Chili macaroni

I wanted to make something hearty and healthy for dinner tonight so I decided to do a loaded chili macaroni. It was a real hit, the boys liked it because it had noodles in it and I was happy because of all the veggies in it. I served it with these cheese biscuits and thought it was a really good meal.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced (small dice)
• 1 zucchini, grated on medium grate of box grater
• 1 can whole plum tomatoes
• 1 can roasted garlic tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 8oz macaroni, cooked

Heat oil in large pot. Add onions, peppers and carrots. Cook 5 minutes, add garlic cook 1 minute. Add zucchini cook 5 minutes. Add ground beef and brown, about 10-15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and water, chickpeas and black beans. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 1 hour.  Add macaroni, stir to combine. Serve with warm biscuits or buns.

Greek Salad

I love Greek salad, I think I could eat it every meal of the day. The longer it sits the better it tastes, the only problem with that is that I'm impatient and don't like to wait so it's usually gobbled up pretty quick. I personally don't like kalamata olives (or any black olives for that matter) so I don't add them to the salad. I also don't add any lettuce. For this salad I used red pepper and it tasted great, usually I use green peppers but I used them the other night in the spaghetti sauce. The dressing is simple to make and tastes great. I highly recommend this salad!

Ingredients

• 1 English cucumber, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• feta cheese, crumbled (I use cows milk feta but whatever kind you prefer use)
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice (I use fresh lemon juice)
• 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Combine cucumber, tomatoes, peppers and onion in a large bowl.

Put dressing ingredients in a mason jar with a lid or a gravy shaker (a bowl and a whisk would work too!). Shake until combined.

Pour dressing over vegetables. Top with feta cheese. Toss lightly to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours (if you can wait that long!). Enjoy.