Chili in Sourdough Bread bowl

Originally my in-laws were coming over for dinner last night but plans changed when we ended up with a snowstorm.  We got somewhere between 6-8 inches of snow.  I ended up making a pot of chili which was great after our sledding adventure with S.  This was S's first time playing in the snow. It was absolutely hilarious.  At first she couldn't move in her snow suit; she was like the little boy from the Christmas story waddling through our house.  Before we even got outside she tried to lean over to pick something up and just toppled over.  Once we got outside she just stood there unable to move.  But she loved it!  When Chris first put her in the sled, she said "I'm stuck." But once they got moving after an initial "uh-oh" she was having a blast.  Her reaction to the snow was priceless. While we were only outside for about 20 minutes, we had a great time and I think it made my year.

Back to the chili, this recipe is very similar to the 3 B Chili recipe I posted a few months ago. This is actually a simplified version of it.

2 cups of diced yellow onion
1 lb of 85/15 ground beef
1 clove minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder and ground cumin
1 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1/4 teaspoon each of ground ancho chile and ground guajillo chile

In a Dutch oven, heat a tablespoon of olive and brown the beef along with the onion garlic and spices.  Drain the grease.

Add the following to the pot.

14 oz can each of Cannellini beans, Red Kidney beans, chili beans, drained and rinsed
14 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups of diced tomatoes
3/4 tablespoon double concentrate tomato paste
1/2 cup of water
7 1/4 oz can of Mexican tomato sauce, I use El Pato Salsa Chile Fresco 
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of sugar


Cook on low with the top on for a few hours, stirring regularly.


I took sour dough bread and removed the middle and then filled it with the chili.  Garnished with some green onion and cheddar cheese.  The best part of the bread bowl is you don't need crackers.

Pepper Steak

I had a bunch of bell peppers that I needed to use up this week. I figured this would be the perfect recipe to use them in. My mom use to make this all of the time when we were kids.  I had all of the veggies and everything prepared; my mom was kind enough to get this going for us since I was at work late this week.  This is great over your favorite brown or white rice served with a side salad.

Ingredients
3/4 lb of sirloin tip steak, cut into strips
1 large green pepper, seeded and sliced
1 large red pepper, seeded and sliced
1/2 large Spanish onion, diced into large pieces
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 beef boullion cube
1 cup of water
14 oz can of diced tomatoes
Approximately 1 tablespoon of Cornstarch

Directions
In a Dutch oven, brown the meat and onion.  Combine the bouillon cube with a cup of hot water to create broth. Add the broth, soy sauce (I use low sodium) and pepper slices to the meat and onion.  Simmer on low for about 20 - 30 minutes.  In a bowl combine 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with some water to make a paste.  Add the cornstarch mixture to the pot and mix in well. The purpose of this is to thicken the sauce/gravy.  Once the sauce has thickened up you will add the can of tomato included the juice.  This will thin it back out slightly.  Cook for another 15 minutes or so on low.

Serve over rice.

This meal was rated 3.5 asparagus spears

Rachael Ray's Fire-Roasted Manhattan Clam Chowder

Last Wednesday we needed a quick dinner because my mom, sister and I had a concert to go to. My mom was nice enough to make us clam chowder so we could eat before we left.  We just had this with some crusty bread and it was a delicious and filling meal.  My mom has been making this recipe for a while and always talks about how good it is; I would have to agree I really enjoyed it.

This recipe was published in the November 2007 issue of the Rachel Ray Magazine.

Ingredients

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise 1/4 inch thick
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 ribs celery with leafy greens, stalks and leaves finely chopped separately
• 1 large baking potato, peeled and chopped
• One 28-ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• One 14.5-ounce can chicken broth
• Two 10-ounce cans baby clams or chopped clams packed in water, liquid reserved
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until the fat renders, about 6 minutes; discard the fat. Add the olive oil and garlic and cook, stirring, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and celery stalks and cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the potato, the tomatoes and their juice and the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Stir in the clams with their liquid and cook to warm through. Stir in the chopped celery leaves and season with salt and pepper.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Minestrone Soup

What better to do on a snowy winter day than make some Minestrone soup?  This recipe is super easy and is definitely worth the wait.

32oz vegetable broth

11/4 cups each of celery, carrot, red onion (diced)

15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

3 1/4 cups water mixed with 2 extra large vegetable bouillon cubes

1 tablespoon fresh sage (I used some that I froze from our CSA)

Pinch of kosher salt

A couple turns of ground pepper

28 oz can of diced tomato

2 bay leaves

Combine all of the ingredients above in a crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours if you want the veggies to be on the softer side. Cook on high for four hours if you want your veggies to have a bit of a crunch to them. 

30-40 minutes before you are ready to eat add the following:

2 cups fresh spinach

1 1/4 cups diced zucchini and summer squash (I used some that I froze earlier from our CSA)

1 1/2 cups of tri-color pasta shells 

Garnish with some grated parmesan. 

While this was an original recipe, I'm happy to report that I found my Soup & Stew Cookbook. Hopefully I will be able to share a few more soup recipes before National Soup Month comes to an end. For more soup recipes see my post National Soup Month.

This meal was rated 4 asparagus spears

National Soup Month

January is National Soup Month, to celebrate I thought I would provide a consolidated list of some of the soup recipes I have previously posted.

Chicken Sausage and Vegetable Soup








                                                
                                                                    Homemade Chicken Soup

Roasted Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Pancetta and Vegetable Soup

Parsnip and Potato Soup

Carribbean Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Butternut Squash Soup with Crisp Pancetta








Last week I made a delicious Southwestern Chicken Sausage Corn Chowder (it was rated 3.5 asparagus spears) however I cannot find the piece of paper where I wrote down the recipe. This does not make me happy since it was an experimental recipe, so I really have no idea of what the measurements were for each ingredient.  Hopefully I will find it so that I can share it with you.

I have the ingredients to make Minestrone so I plan on making it sometime this weekend.  Keep an eye out for my recipe in the next few days.

Slow Cooked Pork Chili

As you know my sister had a baby last week (Happy One Week Birthday L!); so I thought I would make her an easy meal she could just heat up over the weekend.  I decided to go with a chili since they both like spicy meals but I got a little daring and tried out a new recipe.  This was another one I just made up as I went along so I was concerned about how it might turnout.  But I think this may be my favorite chili recipe yet. This recipe is a two day process since you need to slow cook the pork one day and then prepare the chili the following day.

Ingredients for slow cooking the Pork:
Olive Oil
3lb Pork Butt Roast, trimmed
1 cup chicken broth
1 large Spanish onion, chopped (reserve 3/4 cup for later)
2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
Kosher salt

Ingredients for Salsa Verde:
10 tomatillos, husked
1 can of diced green chilies
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
handful of cilantro, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground guajillo chili
3/4 cup diced Spanish onion

Ingredients for Pork Rub:
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground guajillo chili
a pinch of kosher salt
a couple turns of pepper mill

Preparing the Pork:
In a Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Cover pork roast liberally with the rub.  Sear each side of the roast until it is browned.  Transfer roast to crock pot.  Add all but the 3/4 cup of reserved onion to the dutch oven along with the chopped 2 large garlic cloves  and 2 pinches of kosher salt.  Cook for a couple minutes until onions soften. Remove and add to crock pot with the pork roast.  Add the cup of chicken broth to the Dutch oven and scrap the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add to crock pot.

Making the Salsa Verde:
On a foiled lined pan, drizzle tomatillos with olive oil and a little salt. Roast on 350 degrees until soft.  Once softened add to blender along with the can of diced green chilies, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, the handful of cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon of guajillo chili and 3/4 cup of diced onion.  Blend until smooth.
Add salsa to the crock pot.

Slow cooking the pork:
Cook pork butt on low for 6 hours on low or until the meat can be easily shredded with two forks.
Let the meat cool and store in a container with some of the liquid from the crock pot.  Make sure the shredded pork is coated well with the liquid.  Reserve the remaining liquid separately. Refrigerate over night.

Ingredients for Chili
1 3/4 cup diced Spanish onion
Kosher Salt
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup of reserved liquid from cooking the pork
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground guajillo chili
10 oz diced tomato and green chilies, drained
3 tablespoon poblano pepper, chopped
7 3/4 oz can of Mexican Style tomato sauce
1 1/4 cup diced tomato, no juice
14 oz can diced tomato with juice
2 15.5 oz cans of Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 15.5 Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Shredded pork

Preparing the chili:
The next day heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a Dutch oven, add 1 3/4 cup of diced Spanish onion, a pinch of salt and 2 garlic cloves chopped.  Add the container of shredded pork, the reserved liquid from cooking the pork, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon each of ground paprika, onion powder and garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon of ground guajillo chili. Heat on low stirring frequently.  Add the can of tomatoes and green chilies let simmer for approximately 20 minutes.  Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and beans.  Stir and place top on lid of Dutch oven.  Cook on low for 2-3 hours stirring regularly.

Garnish with slices of avocado, grated Cojita cheese and Donkey Chips (tortilla chips).

This meal was rated 4 asparagus spears

The rating above is from Chris.  I also asked my sister and her husband to also rate the chili since they have had my other chili recipes in the past.  Becky rated it 4 asparagus spears and Thierry rated it 3.5 asparagus spears, he lowered his rating because he prefers his chili to be more spicy.