If you can't boat, cook!

Supposed to snow tomorrow, and nothing I can think of that's better on a snowy day than a big ol' bowl of homemade chili! And when I make chili, I don't mess around. I expect this to be around 3/4 full by this evening...



Yup, 5 or 6 gallons worth

But, it'll all be gone before the end of the week, the kids & grandkids will make sure of that!

No special recipe. Right now I'm boiling up the first batch of beans (about 1/4 of the total), I do this to thicken up the batch. Once they're good & done, they get added to the rest. After all the beans are cooking, I just start throwing in diced tomatoes & juice, cumin, garlic & onion powder, oregano, chili powder, salt & pepper until it starts tasting good. After a couple hours I'll brown up 3 or 4 pounds of burger with whole bunch of peppers & onions, some garlic, chili powder & cumin. Everything gets thrown in the pot. From there I just add more tomatoes, water, & whatever spices until it tastes right. When it's ALMOST done, I'll take a gallon or so out to put in another pot. Then I'll add another bunch of diced peppers and onions to both. To the gallon batch will go some red & cayenne pepper to heat it up. This will be MY batch.


Just add cheese, maybe some raw diced onion, saltines, and a little home made bread...


So, what are your cold-weather favorites?

thats a coincidink,
we're just getting on our shorts and cowboy hats and going to Lakeside's chili cookoff in a couple minutes,
the rodeo fairgrounds is about 4 walking blocks from our house

http://www.101kgb.com/pages/chilicookoff2008.html

chili, beer, nap, go back for more chili, beer, college games on t.v., ..., ..

Potato soup for me. Served best in negative temperatures tailgating outside the Metrodome. Mmm!

Clam Chowder that the Admiral makes is the bomb. Her stew can't be beat. Seriously.

I'll make a batch of black eyed peas this week. Yum.

I just made my first batch ever in my life last week. I found a great easy chili recipe on the net. The funny thing is that it matches almost to the tea your recipe. The only way I changed was adding tomatoes that were laced with jalapenos. Other than that, I cooked meat, onions, and green bell pepper separately before throwing it into the big pot. It was totally awesome.

For cornbread, have you ever tried the Penguin Cornbread Mix? I picked up a box at Costco and it is wonderful! It is also a sweet cornbread mix.

Cornbread is awsome.

3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 - 2 diced, fresh, jalapenos or serrano peppers

Mix all dry ingredients together in a sperate mixing bowl.
Grease (preferrably with butter, but PAM works well too) a 9 inch cake pan (round).
Mix the milk, egg, and oil togehter in a seperate bowl. Combine with dry ingredients. Mix in cheese and jalapenos & stir well. Put batter into pan and bake at 350 for ~ 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Variance: you can add some Green Giant niblet corn to the batter too.

I'm a big fan of French Onion Soup. I don't make it though.

That pepper corn bread sounds pretty freakin good though...

The chili's about 2/3 gone, it was about a 6 gallon batch too!

I love a good pot of ham & beans too, that may be next!

I need to figure out how to make unsweetened hot chocolate from scratch, guess it wouldn't be too hard. The reason I need it unsweetened is because the 101 proof peppermint schnapps I put in it provides plenty of sweet!

Here's one that will surprise you!

CREAMY PARSNIP SOUP: Saute one chopped onion in sesame oil in a pressure-cooker. Add a teaspoon of Sea Salt and cook until the onions are translucent. Add a half dozen chopped parsnips, let them cook a minute. Add 2-3 cups of cooked short grain brown rice and then add 4-5 cups of water. Close the pressure-cooker, bring the pot to pressure and let it simmer for 5 minutes. After the pressure is down, blend the parsnips, water and onions in a blender. The creamy mixture returns to the stove in a pot. Add 3 tablespoons of White Miso and stir to mix and let simmer for 1 minute. Add a garnish of chopped parsley.

Sweet, yummy soup.

I make about 10 gallons every year for our church fair. It yields about 150 servings at $3.00 per serving.

On a cold snowy day, my favorite thing is a bowl of Campbells condensed cream of chicken soup with a can of rice added to it. "SOUPERRICE"

I make a mean Chili myself...

FR, I have a pot about 2/3rds your size for Chili.

My secret recipe is basically to add a pound of Chorizo; makes for a danged good chili.

Like any good storm at sea, each of my Chilis have their own personality, so I name each pot of chili I make.

On Monday, I made:

"Blast off Chili.... with report"

What about a bowl of real good tomato soup and a stack of grilled cheese sammiches?

easy to please.

I have probably posted this recipe here in the past, but it had to be a while ago so what the hey.... first - some history....

often mistakenly referred to as "Mexican food" or "Tex-Mex," the dishes commonly identified with my beloved state of New Mehico reflect a blend of Hispanic and Indian cultures. The Spanish explorers owe a great deal to the native population, who introduced corn to their diet (and Indian Ho’s no doubt). In return, the Indians benefited from European vegetables (and unwanted offspring) introduced when Spanish settlers later colonized the region.

Virtually all Southwestern dishes make use of four main ingredients: the tortilla, pinto bean, cheese and chile (and of course, agave extracts sippins, en masse). The tortilla is a round, wafer-thin bread made from coarsely ground dough (masa) that's cooked in a pan until it has a light-brown texture. Taking the standard refried beans (frijoles) one step further, real NM cooks use dark pink or purple pinto beans, most of which are grown organically in the state.

The most essential ingredient, here though, for any recipe is the famous green chile pepper that grows in 2,000 different varieties. The Capsicum species, encompassing an amazingly wide range of colors, sizes, shapes and spiciness, are roasted, stewed, fried, cooked or simply added fresh off the plant. Chile generally comes in either a red or green sauce. Depending on the variety, growth and harvest conditions, "hotness" can vary greatly. If you're the adventurous sort, you can ask for it "Christmas"--a sample of red and green chile served side-by-side or mixed.

HATCH, New Mexico (way south) is where these chiles are grown. The are used in everything here, Chicken Enchiladas, Breakfast Burritos, Green Chile on pizzas, Green Chile Cheeseburgers, Salsa Verde', Green Chile Stew, Chile Con Queso, Green Chile Soufflé, and many many more recipes than you North/Easterners have ever heard of. I’m starting to ramble here, so let me throw a recipe at you for a basic ‘Cigar Man Stew’…. this is a recipe for green chile stew that is simple, very traditional New Mexican, and always good. Pork is preferred by your humble cook, but almost any domestic or game meat is fine, and venison is wonderful.

Pueblo Maiden Green Chile Stew

Yield: 4/6 servings

2 pounds lean boneless pork, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 potatoes, cubed
3 tablespoons all-purpose whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons butter, lard or bacon drippings (preferred)
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups canned or fresh chopped peeled tomatoes
1 can stale beer
1 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground Mexican oregano
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
20 fresh New Mexico Hatch green chiles, parched, peeled & chopped (do not touch your penis after this task – your neighbors will think you have been gutted alive)

Lightly coat pork cubes with flour. Melt butter/grease in a large heavy skillet or saucepan. Add pork cubes a few at a time, stirring to brown well. Drink Tequila here. Push to the side of the pot. Add onion and garlic, cook until onion is soft, slightly brown. Stir in the browned meat. Have another short of Tequila. Now add tomatoes, then salt, oregano, beer and cumin. Add potatoes, cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed. Add the green chiles (bless yourself with another dose of Agave, you have earned it); simmer 30 minutes or longer, adding a little more water if necessary, until flavors are well blended. Taste and adjust seasonings, add freshly ground black pepper to taste; finish the Agave juice while you wait for full simmer. Green chile stew is served in bowls along with freshly heated flour tortillas.

Also nice in a tureen of Pinto Beans so that your guests can add pinto beans to their bowls of green chile as they like. Chopped fresh onion and tomato, more dry oregano leaf, a wedge of fresh lime and a bit of fresh cilantro are also nice options. This is a great eating experience for anything from a winter evening to a Sunday cigar brunch.... ENJOY!

An open beer around my house never has a chance to go stale...

We're having a pot luck dinner at work tomorrow. I cooked up a leg of wild pig we shot two weeks ago. Pressure cooked it with beer and spices. Smells to high heaven but tastes good.

Chopped it up with onions and BBQ sauce and will make BBQ sandwiches at work.

Red beans and Rice is my favorite winter dish. This Cajun treat is like chili in that it can be made many different ways. We usually make it with smoked ham hocks or tasso (cajun ham), Andouille sausage, red beans, onions, celery, green peppers and spices. While there are many recipes, some of my favorites are from Paul Prudhomme's Family Cookbook and his Louisiana Kitchen cookbook. We use the recipes more as a template than an exact formula -- like Al's chili, it is different every time. After cooking for most of the day, everybody is hungry! We put a scoop of rice in a bowl and ladle the sauce on top, making sure everyone gets plenty of meat. I like mine with lots of hot sauce!

My wife is half Irish, so we often slow cook corned beef or pot roast in the winter. And of course, we need to have potatoes.

Some of my other winter favorites are crawfish etouffee (Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen has a great recipe)and Grits a Ya-ya from the Fish House in Pensacola. A friend took me to the Fish House and introduced me to the Grits a Ya-ya, which I loved. The Grits a Ya-ya is VERY rich and not for the weak of stomach! I was quite happy to find the recipe for one of their signature dishes posted on the internet.