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!)