People get really, really passionate about their chili, and it seems like everyone has their own, special recipe. Noodles. No noodles. Type of meat. Spice level/secret spices. Type of beans. And that doesn’t even begin to broach the “what do you serve on the side” debate. Grilled cheese? Peanut butter sandwich? Biscuits?

My local small town even does an annual chili-walk, where all of the local business put together their favorite recipe and customers wander the town trying each and voting on their favorite. It’s hugely popular and brings in a solid amount for the town revitalization fund.

This particular recipe is the one that I grew up eating, and though some would question if it’s actually “chili” (ahem, my husband), it really is my favorite version. I don’t care for beans…at all…and this recipe hides the beans so you don’t even know they’re there! Plus it’s really mild and has no onions or peppers in it, which makes it incredibly kid friendly! Bless my mom for thinking this one up when she was trying to feed three hungry, picky kids on a budget.

Tips for Making Mom’s Chili Soup:

-You can easily make this a one-pot meal by browning the ground beef in your soup pot before adding the tomato juice and other ingredients. I just like to do it in a separate skillet so I can save time and be heating the juice/cooking the noodles/pureeing the beans/browning the beef all at the same time! Yay for multi-tasking!

-Feel free to change up the noodles and use macaroni instead! We use spaghetti because we like that it’s a little more delicate and I’ve found that my kids have more fun eating it! If you’re using spaghetti, I recommend breaking the noodles three times as you add them to the pot.

-You can make this as thick or soupy as you want by adding more or less tomato juice. I always buy two 64 oz bottles and keep the other on hand in case it needs thinning or to use when I’m reheating leftovers!

-If you do add more tomato juice while it’s cooking, you may need to adjust the seasoning levels. As with all of my recipes, taste it before serving and add more as needed!

How to Make Mom’s Chili Soup:

Add a 64 oz bottle of plain tomato juice to a large soup pot (such as a Dutch oven) and bring a steady simmer. Add spaghetti noodles, breaking them into thirds as you add them to the pot. While the tomato juice is heating, brown the hamburger in a separate skillet, seasoning with seasoned salt, garlic salt, ground cumin, and chili powder. Once it meat is cooked through, drain the grease and add the meat to the tomato juice. In a food processor, puree the undrained chili beans until smooth. Add to the tomato juice. Let simmer until the noodles are cooked through. If the soup is too thick, add a little more tomato juice. Serve topped with plenty of shredded cheese if you’re into that sort of thing, and with a nice grilled cheese sandwich on the side for dipping.

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Mom's Chili Soup

This mild, kid-friendly Chili is perfect for folks that don't love beans!

Course Main

Cuisine American

Keyword Chili, ground beef, Hamburger, kid-friendly dinner, noodles, Soup

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 people

Author The Crossroads Cook

Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 64 oz Tomato Juice + Extra if Needed
• 15.5 oz Can Mild Chili Beans
• 1/2 lb Spaghetti or Desired Pasta
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Chili Powder
• Seasoned Salt, to taste
• Garlic Salt, to taste

Instructions

• In a large, heavy bottomed soup pot, such as a Dutch Oven, heat the tomato juice over medium-high heat. Once the juice comes to a strong simmer, add the spaghetti, breaking three times over the pot.
• In a separate skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain any grease and season with seasoned salt, garlic salt, cumin, and chili powder.
• While the pasta is cooking and the meat is browning, puree the chilis beans (with any liquid from the can) in a food processor or blender until smooth.
• Add the browned beef and bean puree to the soup pot with the tomato juice and spaghetti. Stir to combine, and simmer for about five minutes, giving the soup time to thicken.
• Taste for seasoning, adding more salt or spices as needed. Serve topped with shredded cheese and a grilled cheese sandwich on the side for dipping.

The post Mom’s Chili Soup appeared first on The Crossroads Cook.

To say that I’m not a huge fan of winter is a big time understatement. We all know what hangry is, but is there a word to describe a similar anger caused by being cold? Because that word would perfectly describe how I get. I really, really despise being cold.

I once read somewhere that if you really love winter, chances are you didn’t grow up with livestock. There’s just something about having to break the ice on waterers, carrying water because water lines are frozen, going out and feeding/milking/delivering babies when the temperatures dip that just takes the fun out the cold. Blech.

Ok, sure, snow is pretty and I love watching my littles enjoy playing in it. And there’s nothing quite like a white Christmas with a fire going in the fire place. But that’s it. Once Christmas is over and the decorations come down, the weather could warm back up to the mid 70s and I would be just fine thank you very much!

There is one good thing about cold weather, though…it’s the perfect time to make a nice, hearty bowl of soup to warm yourself from the inside out. Dutch Split Pea Soup, or Erwtensoep (or Snert), is 100% the perfect stick to your ribs type of food to keep you going when those winter winds start to blow!

The Dutch are known for their hearty fare, and this soup is the king of all of it. It’s said that if your snert is as thick as it is supposed to be, you can stand a wooden spoon up in the middle of the pot. I kid you not. Plus, it’s loaded with veggies and super healthy. Win win!

My recipe comes straight from my mother-in-law, Maria…also known as the quintessential Dutch home cook. Oh, and something important to note: this soup is definitely better if you eat it the next day. Yes, you can eat it the same day, but I totally recommend planning ahead a little and waiting until the next day to eat it. It also freezes really well!

How to make Dutch Split Pea Soup:

Take about half a pound (200 grams) of split green peas and rinse them very, very well until the water runs clear (Maria says she rinses them 5 times). Put those in a heavy bottomed pot such as a Dutch oven, and pour in 1 Liter (4 1/2 cups) of water. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat to medium low, and cook for an hour. You’ll want to keep an eye on them because these bad boys like to boil over.

Once an hour has passed, add peeled and chopped carrots and celery, a diced onion, leeks, a couple of diced potatoes, 2 vegetable bullion cubes (you can use chicken bullion if you can’t find the vegetable as it can be pretty hard to find), some parsley, and some pepper. Cook all of this for about 20 minutes or so, or until all of the veggies are tender. After the veggies have cooked, stir in some chopped smoked or kielbasa sausage.

If you are eating it right away, serve it up with some nice warm bread smothered in butter. If you are eating it the next day or freezing it, let it cool before putting it away.

Eet smakelijk!

Looking for other delicious Dutch foods? Give one of these a try!:

Pannekoeken – Dutch Pancakes
Hutspot – Dutch Mashed Potatoes with Carrots
Mama Maria’s Dutch Style Green Beans

This post is sponsored by The Glass Barn, Indiana Corn and Soybean Growers, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Erwtensoep - Dutch Split Pea Soup

Dutch Split Pea Soup, called either Erwtensoep or Snert, is the perfect hearty and healthy meal to warm you up this winter!

Course lunch, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Dutch

Keyword Carrots, erwtensoep, leeks, smoked sausage, snert, split peast

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 people

Author Meagan - The Crossroads Cook

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Split Greet Peas 200 grams
• 4 1/2 c Water 1 Liter
• 4 Carrots, Peeled and Chopped
• 4 Celery Stalks, Peeled and Chopped
• 1 Onion, Diced
• 2 Leeks, Diced
• 2 Potatoes, Peeled and Diced
• 2 Vegetable Bullion Cubes or Chicken
• 1 Package Smoked or Kielbasa Sausage
• 2 Tbsp Parsley, Diced
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions

• In a strainer, rinse the split peas very well, until the water runs clear.
• Add the split peas to a large, heavy bottomed pot. Stir in the water. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 hour.
• Uncover and stir in the carrots, celery, onion, leeks, potatoes, parsley, and vegetable bullion cubes. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
• Stir in the sausage.
• Cook and refrigerate over night. Reheat and check for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary. Serve with warm buttered bread.

Notes

This soup also freezes extremely well! Simply defrost and heat through when you are ready to eat it!

The post Erwtensoep – Dutch Split Pea Soup appeared first on The Crossroads Cook.

With businesses opening back up, schools being back in session, and harvest season starting, busy is about to be the name of the game again. When life gets crazy, keep dinner easy and tasty with this Slow Cooker No Bean Taco Chili!

Well, friends, harvest season in Northeastern Indiana has officially begun. JW is spending long hours working in the fields and in the semi, while I’m holding down the fort at home as well as I can. Oh, and in case you missed it, VandeLittle the Second decided to enter the world a few weeks before we were expecting him. So in other words…life just got all kinds of cray cray.

Photo Credit to Mallarie Ranae Photography

Spring planting and fall harvest are generally the busiest time of year on the farm. There is a window of time that farmers have to get crops planted and harvested. Though modern technology allows us to cover much more ground in much less time, planters and combines can still only cover so many acres in a day. The push to get all of those acres taken care of means that meals with the family around the table just aren’t on the agenda, so a lot of meals end up being eaten in the field.

Even during a normal year (you know, a year when we aren’t throwing a new baby into the mix), freezer meals, slow cookers, and my Instant Pot are my best friends when harvest rolls around. Freezer meals and the Instant Pot are great because I don’t always get a lot of notice when JW needs me to bring food. He works for an amazing family that feeds the entire crew a few nights a week, but there are always some meals that he’s on his own for. On those days I need something that is basically already ready to go or has a short cook time. The slow cooker is my BFF on those days when I know ahead of time what’s happening, but also know that I’m going to want something to be ready without much fuss when dinner time rolls around.

This Slow Cooker No Bean Taco Chili is the perfect meal for when life decides to go off the rails. It can be made in the crock pot, on the stove, in the Instant Pot, and even freezes really well. In fact, I almost always freeze the leftovers any time I make a batch. Then all I have to do is pull it out of the freezer, put it in the crock pot for a few hours, and dinner is ready when we are ready for it!

If you’re making this Taco Chili in the slow cooker, you’ll want to brown your hamburger first. I also like to go ahead and put my onions and cumin in with the hamburger while it’s browning. Then all that’s left to do is dump all of the ingredients in your crock pot, and cook it all on low for 5 hours or high for 3. Serve with your favorite chili fixings. I love Fritos or tortilla chips, lots of shredded cheese, sour cream, and a little diced onion.

Another great idea would be to use your Instant Pot so you’re not getting an extra pan dirty. Just turn it on saute mode for your hamburger and onions, then add everything else and turn on slow cooker mode. If you prefer to make this recipe on the stove top, start off by browning your hamburger with the onions in a large skillet. Drain any fat, then add everything else. Simmer on medium to medium high for at least 20 minutes to give all of the flavors time to combine.

Cooking this one from frozen? No need to defrost any more than to be able to get in in your crock pot! Put it in frozen, and increase cook time by about 1-2 hours.

This recipe is sponsored by the Glass Barn, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Slow Cooker No Bean Taco Chili

When life gets crazy, keep dinner easy and tasty with this Slow Cooker No Bean Taco Chili!

Course Main, Soup

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword bean free, easy dinner, freezer food, Instant Pot, slow cooker

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 hours hours

Servings 6 people

Author Meagan - The Crossroads Cook

Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 1 Medium Onion, Diced
• 1 Can Corn, Drained
• 1 Can Diced Green Chilies or Jalapenos
• 2 14 oz Cans Diced Tomatoes
• 1 Can Tomato Sauce
• 3 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, Fritos Corn Chips, Diced Onion for Serving

Instructions

• In a large skillet, brown the ground beef along with the diced onion.
• Combined the browned beef and onion with the rest of the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2 hours.

Notes

I

The post Slow Cooker No Bean Taco Chili appeared first on The Crossroads Cook.

Whether you have a baby on the way, a friend in need, or you know life is going to get busy and you want to be prepared with easy dinners, freezer meals can be a real life saver! I’ve asked a few of my blogger friends to help me come up with this list of Our Favorite Freezer Meals!

The countdown is on, friends! We are about 8 weeks away from VandeLittle #2 making his appearance in the world, and let me tell you…I’m feeling the pressure! I’ve got a to-do list as long as my arm that I need/want to accomplish before the blessed event. Making a bunch of freezer meals is for sure high on the list, because ya’ll KNOW I’m not going to want to worry about dinner every night with a toddler and a new born to wrangle.

One of my good friends is also expecting a baby in the same time frame, which actually works out great because that means I can just double up on everything and make meals for her and her husband while I’m at it. Two birds, meet one stone!

Freezer meals are one of my favorite ways to make life easier on myself and those I care about. If I’m making a casserole that we love, or really any dish that will freeze well, I’ll often double it up and stick half in the freezer for those days when I haven’t made it to the grocery store or life is just too crazy busy to make something from scratch. When I know of a friend in need, whether due to a new baby, illness, or what have you, in the true Midwestern “hey you need help? here let me feed you…” way, I’ll bring a freezer meal or two. I tend to prefer taking freezer meals rather than hot meals so that they can use them whenever they want or need them, rather than having to eat them right away. Freezer meals for the win!

So, with all of the craziness coming up in mind, I asked a few of my blogger friends to help me put together a list of their Favorite Freezer Meals! Bring on the deliciousness!

Baked Ziti 

Cheesy Smoked Sausage and Vegetable Casserole

Chicken Pot Pie

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Crock Pot Taco Joes

Freezer Friendly Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

Friendship Casserole

Hamburger Soup

Instant Pot Freezer Meal Shredded Beef

Instant Pot Freezer Meal Shredded Chicken

Instant Pot Pork Carnitas

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Spaghetti Pie with Ground Beef

The post Our Favorite Freezer Meals appeared first on The Crossroads Cook.