Meat Lover's Chili

Hey there!

I know its been a little while, my apologies. Life seems to get busier and busier as it goes on. I am getting married in October and seem to be overwhelmed with the looming deadlines and decisions that comes with the planning. I am finally now able to sit for a couple minutes before running out of the house to talk about the Super Bowl. (Hi 14 days later...)

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a HUGE Patriots fan. It annoys most people because they're incredibly jealous of the Pats' awesomeness. We had an amazing season and despite the loss in the Super Bowl, I still think we were the best team of the season. For the Super Bowl, Jon wanted chili. He made it very clear he wanted a man's chili, "none of that ground turkey s--t". So, I googled and combined some recipes and came up with what he claims is "the best chili he's ever tasted". Now, I'm not a chili fan at all, so I can't tell you whether or not he's exaggerating. You'll just have to make it yourselves.

8 slices bacon
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 small chili peppers (such as jalapenos or serranos), chopped
1/2 bottle beer (such as Corona)
3 beef bouillon cubes
6 oz tomato paste
2 tbsp steak sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 lb italian sausage
5 10 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles
2 15oz cans of kidney beans, 1 drained, 1 with juices
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp hot sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar


In a medium skillet, cook the bacon until crispy. After cooked, place on a plate with paper towels. In the bacon grease, cook the garlic, onions, green peppers and chili peppers for 2-3 minutes. Whisk in beer, beef bouillon, tomato paste and steak sauce until well combined. Reduce heat to low.

In a large stock pot, brown ground beef and italian sausage.  Add diced tomatoes and kidney beans. **Reminder, with the kidney beans, one can will be drained so you are only adding the beans, the other you will add the whole can including the juices.** Add in the tomato paste and beer mixture. Add in chili powder, cumin, paprika, hot sauce and brown sugar. Cook on medium heat for 1-2 hours. Continue to cook on low for 3-4 hours in stock pot or crock pot.

Jon got my best friend to rock a Pats shirt. No one tell Mike Tomlin.

Shrimp Carbonara

I have always wanted to successfully pull off a carbonara dish. I was in the grocery store the other day and was completely uninspired to pick out ingredients that would actually come together to make anything decent. I picked pork, bacon, marscarpone cheese, shrimp, and milk hoping that one of these ingredients would be useful by the time I got to my stove. It ended up that the bacon, marscarpone and shrimp inspired me to make a Shrimp Carbonara. It came out so creamy and delicious and was relatively easy to make. I know the picture isn't the greatest, but I couldn't wait any longer to dive right in. The smell of bacon and garlic coming from my stove were killing me. I hope you all like it too!

1 lb pasta
2 tbsp butter
6 slices bacon
1/4 tsp oregano
5 cloves garlic
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup marscarpone cheese
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup romano cheese, grated
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 lb shrimp, fully cooked and diced

Cook pasta as directed on box.

In a medium saucepan, cook bacon in butter until crispy. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic. Cook garlic for 2-3 minutes. Whisk in heavy cream and marscarpone cheese. In a small mixing bowl, combine yolks, parmesan and romano. Add a spoonful of cream sauce to egg mixture to warm the eggs. Stir egg mixture into rest of cream mixture until well combined. Add in shrimp and allow to heat through for 2-3 minutes. Toss with pasta and serve with additional grated parmesan if desired.

Turkey Bacon Cheeseburger Calzones

I am really excited about this recipe. First of all, it was delicious. Second of all, it was semi-guilt free. I used turkey bacon, ground turkey, a mostly wheat pizza dough and my homemade marinara which is filled with veggies and low in sugar. I mean there is cheese and ketchup in there because hi, it is inspired by a bacon cheeseburger. I am excited that even with some simple swaps, it still tasted like it had 8000 calories per bite.

You could make calzones like I did or just a good old pizza with it. I also make quick flatbread pizzas sometimes using a FlatOut wrap, which is perfect for thin crust pizzas if you don't want to make/don't have the time to make the dough.

Pizza Dough

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp granulated sugar
2 packets active dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour

In a mixing bowl (I used my Kitchenaid mixer), combine warm water and sugar to allow sugar to dissolve. Sprinkle top of water with yeast. Set aside until water is foamy, 8-10 minutes. Add olive oil and salt to water mixture. Using the dough hook on mixer, add flour in at 1/2 cup increments until both flours are fully incorporated.

Generously flour a work surface and knead out your dough for 3-5 minutes, until smooth. Slather with some olive oil, set in a bowl and cover with a towel. Allow it to double in size, about one hour.

Once dough has doubled, separate into two pieces. Knead each piece on the floured surface, and set aside again to rise for about 45 minutes.

Calzone Filling

1 lb ground turkey breast
8 slices bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 cups shredded cheese (I used mexican cheese)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. While the dough is rising the second time, brown off the ground turkey in a skillet until fully cooked. Drain off juices and set aside. Next, cook up the turkey bacon. (Go ahead and use the same skillet, no sense in more dishes). Once fully cooked, set aside on a paper towel to get off any grease. Using the same skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add in garlic, mushrooms and green peppers. Allow to cook about 2-3 minutes to soften. Add in onion powder, marinara, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Reduce to low-medium heat and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes. *I didn't forget about the cheese, you'll sprinkle that on right before it goes in the oven.*

Once the dough has risen again, roll out each piece to desired calzone size. You want your dough to be about 1/2 inch thick. Place on pizza stone or baking sheet. Fill with about 1 cup of filling and top with some shredded cheese. Fold dough over the filling and seal the edges of the calzone with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes.