ready to serve. The longer it cooks, the better, but simmer for a minimum of 1 hour. 

This Week's Featured Blogs
I really enjoy the diverse scope of topics that you all bring to this blog hop and thank you for your creative and interesting contributions to it weekly! 

Featured bloggers, you're welcome to grab the Clever Chicks Featured button! 

The Chick n' Coop- Barn Wood Sign 

Finely Ground- Store Bacon Smarter (this tip is SO clever!)

Our Side of the Mountain- Snowbirds, Chickens & Ducks

Something Sweet-Winnie's Blog, Rubick's Cube Cake

About Featured Blogs

My favorite posts will be FEATURED on Clever Chicks next week! I will also pin them to my “Clever Chicks” Pinterest board. The featured bloggers are invited to brag about how clever they are by posting the Clever Chicks "Featured” button on their blogs!

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Clever Chicks Blog Hop #17

You’re invited to LINK UP!

Despite the title, this is an equal-opportunity link party!

GRAB MY BLOG HOP BUTTON!

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How to Link-up

Share your clever ideas, DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, decorating tips, Etsy store creations, stories about your families, chickens, farm animals or other pets! 
No linky parties, giveaways or items for sale other than Etsy creations, please.

Please use the direct link to your blog post, not to your blog’s home page; 
we want to be able to find your clever post!

If you have trouble linking up, please email me the URL to your post and I will add it for you- Kathy@The-Chicken-Chick.com

Follow me on Facebook!

The winner of last week's Hog Wash Soaps Giveaway was Nancy Wolf.

This post was shared with: Adorned from AboveOpen Call @Salt Tree,  Pin Me @Diana Rambles, Show & Tell @Cheerios & Lattes, Superbowl Party @Seaside Simplicity, Try a New Recipe @Home to 4 Kiddos