Game Day Chili!

This is my "Game Day Chili"!  It's a chili that has beef and beans in it and a bit of a kick also!  This chili is for those who like it spicy!  I know the whole debate over chili with or without beans.  Some areas don't think it's chili if it has beans in it.  Other areas wouldn't think it was right without the beans.   This is Kentucky so if you can add a bean to something, 9 out of 10 times, we will.  We just really like our beans here.

 A big pot of this chili will feed a crowd and it's perfect to have when people are coming over to watch the big game.   This chili also just gets better the next day!

Here is what you will need:

2 lbs. ground chuck

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced

2 (14.5 oz.) cans chili ready tomatoes (I used the Red Gold brand)

1 (10.5 oz.) can Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chillies

1 (15 oz.) can of tomato sauce

2 (15 oz.) cans of chili beans

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning ( I use Tony Chachere)

1 Tbs. chili powder

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. hot sauce ( I used Tabasco)

1/4 cup brown sugar

4 cups water

In a large Dutch oven, brown the ground chuck with the onions, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers to just soften them.  Drain any excess grease.  

Add all of the rest of the ingredients and stir to mix.  The Red Gold chili ready tomatoes have some chili seasoning in them, so they add to the flavor of this chili. If you use regular diced tomatoes, you might need a touch more chili powder and cumin.   Season it to your taste.

 If you wonder about the brown sugar in this recipe, I always add sugar to tomato based recipes to cut the acidity.  Just a tad, makes the flavor so much better.

Bring up to a boil and boil for a minute or two. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover.   Cook for at least an hour.  Stir during this time to prevent sticking.  It's best if you turn to low and cook for another hour.   The longer it has to just simmer on very low heat on the stove, the better it gets.  

Serve with whatever toppings you like on the side.  I like a little shredded cheese.  Sour cream, additional jalapenos, or some diced onion are also good!  

Cincinnati Chili...5-Way!

Chili is a very regional dish!  Like cornbread, it can also be a very controversial dish.  In some areas, like Texas, I am told you do not put beans in chili and some tell me you don't even use ground beef or meat, but chunks of beef.   Some Texans can get very adamant about this issue and since about one fourth of my readers are from Texas it seems, let me be clear that this is not a traditional chili recipe, but a very specialized chili recipe that the concept for originated in Cincinnati, Ohio!  

This idea of serving chili over spaghetti and topped with beans, onion and cheese or 5-way began at a restaurant called "Skyline Chili" and it was founded in 1949 by a Greek immigrant named Nicholas Lambrinides, which accounts for the unique flavor of this chili.  The flavor and seasoning is just a bit different than usual traditional Tex Mex chili, but it's really delicious.   It's actually more of a sauce to be served over pasta than a soup or chili, but can be eaten either way.   This is definitely an Ohio and Northern Kentucky concept that has spread somewhat to other states where Skyline has restaurants.  Their chili is now being sold in some grocery store chains also. 

This recipe is in no way a reproduction of the Skyline recipe either, because no one has that authentic recipe, but the owners.  This is my own take on it and it does vary somewhat in texture and flavor, but for us, it works well.  

Here is what you will need:

2 lbs. ground chuck

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 Tbs. minced garlic

1 (15 oz.) can of tomato sauce

1 (15 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes

2 (15 oz.) cans of beef broth

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 Tbs. chili powder (add more if you like more spice)

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbs. brown sugar

1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 Tbs. cider vinegar

2 cans chili beans, undrained

1 lb. spaghetti

1 cup sweet onion, chopped

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a large Dutch oven, brown the ground chuck, onion and garlic together until it is done.  Drain any excess fat.   The actual Skyline, boils the beef in the cooking liquid instead of browning it, but I prefer to brown mine.  Boiling ground beef seems unappetizing to me!  That's just me!

 Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, beef broth, all of the spices, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, chocolate and brown sugar.  This chili has a slightly sweet flavor. Bring up to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 2 hours on low.  Stir this every now and then to blend and be sure it does not stick. 

  

I add the beans and cook them with the sauce since we all like the beans in the chili.  Traditionally, the beans would be added on top of the sauce in the 5 way layering, so you can warm them in a individual pan if like.  I think adding them to the sauce thickens it and is better.  

Cook the spaghetti al dente according to the package directions and drain well. 

 

To serve, layer spaghetti, chili, beans, onion and shredded cheese for a 5-Way or whatever variation you like!   A 3-way is spaghetti, chili and cheese, a 4-way is spaghetti, chili, just onions or just beans and cheese!   Let everyone prepare their own as they like! 





Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili!

 

  When that first chill gets in the air here in southern Kentucky, I start to think about things like this "White Chicken Chili"!   I usually make this on the stove top, but this is a great recipe to just throw in the slow cooker and forget it until time to eat also.  The great thing is that you probably already have the ingredients on hand.  Here is what you will need for this:


4 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded or diced
1 medium sweet onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)

2 cans white beans (navy or great northern)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

 2 tsp. cumin 

 1 tsp. oregano

pinch of cayenne pepper

3 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes (if you use another brand of the small square ones use about 6)***

5-6 cups water (depending how thick you like it)

1/4 cup chopped jalapenos (can substitute a small can of mild green chilies if you don't like too much heat)

dash of hot sauce to taste (I use Tabasco, but this is optional)

8 oz. cream cheese

2 cups shredded Monterrey jack or pepper jack cheese

 

Garnishes

green onions, chopped

Monterrey Jack and Cheddar cheeses

jalapeno pepper rings

 

***you can substitute 6 cups of chicken broth for the water and bullion cubes if desired

 

 

Combine all of the ingredients in the slow cooker, except the cream cheese and Monterrey Jack or pepper jack cheeses.   Set the slow cooker on low and cook for 5 to 6 hours. 

 

The last hour add the cream cheese, cubed and the 2 cups Monterrey Jack or pepper jack cheese.  Stir about halfway through just to blend as it melts.  

 

Serve with the garnishes of your choice!  This is great with tortilla chips or Frito Scoops!

 

 

 



Slow Cooker Chuck Wagon Beans!

 

This is an old recipe that my mother used to make when we had a busy day ahead and she knew she wouldn't have time to be in the kitchen a lot.  I remember having this on Sundays sometimes after church, in the afternoon, because it was something she could have ready when we got home.   Even though this is similar to chili, it's more like a bean stew, if that makes sense.  It tends to be thicker and more like cooked beans.

 If you add cornbread to this, it makes a good meal though.   Put it all in the slow cooker the night before and dinner is ready for the next day.

 Here is what you will need:

4 cups dried pinto beans, uncooked (washed and sorted)
9 cups water
1 large (29 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes
1 (10oz.) can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
1 large onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1 green bell pepper diced
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 Tb. bacon drippings
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1 Tbs. chili powder
1/2 - 1 tsp. hot sauce (I used Tabasco)
1 1/2 -2 lbs. ground chuck

Garnish
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Vidalia onion, diced or green onion


Make sure to wash and sort through the beans, picking out any rocks or shriveled beans.  Place the beans, water and all of the other ingredients except the ground chuck in a large slow cooker (at least 5-6 quart).   Brown the ground chuck in a skillet on the stove and drain.  Place it in the slow cooker with the other ingredients.   Set on low and cook for 8-10 hours.   At the end of the cooking time taste for seasoning.  This might need a tad more salt or hot sauce according to your preference.
 

Some of the myths about cooking dried beans both in the slow cooker and on the stove...like they have to be soaked overnight and you cannot salt them before they are cooked or they will never get soft, are just that myths.  You can presoak beans and it does lessen the cooking time, but in a slow cooker it really makes very little difference. 

If I am cooking them on the stove I like to bring them to a boil for a few minutes and then drain the water, add new cold water and start them from there.  This does remove some of their more...uh, explosive properties, if you know what I mean...lol.   The one about not salting, I have no idea where that came from, because it's absolutely not true and I actually think they are hard to salt and get tasty after they have cooked and are best when salted from the start.
 

This is a really good meal when served with cornbread and either the Cornbread Hoe Cakes or Aunt Vel's Sour Cream Cornbread are the perfect choices!

Garnish with chopped Vidalia onion and shredded cheddar cheese!

Chuck Wagon Beans!

White Chicken Chili ... with the crunchy things!

It has been cool and a little dreary for the past week or so in southern Kentucky.  I think April and March got confused and traded places weather-wise.   We had beautiful warm, almost hot days in late March and now we are having cool, almost cold days and nights.  I am not sure what is going on, but it's very strange.  I am reading that it even has some of the birds migrating up from Mexico and South America confused and they are getting here way early.   It is the type of weather that makes me want soup and I know we won't have a whole lot of cool weather like this for soup after April so I am going to eat my soup now.

White chicken chili is such an easy soup or really it's a stew.  Doesn't Rachel Ray call that a stoup?  The 'crunchy things' part of this comes from when my son was little.  There was a restaurant we ate at that had the best tortilla soup that we all loved.  It had lots of good stuff in it that he would never have eaten otherwise, like zucchini and tomatoes and onions.  More than likely he was pushing those things around in his bowl and not actually eating them, but it made the feel like he was so it worked for me...lol.

  I decided that since he loved it so much, I would try to make it at home.  I made my version and it was pretty good.  My son's critique of it was that it would just be perfect if you could make the 'crunchy things' they put on top of it, because, "Mama, that is what really makes it".   We tried tortilla chips in it.  No, that wasn't the same.  So, I got some flour tortillas, cut them in strips with my kitchen shears and deep fried them.  They were a hit!   So now when I make any sort of Mexican soup...tortilla, white chili, taco soup, I have to make the crunchy things to go on top.  They really do turn a plain soup into something a little more appetizing.  One warning, if you ever start doing this, your family will want these every time you make soup, so be prepared.

Here is what you will need:

White beans (navy or great northern) chicken bouillon cubes or canned chicken broth, onion, white chicken chili mix, Philadelphia cooking cream Sante Fe flavor, jalapeno pepper rings, cheddar cheese, chicken breasts, and flour tortillas for your crunchy things.

I coated some chicken breasts with a little oil and then sprinkled them with chili powder, salt and pepper, then roasted them in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes (depending on thickness).

Soften the onion in a little vegetable oil. 

To the onions add 5-6 cups of water (depends on how thick you like it...I add 6 because I like some broth in it), 3 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes, the white chicken chili mix, and jalapenos chopped. Stir to mix the chili mix in well. Add the chopped or shredded chicken and the 2 cans of beans (don't need to be drained). Bring this up to a boil and then turn back to simmer for about 30 minutes. 

 At the end add the Philadelphia Santa Fe flavored cooking cream.  I set this out when I start to cook to bring it up to almost room temperature so that when I add it to the hot soup it won't break.  You can also temper it with some of the hot soup to gradually bring it up to temperature.  You can substitute an 8oz cream cheese for this cooking cream.  It was on sale and I had a coupon so I tried it and it is so good. It adds a zip of flavor to this also.  I do make it with just the cream cheese also and add a little more spices to it with Tabasco and cayenne pepper, but go easy on these until you taste test for heat. 

Now cut your tortillas in strips like this.  I usually do about 4 or 5 large ones, but if you have company you will need to do a lot more.  If you have kitchen shears they work great, if not, lay them on your cutting board and use  sharp knife.   If you have some tortillas that are not so fresh and are sort of dry, this is a great way to use them up.

Drop by batches in hot oil. I just use my little Fry Daddy for this...works perfectly.  Watch these closely because they cook in no time.  They will brown on the side that hits the oil first and you need gently flip them over to brown the other side.  I use the utensil that you get with the Fry Daddy or you could us a metal slotted spoon.  When they brown, pull them out carefully and drain a paper towel lined plate.  Immediately sprinkle with salt and do the next batch. 

These are also really good sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar for a sweet snack or to use as a garnish on a dessert.

I top each bowl with some shredded cheddar cheese, some sliced green onions, and the 'crunchy things'.   Have a plate of extra crunchies on the table also cause they go fast! 

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped or shredded chicken breast ( I roast mine)

2 cans white beans (navy or great northern)

1 envelope of white chicken chili mix (you can substitute 1 tsp. garlic powder, 2 tsp. cumin and 1 tsp. oregano)

3 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes (if you use another brand of the small square ones use about 6)

5-6 cups water (depending how thick you like it)

1 container of Philadelphia Santa Fe cooking cream (can substitute 8 oz. cream cheese, dash of cayenne and a dash of Tabasco)

1/4 cup chopped jalapenos (can substitute a small can of mild green chillies if you don't like too much heat)

5-6 large flour tortillas

cheddar cheese for garnish (optional)

green onions for garnish (optional)