Pork Green Chili

When The Dish Washer and I went to Fort Worth, we had the best Pork and Hatch Green Chili at The Lonesome Dove. I've been looking and looking for a recipe that I thought was similar and found one. I made a few changes, and even though it isn't exactly what we had (not even close because his was incredibly good!), it is YYYYUUUUUMMMMMMMMMYYYYYY! I made the first batch Monday night and The Dish Washer just went on and on about it. It was such a big hit that when I was at the grocery store last night, I bought the ingredients again. I went home and made another pot of it and put it in the freezer.

It does have a kick to it, so you pregnant gals may want to watch out for that. You can add as much of the ingredients to it as you would like. This is a fun food reminder of that trip as well as our honeymoon in Santa Fe. Out there in New Mexico, they simply ask "red or green?" (Meaning color of pepper.) I always go green! Green seems milder to me than red. In fact, one day I will have to tell you about the best Huevos Rancheros we had on our honeymoon.

Pork Green Chili

1-1/2 pound ground pork
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 (4.5 oz.) cans of green chiles, drained
2 Tbsp. chopped jalapeno peppers (more or less depending on your heat level)
1/4 c. tomato sauce
2 c. water
garlic powder to taste

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add chopped onion. Cook until tender. Add in ground pork and brown. Once pork is completely cooked, add in the flour and stir well. Add chiles, jalapeno peppers and tomato sauce and combine. Once combined, gradually stir in water. Season to taste with garlic powder. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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This would be fun to make in a dutch oven...maybe I will go get one with Christmas money.

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You won't hear from me for a while. We have two little ones coming to stay the weekend with us while their mama and daddy enjoy some time away cheering on our favorite team. Wish us luck (with the kids - not the game)! I am already planning to make homemade chocolate chip cookies with them one day for "entertainment." My friend also shared her best dish...Tater Tot Casserole. I will post it later!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Brown Rice

Food always has a story. Saturday, my friend (and The Chicken Farmer's sister) had her first baby. A beautiful baby girl! It made me think a lot about My Buddy's Mimi, their mother who passed away from breast cancer almost three years ago. I know she would have been so proud! So, in honor of Mimi, who always seemed to have roast and brown rice on a Sunday, I proudly made this for a family get together that day. I thought I had her original recipe but I couldn't find it. This recipe was a "go with what you got" recipe and it turned out really good. Not her's, but good! The Chicken Farmer said he would tell me exactly how to make it, so maybe Sister can post that for us!  (She did.  Check out the comment section for original recipe.)

Brown Rice

1/2 stick butter
1 c. rice, uncooked
1 can beef consomme
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can filled with water

In casserole dish, melt butter in microwave. Stir in the next 4 ingredients. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue baking for 30-45 minutes longer.

Dijon Gravy Pork Chops

A while back we had some yummy pork chops. I don't really know what to call them which is why I will call them Dijon Gravy Pork Chops. It is a variation of anothere recipe I was reading. It made such a good gravy and The Dish Washer carried on about how good it all was. They were very easy, and then we went all country cooking on ourselves and had boiled cabbage and fried squash to go with it.


Dijon Gravy Pork Chops

4 pork chops
lemon pepper
1 Tbsp. butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. milk
2 Tbsp. dijon mustard

Season chops with lemon pepper according to your taste. In a skillet, melt butter and brown chops on both sides. While browning, mix together the soup, milk and mustard. Remove chops from skillet and pour in soup mixture. Be sure to stir really well and get all the good bits off of the bottom of the pan. Place chops in oven safe dish and pour soup mixture over chops. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Well Christmas has come and gone and we'll do it all over again in 12 months. We had a great Christmas with our families, and in fact will do a little more celebrating today and tomorrow. This is a recap of all of the food we ate:

The Dish Washer's Family (2 gatherings)

Ham
Dressing
Three Bean Salad (I found the recipe and will post later.)
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Casserole (more like a souffle)
Peas
Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese
Grape Salad
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Bread
French Silk Pie
Lemonade Pie
Pound Cake
Peppermint Cake
Fudge
Yummy Cheese dip and chips for after we opened presents

I didn't have to take anything! My mother in law had all of the food, but she did allow me to help her the Saturday night before our Sunday gathering. I also got to go to their church's Christmas dinner theater that night and we had French onion soup, salad, prime rib, baked potatoes, dinner rolls and cheesecake! Writing all of this food really makes me feel guilty for eating so much! :)

We also got to participate in Family Communion this year because they changed it from Christmas eve to the Sunday before Christmas. Their church does it where each family goes in as a group one by one and participates in The Lord's Supper together. There were 17 of us from This Dish Washer family there. It was very special.
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Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti (YUMMY!)
Green Bean Casserole (made by The Dish Washer and not your mama's)
Salad
Bread
Leftover desserts from above gathering

This was our gathering on Christmas day. We were able to bring the green bean casserole. When I make it, I usually use the traditional recipe. When The Dish Washer makes it, he adds this and that to it and it is so good, but unfortunately there is no recipe that goes with it. He is good at that kind of thing. I am a pretty strict recipe follower. There isn't even a picture of the casserole because my battery died. Hopefully Kim will share her recipe for chicken spaghetti for later.

My Family (Christmas Eve)

Turkey
Ham
Dressing
Giblet Gravy (that turned out very good this year!)
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Casserole
Squash Casserole
Macaroni and Cheese
Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad
Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Lady's Green Beans
Pea Salad
Devilled Eggs
Dinner Rolls
Four Layer Delight
Sausage Cheese Dip (for munching)

WHOA NELLY! That is a lot of food! There were certainly a lot of mouths to feed, so honestly I don't feel like I overate like I could have. (Maybe I am just trying to justify it in my mind.) :)

I made this salad, the Four Layer Delight and the Sausage Cheese Dip. I have added several pictures to the recipes if they didn't already have a picture. I forgot to take pictures until we had already fixed our plates, which is why you have "after" shots.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 c. crushed pretzels
1-1/2 sticks butter, melted
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
1 (8 0z.) carton Cool whip
2 (3 oz.) pkgs. strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries, sliced
1 small can crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven to 400. For the crust, mix the pretzels, butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar. Press into 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 7 minutes and set aside to cool. Beat together cream cheese and 3/4 c. sugar. Fold in cool whip. Spread over completely cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled. Dissolve the Jello in the boiling water; cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

Sausage Cheese Dip

This is such an easy dip and everyone LOVES it! It doesn't stay around long at my house. It will be great for any New Years' bowl parties you may be going to.

Sausage Cheese Dip

1 roll of sausage (like Jimmy Dean)

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1 can Rotel, undrained

Brown and drain sausage in saucepan. Add cream cheese and can of Rotel and mix until melted and creamy. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

Cheez-It Chicken

The Dish Washer and I had this several weekends ago, but I am just now getting around to posting it. I had lots of Cheez-Its left from the Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix that I made. This recipe from his aunt is in my handwritten cookbook, so I decided to give it a try. The Dish Washer really liked it. It wasn't bad to me, but think I actually liked it better the next day. Who knows why? Maybe it is because I had too much coating on it. I'm going to give the recipe as it is written. It isn't exactly user-friendly for just two people, so you can decide (like I had to) how much of each thing to use.

Cheez-It Chicken

10 pieces fillet of chicken breasts

4 c. crushed Cheez-Its

1 stick butter, melted

Wash chicken. Drain. Dip in melted butter, then in cracker crumbs. Place on foil-lined bake pan. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 for 40-60 minutes, lowering heat to 300 after the first 30 minutes.

Chicken Wing Soup

Yesterday, mom treated us girls (plus My Buddy) to an afternoon with these ladies! This was the most incredible show that I have ever seen. If you ever get a chance to see it...YOU MUST! The Smiler for Movies *inside joke* in our group referred to them as The Rockers. So funny! And if the most popular Christmas show in New York City is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, where they remind us of the TRUE meaning of Christmas, then we should all be shouting "Merry Christmas" instead of this "Happy Holidays" politically correct mumbo jumbo!

It was so much fun to get to spend the afternoon with family. I knew they would be joining me for lunch, and I had already planned to make soup. I also made up a batch of Symphony Brownies for our sweet treat. I knew the little kids wouldn't care for soup, so they snacked on Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix and M&Ms. I offered them grilled cheese sandwiches, but they were much more interested in Christmas tree ornaments and my new gingerbread house. We then ate popcorn and pink cotton candy at the show, so I don't guess they went hungry.

This is such a simple soup. Tossie is pregnant so she is who I worried about with the hot sauce, but she said I should have added more. I added the minimum, but add as much as your taste likes. Here are the details (sorry the picture isn't that appetizing...it's the only one I have):

Chicken Wing Soup

3 c. shredded cooked chicken (I just boiled in some water)
3 cans cream of chicken soup
6 c. milk
1 c. sour cream
1/4 - 1/2 c. hot sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot)

Mix all ingredients very well in a crockpot. Cook on low 3-4 hours until heated through.

I served with some tortilla chips because I happened to have them. They got a little too soggy for me, so next time I might use Frito's because they are thicker.

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Hey SuperSW, like the name of the soup?? (Another inside joke...I can't stop myself tonight!)

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner. Four of us went to high school together and it is always fun to catch up. Next time we see each other, it will likely be to celebrate the birth of a baby girl and we are so excited for this new little family. Of course, I had to try another recipe that I have never tried before but it was simple and seemed tasty. The Dish Washer and I enjoyed it! I cut the recipe for Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin out of the Southern Living April '08 issue. There are three ingredients: pork, steak seasoning and bacon! I had to use more bacon than the recipe called for because I think I cut my bacon in half the wrong way. Next time, I will cut in half longways and wrap.

I also made twice baked sweet potatoes, corn salad, Lady's green beans (do you think I like these, or what?) and ranch bread.

Our guests brought chips and salsa for an appetizer and key lime pie for dessert.

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

I first had these for Thanksgiving with The Dish Washer's family. We loved them, so I decided to make them for a dinner at our house. I always get a little nervous when cooking what could be considered "out of the ordinary" things for friends. You never know who will like what, but I went with it anyway. Maybe I should stick with something like Championship Potatoes?!?!

The recipe for Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes came from Kraft. You can use from the recipe whatever you would like. I chose to omit the nuts. After I added the cinnamon, I believe I remember my mother in law saying she didn't use that when she made them at Thanksgiving. It wasn't bad, but it tasted more cinnamony than I remembered. Is that even a word?

And don't be concerned with Neufchatel cheese...it's just the 1/3 less fat version of regular cream cheese. Who knew? Since company was coming, I just used the real deal because that is what I had in the fridge!

Ranch Bread

Last weekend, I was supposed to help with a couples baby shower. At the last minute, The Dish Washer and I got a great opportunity to go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game. It was an offer too good to pass up and the soon to be parents are both Alabama fans, so we knew they would understand me bailing out at the last minute. Unfortunately, I had already bought all the necessary items that I was asked to bring. I was asked to make corn salad and bring BBQ bread. Since I didn't go, I had tons of stuff to make corn salad and tons of BBQ bread. This will explain to you why I have been making the corn salad so much this week. Don't worry! My mom came to the rescue and made the corn salad and bought bread to take in my place. Thanks again for doing that!

I was able to give some of the bread away yesterday to one of the families that my company worked with and still had plenty to be able to make bread for our dinner. I didn't want to give just a plain piece of bread, so I made Ranch Bread. The picture above is before it baked and the picture below is after.

Ranch Bread

1 loaf of bread (French or, in this case, BBQ bread)
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix (the dry stuff)

Mix butter and dressing mix well. Spread over bread and broil until browned.

Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix

I had so much leftover chex mix from when I made the White Trash, so I decided to try another easy snack that I could turn into a gift. This one is right off of the back of the box. Cheesy Ranch Chex Mix really can be made however you want. I did half rice chex and half corn chex. The recipe also calls for pretzel twists but I prefer pretzel sticks. As you can see from the picture below, I packaged it up in airtight containers. I don't know how airtight they really are, but these cute things came from the Dollar Tree so this is another economical gift!

I still have a good bit left, so I plan to bag it up for two of the cutest three year olds that I know who will be coming to visit me this weekend. I know My Buddy and May-May like to have these kinds of snacks. Instead of the store bought, they'll have to settle for the homemade variety at Diney's house!

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Isn't that Gingerbread house the cutest?! I won it last night at our office's dirty Santa. When you "ring" the doorbell, the gumdrops light up and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays. I love it!

Cookies in a Jar

Here's another easy gift idea:

Several years ago, I cut this idea out of The Montgomery Advertiser. I made this about 3 years ago, and it turned out to be a success. One of the people I gave it to was The Dish Washer's Granny. She never made them, but always saved the jar. Last year before she died, my mother in law decided to bake them. By three years later, the sugars at the bottom were rock solid so she had to replace them with fresh. You may want to give this as a gift to folks you know will bake them right away.

Country Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. rolled oats
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips*
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
3 dashes cinnamon (optional)

Directions:
In a 1 quart or 1 liter jar; layer the ingredients in the order given. Pack down the jar after each addition. Attach a tag to the ribbon with the following instructions-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 c. softened butter with 2 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add the entire contents of the jar and mix by hand until combined. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

*I always use milk chocolate instead of semisweet chips in all of my recipes.


This is the jar before I added the topper. As you can see, it is very packed. I wouldn't have been able to get nuts in this jar if I tried, so I ended with the chocolate chips in the above recipe. I thought I had some burlap that I was going to use as a topper with some red raffia ribbon, but I couldn't find it when I went looking. I must have used it already to wrap another gift. Luckily, I save all of my scrap fabrics and this was some from when I re-covered my kitchen table chairs. I thought it would pass for this Christmas season.

White Trash

Tomorrow is our Christmas supper club with Sunday school. We will be playing Dirty Santa and I decided to make one of our gifts. This would allow me to also have something to give our hostess and her family. This recipe made so much that I would be able to have those two gifts plus two more that I plan to give to our neighbors. I stuffed a lot in each container, but I could have made even more smaller packages. Y'all try this if you are looking for a yummy gift to give for Christmas this year.

White Trash

2 c. rice chex cereal

2 c. corn chex cereal

2 c. cheerios

2 c. salted peanuts

2 c. plain M&Ms

1-1/2 pkgs. white almond bark

In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. Melt almond bark according to package directions. (I used the double boiler directions this time.) After melting, quickly mix all ingredients with almond bark. Once thoroughly mixed, lay out on wax paper to cool. Break apart to package.

**Note: Not made by white trash! (I think!)

Chicken Enchilada Soup

This is a picture of it bagged...for picture of it in a bowl, click on recipe link below.

I don't know what my problem is! I always seem to try new recipes whenever I am taking food to folks. You would think that I would have learned by now not to do this, but I just can't help myself. I try to think away from the typical casseroles and such. It was our turn to make dinner for our friends who just recently added a sweet baby girl to their almost two year old twin boys. I had come across this Chicken Enchilada Soup recipe and it sounded really good, so I made that for them. Once it was made, I scooped The Dish Washer and I some out to try, because obviously if it had been bad I wouldn't have given it to them. It had a great taste though, so it is sent...I hope they like those flavors! My only complaint about it was that something crazy was going on with the cheese when I added it. I don't know if I added it while it was still too hot or what, but it wanted to stick to my spoon or the bottom of the bowl instead of being really creamy. Maybe when they reheat it, it will all even out. Ashley is a reader, so she will have to let us know how it worked out. Hey, it's not my recipe so you can be honest!

I didn't think the boys would be too crazy about soup, and I know they like quiche so I made them some mini Christmas tree broccoli quiches using the mold that my mom gave me recently. I was tempted to add some food coloring to make them green and fun but I thought I would just let the broccoli be the only thing green. I made The Dish Washer try one of those too before we sent them off. He gave it the thumbs up, so off they went too.

I wrapped it up with Chocolate Chip Pound Cake for dessert. That recipe I wasn't concerned about! I've made it a dozen times or more and could even eat the whole thing myself!

Crustless Quiche

I came across this recipe and had saved it because The Dish Washer loves a quiche. It was very easy and traditionally bakes in a 9x9 pan, but I scooped it into my Wilton mini Christmas tree mold to bake these.

Crustless Quiche

5 eggs
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1-1/2 c. cottage cheese
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
2 c. chopped vegetables or meat
(I used 1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped)
1/2 c. cheese

In a bowl, whisk eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir in cottage cheese, butter, ground mustard. Add the vegetables/meat and cheese, stirring gently.

Place in well greased 9x9 baking dish. Bake in 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until browned on top. Cut into squares to serve.

**Baking time will vary depending on what you bake in.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

This is my all time favorite cake ever!  It is so simple to make that I make it as gifts, whether Christmas or hostess gifts all the time!  I love to eat it warmed in the microwave for about 15 seconds to get the chocolate chips melty again.  YUM!!!!!

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

1 butter cake mix
1 small pkg. instant chocolate pudding
8 oz. sour cream
3/4 c. oil
4 eggs
1-1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

Mix first 5 ingredients. Gently fold in the chocolate chips. Bake in greased/floured bundt pan at 350 for 50-60 minutes.