My mother-in-law's recipe and the only chili worth having, according to my husband. It even won us the chili cook-off at our church competition one year!
Chili
1-2 lbs ground beef
2-3 pkg. McCormick's Chili Seasoning (original)
1 large can (46 oz.) tomato juice
2-3 cans light red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
Sugar to taste (brings out the flavor)
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Brown ground beef.
Add seasoning and a pinch or two of sugar.
Add 1/2 of the can of tomato juice, and let it cook into the meat.
Add beans and remaining tomato juice. Allow to simmer until desired flavor is reached.
Top with sour cream and shredded cheese.
Freezer Meal: Freeze after preparation, then thaw and heat through when ready to eat.
I found this recipe on Land O' Lakes website years ago. To make it a little easier, I started using frozen meatballs.
Swedish Meatballs in Sour Cream Sauce
2 bags (16 oz) Armour meatballs
2 cups half & half
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon salt
1 package egg noodles
Cook meatballs as directed on package in 13x9 baking dish.
Combine half & half, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and salt in medium-sized bowl. Pour over meatballs. Continue baking, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes or until sauce is heated through.
Meanwhile, prepare noodles as directed on package. Drain.
Serve meatballs and sauce over hot cooked noodles.
I've tried several different taco soup recipes, and this has become my favorite. So easy to make, fabulous as a freezer meal, and perfect for making large batches (I can make 6 of these in about an hour with five boys running circles around me). We think adding sour cream and shredded cheese is a must (haven't tried the tortilla chips), but to each his own.
We were trying to make more things with pork, so I found
this recipe at www.mealsmatter.org. It made quite a bit, but that was
okay because it was delicious. Anthony even tried it as a sandwich, and
it works that way too. All of the spices really come together for a
fabulous taco filling.
Pork Filling: 1 3 lb. Boneless pork prime rib roast 8 cloves Garlic, minced 2 teaspoons Ground coriander 2 teaspoons ground cumin 2 teaspoons Dried oregano, crushed
1 teaspoon Onion powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt 1/2 teaspoon Ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon Ground red pepper
1 cup Beef broth
Tacos:
2 cups Shredded Savory Pork
8 Taco shells or eight 6- to 8-inch flour tortillas
3/4 cup salsa (if desired)
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Trim fat from meat.
In a small bowl combine garlic, coriander, cumin, oregano, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and red pepper; rub into the meat.
Place
meat in a roasting pan that has a cover; add beef broth. Cover and
roast in a 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until very tender.
(Or put in crock pot--6 to 8 hours on low, 4 to 6 hours on high.)
Remove meat from liquid with a slotted spoon; discard excess fat from cooking liquid. Reserve the rest of the liquid.
When meat is cool enough to handle, shred it.
Stir
in 1/4 cup of reserved cooking liquid to use as taco filling. Reheat in
a saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Prepare tacos as
normal.
You can also freeze the prepared meat and reheat later for an easy freezer meal.
This is one of my favorite ways to make burritos. I'm not a big fan of enchilada sauce (I like the tortillas to have more crunch), so I don't use the whole can. And while the original recipe said it made 12, I've never gotten more than 8.
And so the feud continues. As I said yesterday, Elegant Chicken is my favorite. I'm going to say that Anthony probably prefers the Bacon Ranch Slowcooker Chicken simply because he's had Elegant Chicken so many more times. Because truly, this one is the better choice.
I'm adding this warning though--DO NOT use low-fat cream cheese. Yes, we all want to save calories where we can. This is not the place. I thought I had regular cream cheese in the fridge, but we'd run out, so I tried to substitute. Ugh. Nowhere near the flavor it should have. Trust me on this one.
2-3 boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter
1 pkg. dry Italian Seasonings Dressing Mix
1 can cream of chicken soup (you can do cream of mushroom, but I think chicken is so much better)
8 oz. cream cheese
Noodles (Fettucine, Linguine, Egg Noodles, or may also be served over rice)
Place chicken and butter in crock pot.
Sprinkle with seasoning mix.
Cook on low until tender, about 4 hours.
Shred chicken and return to crock pot.
Add soup and cream cheese and mix well.
Cook half an hour more.
While sauce is finishing, prepare noodles (or rice) according to package.
Serve immediately.
The sauce can be made ahead of time and frozen for a quick freezer meal.
My absolute favorite place to eat in Alaska (or anywhere) is a restaurant called Hula Hands. For the first year and a half, we had it at every catered event on base, but I thought Anthony was saying "Houlihan's", so I couldn't figure out where I could get more of this stuff. All that time wasted. I don't know what they do to the food, but it's amazing. I have never liked macaroni salad, and I can't stop eating theirs. I've tried several times to recreate it with absolutely no success. We LOVE their Pulehu Chicken and Teriyaki Beef (still working on recipes for those), but the one that I think I've got down is the Kalua Pig. It takes awhile (16-20 hours), so you do need to think ahead, but it's cooking in the crock pot that whole time, so don't think you need to do a lot of work. This one is super simple.
1/2 head cabbage, shredded (optional--I've never put it in because that's not how Hula Hands does it)
Sticky rice, prepared
Use a skewer to pierce the pork all over.
Rub the meat all over with salt.
Place the roast in your slow cooker and pour liquid smoke over it.
Cover and cook on low for 16 to 20 hours. (You might need to add a cup of chicken broth near the end to keep it from drying out too much, but usually there is enough juice to keep that from happening.)
During the last hour of cooking, add the shredded cabbage, if desired.
Remove meat from slow cooker and shred, adding drippings as needed to moisturize.
This is one of my favorite ways to use up
leftover turkey, but you can also substitute chicken, and it's just as
fabulous. I like to use a rotisserie chicken (hence being featured in "Rotisserie Week")--I use about half the
chicken and save the rest for other meals. (I don't know if this equals 4 cups of chicken, like it calls for. This is one I just eyeball and decide if it looks like enough chicken.) Most of all I love how easy this
recipe is, but it is SO delicious! I know 96 oz. sounds like a lot of chicken
broth, but it equals three of the boxes of Swanson broth. The carrots are
optional, but we really enjoy them. We usually have enough to have one meal and
lots of leftovers, or I can freeze the rest for another meal later. It is best
served over mashed potatoes. Sorry, I have looked and looked, but I can't find
where I got this from originally.
You can also add cauliflower and butternut squash purees!
96 oz. of turkey or chicken broth
3 carrots, sliced
1/2 cup of diced onion
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
1 bay leaf
1 lb. of frozen noodles (I like Reames brand)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I've tried whole wheat, but it didn't thicken the soup like I wanted)
1 1/2 cups of milk
4 cups of cooked turkey (or chicken)
Salt
Mashed potatoes, prepared
In a large pot, heat broth and carrots to boiling.
Add onion, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and frozen
noodles and bring to a boil again. Then reduce heat to keep from boiling over
but let it still bubble freely. Cook for 10 minutes.
In a bowl, stir flour and
milk together and then add to the bubbling pot. Cook until the juices are
somewhat reduced and slightly thickened.
Remove bay leaf.
Add chicken or turkey (and purees, if using). Salt to taste.
Serve over homemade mashed potatoes. You can probably add frozen peas to this, but I haven't tried it yet.
This makes
a wonderful freezer meal. If you want to freeze it, I do not add the noodles during cooking. Instead just let the soup
cool, divide into the portion size that you like and freeze. Since the noodles are already frozen, just keep the noodles with the broth in the freezer.
When you want to make this on a later day, thaw, remove from freezer bag and
then bring to a boil. Add noodles and boil for 10 minutes.
My friend Dawn (who shares my love of Our Best Bites) made this for us a few months ago, and I've been dreaming of Easter ham leftovers ever since just so I could make it. I actually don't really enjoy straight-up ham, but I get super excited about all of the things I can make with leftovers! Am I the only one?
This is a wonderful chowder that actually is pretty good for you (they claimed it was only 3 Weight Watcher points, although I'm guessing that's without any cheese or bacon). When I looked up the recipe, it was just corn chowder, but Dawn added the ham in her version, and I had to do the same! I only did about a quarter of an onion and took out the hot sauce altogether. If you want to add it back in, it was just a few dashes along with the salt. I actually doubled the recipe for us because it didn't seem like quite enough, and I wanted to have leftovers. Just add a slice (or two, or three) of fresh bread on the side, and you're good to go!
I had to share this clip because anytime I think of a soup with ham in it, this comes to mind. Sure do miss this show!
1/2 lb. bacon (optional, but so good!)
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
2 1/2 cups milk (I used skim, and it turned out really well)
2 regular-sized chicken bouillon cubes, 1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube, or 2 tsp. chicken base
1 small onion, minced
2 large red potatoes, diced into small cubes
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup ham, cooked and diced
1 can corn, drained or about 1 1/2 cup frozen corn
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheddar cheese, shredded (optional, but again, it sure did complement the soup)
Fry bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside.
While bacon is cooking, melt butter over low heat in a
large pot. When melted, add flour and whisk until it
comes together.
Add water and whisk until completely
combined and there are no lumps.
Add milk and chicken base or bouillon
and bring to a simmer.
Add potatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmer (but
don’t boil!), stirring very frequently, for about 20 minutes or until
potatoes are tender.
Add ham and corn and heat through. Salt to taste. Start with about 1/4 tsp., give it a
few minutes, and then add more if you need it.
Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with bacon and/or cheese if desired.
Serves 4-6.
Serve with: Fresh baked bread (I made a loaf of Rhodes White Bread because I had some leftover from the Braided Spaghetti Bread, but I think something with a crispier crust would have been even better)
Freezer Meal: This can be frozen after it's prepared. Just thaw and heat through.
Another one of our favorites. I've changed this recipe around from
its original (which was in a random church cookbook) to include more vegetables because it was just frozen peas.
Feel free to add whatever you want. I always have to double it to have
enough for everyone, so I'm putting those measurements. If you feel like
this will be too much, just half the Cream of Chicken, sour cream,
milk, spices and the biscuit topping. Everything else can stay the same
and be fine. I've never actually used the dried onion flakes because I
can never find them at the store, but maybe I'm just not looking in the
right place. I'm sure it's fine either way. And don't try to substitute
refrigerated biscuits instead of making them. They don't cook right, and
it's not worth it. If I make this as a freezer meal, I mix the
ingredients together, but I don't heat it up. I start from there after
I've thawed it, and then you just have to make the biscuit dough. And don't mind the picture. We usually eat it in a bowl, so I don't know what I was thinking by putting it on a plate.
1 pkg. frozen peas and carrots
1 can corn, drained
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. dried onion flakes
1 1/4 cups grated Cheddar cheese
4 cups baking mix (Bisquick)
1 cup cold water
Heat
peas and carrots, corn, chicken, soup, sour cream, milk, onion,
salt and pepper just to boiling in saucepan, stirring frequently. Reduce
heat; keep warm.
Mix baking mix and water; beat 20 strokes.
Pour chicken mixture into 13 x 9 baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Using heaping tablespoon, place biscuits on cheese.
Cook uncovered at 350 until biscuits are brown, about 20 minutes.
I received this recipe from my dear friend Evelyn when we worked
together at an insurance office. She was the same age as my grandmother,
but I could talk to her about anything. One thing we shared was our
love of cooking. I had never had Italian Beef, but Anthony told me when
we were first married how much he loved it, and I came across this
recipe that I'd received from Evelyn several years before. I used to
just throw all the ingredients in the crock pot and serve it the same day, and while it was good,
it didn't have as much flavor as we wanted. Making it the day before and
letting it marinate really made the difference! For the sandwich rolls,
we use traditional French rolls, but I don't know if they're available
at every store--any kind of Hoagie roll should work. Right before we had these last time, the thought occurred to me that this might be really good with Provolone also. We haven't tried it yet, but I'll update when we do!
This recipe came from my freshman roommate, Jacqie. We ate this stew at her sister's house one Sunday, and I had to get the recipe. It has a creamy base instead of broth, and as always, it's easy and delicious. Great for throwing in the crock pot on Sunday morning. You can put it in a bread bowl, or serve homemade rolls on the side.
We make this pasta bake
at least once a month because: a) it's that good, b) it's super easy,
and c) the ingredients are things I usually have on hand. I like to keep
them around for when I get that last minute phone call asking me to
take a meal to someone since it's very portable and they can actually do
the final baking on their own, so it's ready whenever they are. I
found it years ago (although I can't remember where), and it's
become a staple. This is another one that's great for adding extra vegetables with purees, since it has a tomato sauce base. Technically, the original recipe said to use either sausage or ground beef, but we tried it with the ground beef, and in my opinion, it was only so-so, whereas the sausage kicks it up a notch. I was tempted to just take out the ground beef and not give you an option, but I relented. Do what you want, but you know what I would say!
While meat is browning, cook pasta according to package directions; drain.
Stir
in meat, spaghetti sauce and 1/2 Parmesan cheese. Spoon into 13x9-inch
baking dish.
Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan
cheese.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
Makes 6-8 servings.
Serve with: Salad or Green Beans, Garlic Bread
I've also made this one ahead of time as a freezer meal, and it came out pretty well. I don't know if you can keep it frozen for a long time and still have the noodles turn out okay, but it worked when I made it a couple weeks later.
I'm
always looking for new ways to use spinach. I know it's good for us, but frozen spinach smells like wet grass to me, and I can't stand to use it. Thankfully this one calls for fresh spinach. These pitas come together quickly, so I have
to keep myself from making it too often. If there is any leftover filling, it's also good in a tortilla. I usually mix cauliflower puree in with the beef after it's done browning, and you can't tell the difference.Try making these with homemade pitas (don't worry, they're really easy!) to kick it up a notch.
Once again, this is a recipe I've been making for years. It originally came off a free recipe card from Meijer. Hmm, I guess I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. But that doesn't mean I love it any less than the others. So, enjoy!
1 can (10 oz.) enchilada sauce, any variety (I use mild Old El Paso)
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (6 oz.)
1 cup sour cream
1 red pepper, sliced and sauteed in olive oil
1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chiles
8 flour tortillas (Burrito-size)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz.)
If desired, chopped avocado
Heat oven to 350°F.
Spread 1 Tbsp. enchilada sauce over each tortilla.
In medium bowl, mix chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, red
pepper and chiles.
Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla.
Roll
up tortillas; arrange, seam side down, in an ungreased 13x9-inch baking
dish.
Top enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce. Sprinkle with
Cheddar cheese.
At this point, you can cover with foil and freeze for later, or you can cook right away.
Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray; cover baking
dish with foil, sprayed side down.
Bake 35 min.
Remove foil; bake 5-10 min longer or until hot and cheese
is melted.
If desired, top with avocado, lettuce, chopped
tomato and additional sour cream.
Without a doubt, this is my absolute all-time favorite (ok, depending on my mood, it's tied with Sesame Chicken--they're both so darn good in their own ways!). Oh, I can't even explain how much you are missing out if you haven't tried this! This
recipe takes some work, but please, please don't let that scare you away. You will be ever so grateful in the end. Take my word for it--this is a winning recipe every time.
A couple side notes:
Make sure you allow a good amount of time for prep work before it goes in the oven. I don't know exactly how much (45 minutes? Every recipe takes forever with three boys that always need something, so I have no idea what it is in real world time), but like I said, it will be so worth it.
Do not try to shortcut the pastry and use pre-made, refrigerated dough. I've tried several, and they're either too sweet, or just come across as being "off". Take the time to make the pastry.
Do not skip the egg wash. The top will not brown the right way, and it won't taste right.
And for the filling, I never add the celery (ick!), and I just use black pepper. I've never even seen white pepper for sale. I've also tried substituting frozen peas and carrots, but I don't recommend it unless necessary. It's SO much more flavorful if you use fresh carrots.
My husband says the chicken cutouts are necessary. That's up to you.
3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp. celery seeds (optional) 1 tsp. salt 1 cup butter or shortening 4 to 6 Tbsp. cold water
Combine flour, celery seeds, and salt; cut in butter with pastry blender (or two knives) until mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle cold water (1 tablespoon at a time) evenly over surface; stir with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened.
Shape dough into a ball; chill.
Filling
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 medium onion, chopped 2 Tbsp. butter, melted 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms 1-1/4 cup chicken broth 3/4 cup scraped, chopped carrot 3/4 cup frozen English peas 3/4 cup peeled, chopped potato 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes 1/4 tsp ground white pepper 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 bay leaf 2 Tbsp. cornstarch 2 Tbsp. water 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1/2 cup sour cream 3/4 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded Pastry 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten 1 Tbsp. half-and-half or milk
Cook
chicken and onion in butter in a large pot over medium-high heat,
stirring constantly, 5 minutes.
Stir in mushrooms and next 8
ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15
minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove and discard bay leaf.
Combine
cornstarch and water, stirring until blended; add to chicken mixture.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a
boil.
Remove from heat; stir in soup, sour cream, and cheese.
Roll
half of pastry to 1/8-inch thickness on a floured surface. Fit pastry
into an ungreased deep 2-quart casserole (It must be at least 2 quarts, or you'll have lots of filling left over--I actually use a 2-1/2 qt. dish because I add extra potatoes and vegetables).
Spoon chicken mixture into
prepared pastry. Roll remaining pastry to 1/8-inch thickness, and place
over chicken mixture; trim, seal, and flute edges. Re-roll pastry
trimmings, and make chicken-shaped cutouts. Dampen cutouts with water,
and arrange on top of pastry. Cut slits in pastry.
Combine
egg yolk and half-and-half; brush egg wash mixture over pastry. Bake at
400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Shield pastry with aluminum
foil to prevent excessive browning, if necessary.
Makes 6 servings.
*Filling can be made ahead and frozen for later use, or you can make and bake like normal, allow to cool and then freeze. When ready to serve, thaw first then bake at 350 until heated through.
