One Pot of Chili: Two Dinners

Two dinners with one pot of chili. The second one just got created with the leftovers from the first. I love it when that happens!

Chili Stuffed Poblano Peppers
using leftover Spicy Turkey Chili

Dinner One: Spicy Turkey Chili

1 lb spicy turkey sausage
½ cup diced celery
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can diced tomatoes with jalapenos, undrained
1 package of McCormick’s chili seasoning

Toppings:
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Diced red onions
Sour cream

Over med-high heat, drizzle EVOO in pan and wait for it to get hot. To prevent meat from sticking to your fingers, using wet hands, remove sausage from casings and drop into pan to cook through. Add celery; sauté for a couple minutes until soft. Stir in beans, tomatoes and chili seasoning. Cover, turn low and simmer for about 20 minutes; stir occasionally.

Serve in bowl topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, diced red onions and a dollop of sour cream.

Dinner Two: Chili Stuffed Poblano Peppers

½ cup rice
1 cup broth
2 cups of chili from recipe above
1 large Poblano Pepper
Shredded Cheddar cheese

In the rice cooker, cook rice with broth. Once done, mix in chili; set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. (Since I’m only using one pepper for the two of us, I just cooked it in the toaster oven.) Cut pepper in half, deseed and devein. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until soft and skin bubbles. Remove pepper halves from oven, fill with chili rice mixture. Top with shredded Cheddar cheese and place under broil for about 2 minutes until cheese is bubbly and melted.

Serve with a side salad topped with veggies and tossed in light vinaigrette.

Spicy Pork over Mexican Rice

This is my tasty version of Mexican rice, which is the star of this dish. 

1 green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
EVOO
1 ½ cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 garlic cloves
1 cup basmati rice
Thin, boneless pork chops
Cajun seasoning
Handful of halved cherry tomatoes
Salt

In a frying pan over med-high heat, sauté bell pepper and onion in a couple drizzles of EVOO until fork tender. Transfer peppers and onion with broth, tomato paste and garlic cloves to a blender; puree.

In a rice cooker, combine rice with mixture from blender; cook until ready.

In a frying pan over med-high heat, sauté seasoned pork for a few minutes on each side, until no longer pink in the middle. Be careful not to overcook otherwise pork will become tough. After you flip the pork once, add tomato halves and sauté together. Salt to taste.

Serve pork over a plate of rice and top with cherry tomatoes.

Ono with Vegetable Rice

Wahoo is also known as Ono. Ono is a mild tasting fish with a firm texture. This is a good fish to grill or saute on the stovetop.

2 Ono Filets

Lemon Pepper seasoning

Sea salt
1 cup white long grained Basmati rice
2 cups chicken broth
¾ cup frozen chopped spinach
1 can of corn, drained
2 green onion sprigs, thinly sliced
EVOO
10 asparagus spears, cut into 1” pieces
1 lemon

In a rice cooker, combine rice, broth, spinach and 2 teaspoons of EVOO. Cook until done. Mix in corn and green onions; set aside.

In a medium frying pan, heat a couple drizzle of EVOO over med-high heat. Cook seasoned filets, start with one side until the meat turns white half way up and then flip; cook until the other half turns white. Do not overcook or fish will be tough.

In a small pot, cook asparagus in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Transfer asparagus to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking; drain and set aside.

To serve, create a bed of vegetable rice, then add steamed asparagus and top with fish. Drizzle with fresh lemon juice.

Grilled Shark with Tropical Rice

This is a tasty and good-for-you dish that has a great combination of spicy and sweet flavors.

2 Thresher shark filets
Cajun seasoning
1 cup white, long grained balsamic rice
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup chopped mango
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
1 tsp salt

In a rice cooker, combine rice, coconut milk, mango, onion and salt. Cook until done and rice is tender. Rice should be creamy and sweet with a hint of saltiness.

Preheat grill to med-high heat. Season each side of shark with Cajun spices. The filets I bought were about 1” thick so I butterflied them to make them thinner so they would cook faster. Grill them for about 4 minutes per side.

Serve shark over tropical rice. Enjoy!

Seafood Chowder

A yummy, creamy soup for a cold day. Adding bacon and shrimp turn this clam chowder into a unique and tasty soup.

4 slices of bacon

1 cup minced onions

1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced red skinned potatoes, unpeeled
¾ cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp butter
3 cups half and half cream
3- 6.5 oz chopped clams, save juice from two of the cans
½ cup small peeled shrimp
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat large pot over high heat. Cut bacon into small pieces. Sauté until crispy. With slotted spoon, remove from heat and to a paper towel lined plate. Using bacon grease from pot, add onion, celery, carrots and potatoes. Mix in flour to coat veggies. Sauté for about 5 minutes.

Add chicken broth and boil uncovered for about 15 minutes until potatoes are fork tender. Add butter, half and half, clams and shrimp. Turn heat to low and heat through for about 10 minutes. Do not bring to boil otherwise clams and shrimp will over cook. Season with pepper.

Stir in bacon and garnish with leftover bits. Serve with crusty bread and a dash of Tabasco sauce.