Today we're delighted to have our good friend Victoria Hamilton join us with a tangy summer recipe and a giveaway to celebrate the release of the latest in the Lady Anne Addison Historical Mystery series. LADY ANNE AND THE MENACING MYSTIC is out this Tuesday! And she's celebrating with a $20 USD Amazon gift card! So, be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win.
Summer is a time for cookouts, fire pits, barbecues,
and… when it’s really hot, salad. Lots and lots
of salad: pasta salad, five bean salad, green salad, and some pretty weird
concoctions like a Thai noodle salad featuring peanut butter. But sometimes you
need something that can be prepared ahead of time, that’ll be ready for dinner,
and yet isn’t a salad. Enter… the slow cooker! Perfect when you want a hot meal
(and maybe some leftovers) but don’t want to heat up the kitchen. I have a
variety of these nifty appliances… four, to be exact, one ginormous one I
haven’t used for a while; it was good for big pot lucks or family gatherings.
And then three more: A large casserole style (pork ribs do well in it! It holds
a full rack.); a smaller casserole style that’s good for almost everything else
(especially smothered pork chops… yum!); and a medium sized upright… I think
it’s 5 quarts.
That’s what I’m using today. I’m making my foolproof
potluck-worthy Chili con Carne, as we used to call it in my house, which is
just chili with meat. I call this one Carne con Chili because… well, it has a
lot of meat.
Ingredients:
Olive oil
1 yellow onion
1 yellow/orange/red pepper (* if you don’t like
peppers, you can omit them, or use something like diced celery instead. In fact
you can add the diced celery too, if you’re of a mind!)
1 cup sliced cremini or other type mushrooms
(optional)
1 pound ground beef
8 – 10 ounces mild Italian sausage
1 splootch minced garlic (never heard of a splotch?
About a heaping tsp, then! I use a jarred variety that is in oil… simpler than
chopping my own.)
796 ml or 28 oz can stewed tomatoes (you can
substitute any canned tomato)
156 ml or 5 oz can tomato paste
398 ml or 14 oz
can Heinz Light Red Kidney beans rinsed and drained… (or two cans) more about these later…
1 – 2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp Old Bay (optional)
1 Glurg Worcestershire sauce (never heard of a glurg?
About 2 tsps.)
1 – 2 tsp brown sugar (optional)
Sneaky
addition: I also use a tablespoon or two of Clubhouse Spicy
Spaghetti seasoning blend… it adds an herbal flavour that I like, but it is not necessary.
Toppings: Green
onion, sour cream and/or grated cheddar cheese. I serve with whole grain
Tostitos chips, using them like a spoon… yum!!
Method:
1 – In a sauté pan or frying pan put a few turns of
olive oil, then sauté the onions, peppers, and mushrooms until the onions are
translucent. Transfer the sautéed veggies into the slow cooker.
2 – Put another turn or two of olive oil into the
frying pan, and sauté the Italian sausage and ground beef until there is no pink
left. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.
*Note… you can sauté the veggies and meat the night
before and keep them in containers in the fridge; the next day it is simplicity
itself to just dump them in the slow cooker and proceed to #3…
3 – Open cans: I use stewed tomatoes (I prefer the
depth of flavor in stewed tomatoes compared to just canned tomatoes) and cut
them myself into pieces because I like control over the size of the tomato
chunks. But there is no reason on earth you couldn’t use a can of diced
tomatoes and just throw them in to save time. The tomato paste is
non-negotiable; it gives a richness to the chilli that can’t be beat. Now, the
kidney beans… I use Heinz Light Red kidney beans; I have to buy them on Amazon
because our grocery stores don’t stock them! They are the tenderest beans I’ve
ever eaten. If you think you don’t like red kidney beans, try these. You could
add two cans of these beans if you
wanted to extend the chili to feed more. Do rinse the beans in cold water
before adding to the chili.
4 – Add these next 3 ingredients: chili powder, Old
Bay, Worcestershire sauce. Also add, if you are going to use it, the Clubhouse
Spicy Spaghetti seasoning.
5 - Mix it all up, and put your slow cooker on high
for 3 hours or so, then low for another couple of hours. Stir occasionally, but
not too often. This is how I do it, but you could probably put it on low for
the whole time and it would be fine… all of the ingredients are pre-cooked,
after all. You have to know your slow cooker; some run hotter than others!
6 - Taste near the end! This is when you can add more
Old Bay, or chili powder, and some salt and pepper. I don’t do salt near the
beginning; close to the end of cooking time you can tell how much it needs. Quite
likely, none. This is also when you
add the brown sugar if you feel that the
tomato taste is too sharp; this is definitely optional, and you may not
feel it necessary.
Serve it up in a bowl with the toppings on the side!
Set it out with a big bowl of the corn chips, or slices of fresh buttered
bread.
Serves many… at least 6, maybe more. You’ll have
leftovers… or plan-overs, as some cooks call them. This chili is dynamite
reheated, or you can make chili dogs, or it would be so good on baked potatoes! It freezes pretty well too.
Enjoy!
~::~
GIVEAWAY! Comment
here to be entered to win a $20 USD Amazon gift card. Tell me your go-to summer
dish, or your tips for chili! Contest open to all commenters internationally.
Please leave a first name and your email address ( youremailname (at)
yourserver (dot) com ) in your comment!
~::~
Lady Anne and the Menacing Mystic:
#4 in the
bestselling Lady Anne Addison Historical Mystery series.
Fans of the Lady Julia Grey Mysteries will love this
all-new Lady Anne Addison Mystery from Victoria Hamilton . . .
While in Bath preparing for her upcoming marriage
to Lord Darkefell, Lady Anne learns of a profoundly accurate mystic working in
town whose uncanny predictions have stunned the gullible and the skeptical
alike. Certain there’s a harmless rational explanation for the medium’s
supposed otherworldly abilities, Anne’s tolerance turns to defiance when the
seer’s dark pronouncements begin having a decidedly harmful affect on her
friends—and a troubled local vicar takes his own life.
Convinced that the woman is orchestrating a devious
scheme, Anne begins to suspect that she’s working in league with a shrewd
newcomer who’s attached himself to many of the town’s wealthy widowers. As she
navigates the swirling rumors of Bath society to confirm her suspicions and
unmask the charlatans for what they are, she discovers that the treacherous
conspirators are plotting to make her own future very dark—and very short-lived
. . .
Praise for the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries:
“If you are looking for a historical mystery with
romance, suspense, and a suggestion of paranormal, then read Lady Anne and
the Howl in the Dark.” —Fallen Angel Reviews
“[Hamilton] excels at imbuing her realistic
characters with subtle depths . . .” —American Library Association
“[The author] has set up a well-drawn Gothic horror
setting here, so the atmosphere is fantastic, what with it being chilling,
mysterious, and menacing all at once.” —Mrs. Giggles
Author Victoria Hamilton Biography
Victoria Hamilton is the national bestselling author of four mystery
series: the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries; the Merry Muffin Mysteries; the Lady
Anne Addison Historical Mysteries and the Gentlewoman's Guide Regency
Mysteries.
Victoria loves to read, especially mystery novels, and enjoys good tea and cheap wine, the company of friends, and has a newfound appreciation for opera. She enjoys crocheting and beading, but a good book can tempt her away from almost anything… except writing!
She now happily writes about vintage kitchen collecting, muffin baking and dead bodies – among other mysterious topics - for publisher Beyond the Page.
Visit Victoria’s website and sign up for her newsletter!
Victoria loves to read, especially mystery novels, and enjoys good tea and cheap wine, the company of friends, and has a newfound appreciation for opera. She enjoys crocheting and beading, but a good book can tempt her away from almost anything… except writing!
She now happily writes about vintage kitchen collecting, muffin baking and dead bodies – among other mysterious topics - for publisher Beyond the Page.
Visit Victoria’s website and sign up for her newsletter!
Victoria Hamilton Social Media Links
Gentlewoman’s Guide & Lady Anne Addison Historical
Mystery Series: https://www.facebook.com/GentlewomansGuideMysteries/
