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| Mississippi River, Winona MN, 2019 |
The Meal Plan
Sat (L) leftovers (S) rice pilaf
Sun (L) leftover pilaf (S) chili
Mon - leftover chili
Tues - leftover chili
Wed - leftover chili
Thurs (yoga) leftover chili
Fri - out
Lunches - Orzo soup (me); sandwiches (Husband)
Classic Weeknight Chili (modified from ATK Slow Cooker Revolution #1)
I have a vague feeling I've made this before, but there were no notes in my cookbook so I'm going with I haven't.
I question the "Weeknight" part of this, specifically as it relates to assembly. This was rather putsy for a slow cooker dish as everything is pre-cooked before going into the slow cooker. It was beginning to feel like pre-washing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Also noting, because I didn't do this, you HAVE to have everything ready to go. "Mise en place" (sp?). If you plan on doing this during the week, make sure you have plenty of time in the morning!
Loosely - mix the meat with the milk/bread mixture set aside. Cook the onion , cook the tomato mixture, cook the beef...it lost the simplicity of chop, plop and enjoy dinner later.
However! When all was done - this was really good. I'm pretty sure it was the soy sauce and brown sugar that elevates this from "just" a chili, to chili awesomeness.
2 slices of good white bread (I used a multigrain, crusts left on)
2 lbs ground beef (I used ground bear)
1/4 cup milk
1 onion, chopped
1/4 tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup tomato paste
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp groun cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz) can tomato puree
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (14.5 oz) cans pinto beans
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp minced canned chipolte chile in adobo sauce
Tear bread into pieces and place in a large bowl. Add milk and combine until a mash. Add ground meat, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and combine. Set aside.
Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat, add onions, chili powder, tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook until onions start to soften.
Stir in beef mixture a pound at a time, breaking up large pieces and cooking until no longer pink (good luck with that when it's coated in tomato paste and chili powder). Stir in 1 cup of the tomato puree, scraping up any browned bits, transfer to slow cooker. (I added a 1/2 cup of water to the pan at this point and used that to "rinse" the pan and get all that good flavor out)
Add remainin ingredients to slow cooker. Cover and cook 3-5 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.
Let chili settle for 5 minutes, remove any pooled fat from surface, break up any large pieces of beef, and serve.
Italian Orzo Spinach Soup (Gimme Some Oven blog)
vegetarian option Unlike the chili above, this came together very quickly. Surprisingly quickly. I did deviate slightly from the directions below - I let the soup simmer for 10 minutes, then I added the orzo and cooked for another 8 minutes. I wanted the orzo slightly under cooked as I knew it would soak up extra liquid in the fridge.
This was lunches for the week and this worked perfectly. The orzo didn't become soggy, the soup was the perfect consistency (not overly liquid-y which is awkward trying to transport), and it tasted great. A note here, my orzo was "southwest" flavored, a brand from Tuscon, AZ, that had faint undertones of lime. Initially that may seem to be off-putting, but it worked really well. I would use that orzo again in this soup.
Plain orzo, flavored orzo, I recommend this one!
Serves 6-8, depending on bowl size.
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| Photo from Gimme Some Oven Blog |
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small white onion, peeled and diced
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) DeLallo whole wheat orzo pasta, or other whole wheat pasta
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
4 cups loosely-packed spinach
salt and black pepper
optional toppings: freshly-grated Parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper flakes
Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 4 minutes, until soft. Add carrots, celery and garlic and saute for an additional 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes, orzo (pasta), thyme, oregano, rosemary and stir to combine. Bring soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente.
Stir in the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes until it is bright green and wilted. Taste, and season with salt and black pepper as needed. (Also feel free to add more of the thyme, oregano and rosemary, if you’d like.)
Serve warm, garnished with your desired toppings.
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