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I picked up 2 lb. of 98% fat free ground turkey breast the other day. I made some more of the 4 bean Turkey Chili I made a month ago with it but this time it was virtually free of points. (Only 1 WW Purple point) I diced up all the onions and peppers, mixed up the spices. Here are most of the ingredients. 1 ½ Tablespoons Olive Oil 2 lb. Pounds 98/7 Lean Ground Turkey ½ Yellow Onion (Diced) ½ Red Onion (Diced) I Poblano Pepper (Diced) 1 Red Bell Pepper (Diced) 1 ½ Teaspoons Minced Garlic 1 6 Oz. Can Diced Green Chiles 1 15 Oz. Can Corn 1 15 Oz. Can Crushed Tomatoes 1 15 Oz. Can Tomato Sauce 1 15 Oz. Can Chili Beans 1 15 Oz. Can Black Beans 1 15 Oz. Can Dark Red Kidney Beans 1 15 Oz. Cannellini Beans 1 15 Oz. Can Chicken Broth 2 Tbsp. Chili Power 1 Tsp. Cumin ½ Tsp. Crushed Red Pepper ½ Tsp. Chipotle Pepper Power ½ Tsp. Black Pepper ½ Tsp. White Pepper ½ Tsp. Salt ¼ Tsp. Cinnamon While I was prepping everything our new dog Lady came in to visit. I got out my enameled Dutch oven and placed the OO. I put it on the side burner of my Gasser. I put the Turkey in once it was heated up. I cooked it until just slightly brown. Next, I added the Poblano pepper, onions, Bell pepper and garlic. I covered this and cook it for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Once the veggies had softened, I added in the spices and rest of the ingredients. and mixed everything together. I brought this to a boil and then covered. I turned the burner to low and let the chili simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Here it is after cooking. Here it is in a bowl, garnished with onion, cilantro, some lime and some Non-Fat Greek yogurt. This was delicious and only 1 point per serving. (A serving = 1 cup. This was a large bowl, so it was a double serving so 2 points) Eating like this makes me forget I'm losing weight. Thanks for looking.

This is my version of the classic chicken tortilla soup made from scratch using dry beans, garden grown peppers, homemade smoked turkey stock, fire-roasted garden tomatoes, and other good stuff. Recipe is below video. Ingredients: vegetable oil 1/2 medium onion, diced 3-4 anaheim peppers, diced 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp cumin ~1 cup dry black beans (1/3 lb) 1.5 quarts smoked poultry stock (chicken or turkey) ( 1 pint fire roasted tomato sauce ( ~2 cups sweet corn kernels 2-3 chicken breasts 1 cup cilantro, chopped ~1 tsp lime juice salt to taste black pepper to taste several tortillas (corn preferred, flour ok) 1 avocado, pitted, sliced queso fresco or other cheese Directions: The night before, soak black beans in salted water (3 Tbsp/gal ratio) to hydrate. Next day, drain the beans, add them to a pot, cover them in water, heat to a simmer, & add a little salt (~1 tsp). Cook until beans are softened (~1 hour). Drain. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the onions, peppers, & cumin. Cook until softened. Add the garlic. Cook for another minute. Pour the poultry stock, tomatoes, corn, and beans into the pot and bring to a simmer. Add chicken breasts. Cook until chicken is done (~20-25 minutes). Remove chicken from pot. When cool enough to handle, shred it and add it back to the pot. Taste and add salt and black pepper as desired. While the soup and chicken simmer, make the tortilla strips: Slice tortillas into half inch wide strips. Heat ~1/4 inch layer of vegetable oil in a pan over medium-high heat. (Ideally, oil temperature should be ~350-400 deg F.) Cook tortilla strips in batches until golden colored and crispy. Remove from pan and place on paper towels to cool and absorb extra oil. Serving: Ladle soup into a bowl. Add some tortilla strips, fresh cilantro, a squirt of lime juice, avocado slices, and cheese. Eat.

This is a crock pot recipe but you can substitute a dutch oven for the crock pot and cook with a heat deflector on a low temp; 250 or so. Leave the lid off with smoking wood at the beginning. You could also tuck these underneath a butt and have the best of both worlds! Ingredients 1 pack bacon, diced 1 onion diced 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp dry mustard 1 tsp salt Drain: 1 can dark red kidney beans 1 can garbanzo beans 1 can baby limas 1 can butter beans 1 large can baked beans Sautee bacon and onion until cooked and onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Add everything else except beans. Stir and simmer 20 mins. Layer beans into slow cooker in order listed. Pour bacon and onion mixture over beans (don't stir). Cook on High for 4+ hours.

I was looking for a baked beans recipe, and found this one. Not too sweet, and I think it's pretty good. I'll try it without the honey next time. I added some smoked pork I had in the freezer. Soaking black eyed peas isn't necessary, or any bean really. The peas cook quick. I just bring to boil and put the pot in 250° oven for 30 minutes. Add salt after 15 minutes when they start to soften.. http://www.popsugar.com/food/Barbecued-Black-Eyed-Peas-26341349 INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups dried black-eyed peas 2 teaspoons plus 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1/2 onion, diced 1 green bell pepper, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons lime juice 1/2 cup tamari or soy sauce 1 cup canned tomato sauce 1 large chipotles in adobo sauce 1/4 cup agave nectar or honey 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon dried thyme DIRECTIONS In a large stock pot, combine black-eyed peas with enough water to cover them by two inches. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Skim off any foam, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, partially covered, until just tender, about 50 minutes to an hour. Drain beans, reserving cooking water. Meanwhile, in a sauté pan over medium heat, combine oil, onions, and bell pepper. Sauté until the vegetables soften, about five to seven minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about two minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a blender, combine the vinegar, lime juice, tamari, tomato sauce, chipotle chile, agave nectar, cumin, thyme, one cup reserved bean water, and three tablespoons olive oil. Puree until smooth, about 30 seconds. In an oven-safe sauté pan, cast-iron skillet, or two-quart baking dish, stir cooked beans, sautéed vegetables, and sauce until well incorporated. Bake uncovered for two hours, stirring occasionally. INFORMATION

Aaron Franklin BBQ Pinto Beans: Ingredients: 1 pound dried pinto beans 1/4 medium yellow onion, diced 1/4 cup chili powder 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt (*see note below) 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 teaspoons onion powder 2 teaspoons garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1 cup chopped smoked brisket 8 cups water Instructions: Rinse the pinto beans and remove any rocks or debris. Place the beans, onion, chili powder, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and cumin in a large pot. Cover with 8 cups of water, stir until the spices are well distributed, and then soak the beans uncovered for 8 hours. Alternatively, you can bring the pot to a boil, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let them quick soak for 1 hour. Stovetop method: To cook the beans, add the brisket to the pot. (Do not drain the soaking liquid.) Make sure the beans and ingredients are covered by an inch and a half of water. Bring the pot to a boil, then turn down the heat down to low, cover the pot, and then gently simmer for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the cover and then continue to cook the beans until they’re tender, which will depend on the age of the beans. This can happen anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours. Slow cooker method: As above but after soaking, cook covered on low for 6 hours, then remove the lid and continue to cook on low for 2 more hours. Baking method: As above but use a cast iron dutch oven and bake in an oven or kamado at 350 F. Check for doneness after two hours and then finish for up to an hour uncovered as needed. I made these using the baking method and they came out perfect - the beans didn't turn to mush and they absorbed a great deal of flavor. I didn't have any brisket so I used some smoked, pulled chuck that I made for some TexMex and it tasted great. *Note: Be mindful of the salt; the bark on the meat contains a lot of seasoning so add the salt at a couple of points in the cooking process and taste after each addition. And of course know that Morton's Kosher salt weighs almost twice as much as Diamond Crystal (by volume). For example, 1 tbls of Diamond Crystal weighs 135 grams but 1 tbls of Morton's = 250 grams (!!). I recently switched to Morton's and until this box is done, I'm having to re-calibrate on salt content in some recipes.

After watching John’s Beer Braised Chili video I wanted to try some kind of bean dish. I bought some pinto beans and soaked 1 lb over night. I had some left over pulled pork in the freezer so I thawed out a package. Got out the Dutch oven and put in the pork, 1 chopped yellow onion, 2 Tbs spoons of EVOO and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Let that cook for 5 min. Dumped in a Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale and cook another 5 min. Now the beans, 1 ½ cups of water, 1 ½ diced jalapenos, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp of Cajun seasoning, ¼ tsp of cumin, ¼ tsp of rosemary flakes, ¼ tsp of Mexican oregano, ¼ tsp of ground sea salt and ¼ tsp of ground black pepper. Cover and cook for 2 hours, stirring every 10 to 15 min. After 2 hours I added 1 bunch of chopped cilantro, stirred and turned off the burner and it’s ready to serve. Money shot. It turned out great. It had a little Chili Verde taste to it but not to much. It was a little hot from the jalapenos, chili powder and the Cajun seasoning the first serving yesterday. Had some more today and it mellowed out nicely overnight in the fridge.

A Pastrami from a Corned Beef Cook with Kamado Pork-N-Beans, Kamado Corn Bread and Crawfish Boil Potato Salad. Bought an 8.3 lb corned beef at Costco a while back and I decided to do a pastrami cook with it. I have done pastami from a raw brisket start before and I just wanted to compare that to a short cut approach. This pastrami was good but the favor profile on the meat itself when I did my own cure was deeper and more pronounced in its elements. Soaked the corned beef in water for a day (which may have been too long of a soak) and then dried it, coated it with Steen's cane syrup and a typical pastrami seasoning rub. I decided to coat the meat with the cane syrup and not put brown sugar in the rub. I will say that worked well based on the end result. Cooked the meat indirect at an average temp in Big(Red)Joe of 250 degrees. At 170 degrees internal, I foiled the meat and bumped the cook temp up to 350 as the clock was ticking towards dinner time and took it to roughly 200-205 internal where it tested tender all over. Utilized hickory wood for flavor. The meat was a hit. Tender, juicy, and a flavorful pastrami bark. When the meat was in the foil stage, added some canned pork-n-beans to cast iron skillet and set that in Joe. When the pastrami was removed it was towel wrapped in the foil, The beans were foil covered and set in the kitchen oven (off) to stay warm. We had more cooking to do on Joe! As I had some pork chops needing to be cooked, we pulled the deflector, cranked Joe to 425 and quickly grilled the pork loin chops for dinner tomorrow as it will be a busy day and a head start on dinner would be helpful. My son mixed up some cornbread adding to it some corn cut from the cob that had been cooked in the pot during the Saturday crawfish boil for a flavor twist. Went back to indirect setup in Joe and cranked him up to 450. Baked the cornbread in the family cast iron cornbread pan. Greased the skillet with leftover bacon grease. Whoooo Hooo!... Earlier in the day, I made potato salad from extra red potatoes I had tossed in the crawfish boil pot for this purpose. Added onion, celery, green onion, chopped mini-sweets red, orange & yellow peppers, mayo & vinegar and a splash of hot bacon grease. A really really great meal. Meat was excellent, beans had a nice hint of smoke, cornbread had that outdoor cooking fire touch, and a great potato salad along with a green salad made a full and well rounded plate. Add some of the Steen's cane syrup for the cornbread and it is a BINGO. Here are the photos of the plate and the cook: A delicious meal mainly cooked on Big(Red)Joe The rub seasoned meat ready to hit the grill Meat foiled and pork-n-beans are cooking Meat ready to slice Corn bread is done Beans are done Slicing the Meat A nice picture of some more else good tastin, tender, and juicy meat! You drooling yet? Hope you enjoyed this cook as much as we did

I’ve always loved Red Beans & Rice and wanted to try making it myself. Now this may not be the traditional way of making it but it turned out great. Here are the ingredients: 1 lb. of pre-soaked beans. (I used pinto beans in these pics, as that’s what I had on hand, but obviously red beans would be my 1st choice) 2 ea. medium onions (Chopped) 1 ½ cups Chopped celery 1 ½ cups of chopped bell pepper 2 ea. medium jalapenos (Finely chopped) 4 cloves of garlic (Finely chopped) 5 Bay leaves 1 ½ tsp. ground black pepper 1 tsp. ground Chipotle pepper 1 tsp. Cholula hot sauce 2 tsp. Thyme 1 ½ tsp. garlic powder 1 ½ tsp. Mexican oregano 1 ½ tsp. paprika 6 oz. can of tomato paste (Note: I didn't have any, so I didn't add the 1 ½ cups of chopped bell pepper in these pics) Cut up the onions, celery & jalapenos (Bell pepper if you've got em) Also chopped up 4 cloves of garlic Put some oil in my DO and pre-heated Add the chopped ingredients Once they started to wilt I added 3 large smoked ham hocks I let that continue to cook for another 5 minutes. I then add my 1lb. of pinto beans (soaked overnight), covered with water, add all my seasonings and finally a 6 oz. can of tomato paste. Bring to a boil and then turn the frame to its lowest setting, cover and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. (Until the beans are tender & the ham hocks are falling apart) Here it is at 1 Hour. At 2 Hours (Had to add some water) At 3 1/2 Hours. (See the meat is falling of the bones) Turn off the flame and remove the bones & Bay leaves. And here are the money shots. It is delicious.

Here's some of what we had for dinner yesterday evening. The 5.5lbs (raw) butt was cooked on a friend's XL BGE at 280F over 6.5 hours to an internal temp of 203F, then double wrapped in foil and blanked and placed into a warmed cooler. It sat for about 4 hours until we were ready to eat. Had I planned a little better, I would have extended the cooking time by running a bit lower pit temp so I wouldn't have had to hold it as long. Friends were originally supposed to get together for 6 and eat at 7, but we had to push it out a little bit because of some stragglers and appetizers. For appetizers a friend brought over a caramelized onion dip she made which we ate with a non-sweet cornbread I had made the night before. I also made some quesadilla rolls. 10" flour tortilla, "buttered" with refried black beans, filled with crumbled mexican chorizo that I also cooked on the BGE, minced fresh onion and a little bit of parsley from my garden. I would have preferred coriander (cilantro) but didn't have any on hand. Then I rolled the package up, buttered the outside and tossed them into a hot pan, cooking all around. Sliced in half to serve - sort of like spring roll size. Here you can see the butt when it came off the BGE. For dessert, I made a traditional portuguese flan which I forgot to take a picture of. That ended up actually being for dessert-dessert because I also made a bunch of mini flans which I served to each person. Espresso Chocolate with Spicy Caramel - my own recipe which I'll post later once I've made some adjustments. Each was topped with a mint leaf and a small sugar-pepper candy I also made. The candy was dusted with powdered crisped rice cereal.

I’ve always loved Red Beans & Rice and wanted to try making it myself. Now this may not be the traditional way of making it but it turned out great. Here are the ingredients: 1 lb. of pre-soaked beans. (I used pinto beans, as that’s what I had on hand but obviously red beans would be my 1st choice) 2 ea. medium onions (Chopped) 2 cups Chopped celery 2 ea. medium jalapenos (Finely chopped) 4 cloves of garlic (Finely chopped) 5 Bay leaves 1 ½ tsp. ground black pepper 1 tsp. ground Chipotle pepper 1 tsp. Cholula hot sauce 2 tsp. Thyme 1 ½ tsp. garlic powder 1 ½ tsp. Mexican oregano 1 ½ tsp. paprika 6 oz. can of tomato paste (Note: If I would’ve had any I would added 1 ½ cups of chopped bell pepper) Cut up the onions, celery & jalapenos Also chopped up 4 cloves of garlic Put some oil in my DO and pre-heated Add the chopped ingredients Once they started to wilt I added 3 large smoked ham hocks I let that continue to cook for another 5 minutes. I then add my 1lb. of pinto beans (soaked overnight), covered with water, add all my seasonings and finally a 6 oz. can of tomato paste. Bring to a boil and then turn the frame to its lowest setting, cover and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. (Until the beans are tender & the ham hocks are falling apart) Here it is at 1 Hour. At 2 Hours (Had to add some water) At 3 1/2 Hours. (See the meat is falling of the bones) Turn off the flame and remove the bones & Bay leaves. And here are the money shots. It was delicious.

I have had this recipe over twenty years. Found it in a food magazine and it never disappoints. Here it is: Ingredients: 1/2lb. Sliced bacon, diced 1/2c. Ketchup 1/2lb. ground chuck (or beef) 1/2c. Sugar 1c. chopped onion 1/2c. Packed brown sugar 1 28oz. can, Pork & Beans 2T. Prepared mustard 1 17oz. can lima beans, rinsed & drained 2T. molasses 1 15-16oz. can kidney beans, rinsed & drained 1t. salt 1/2c. barbecue sauce 1/2t. Chili powder If using oven: Preheat to 350' In large skillet, cook onion, beef, bacon, and onion until meat is browned and onion is tender, drain Transfer to a greased 21/2 quart baking dish, add all the beans and mix well In small bowl, combine remaining ingredients, stir into beef mixture. Cover and bake 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover, bake 15 minutes longer. You can also cook this in a slow cooker after browning meat for 6-8hrs. on low I am going to cook this on the King Cooker soon and I know it will add extra flavor Enjoy

After watching John’s Beer Braised Chili video I wanted to try some kind of bean dish. I bought some pinto beans and soaked 1 lb over night. I had some left over pulled pork in the freezer so I thawed out a package. Got out the Dutch oven and put in the pork, 1 chopped yellow onion, 2 Tbs spoons of EVOO and 2 minced cloves of garlic. Let that cook for 5 min. Dumped in a Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale and cook another 5 min. Now the beans, 1 ½ cups of water, 1 ½ diced jalapenos, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp of Cajun seasoning, ¼ tsp of cumin, ¼ tsp of rosemary flakes, ¼ tsp of Mexican oregano, ¼ tsp of ground sea salt and ¼ tsp of ground black pepper. Cover and cook for 2 hours, stirring every 10 to 15 min. After 2 hours I added 1 bunch of chopped cilantro, stirred and turned off the burner and it’s ready to serve. Money shot. It turned out great. It had a little Chili Verde taste to it but not to much. It was a little hot from the jalapenos, chili powder and the Cajun seasoning the first serving yesterday. Had some more today and it mellowed out nicely overnight in the fridge.