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.

Crockpot Sweet and Sour Meatballs

So ever since I made Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs, I've been wanting to make Sweet and Sour meatballs. I found some recipes for sweet and sour meatballs online and most called for chilli sauce, grape jelly and lemon juice.

Well, we bought Sweet Chilli Sauce which after reading reviews online is not the same as regular chilli sauce. So, I kind of just kept throwing stuff in there and the result was the best sweet and sour sauce I've ever tasted. I am going to use this sauce for everything from now on, so good.

As usual, I'm still not mastering the art of a one pot crockpot meal because I browned these meatballs in the oven on a baking sheet for about ten minutes. The reason for this was I read online that most people had issues with meatballs falling apart in their crockpot. The solution offered by a lot of the people was to brown them in a skillet or in the oven prior to putting them in the crockpot to finish cooking.

Hope you guys like it!

Meatballs:

1.235 lb package of Italian sausage, casing removed

2 cloves garlic, hand grated or finely minced

1/2 cup carrot, hand grated or finely minced

1/2 cup onion, hand grated or finely minced

1/2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup breadcrumbs



Only 5 Ingredients? Score!



Sweet and Sour Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup Sweet Chilli Sauce

1 cup grape jelly

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start crockpot on low. In crockpot, whisk together ketchup, sweet chilli sauce, jelly, lemon juice and pineapple juice until well combined.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for meatballs until well combined. Form meatball about the size of a golfball. Place on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil about one inch apart. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes just to lightly brown outside and allow to hold meatball shape.

Once browned in oven, place meatballs in crockpot, covered in sauce. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.