As Promised, Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chili

Prep: 20 minutes, 6 hours in a crock pot, serves 8, $1.94 per serving.
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 onions,chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper,seeded and chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

The Bomb!

1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced
4 15 ounce cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
2 14.5 cans of fire roasted tomatoes
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 cups of butternut squash (about 2 lbs, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
salt and pepper
Step One
Warm Olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.Saute onions until tender (about 3 minutes) Add Garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add bell peppers and jalapenos and saute until tender, about 3 minutes longer.
Step Two
Transfer peppers, onions and garlic to a slow cooker. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin and oregano.
Arrange butternut squash on top and cook on low for 6 hours.
Step three
Season chili with salt and pepper.
Serve with sour cream. salsa, and any other topping you like.
Per serving, 276 calories, 8 grams of fat, (1 gram saturated fat) 0mg Chlo., 16 grams fiber, 11 grams protein,50 Grams carbs, 1,190 mg sodium.

Now, Let's Bake this Thing! Kabish?

Right amount of dough
for a 9x12
Pizza

Perfect
ready to top

Pre Heat oven to 400 Degrees. As you can see by the image on the left, I plopped part of the dough ball on my favorite pizza pan. Make sure you coat the pan with Canola oil or Wesson oil. Don't be stingy with the oil. You can drain the excess by tilting the pan. This is the right amount of dough for a 9x12 square pizza. I put the other dough ball in a freezer bag, dated it and put it in the freezer. Do not use Olive oil, it doesn't heat fast enough, and after all this work  you want the best finished product you can get. Now let's spread the dough! Oil your hands, and spread from the center out until you get the dough  end to end and side to side. It takes a little doing, but you'll get it, If you tear some holes in the dough, don't worry, just pinch them closed. Then pinch along the edges to form you edge crust. My wife loves the corner pieces.

Ready to take the heat.

Now Your ready to top it off. If you have a sauce in mind, go for it. The sauce and topping I use are Contadina pizza sauce, down here in NC I can only find it at Kroger. Sorrento "Whole Milk" mozzarella and then you can use your imagination. Peppers, pepperoni, onions, sausage, etc. Make sure the mozzarella you use is whole milk, that's what the good pizza shops use, it has a beautiful melt,  taste and color. 

"Squizito"
The Star of
the show!

Cooking time varies, gas stove, electric stove. I use an electric stove. Make sure you place the pizza on the middle shelf of the oven. A rule of thumb is to do a visible check after 15 minutes of baking. Then it's up to you, how dark do you want it. All I'm showing is the way my family likes it. You know you've got a great pizza when you can lift the whole pizza with a spatula. If my Mother sees this I'm gonna get baked! Not to worry, she thinks the "internet" has something to do with the Boston Celtics.

til next time

I don't throw the dough, these guys do.

"In Crust We Trust".