Last night on Twitter’s #DadsTalking live chat, lucky parents won bottles of Texas Rib Candy, and they were excited to get theirs!

(By the way, if you’re a parent, and especially if you’re a dad, why don’t you follow along with the hashtag #DadsTalking along with us? We never stop talking, and you’ll pick up awesome, useful parenting hints as well as tips as to when the next live chat will be.)

Tonight was a long time getting here, so we’re going the lazy route once again and having soup and chicken nuggets for supper.

However, ever since we discovered Texas Rib Candy, plain old chicken nuggets have never been plain again. Now even something as simple as a chicken nugget has become a piece of awesomely delicious yumminess, because I brush them with Texas Rib Candy before I throw them into the microwave.

Not only that: my husband now dips almost everything into Texas Rib Candy as he eats. Seriously, Rib Candy is addictive (the GOOD kind!) and wonderful.

So, envy us, dear readers, for we are having chicken nuggets and black bean soup for supper tonight, and, to be perfectly honest, BOTH of these simple dishes were made with Rib Candy.

Mmmmm, Rib Candy. . . .

Life is so much easier when you have a crockpot!

Texas Partytime Beans is an easy recipe to make.  Beans are inexpensive and nutritious, and with a slab of cornbread and a nice tossed salad, you’ve got a meal fit for a king.  Or for your family.  Or for your guests.

Get out that slow cookier.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups Texas Habanero Salsa

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15-1/2 ounces) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 ounces) lima beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15-1/2 ounces) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained.

What to do:

Throw everything into your crockpot and mix well.  Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours or until onion and peppers are tender.  Remove the bay leaves.

Serve with cornbread and salad.  Put some crackers on the table for those who like crackers.

Step back so you won’t get trampled as people rush for your food.  Enjoy.

Don’t count on any leftovers.  If I were you, I’d put some Partytime Beans in a sealed container and hide it in the refrigerator so you can bring it to work for your lunch the next day.  Label the container “chicken fat” so your kids won’t steal it.

Texas is famous for its “bowls of red,” and this recipe, which uses Texas Pepper Jelly’s awesome Habanero Salsa and Choptle Habanero hot sauce, is the best I’ve encountered yet!  My family, also known as “experimental lab rats for my recipes,” will wholeheartedly agree.  My husband did finally quit after three bowls, but it was only because the laws of physics simply would not fit another bite of “red” into his stomach.

I’d offer you some, but as usual with any Texas Pepper Jelly recipe, there were no leftovers.

The Best Texas Bowl of Red Ever!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef (broken apart and cooked)

1 pound sausage (broken apart and cooked)

(Drain both meats as thoroughly as you can.)

4 cloves of minced garlic (fresh is best, but already-ground is ok, and garlic powder is good, too.)

2 cups chopped red pepper

1 cup chopped green pepper

2 10-ounce cans of chopped tomatoes

1 small can of chopped green chilis

4 cups tomato puree

1/2 cup Texas Chipotle Habanero hot sauce

1 cup Texas Habanero salsa

1/4 cup ketchup

1 large onion, chopped

1 large can tomato juice (If you want soup, use the entire can; if you prefer thicker chili, use half the can.)

2 large cans hot chili beans

What to do:

This is the hard part: Dump everything into a very large covered saucepan or Dutch oven.  Bring to a boil, and immediately reduce heat to simmer.  Simmer, uncovered, for about two hours.  Check every twenty minutes or so to see if it needs more liquid.  If it does, feel free to use almost any kind of liquid!  I’ve used more tomato juice, beef broth, milk (yes, milk!) old coffee. . . .almost anything works.

Serve ladled into bowls with assorted crackers, or over any kind of rice.

You can also make this recipe in your crockpot.  Just dump it all into the cooker, set it on low, and go about your business for approximately six hours.

This is one of those friendly recipes that will be a success no matter what little extras you might add or leave out.  After a while, you’ll get in tune with it and be able to easily match it to your family’s tastes.

This recipe can also be made ahead!  The day before you want it, mix it all together and bring it to a boil.  Remove from heat, cool, cover tightly, and stick it in the refrigerator until you want it – the next day, three days from now, whatever!

You can freeze it, too.

Mmmm, Texas bowls of red!  Best meal in the world for a cold winter’s day.  Or night.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we here at Texas Pepper Jelly hope that your holiday is a safe and happy one.  We hope you all are breaking bread with family or friends, and that when the day is over, you are all enriched by the fellowship.

Let me also add that almost anything on your holiday table can be made even better by putting a little Texas Pepper Jelly on it, or in it, or around it.  Dip things into the pepper jelly.  Spread pepper jelly on things.  Use pepper jelly instead of salad dressing, or regular jelly.

Texas Pepper Jellies are delicious on hot rolls or biscuits.  Some pepper jelly in your pasta salad turns ordinary noodles into something festive.  Mix a little pepper jelly into your dressing, before baking, and you’ll have something almost too delicious to be real.

Why settle for plain coffee or tea at your Thanksgiving table?  Stir some pepper jelly into your hot drinks and let it melt, and you’ve got a real treat.

Look around at your Thanksgiving table, in fact, and you’ll see many places a dab or two or pepper jelly would make a positive difference.

Make it easy on yourself and your guests; put some Texas Pepper Jelly on the table and let your guests use it however they wish.  I can’t think of a single limitation for it!

Happy Thanksgiving from Texas Pepper Jelly.

Everybody in your family will love Big Bean Blast – even the little kids! The cook in your home will love it, too, and not just because it’s simple, inexpensive, and very nutritious.

It’s also one of Texas Pepper Jelly’s extremely easy Crock Pot Meals!

Ingredients:                                                   

1 cup chopped onion

1 minced garlic clove

3 cups cooked (or canned) large lima or butter beans – or both – drained and rinsed

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, plus all of the juice

1 bottle of Texas Pepper Jelly’s Sweet Ginger Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce

salt and pepper to personal taste

What to do:

Dump it all into your crockpot and set the dial to “low.” Go to work, or to the mall, or just take a nap. The point is, you don’t have to hang around the kitchen; let the crockpot do all of the work and worry about dinner.

When everybody comes home from work or school, dip up a bowl of Big Bean Blast for each and stand back.

Eating this is a blast. You’ll really understand the name of this dish later that night, though.

Totally worth it. TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Fix a big pan of cornbread to go with the Big Bean Blast, and you’ve got a MEAL.

Jambalaya is such a versatile thing; to be quite honest, you can add almost any kind of leftover you’ve got to this recipe and it will just get better and better.

The meat is also optional, although it’s not really “jambalaya” without it.  Jambalaya is almost a “chili,’ but not quite.

Ingredients:

8 ounces sausage, sausage links, or any other kind of meat your family likes – cooked and drained

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 minced garlic clove

1 15.5-ounce can kidney beans, drained

1 15.5-ounce can black-eyed peas, drained

1 14.5-ounch can diced tomatoes, drained

1 bottle Texas Chipotle Habanero Finishing Sauce

1 cup crushed tomatoes

3/4 cup water

3/4 teaspoon thyme

What to do:

Put everything in your crockpot, cover, set on “low,” send the kids off to school and go to work yourself.  When you get home that night, turn off the crockpot. Throw some cornbread in the oven.  When it’s done, call everybody in for supper.

IF there’s any left over, it’s even better the next day.

It’s been raining cats and dogs here for the past three days, and the weekend forecast doesn’t look much  better.  Is there anything better, on a cold, wet autumn night, than a bowl of Texas Millet Chili?

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sweet Ginger Garlic Habanero Hot Sauce

1/2 cup Texas Habanero Salsa

2 chopped onions

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 minced garlic cloves

1 medium can diced tomatoes with juice

2 cups vegetable stock (or tomato juice – your call)

1 cup millet

2 cups pinto or chili beans

1 cup corn kernels, drained

1/2 pound cooked sausage, hamburger, or a combination of the two – if desired

What to do:

Throw everything into a large pot; bring to a boil.  Turn heat down, cover, and simmer slowly for four hours.

You can also make Texas Millet Chili in your crockpot!  Set it on “low” and don’t give it another thought for 6 hours.

Mmmm, either way you cook it, it’s awesome.