Grandma's Chili...sort of!

My Grandma made delicious chili!  I've taken her recipe as the foundation and tweaked it a bit to make my own.

1 lb bag pinto beans
1 small can tomato paste
1 lb ground beef
3 slices of bacon diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can drained diced jalapenos (less for less heat)
1 packet chili seasoning
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 bottle of beer (prefer to use a lager)

Soak beans in pot of water overnight.  (I'm not sure if it's fact or myth, but apparently it reduces the gassiness of the beans!).  Day 2 Drain the beans, put them in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of water.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 2 hours.  Add more water if needed. After 2 hours add in bacon and simmer for 2 more hours.  In a separate skillet brown ground beef along with bell pepper and onion.  When thoroughly browned, add in tomato paste and seasoning.  Once combined, add meat/paste mixture into beans.  Stir to combine.  Add tomatoes, jalapenos, and beer.  Cook on low for another 30 minutes to an hour. Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese and fritos.  Enjoy!

Chicken Chowder

I found a recipe online years ago on Mothers' Board and tweaked it until I came up with this.  It's one of our absolute favorites in winter time. I usually double the below recipe to make a HUGE pot since we devour it so fast.  Plus, it's fun to share!  I hope you enjoy it.  It's mmm.mmm.good! 

3 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced/peeled potatoes
1 cup diced/peeled carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup frozen corn nibblets
1/2 cup diced onion
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/3 flour
2 cups milk
2 cups cooked/cubed chicken
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large pot.  Reduce heat to a simmer, add all veggies (sans corn), salt & pepper.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add corn and continue to simmer for 5 more minutes. In a separate saucepan melt butter, add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes to make a roux.  (Add more flour for thicker chowder., we like it thick so I always add a few tbsp more)   Stir in milk and cook over medium/low heat.  Stir frequently to thicken, do not boil.  Once thickened to liking, add to veggies/broth.  Add chicken and continue to cook another 10 minutes or until heated through.  Remove from heat and add cheese.  Stir until melted.  Serve with sourdough buttered bread.

Arroz Con Pollo

Tonight I'm going to share with you one of my most fabulous creations....Arroz con Pollo.  Chicken and Rice.  This isn't just any chicken and rice.  This is Mexican Rice with chicken, drowned in enchilada sauce and covered with melted cheese.  This is one of my recipes that makes me pop my own collar.  One of our favorite Mexican restaurants serves Arroz con Pollo, and one day I was craving it.  I thought, "It's just Mexican rice with chicken, enchilada sauce, and cheese, why can't I do that?" And so was birthed my version of this delicious dish.  The essential layers are the Mexican Rice (my recipe), cooked cut up chicken (you can shortcut it and just buy a rotisserie chicken if you're in a rush), enchilada sauce (The oh-so-fabulous Pioneer Woman's recipe), and then shredded cheese.  I'll be breaking this down by recipe/layers as we go.
List of all of the Ingredients you'll need for this dish
canola oil (or veggie oil)
flour
Long Grain White Rice
Chicken Broth (approx 4 cups)
2 cans Diced tomatoes
salt
pepper
cilantro
shredded cheddar cheese
bag of frozen peas & carrots
garlic clove
yellow onion
1 28 cans of Enchilada Sauce (La Victoria Mild)
3 cooked Chicken breasts cut up into bite sizes

First up is the Mexican Rice.  Here's what you will need:

It's taken me a LONG time to get the secrets of how to make Mexican Rice out of my Mother-In-Law!  Mine still isn't quite her's, but it's pretty darn tasty!  The most important step to gaining authentic Mexican Rice is "washing" the rice.  Who knew?!?! In order to not have sticky rice, you need to rinse off the starch.

Rinse 2 cups white rice in a strainer (about 2 minutes until water runs clear). 

Set on paper towels to dry. 

In a blender add 1 can diced tomatoes, 1-2 cloves of garlic (depending on size), a chunk of onion (See the above picture to see what I use.  It's a slice of a yellow), and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Puree.

Measure mixture

Add chicken broth until just under 4 cups. (Another important note when making any quantity of Mexican rice is that you essentially want to almost double the liquid to the amount of rice)

 
Add canola oil (or veggie oil) to a saute pan or pot (enough to coat the rice).  Put on med heat. 

 Add rice.  Saute until rice is browned (should be a reddish color and some rice will look broken).

This is not ready yet.  You will be worried about burning it, but don't!  We want a dark color....                                            

 

THIS is the color you want.  Now we're talkin'!

Then add liquid mixture.

Next grab your frozen peas & carrots, and throw in a handful.

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until liquid has evaporated.

Don't be concerned when you first remove the lid.  Tomato rises, we need to stir.

Once you've stirred, it will look like this.

CONGRATULATIONS!  You just made Mexican Rice!  Yum!  Onto our next layer.  Chicken.

You can go the super simple way of just buying a rotisserie chicken.  You can throw some chicken breasts in a crock pot, a little oil/garlic salt/pepper.  Or you can do as I did and put them in the oven on 350 for 45 minutes with a little oil, pepper/garlic salt. 

(Ignore that I have 4 breasts here, one was for the munchkins who have yet to venture into the wonderful world of Arroz con Pollo.  Only dice up 3)

Now for the most wonderful/easy enchilada sauce recipe!  This is what you'll need:

Heat 2 Tbsp Canola Oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add 2 Tbsp Flour to make a roux.  Stir and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 28oz can of Enchilada Sauce (I use La Victoria Mild), 2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro. Bring to a boil then lower and simmer for 45 minutes.  You can find this lovely recipe here.  (Btw, that is THE.BEST.ENCHILADA.RECIPE.EVER.  Every time I've made them, I've gotten rave reviews!)

Now that you have your layer ingredients ready, let's layer!  Grab a 13X9 Pyrex dish. 

  

Our foundation is Mexican Rice.

Second layer is the bite sized pieces of chicken.

Let's drown this puppy in enchilada sauce!

The only thing that could make this better is cheese.  Lots of shredded, sharp, cheddar cheese!

Now throw this fabulous concoction in a 350 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until it's all bubbly and the cheese is melted.

If heaven has food, this is what it would look like. 

Now if you'll excuse me, this post has made my tummy growl and there are leftovers that are screaming my name! Please enjoy and let me know if you do!

Baked Mac, Chicken, Broccoli & Cheese

3 cooked chicken breast cut in bite sizes (I cooked mine in the crock pot with garlic salt/pepper on low 6 hours)
1 cube of butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups of milk
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese (leave a little out of the sauce to sprinkle on finished dish)
6 slices of American cheese
1 box elbow noodles
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
butter

Preheat oven to 350. In a sauce pan melt butter.  Add flour to make a roux.  Cook 1-2 minutes over medium heat.  Add milk and spices. Cook over medium heat continually stirring.  You don't want it to boil or scald.  It will slowly thicken.  In another pot cook your noodles al dente.  When there is 10 minutes remaining while cooking noodles, add into the same pot the broccoli.  Drain, and set aside.  Back to the sauce, once thickened add the cheese.  Stir until completely melted and mixed. In a big pot mix the noodles with broccoli with the sauce and chicken.  Pour mixture into a 13 X 9 Pyrex dish. Top with shredded sharp cheddar cheese  In a little bowl mix the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle breading on top of dish.  Dot with butter. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes.  Finish off by 2 minutes under the broiler to make the breading toasted.

Chicken Dijon & Lemon Rice

Tonight's recipes will be brought to you by....BUTTER and I'll be doing Paula Dean proud.  Ignore the caloric intake and just go with it.  You only live once, right?!  For tonight's dinner I made Chicken Dijon, lemon rice, and green beans. The thing I adore about these recipes is that they stretch with ease.  My mom and I served this at my SIL's baby shower and it was a big hit.  Great go-to for large crowds when you need to stretch a dollar! I doubled the recipe's below because I wanted not only dinner and leftovers for us, but am planning on sharing the other half with another fam.  I will list the single serving recipe, but the pictures below are of me doubling.

Here we go!

Chicken Dijon

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Will make 6 pieces. I told you!  Stretches!)

1 cube of butter

1 clove of garlic

5 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs

2 tbsp parsley flakes

5 tbsp Parmesan cheese

First we need to make the "sauce".

Melt butter in a pan, and add the peeled clove of garlic.  Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove and toss garlic clove.  We essentially just made garlic butter.

Add Dijon to a bowl.

Add garlic butter into bowl.  Will be extremely "soupy" looking. 

Stir well, and then put in fridge.  We want these two ingredients to become friends!  They need some time to cool off to do such.

 

Next, get out your chicken.

If you have some aggression to get out, this is the step to do it!  You'll need a Ziploc bag, a kitchen mallet, and one of your chicken breasts.  Be sure to SEAL the bag once the chicken breast is inside.  You don't want to be splattering chicken schmeg all over the place!  Your mallet might have two sides, a flat side and a pointy side.  Use the flat side.  Pointy side up!

Pound, pound, POUND until this baby is flattened!  About 1/4 of an inch thick.

Keep going...

Whoa Mama!  Look at the difference! 

I think a dinner plate size of chicken is a little much for one person, don't you??

Cut it in two.  Now that's more like it!  Repeat with the remainder of your chicken, and set aside.

Next up is these 3 guys.

Measure them out, and place them in a shallow dish.  Mix!

Time to take our garlic butter/Dijon mixture out of the fridge.  Stir.  Looks much better! Nice and thick!

Time to make an assembly line.  Dip the chicken into the garlic Dijon butter first.

Then into the bread crumbs.

Make sure to cover both sides completely.

Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 35 minutes, until browned.  If the top isn't browned/crunchy enough to your liking, finish off under the broiler for a minute or two.

On to our next recipe, LEMON RICE! A friend of mine gave me this recipe a few years ago, and it's delish!  One of our faves.

Lemon Rice

2 cups of longrain white rice

4 cups of chicken broth

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cube of butter

2 chicken bouillon cubes (mash in fingers)

fresh ground pepper (to taste)

I didn't get as in depth pics of these, because it is super simple. Melt butter in a pot. Add rice and lemon juice. Toast for approx. 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Lower temp and add mushed up bouillon cubes.  Mush with your hands!  Go on, get dirty!

(excuse the very weird shot of my hand!)

 

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until liquid is completely evaporated.  Add fresh ground pepper to taste.  I add A LOT!  Compliments the lemon perfectly!

And for our veggies, I went super simple.  Can't beat fresh green beans in a bag that you can steam right in your microwave!  Added some butter and kosher salt and veggie was ready to be served in 5 minutes flat.

The final product....

Bon Appetit!

Taco Soup

Aren't much of a cook?  Consider yourself lost in the kitchen?  Then this is the recipe for you!  Completely fail proof as long as you know how to open a can and brown ground beef!  This is another meal you can feed a crowd with on the cheap.  I constantly keep my eyes peeled for when canned beans and tomatoes go on sale and stock up.  I always have ingredients for this easy go-to on hand. The lovely thing about this recipe is that you can mix it up depending on what types of beans you have on hand. If you have a really large crowd, just throw in a few more cans of beans/tomatoes. This recipe is versatile! Have fun with it!  The recipe below is the mix I like best. Here's what you'll need:

•  1-2 lbs ground beef
• 2 cups of diced yellow onion
• 2 cans pinto beans
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 1 can black beans
•  2 cans white beans
•  2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can stewed Mexican tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
•  2 cans diced green chilies
• 1 large can sliced olives(drained)
• 1 can corn (drained)
• 1 packet of taco seasoning (I add 2 if I'm adding more cans of beans to make it more spicy)
• 1 packet of ranch dressing packet (buttermilk version)

**Brown beef (until completely cooked) in a saute pan with onions.  In a large stockpot, add all of the canned ingredients. Add cooked beef/onions.  Simmer for 1-2 hour or in a crock pot on low.  Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and corn chips. 

Chicken Tacos

In need for something that takes very little prep, cheap, and stretches?  If so, Chicken Tacos is for you!  All that is required is a crockpot! A friend of mine passed on this recipe, and I've since passed it on numerous times.  It is perfect for any busy day, or for a game night.

Here is what is needed:

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breast
• 3 cans of El Pato Hot Tomato Sauce (The yellow can, you can find this in your local grocer on the "international" aisle) 
•  garlic salt/pepper

That's it!  Throw the chicken in the slow cooker, garlic salt/ pepper, add sauce and viola! Cook on low for 6-8 hours (8 if you start off with frozen chicken breasts).  Remove chicken when cooking time is complete.  Shred by using 2 forks.  Chicken will literally be falling apart.  Add back to crockpot and stir in sauce. Serve with flour tortillas, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream, etc.  Basically any taco fixins you'd like to add in!  Enjoy!