4 Bean Chili

Ingredients:

2 cups dry black beans

2 cups dry kidney beans

2 cups dry cranberry beans

1 can ranch style beans

1 pound ground beef

1 pound pork stew meat

2 small or 1 large green bell pepper, diced

3 jalapenos, diced

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

1 onion, diced

8 tablespoons chili seasoning mix

1 small can salsa verde

salt and pepper and red chile flakes to taste

Make It:

Soak all dry beans in enough water to cover, overnight. Heat a large pot over medium heat, add beef to the pot, cook breaking up with a spoon until browned. Add onion, bell pepper, and jalapenos to meat, cook and stir till softened. Drain off extra fat if needed. Add beans, pork, tomatoes, salsa verde and seasoning, stir together( if mixture seems to thick add a little water, beer, or beef broth).Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Cover and cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Uncover taste and add salt, pepper and red chile flakes if needed. Allow to cook for another hour uncovered. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. Enjoy!

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:

12 ice cream sandwiches

1 tub cool whip

8 oreos crushed

1/2c. chocolate syrup

1 small package pudding

Make It:

Whisk pudding, chocolate syrup, and 1 cup cool whip until combined(if it is not smooth add a little milk). Stir in crushed oreos. On a large plate lay 4 sandwiches side by side, spread 1/2 of the pudding mixture on top of the sandwiches. Lay the next 4 sandwiches on top of the pudding side by side. Spread on the rest of the pudding mixture. Put on the last 4 sandwiches side by side, Spread the rest of the cool whip over the whole cake. Cover with foil, put in freezer for at least 2 hours, slice and Enjoy!

Menu for December 14th - December 20th

Monday- The game this week is Arizona vs. San Francisco, when I think of the bay area I think seafood. So i'm going to make a Bow Tie Crab Casserole, butter carrots

Tuesday- Pizza

Wednesday- Salami arugula mozzarella grilled sandwich, pasta e fagioli

Thursday- Broccoli cheese soup, chicken strips, sourdough bread

Friday- Fire roasted tomato sauce over fettucini noodles & spaghetti squash

Saturday- Christmas Party

Sunday- Chile verde burritos, orange & apple salad

Dessert of the week: Christmas M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies and S'more Cookies

Winter Vegetable Puree for Baby

This recipe makes enough to fill an ice cube tray,

a jar, and a serving to be eaten as soon as its ready.

Special Note: If your baby is under nine months old, don't add the broccoli(it is harder to digest) and blend it until smooth.

Ingredients:

3 golden potatoes, peeled

1 broccoli stem, sliced, and boiled until tender

1 large sweet potato or 2 small, peeled, and cut into pieces the same size as the potatoes

1 butternut squash, roasted, and meat taken out

1 cup apple juice for thinning

Make It:

In a 375 degree oven roast potato and sweet potato, for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into smaller pieces. Put potatoes and sweet potato into the blender with apple juice, blend until smooth. Add butternut squash, blend until smooth. Add broccoli and blend until mostly smooth, leaving it a little chunky. Put into an ice cube tray and freeze for later use. Enjoy!

Tips on beets

From what I have noticed not to many people like beets, and others have no idea what to do with them. So here is a little help. First off you can eat the whole thing greens and all. I chopped the beet greens up and tossed them with mushrooms, and green leaf lettuce, you can use any lettuce, and balsamic dressing.

The stalks i'm going to saute with celery and broccoli as a veggie side dish. The beet part takes a little prep but then it can be used in all kinds of recipes. Preheat oven to 375. Take beets and cut off greens and stalks and save, cut off root and discard. Wrap each beet in foil, place on a cookie sheet and bake for an hour or until a fork goes in with ease.

Allow to cool then remove skins. Removing the skins is tricky because they stain. If you have kitchen gloves wear them, I don't so I used plastic sandwich bags to cover my hands, and removed skins over the trash can.

At this point you can use them in a salad or in any beet recipe you have, or you can store them in the fridge until you are ready to use them. Enjoy!

Beets & Red Onion with Feta

Ingredients:

3 beets, baked until tender and skin removed, cut into wedges

1 red onion, cut into wedges

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

feta cheese

Make It:

Heat oven to 400. On a cookie sheet toss beets and onion with vegetable oil. Roast until onions are tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with feta, as much as you like, and put back in the oven. Bake for about 5 minutes until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Fennel & Carrot Saute

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb, sliced into thin pieces

2 carrots, sliced at an angle

1/4 cup water

pam

1 tablespoon chopped dill

1 tablespoon butter

pinch of salt

Make It:

Heat a skillet over medium heat, spray with pam, add veggies to pan, and saute for 1 minute. Add water to pan, simmer for 5 minutes, or until water is gone. Add butter and salt to pan and toss to coat. Enjoy!