Chili Dog Chili

This recipe was inspired by left overs.  We had come home from vacation and had an open package of chedderwurst brats and an open pack of hot dogs.  I decided that chili dogs were in order, but I was out of hamburger.  I decided to grind up the brats & hot dogs and use them for the meat!  The result was a really delicious rich mildly spiced chili that we slathered over oven roasted potatoes, cheese and ranch dressing.  It was really amazing, I'm here to tell you!


Chili Dog Chili
makes 6-8 servings
1 pack cheese brats OR 2-3 brats and 4-5 hot dogs, whatever you have on hand, about a pound of meat.
1/2 onion fine diced OR 1t onion powder OR 1t dehyd onion
1 can tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
1 T tomato paste
1/2 c salsa
1/4 c Franks Red Hot hotsauce
1/2 t. cumin
1 1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t oregano flakes
1 cans beans drained & rinsed (I used pinto and light red kidney beans)
1 t kosher salt
pepper to taste

Grind or chop up hot dogs & brats very fine, like ground beef texture.  Sautee ground hot dogs with onion about 5 minutes or until it starts to brown slightly.  Add the tomato paste and spices and cook until it begins to brown & smell really toasty, about 2-3 minutes.  Add tomato puree and salsa, stirring well to incorporate the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add beans and simmer on medium low for about 45 minutes with the lid off, stirring often.

Serve chili over fries, oven baked potatoes or on it's own.

Hearty Minestrone

Hearty Minestrone
makes 8 generous servings
1 can chick peas drained and rinsed
1 can red beans drained and rinsed
1 can italian style stewed tomatoes
3 carrots diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 small onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 zucchini diced
about 1 c cherry tomatoes
1/2 green pepper diced
1 t dried oregano
1 T kosher salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
8 c water OR chicken stock OR equivalent (aka Better than Bullion)
1 c V8 vegetable juice
2 T olive oil
4 oz cooked ditalini pasta

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium high heat.  Once hot add the onions, carrots & celery.  Sautee vegetables for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent.  Add garlic, stir well and sautee 1-2 minutes longer.  Once garlic is very fragrant  just before it starts to brown, add the tomatoes, juice & all.  Stir well to get the garlic up off the bottom of the pan.  Add everything else and bring up to a boil.  Once it boils reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for 1 hour.  Taste for season before serving, adjust salt & pepper if needed.  When ready to serve place a small portion of cooked ditalini or other small shape pasta in the bowl and ladle the soup over top.  Garnish with grated parmesean cheese if desired.



Nutrition Facts calculated at Spark People recipe calculator 8 Servings Amount Per Serving Calories 188.3 Total Fat 4.5 g Saturated Fat 0.5 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 1,029.1 mg Potassium 491.5 mg Total Carbohydrate 31.9 g Dietary Fiber 5.8 g Sugars 4.3 g Protein 6.8 g

Chicken Enchiladas with refried beans

Chicken enchiladas are always a hit in the Witch household. However the last few times I've made them they just weren't quite right. I made special note of a few areas that I felt just weren't working, and vowed to make some changes next time I prepared enchiladas.

The chicken was one place that I knew needed work. In the past white meat chicken breasts were all I'd even consider eating. I'd season it, cook it, dice it and make enchiladas. And every single time I was underwhelmed: the chicken was too chunky, not the right flavor, not at all what I was thinking it should taste like! Now a days my palette has expanded and I understand the beauty of using thighs. The meat isn't as dark as you'd think, so haters, give it a try! They aren't greasy, fatty or gross. As a matter of fact, they're lots more flavorful than the breast, it shreds like you want chicken to shred and has the flavor that I wanted in an enchilada. I slow braised the chicken in some spices in the oven, you could use a slow cooker, then shredded it. The chicken stayed moist, shredded perfectly and most of all had the flavor that I was hoping for. WIN!!

The next area to attack was the tortilla. Rater than add extra calories by flash frying I've always softened my tortillas in heated up enchilada sauce. That's how my Dad taught me, that's how we do it on Christmas when we make our homemade enchiladas, and I was always pretty happy with that. Until last time I made chicken enchiladas. Oh the sauce softened the tortilla, sure enough, but softened it so much that it turned to mush under my fingers. Trying to roll a soggy sauce logged tortilla is disastrous. It rips, tears and splits. Despite its visual appearance, its still tasty, right? Well...no, not really! I recall that last time I made chicken enchiladas I was NOT happy with the overall flavor, the tortilla was flavorless mush, no strong corn tortilla flavor that I was hoping for. You NEED that corn flavor to meld with the chicken and sauce, its a whole enchilada experience. So this time I decided to do it the restaurant way, briefly fry each tortilla in hot oil to soften it, fill with chicken, roll and spoon enchilada sauce over the top. SUCCESS!

These chicken enchiladas were exactly like the ones we'd get in a good Mexican restaurant. They were delicious. The tortilla had flavor on its own and didn't turn to mush. The chicken was seasoned and tasty. And best of all, because the chicken is cooked ahead of time, this is an easy weeknight dinner. The assembly didn't take long and after a quick trip through the broiler to melt the cheese, dinner was done.

And because I'm a Kitchen Witch, I couldn't just discard the cooking juices from the chicken. All that chickeny flavor, spices and goodness, well to dump it down the drain was sacrilege! Instead I whipped up a quick and healthy side dish of quick refried beans. A can of pinto beans, about 1/2 cup of the chicken cooking liquid and a pinch of salt, mash them up together and voila! Refried beans that are healthy, tasty and not laden with fat and calories.

I hope you enjoy these enchiladas as much as we all did!

Chicken Enchiladas
makes 14 enchiladas
1 lb chicken thighs
1/2 t each onion and garlic granules/powder and oregano
1 t each chili powder and ground cumin
1 t cumin ground
1/2 c chicken broth or water
S&P
1 can green enchilada sauce or up to 2 cups homemade
6 oz Monterey Jack cheese
14 corn tortillas
oil for tortillas

Refried beans
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c reserved chicken cooking liquids
pinch kosher salt

Prepare chicken first
Preheat oven to 250F
Place chicken thighs in a small dutch oven or a slow cooker along with the spices, herbs and chicken broth. Add a bit of salt and pepper, cover and cook about 3 hours (on low if using a slow cooker) or until thighs are tender and easily shredded.

Remove chicken and allow to cool until easily handled. Shred chicken, discarding any gristle and fat.

Reserve the cooking liquids from the chicken for refried beans.

Assemble enchiladas
Preheat broiler in oven.
Heat a sautee pan over medium high heat. Heat oil, enough to fill pan 1/2 inch deep. Once oil is hot quickly flash fry each tortilla. Immediately place tortilla in a 13x9 pan and fill with about 2-3 T of the shredded chicken. Roll tortilla and place in pan seam side down. Repeat for all tortillas.

Spoon enchilada sauce over top of the enchiladas, top with shredded cheese.

Place on top rack of oven and heat until cheese is melted and slightly browned on top. Remove from oven, allow to cool before serving.

Top with additional enchilada sauce if desired.

Refried Beans
Put drained and rinsed beans in a small sauce pan. Add the 1/2 chicken cooking liquid and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Using a potato masher smash most of the beans. The beans will thicken as they cook. Taste for season and adjust salt as necessary.




Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Chicken enchiladas
Amount Per Serving
Calories 333.2
Total Fat 9.3 g
Saturated Fat 1.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.2 g
Cholesterol 76.9 mg
Sodium 427.5 mg
Potassium 491.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 40.6 g
Dietary Fiber 6.6 g
Sugars 1.5 g
Protein 23.5 g


Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Refried Beans
Amount Per Serving
Calories 104.4
Total Fat 4.7 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.6 mg
Sodium 249.4 mg
Potassium 53.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 18.9 g
Dietary Fiber 6.6 g
Sugars 1.1 g
Protein 5.7 g

3 bean & bacon soup

Bean and bacon soup was one of my favorites growing up. But only from Campbells, condensed thankyouverymuch!. And CERTAINLY not my Mom's homemade, dear lord, not that! Why would condensed canned soup be better that Mom's homemade? Simple: Mom wasn't (and isn't) much of a cook. Her idea of bean soup was to boil pinto beans until they were kind of soft, add a TON of onion, some large hunks of carrot and that's about it. Flavorless, thin broth and semi crunch beans and carrots. Does that sound good to anyone? Do you see now why the Witch learned to cook?

This soup has both my Mom's and Campbell's beat. It uses pantry staples, is cheap and easy to assemble. I use canned beans for time saving as well as the variety that they offer. For this soup I chose 3 white beans, cannellini (white kidney), navy and butter beans. Feel free to use whatever beans you have in your pantry! Be sure to drain and rinse them well, that helps eliminate that 'canned' flavor and rinse away some of the excess salt that they're packed in.

The rest of the soup has pretty basic ingredients, carrots which add a delightful burst of sweetness, celery for flavor and onion & garlic, well cause I love onions & garlic, they make everything taste better. I dice my onions very fine so the little Witch will eat them, too. Bay leaves are wonderful with beans, along with some thyme, both add a nice herbal floral aroma and flavor to the soup, something you just do NOT get from canned soups. And bacon, let us not forget about the bacon! I use the drippings to sautee the vegetables in, adding even more flavor to the soup. Which leaves me with tomatoes.

Time for a little story. The Witch makes this delightful pot of soup, with corn bread muffins and honey butter for her family. She tastes the soup as its cooking and feels that its going along well, pretty tasty indeed. A little more salt, a touch of pepper and dinner's served. But as the Witch ladles up the soup she thinks "there's something missing here" yet serves it to her family. A few bites into the soup the Witch says out loud "Oh crap, I forgot to add some tomatoes for acidity. Darn it!" Then the Witch remembers she has some tomato puree in the fridge, just waiting to be used up. Rather than allow the family to suffer from sub par soup, she snatches up the bowls of soup from her poor hungry family, deeming them inedible until further notice. She adds the tomato puree to the pot of soup, stirs it up and lets it simmer for about 5 LONG minutes and then reserves it to the family. Ahh, that's more like it! The color deepened and the flavor, well the bit of acidity is exactly what the soup needed to go from pretty good to holy hell this is amazing! The lesson here readers is to NOT FORGET the acidity in your soups! That flavor is very important, it balances the other flavors, brightens things up and added a depth of flavor that you simply can't do with out. Lesson learned!

3 Bean & Bacon Soup
makes 6 servings
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, fine chopped
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 can navy beans, drained & rinsed
1 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained & rinsed
1 can butter beans, drained & rinsed
1 t dried thyme
3 bay leaves
8 oz tomato puree or sauce
kosher salt & pepper to taste
1/2 lb bacon cooked crispy, use drippings for sauteing vegetables (I used Pork & Bacon sausage)

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Slice the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy. Once bacon is crisp remove meat from pan and keep the drippings.

To the bacon drippings add the carrots, celery and onion. Cook about 5 minutes stirring as needed. Add the garlic and cook for 10 minutes longer, until the onions are very soft and starting to brown.

Add the stock, water, herbs, salt & pepper, stirring up any cooked on bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes over medium low heat.

Add the beans and the tomatoes. Cook about 5 minutes longer, adjusting salt as needed. If using Pork & Bacon sausage, add the cooked meat to the soup when adding the beans & tomatoes. If using good old bacon strips add bacon as a garnish on top to avoid soggy bacon pieces



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 287.9
Total Fat 17.1 g
Saturated Fat 6.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 40.0 mg
Sodium 1,189.4 mg
Potassium 537.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 20.9 g
Dietary Fiber 6.4 g
Sugars 2.5 g
Protein 13.4 g

Pass it on Week 4: Not your mama's meatloaf

This weeks Pass it On recipe is a meatloaf from Jamie Olive's book Jamies Food Revolution. Megan from Tomato Tots selected this weeks recipe for us, and she did good!

When I read the list of ingredients I was a bit baffled on how this would all come together into a cohesive meatloaf. I mean garbanzo beans? What? But, being a brave Kitchen Witch I put my best food forward & got creative. (Megan just provides us with an ingredients list, we take it from there, you see) Admittedly I forgot a few ingredients (OOPS!) like balsamic vinegar, and I was out of fresh rosemary. I didn't have any saltines so I used my homemade bread and made bread crumbs. It worked out just fine. When I saw Megan's post I realized that the garbanzo beans & tomatoes were to make a sauce over top of the loaf. Well, that's not how the Witch did it - I mixed it all together. It made for an extremely moist, tender and flavorful meatloaf, a very modern interpretation of a classic. The Husband really enjoyed this - as did the little Witch. I think this version will become our new go to for the comfort classic meatloaf. Here's what I ended up creating with this weeks list of ingredients.

Not your Mama's meatloaf
serves 8
1.5 lb lean ground beef
1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
1 onion, diced fine
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 slices bread made into crumbs or 12 crackers crushed
1 egg
1 t dried oregano
1.5 t cumin
1 t Paperkia
1/8 t ground pepper
kosher salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T Dijon mustard
6 strips bacon cut in half

Sautee the onions in the oil, cook on high heat until onions start to brown. Add the garbanzo beans, tomatoes with juices and spices, stir well allowing the tomato juices to deglaze the pan. Pour the onion/garbanzo mix into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool about 15 min or until cool enough to handle.

Add Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and lemon juice to the bowl. Mix well. Add the ground beef, bread crumbs and egg. Using your hands mix it all up but don't over mix this. You just want it to come together.

Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray. Pour the meat mixture out onto the sheet pan and form it into a long rectangular loaf, about 2 inches high. Make an indention down the middle of the loaf, this will prevent it from becoming dome shaped when it cooks.

Layer the bacon strips over top of the loaf.

Put the meatloaf into a 450 oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350. The initial high temps will help crisp up the bacon. Cook about 60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 155-160. If needed put the loaf under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp up the bacon. Allow the meatloaf to rest at least 5-10 minutes before serving.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 302.9
Total Fat 20.1 g
Saturated Fat 7.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.2 g
Cholesterol 83.8 mg
Sodium 578.9 mg
Potassium 358.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 12.6 g
Dietary Fiber 2.2 g
Sugars 0.7 g
Protein 17.1 g

Ghetto fab Taco Meat

Its no secret, we love Mexican food here. Enchiladas, taco, mole, we love it all. Some form of tacos/nachos/tostadas/taco salad is bound to be found on our dinner table at least once a week.

Back in the day before I educated myself about nutrition and healthier eating I was a pound of burger and a packet of taco seasoning mix. Then one day I read the ingredients on that taco seasoning packet and was amazed at the JUNK in there!! Oh sure, theres spices but why is there partially hydrogenated oil? Why is it in there? Some of them have high fructose corn syrup too. Umm...again why? Why do we need corn syrup and almost plastic oil in tacos I ask??

Now a days I make my own taco mix. Its so much fresher tasting, has more flavor, less sodium and NO partially hydrogenated oils or HFCS. That makes a Kitchen Witch happy! I also throw in a fair amount of vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and beans - something the little Witch doesn't realize, so we're getting a serving of veggies in our tacos, gotta love that!

Taco meat is so very versital, last night it was transformed into nachos. Today for lunch it might become taco salad. You can change the meat too, with fantasitc results, try ground chicken for light fresh taste and save yourself a LOT of calories too!!

Oh, we call it Ghetto Fab because its not fancy gourmet like, nope its pretty ghetto. But man, sometimes its so good to slum it :)



Ghetto Fab Taco meat
serves 4-6
1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, pork)
1 can RoTel tomatoes or store brand tomatoes with chilies
1 t chili powder
1 t cumin, fresh toasted & ground if possible
S&P
1/2 onion diced fine
3 cloves garlic minced
1 bell pepper diced
1 can beans, pinto, black or kidney, drained & rinsed
1/4 c water
2-4T vinegar based hot sauce like Taco Bell mild sauce or Franks Red Hot (optional but it really doesn't add much heat, more of a subtle spicy tang)

Brown meat, drain fat well. Add onions, garlic and bell peppers. Cook for a few minutes until the onions and garlic start to release their fragrance. Add seasonings and tomatoes, juice & all and the beans. Add the hot sauce & water if needed. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.



Makes awesome nachos, tacos, burritos, tostadas and taco salads.

Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
**nutrition is based on ground beef, values will changed with different meat**
Amount Per Serving (5 servings approx)
Calories 316.0
Total Fat 19.2 g
Saturated Fat 7.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 8.3 g
Cholesterol 68.0 mg
Sodium 484.1 mg
Potassium 483.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 15.0 g
Dietary Fiber 4.2 g
Sugars 2.5 g
Protein 19.5 g

Spiced Beans

Canned beans are a staple in the Kitchen Witch pantry. My daughter LOVES beans, so anytime I can throw them into a dish, I do. Its the one thing I know she'll eat! But canned beans have a tenancy to be lackluster, to say the least. Have no fear, the Kitchen Witch is here to spice up those beans for you, turning them from a pantry staple to a quick and easy side dish.

Black beans are my personal prefereance for this dish, they go so well with cumin and lime. However the day I photographed this dish all I had on hand was pinto beans. They were pretty darn tasty, too. Almost as good as the black beans. So feel free to use whatever kind of beans you have in your pantry.

These beans are a great side dish with your favorite Mexican meal. I also like to use these beans with some grilled meats in a taco salad. They also make for mean nachos. Pretty much no matter what you decide to serve these beans with you'll be happy you did.

Spiced beans
serves 4 as a side dish
1 can beans, drained and rinsed well (black or pinto are good choices)
1 t fresh toasted and ground cumin (preground cumin seed works fine too)
1 T minced onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 jalapeño, seeded and diced (more or less depending on your preference)
1/2 c water or chicken stock
S&P
squeeze of lime juice
drizzle of oil

Heat a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add oil and onions, allow to cook about 3 minutes. Add cumin, garlic, bell peppers and jalapanos, stir well to coat in oil and cook 2 minutes.

Add beans and water or stock, stir well. Reduce heat to low and allow beans to simmer for about 20 minutes.



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 64.3
Total Fat 0.4 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 40.5 mg
Potassium 189.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 11.8 g
Dietary Fiber 4.0 g
Sugars 0.1 g
Protein 4.1 g

Hummus

Sometimes I feel like the last person to know about a good thing: this time its hummus. Oh sure, I've heard about it for years and thought, Gee that sounds delightful! I love chick peas and sesame seeds, so whats not to love about hummus? I even went so far as to make some once, with out a recipe, as is the Kitchen Witches style. The results were less than favorable so I didn't return to hummus land for a long, long time.

I scored a bag of Stacey's pita chips for FREE recently (thank you Stacey's facebook fan page). As luck would have it I was scrounging through my cupboards and discovered a can of chick peas. Just like that the spell was cast. I'd make hummus. But this time I'd figure out what I was supposed to do before just winging it, and maybe I too could get in on the hummus bandwagon, just as it pulls away from the station.


The results this time around, with a little research under my belt, were amazing. So good that I bought more hummus making materials and I plan on it becoming an integral part of my lunch time routine. My lunch sandwich will consist of whole wheat pita bread, 2 heaping tablespoons of hummus, lettuce, cucumber, tomato and feta cheese. Low calorie, lots of vegetables and meat free. Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

Hummus
makes 8 servings
1 can chick peas, drained, reserve 1/4 c of the liquid
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
1 t ground cumin seed
1 t kosher salt (more or less depending on taste)
few grinds pepper
3 T tahini
1 T EVOO



Put everything in the work bowl of a food processor. Run it for about 5 minutes, scraping down sides every minute, or until you have a very smooth and thick paste.



Really, that's it! If you don't have a food processor you could try to use a blender but honestly, I don't know if it'd work, this is a pretty thick paste so the blender might not process it properly. If you try the hummus in a blender please let me know how it turns out!


Nutrition Facts provided by Spark People recipe calculator
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 119.7
Total Fat 5.5 g
Saturated Fat 0.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 467.8 mg
Potassium 136.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 14.9 g
Dietary Fiber 3.1 g
Sugars 0.2 g
Protein 3.9 g