When you just need easy

by Justin Segelstrom

Sometimes you just want something nice and easy that tastes good. Especially after you make two dozen hot dog buns and grill a ton of hot dogs for your children and all of a sudden, they decide they hate their favorite buns and all hot dogs FOREVER! DON'T EVER MAKE THEM AGAIN, DADDY! 😒🤦🏻‍♂️

That shaped my decision for yesterday's dinner. I made a super simple beef chili in the crock pot. I'm talking 10-ingredient simple. And it was one of the best bites I've had all week. I toasted the buns in butter. Reheated some dogs. Topped them with the chili, cheddar, and raw white onion. Even though this chili is more of a topping, I just kept eating spoonful after spoonful of it by itself.  Phenomenal!

Slow Cooker Beef Chili Recipe (as a topping)

Ingredients:

• 1½ pounds ground beef
• ⅓ cup water
• 5 ounces tomato sauce
• ½ cup ketchup
• 2½ teaspoons chili powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar (adjust to taste)
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• A splash of Worcestershire sauce

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet, cook the ground beef over medium heat until browned. Once cooked through, drain off the excess fat.
2. Transfer the browned beef to your slow cooker.
3. Add the water, tomato sauce, ketchup, chili powder, salt, black pepper, sugar, onion powder, and Worcestershire sauce to the slow cooker. Stir everything together to combine.
4. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low heat for 6 hours, or until the flavors meld together and the sauce thickens.
5. Give it a taste before serving and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve over hot dogs for amazing chili dogs. Also works great for topping baked potatoes!
    

And when you need to do easy meal prep, breakfast sandwiches hit the spot. This morning, I did a bunch of meal prep using sheet pan eggs that I recently made. They're super versatile and easy to make (see recipe below). I made some sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches to freeze. I used the last of my homemade English muffins and froze them in individual sandwich bags.

Then I used what was left of the eggs and sausage to make this morning’s breakfast. I used buns that I baked the other day, which had a similar texture to biscuits, so that made me instantly think of sausage gravy. Made the gravy with some added onion and jalapeno to bed it up. I split the bun and topped it with two of the baked egg rounds sandwiched with a piece of cheese between. Spooned on the maple sausage gravy and the top half of the bun. While eating, I said at least four times out loud, "Man, this is good!"

Easy Maple Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried sage
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
• ½ tablespoon light brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the ground pork, kosher salt, black pepper, sage, thyme, rosemary, brown sugar, nutmeg, cayenne, red pepper flakes, and maple syrup until well combined.
2. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour to let the flavors meld.
3. After chilling, shape the sausage mixture into patties.
4. Heat a skillet over medium heat and cook the patties on both sides until golden brown and fully cooked through, about 5–7 minutes per side.

Baked Sheet Pan Eggs

Ingredients:

• 12 large eggs
• ¾ cup milk (whole or 2%)
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 whole stalks green onion, chopped

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Add the milk, sour cream, Dijon mustard, eggs, salt, and chopped green onions to a blender. Blend until the mixture is smooth and thoroughly combined.
3. Grease a 13x18-inch ridged sheet pan with avocado oil spray (or your preferred oil). Line the pan with a piece of parchment paper that's slightly larger than the pan, and then grease the parchment paper as well to prevent sticking.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the prepared sheet pan, spreading it evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked to your desired doneness.
5. Once baked, cut into squares and serve!

This recipe is great for feeding a crowd or prepping breakfast for the week!

See you all next month!

Justin Segelstrom is a chef who lives in Bismarck and has a website called My Complete Cooking. (ed note: Happy birthday, Justin!)

Follow him on Instagram at @mycompletecooking and on Facebook at My Complete Cooking

His posts appear on the last Friday of each month at On Your Table.

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