Blame Le Creuset

Over the past month or so, our meals have been looking a lot like THAT up there. Looks awesome, right? Right. Well, my unmanageable obsession with our new dutch oven has led to more red-meat eating than I ever thought I would be involved with. I generally don't eat much red meat at all, maybe once a month, and now I think we need to take a break from each other. But, it was one heck of an experience.

On Saturdays (i.e. the only day I'm willing to give up more than 30 minutes to make a meal), Jordan and I throw around ideas like...Chili? Brisket? Sloppy Joe's? Week's supply of bolognese? Yes. Yes. Yes. and.... you guessed it, YES. 

Here is the month that was--some pictures missing and most pictures are not appetizing at ALL but if you have a hankering for something in one of these BOMB dutch ovens, every single recipe was awesome--leave a comment if you want recipes for the others. 

Chili

(Warning: I don't measure spices and all amounts below are made up. I just throw stuff in. I will never be able to write a cookbook.)

Ingredients: 

1 lb. ground beef or turkey (I used 90/10, for less fat)

1 large can stewed tomatoes

1 tiny can tomato paste

2 peppers, chopped (use different colors for effect)

**1 can fire roasted red peppers, chopped

2 chili peppers of your choice, chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced or chopped

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1/4 cup chili powder

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. onion powder

small handful dried oregano

small handful bried basil

salt and pepper to taste

as much of your favorite hot sauce as you want

**Important. Changes the game completely.

Prepare:
On medium-high heat, combine beef/turkey, onion, peppers, garlic until meat is brown (about 6 minutes). Drain any fat. Add everything else:)

Bring to a boil on high for 2 minutes, then reduce heat to low and cover for as many hours has you have to spare. Best after at least one hour--super awesome after 4.

Serve with light sour cream and/or shredded cheese. Makes about 8 human servings (3.5 Morgan and Jordan servings). To store leftovers -- I wonder what that's like? -- store portioned out chili in individual freezer bags. Way easier to thaw and is great if you want to take to work for lunch.

Here are the other great things we've made. Don't mind the ugly pictures and not-appetizing presentations. We're not really into looks.

 Brisket: delicious. Takes 8 hours.

Sloppy Joe's on toasted Ciabatta bread (that's the ideal, but we used italian bread due to lack of anything non-italian in our neighborhood). Five ingredients and 3 hours. 

Apologies for the semi-post. I love Le Creuset. I love fall flavors. I love the idea of managing my beef intake a little better next time.