Cool Meals for Hot Nights: Crockpot Chili

The latest recipe in our “Cool Meals for Hot Nights” series is for Crockpot Chili. It comes from Kim Tracy Prince, the editor and founder of Agoura Hills Mom, a blog about one family's discoveries and adventures in a suburban-style town just northwest of Los Angeles. 

I know, you were expecting something like a cold salad or a grilled meat entree for hot nights, but honestly, sometimes you want something HOT on a hot night.  Chili is crowd-pleasing and delicious, and you can vary it by serving over rice, hot dogs, burgers, or with different topping.  My favorite way to eat this chili recipe is to top it with chopped fresh cilantro and shredded cheddar, with a nice cold light beer to go with it.

This recipe is SO EASY to make, and so tasty to eat, that you will not believe it.  It's perfect to cook up overnight when you know you'll be gone all day at the beach or other summer outing, and you won't want to deal with putting dinner together when you get home.

Crockpot Chili

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 14 oz cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 x 28 oz cans tomato puree
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste 

DIRECTIONS:

• Brown ground beef and drain, place into crockpot.  Add all other ingredients.  Cook on high 4-5 hours.
• BAM!  Depending on how big your family is, one pot of this chili can last you several days.

Notes:  I found the original recipe on the internet many years ago, and I have adapted it a lot to suit my family's taste.  You should definitely add more chili powder if you like it super spicy!

Cool Meals for Hot Nights: Shallot Crusted Steak

The latest in our "Cool Meals for Hot Nights" series comes from Caroline Lewin Barrett. She's an occasional contributor to albanykid.com. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her ever-hungry three children and very grateful husband.

There are some nights so hot that it causes us to move slowly. Hot nights where my dog Agnes won’t come out from the cool shady spot under the deck, even if she hears food fall from the table. It will be that hot.

A couple of shallots are a focus of the latest recipe in the "Cool Meals for Hot Nights" series. Photo by Daveybot on Flickr.There was a evening recently, where it wasn’t particularly hot outside, but it was hot in my kitchen. Sticky. I stood in front of the refrigerator, door open, staring at the uncooked food, willing it to be put together and on the table. No, I wouldn’t be turning on the stove. We’d be dining on the tasty flank steak I purchased, plus tons of the fresh veggies hanging around from the farmers market. With that decided, I pulled the cold bottle of Pinot Grigio from the shelf, poured a glass and put the bottle back. All while standing with the refrigerator door open. Yes, it’s what we all tell our children not to do. But it just felt so good and cool in my stuffy kitchen.

Once it was decided what we’d eat for dinner, the rest was easy. I pulled a shallot out and sent Elliot out to pick herbs from the garden. That’s been my #1 little boy job since he was 3. At 8, he still happily goes out, kid scissors in hand, to cut rosemary, tarragon or chives.

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Cool Meals for Hot Nights: Farm-to-Table Frittata

The latest recipe in our “Cool Meals for Hot Nights” series is for a Farm to Table Frittata and Baked Apple dessert. It comes from Colleen, the owner/publisher of SaratogaMama.com, an online resource for families in Saratoga County, New York (just outside Albany). If you have friends or family around upstate New York, please let them know about SaratogaMama!

For my recipe, I opted for a Farm-to-Table dinner, meaning all the fresh ingredients were purchased that day at our farmers market. In the pouring rain, my partner in crime Christine and I braved the market to collect our bounty.

The beauty of shopping at a farmers’ market is that your meal can be altered based on what fresh ingredients are available that day. We went in with a plan in mind, but due to the rain, and there not being bread at the market, we were forced to deviate; and forced to use the oven versus our intended heat source, the grill.

Armed with fresh eggs, sausage, broccoli, garlic and herb goat cheese, apples, salad greens and radishes, we embarked on our meal!

Photo courtesy of SaratogaMama.com

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Cool Meals for Hot Nights: Tuna and Shells

The latest recipe in our “Cool Meals for Hot Nights” series is for Tuna and Shells. It comes from Annie, the creator and writer of {kidlist} activities for little kids, a resource for families in the near west suburbs of Chicago. If you have friends or family in LaGrange, Hinsdale, Western Springs or any other suburb in that general area, please let them know about {kidlist}! 

Recipe: Tuna and Shells

Serves: 4
Prep time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups medium shell pasta (8 oz.)
• 1 (7 oz.) can of tuna, drained and flaked
• 1/2 cup celery (about 2 stalks), minced
• 1/4 cup sweet pickle, chopped
• 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup swiss cheese, cubed
• 2 tablespoons white onion, minced
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste

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Cool Meals for Hot Nights: Grilled Tilapia with Pineapple Salsa

This is a new series that will run weekly through the end of August, consisting of recipes that are great options for those nights when it's just too hot to turn on the oven. Most of the recipes will come from women who run "hyperlocal" websites for families, similar to Go West Young Mom, in other cities across the country. The first one, however, comes from your truly.

Confession: I am scared of fish.

Clarification: I am scared of cooking fish.

Grilled Tilapia with Pineapple Salsa, served with green beans. Photo by Tara Burghart.But as a kid, I was scared to eat fish, too. I was sure that I was going to choke on a bone. I grew up in central Illinois, you see, far from any ocean, sea, large lake or mighty river. 

So my family just didn't eat a lot of fish.

We'd eat catfish sometimes on Fridays during Lent. (This explains the fear of bones. Catfish are very boney.) I would occasionally get shrimp (fried, of course, and smothered in cocktail sauce) at a supper club-type restaurant we'd visit for birthdays and other special occasions. I'm sure I must have had some frozen fishsticks during my 1970s childhood. But my family never even ate at Long John Silver's. (When we first started dating, my husband couldn't believe I had no idea what a hushpuppy was.)

A few times during college, my dorm offered lobster -- and plastic bibs to wear while you ate the lobster. I decided my first experience with lobster should not be in a cafeteria.

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