My Kitchen, Your Recipe: Dump recipes

By MARY ALICE HOLT

Jill Pickett

Barbara Watkins of Bonnieville sent me several recipes recently that you’re going to really enjoy. I’m featuring two of them today.

Barbara says she does like Jerianne Strange does – cooks up lots of hamburger at a time and freezes it for use later. Barbara got the tip from her daughter years ago. She buys hamburger when it’s on sale, cooks it with onion, then drains it in a colander and rinses it in hot water to get rid of the extra fat. She then puts it in one-pound bags and freezes it.

She uses her frozen hamburger for recipes like these featured today – Dump Chili and Dump Spaghetti Sauce. She calls them “Dump” recipes because they’re so easy. You basically just “dump” the ingredients in a Crock-Pot slow cooker, go to church or wherever you need to go, then come home to a good meal.

Mary Alice Holt can be reached at 505-1751 or at maholt@thenewsenterprise.com.

Dump Chili

1 pound hamburger, precooked and frozen

2 15.5-ounce cans chili beans or kidney beans

1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce

1 or more cans of water

1 1.25-ounce pack chili seasoning (she uses mild)

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker and turn it on low. Barbara lets it cook while she goes to Sunday school and church. She also cooks some spaghetti before she goes because her family likes spaghetti in their chili. She cooks one box of spaghetti, drains and rinses it, puts in a microwave-safe bowl and sprays it with Pam or similar cooking spray, which keeps it from sticking together.

When the family gets home from church, she heats up the spaghetti in the microwave, then everyone serves themselves, putting their spaghetti in a bowl, then topping it with chili.

When I made this, the only package of chili seasoning I could find was close to 2 ounces, so I just used half of it.

This makes about 4 servings of chili, although if you serve it with the spaghetti, it will go a little further.

Dump Spaghetti Sauce

1 pound hamburger, precooked and frozen

Add 1 26.5 ounce can spaghetti sauce (your favorite brand)

1 pound thin spaghetti, cooked according to package directions; drain, rinse, then apply a cooking spray.

Barbara does this just like she does the Dump Chili. Put the hamburger and sauce in a slow cooker, and turn it on low.

When you’re ready to eat, heat the spaghetti in a microwave, and top it with the sauce in the slow cooker.

Barbara says she bakes a loaf of bread in her bread machine the day before and slices it with an electric knife. Her family enjoys this with a tossed salad and soft drinks or iced tea.