Frito Chili Pie

Who doesn't love Frito Chili Pie? We do, the only problem........I have no idea how to make chili. It seem like the last few years whenever I think about it, my mother is getting the kids, so I say "Hey! Why don't you go ahead and start the chili......." So I haven't had to do. Another deep dark secret......I don't do beans, so much.. So Ron's chili is where it's at!!!!!!! Great taste! No beans!! Yes please!! Listen, when I was a kid, I did not eat chili!!! You can ask my mother, no chili, no stew, no lots of things.........However, as an adult I love all of it!   So when I found Ron's chili recipe on line.......I was all about it...........So here ya go......BTW don't cook the ground beef or the ground pork first, it boils itself done......

Ron's Style Chili
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Beef (80% lean)
1lb Ground Pork
32 oz beef stock
5 tbsp Chili Powder
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tbsp Corriander
1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 can chili tomatoes pureed
1 large onion pureed
3 tsp sugar (add 1 at a time to taste)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 small can tomato paste

Add beef, broth, and onion to pot and mix well with your hands or a potato masher, slowly bring to boil stirring frequently breaking up all chunks.

Add spices, paste, can tomatoes, ketchup and simmer a couple of hours.
Float jalapeno during simmer process if you want more spice

Soup is good, I mean it just is.

I love soup.  I think I've told all of you this before. So I've decided I am making one of two soups this weekend.  Although I did just see the forecast and I don't care.  I will use the old adage I heard long ago "Eat some soup, it will cool you down."  Well I have narrowed it down to a large pot of soup that has cheese in it.  That narrows it down right? It should however there is an entire internet of soups with cheese in them. Ultimately I narrowed it down to one I haven't had in years and another I just really want to try.  So here goes, this weekends soups, and by the way........I'm not above making both of them.

Full Moon Cafe Tortilla Soup

1/2 Gallon Chicken stock
1/2 tsp. white pepper
Combine these ingredients and bring to a boil
To thicken make a roux.
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. flour
Melt butter. Stir in flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and thickened.
Stir roux into chicken stock.
1 C. Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese mixed.
1 pint half and half
2 teaspoons diced jalapenos
1 (10 ounce) can Rotel tomatoes with chilies
1 C. cooked, diced chicken meat (Full Moon marinates chicken in fajita seasonings)
Add cheese to stock and stir until melted. Add remaining ingredients to stock and heat. To hold, place soup in top of double boiler over hot water. To serve sprinkle individual servings with strips of flour tortillas that has been deep-fried. Garnish with a dollop of guacamole and mixed cheese.

(Just a side note, I will be making my own tortilla strips by cutting tortilla's into strips and pan fried, it's really easy.)

And I couldn't get the picture for this soup but it looks good, does that help?

Triple D Cheeseburger Soup

1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp table salt
8 oz Kraft Velveeta Light Reduced-Fat Pasteurized Processed Cheese Product
1 medium onion(s)
1 cup(s) Iceberg lettuce
1 cup(s) tomato(es)
3 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth
1 pound(s) cooked extra lean ground beef
1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Buttery
1 cup(s) fat-free skim milk

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, spray butter and sweat onion until translucent, remove. Add ground beef, season with salt & pepper and cook until browned and a bit crispy, drain. (Next time I will make actual patties and grill them to get more of a burger taste) remove from pan.
Add your chicken stock, & flour slurry, bring to boil scrapping bits off the bottom. Add half & half and Velveeta. Cook until all the cheese is melted, not boiling. Add in onion & hamburger.
Season to taste and lower heat. Cover and cook for about an 1 hour. Add the tomatoes and lettuce, stir and serve.

This is just a filler blog...

Well so while I was researching what I was going to make this weekend.....yes I do that.  I decided there was some prosciutto in the refridgerator that hadn't been gobbled up yet and I needed something to go with my soup I just had for dinner.......so I felt I would share this wonderfully simple yet almost fancy sandwich. 

So you need a prosciutto panino rolled with mozzarella cheese and basil, you can find it in the cheese section in the deli. It looks something like this above.  So you take two pieces of bread and spread olive oil with a basting brush, on one side of the bread.  I go out on a limb and use my garlic press and put some garlic in the olive oil.  Ok, so then you cut the prosciutto in slices, about 1/2 inche thick.  So you put your olive oil side of the bread in a semi heated pan, put a layer of prosciutto on the bread, one slice of tomato, and then the other piece of bread.  It's really just like a traditional grilled cheese but better and you can impress friends pretty easily.

It can be a main course!

So growing up my one of my favorite dinners was sloppy joes and Kraft macaroni and cheese.  Yeah, it's true.  So in my house growing up the only macaroni and cheese was Kraft, well unless it was Hamburger Helper's chili mac.  Now don't think that's because my mother can't cook because that's not the case.  She is a very good cook however as in every family there were nights of convenient dinners.  Having said that, my mother and I have had the conversation as to whether macaroni and cheese can pull off "main course" status.  My mother is admittedly not really found macaroni and cheese that exciting.  So my first experience with homemade macaroni and cheese was my mother in laws.  So I have decided to make macaroni and cheese this weekend so this week alot of time was spent researching recipes to find the one I HAD to make.  The Pioneer Woman won, hands down this is the most exciting recipe I found, this recipe jumped out at me and said "make me!!"

So you are in luck, I'm going to share it with you. Now obviously if you go to her site you can see it and the pics, but whatever...... by the way her choices for cheeses in this recipe are beyond what I would have thought of, but I am so excited to see the outcome.

FANCY MACARONI AND CHEESE

• 4 cups Macaroni
• 8 Tablespoons Butter (Salted Butter)
• 2 whole Medium Onions, Cut In Half And Sliced Thin
• 10 slices Regular Bacon
• 1 Tablespoon Bacon Grease (reserved From Bacon Slices)
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Whole Or 2% Milk
• ½ cups Half-and-half
• 2 whole Egg Yolks, Beaten
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• ½ cups Grated Gruyere Cheese
• ½ cups Grated Fontina Cheese
• ½ cups Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
• 4 ounces, weight Chevre (soft Goat Cheese)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook macaroni for half the time of the package instructions. Drain and set aside.
Fry bacon until slightly, but not overly, crispy. Drain on a paper towel. Reserve grease.
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet and then saute onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and soft. Set aside.
In a pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter (and add 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon grease for good measure!). Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in milk and half & half, then cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Reduce heat to low. Add salt & pepper to taste. (Do not undersalt!)
Beat egg yolks and drizzle 1/4 cup hot mixture into the yolks, stirring constantly. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into sauce and cook for another minute.
Add cheeses and stir until melted. Add onions and bacon and stir. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed. Add cooked macaroni and stir to coat.
Pour into a baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sizzling and hot. Serve with red meat or a green salad.

It's Sunday so obviously I want to cook

I love this weather.  I do, I am a fall and winter person.  Summer makes me very angry, and the hotter it gets the meaner I am.  It's just a fact and most people who know me would agree.  SO with that being said, I also love soup.  I love all the different kinds, creamy, tomato based, broth, cheesy, sign me up, yes please.  So like the title said it's Sunday and I don't know why I always have this need to cook on Sunday, but I do, I'll own it.  My family has to just go with it and I don't care, it's not like they aren't fed!  So today I have been laying here and I have just gotten my burst of energy so I'm making soup today.  It's the first chilly day of the season and I'm soup ready.  I can actually feel how much I've missed soup weather........
So this what we are having, I love this soup and can't wait to make it. 

Olive Gardens Zuppa Toscana:

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
• 1 large diced white onion
• 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
• 2 tsp garlic puree
• 10 cups water
• 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
• ¼ of a bunch of kale

Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.

1. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
2. Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
3. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
4. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
5. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!