Monday, July 9, 2012

A New Face on Mondays!

I'm so excited to tell you about a change on Mondays! Jan Drexler is going to join us on the Cafe blog, bringing us food from mid-America! I'm sure most of you know Jan from hanging out here, but I wanted to include a little about her. Then I'll let Jan take it away...


Jan’s husband of thirty years often says she’s never happier than when she’s in the kitchen cooking for someone, and he’s right. With her Amish and Mennonite ancestry, mid-American roots and unending quest to be a stay-at-home wife and mother, Jan has always enjoyed cooking from scratch and sharing the subsequent goodies with friends and family.

Jan and her family have lived all through the mid-west, from Indiana to Texas to Kentucky to South Dakota, with a few others in between. Born in Michigan, Jan still proudly carries her pocket map of Michigan on the end of her arm, like all true Michiganders, and will gladly give you a tour of her home state. But her current love is the Black Hills of South Dakota, where she can be found hiking the Hills in all kinds of weather and regularly visiting the “boys” at Mt. Rushmore.

Having recently graduated from Homeschool Mom-hood (Summa cum Laude!), Jan now devotes her time to the voices in her head who have been clamoring for attention during the last few decades. Instead of declining Latin nouns and reviewing rhetorical devices, her days are now spent at the computer where she gives her characters free rein.

Jan’s debut novel, “Love Bears All Things,” will be published by Love Inspired in 2013.
She can be found on Facebook as Jan Drexler (author), on Twitter @JanDrexler, on her blog (www.lovespromisekept.blogspot.com) and at her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

And now...Jan's first recipe to share!


 Crock Chili Dogs

This is, without a doubt, the easiest and tastiest way to do chili dogs – short of the County Fair! Most ingredients may be in your pantry.



This is even easier if your ground beef is browned ahead of time. I buy ground beef in bulk and brown 10 pounds at once, and then freeze the browned meat in 1 pound packages. BIG, big timesaver!

Here’s the scoop:
1 lb ground beef, browned
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon (more or less) cayenne pepper

Mix the ingredients together in a crock pot, and then add your hot dogs and spoon the sauce over to cover them. Cook on high for 2-4 hours, or low for 4-5 hours. Serve on buns with shredded cheese, chopped onion, relish, mustard…your toppings to taste.

26 comments:

  1. Woooohooooo! So glad to have a brand spankin' new Amish author about to release a book. I love the genre! And hoping you'll share some Amish recipes here from time to time. The chili dogs I'll have to pass because I'm a vegetarian...well, there is this tofu ground beeflike product I've never tried. And they have tofu hot dogs but they taste kind of yucky! LOL. Maybe I can improvise after all!

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    1. Tofu hot dogs? Kav, really?

      I think I'd just skip the chili dogs... :)

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    2. My daughter actually really likes the Tofu Pups. I'm wondering if she'd like them turned into Chili Pups.

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  2. Kav, I use soy crumbles in place of beef sometimes. My family didn't even notice! I can't remember who makes them. But they're with the Boca burgers in the freezer section.

    Wait...I just searched. I think it's the Morning Star Farms crumbles:
    http://www.morningstarfarms.com/morningstar-farms-meal-starters-grillers-recipe-crumbles.html

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    1. Hey -- great link. I'll look for that brand up here. They also have corn dogs which sound tastier then tofu burgers, don't you think? Bet they have them at the health food store up the road. And that means I can try a different chili recipe now instead of just using the bulgur one. Thanks Missy!

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    2. Kav, do you have Amy's? My daughter loves their California Burgers better than any other veggie burger.

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    3. The store I usually go to stopped carrying Amy's :-( but now that I'm off this summer I'll make the trek to the uber-cool organic everything natural and vegetarian store. They have Amy products. I haven't tried the California burger though. Thanks for the tip.

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  3. Jan, I love your idea of buying in bulk and cooking ahead of time!! I can't believe I never thought of that!

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    1. Yes, Missy, doing things ahead of time is a great time saver. I also like to keep chopped onions in the freezer.

      Chicken is another one - I use cooked chicken chunks in a lot of recipes, so cooking those off and freezing them is another way cut corners.

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    2. Whoa! I didn't know you could freeze onions!!!!! Since I'm always cooking for one a bag of onions often goes bad before I can get through them all -- especially in this heat. Freezing them is such a good idea!! Thank you!!!!!!

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    3. Kav, just be sure to use a freezer container or freezer bag. I used a regular ziplock bag one time and the whole refrigerator smelled like onions!

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    4. I buy chopped frozen onions all the time - some are called 'seasoning blend' and have some celery a bit of red stuff - think it's bell pepper? anyways can't really taste it but Kroger has just the diced onion in small bags - I've bought the huge pictsweet or picsweet brand at walmart a lot of times.
      Susanna

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    5. Susanna, I buy the Pictsweet frozen chopped onions and peppers. It's great and very convenient!

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    6. Missy everyone around me thought I was totally whacked(they were probably right!) the day I discovered frozen onions in the store! I thought that was the most awesome invention EVER - my least favorite chore at the time and all done for me! I thought I'd break out and do a happy dance up and down the aisle!
      Susanna

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    7. Susanna, I just read a piece the other day about why onions burn our eyes. The moisture in our eyes mixes with compounds in the onion making sulfuric acid! Which then makes our eyes water to dilute it. NOT FUN.

      Here's what the article said on about.com:
      Question: Why Do Onions Make You Cry?

      Answer: Unless you've avoided cooking, you've probably cut up an onion and experienced the burning and tearing you get from the vapors. When you cut an onion, you break cells, releasing their contents. Amino acid sulfoxides form sulfenic acids. Enzymes that were kept separate now are free to mix with the sulfenic acids to produce propanethiol S-oxide, a volatile sulfur compound that wafts upward toward your eyes. This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid burns, stimulating your eyes to release more tears to wash the irritant away

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  4. Hi! I was thinking 'homemade' from the intro then saw 'chili dogs' and thought 'what? that's not homemade' then saw a recipe..ooookkayyy never thought of making my own chili for those suckers! :-) sounds good...in fact I just um opened a can of wolf turkey chili last night for a chili dog which is rare for me(not the opening a can part but the having a chili dog part! though usually Sonic wins out on that..) I'll have to give this a try next chili dog craving! the canned chili is really too salty for me - I only use 1/4 cup or so and most of that falls off and I don't bother chasing it down! Is this your regular chili recipe as well? or just the special chili dog version?
    ok off to see what your book is about..just finished Ruthy's and am reading Cheryl's - so glad she didn't get too descriptive with this trauma center stuff 'cause I was eating lunch when I started it! I seem to make these bad book selections for meal time reading but at work that's pretty much the only time I can get away with it and that's with my ereader!
    Susanna

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    1. Hi Susanna,

      I'm sensitive to MSG and citric acid, so I rarely use canned chili, soups and tomato products. (Hunts 100% natural tomatoes are a life saver!).

      So yes, homemade and easy...that's the way I like to go!

      And no, this isn't my normal chili recipe. I'll share that another time - it's my dear husband's favorite winter/spring/summer/fall meal :)

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    2. I eat chili year round- I'm in Houston so if I waited for it to get cold outside to eat chili and soup I'd be eating them maybe 3 weeks total out of the year :-( my ac/'s been on since March I think..I have a chili I make in the crockpot - still uses canned stuff but beans and tomatoes this time! I've never bought canned chili just to eat as chili-it's always been to eat with something else! well ok I did buy canned chili for my dad because he prefers it but I like homemade! and I put beans in mine..I know it's probably not Texan but I think it makes it healthier and it's one of the few ways I like beans! :-)
      Susanna

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  5. LOL, Susanna. I cracked up at the opening the can being familiar, just not the canned chili. :)

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  6. Fabulous! I have the same MSG and citric acid problems. Thanks for the tip when I can't get good tomatoes!

    So glad you have joined the Cafe!

    Peace, Julie

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  7. Welcome aboard, Jan. Officially, that is:-) And don't worry about Ruthy as she paces about the kitchen. She's just so darned protective.

    Love this idea. Will have to try that recipe soon.

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    1. As long as Ruthy whips up dessert while she's pacing, I won't mind.

      She won't let me use her new Kitchen Aid, though, darn her.

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  8. Congrats on joining the cafe staff. I'll have to remember to increase the tips since they're being split 4 ways now!

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    1. Oh, just put all the tips together in that jar marked "Jan", okay? I'll make sure the others get their share :)

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  9. Welcome, Jan!!! This looks soooo tasty. And I think my kids might actually eat it, which isn't a plus, because I like to eaet all their left-overs. :D

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