Chili Casserole

Finished casserole.


Spoon chili into baking dishes.

This recipe is perfectly adaptable to campfire cooking. As a matter of fact that's how I had it the first time, prepared in a huge castiron dutch oven. It was so good I didn't want to wait until the next campout to have it again, so it can be done in your home oven. Substitute ingredients as you see fit, the main idea is to make a yummy chili and top it with a yummy cornbread.

My playgroup has decided to do a meal swap. I picked this meal to make for our first swap for a couple of reasons. It's easy to make in bulk (I needed enough for 3 families), it is perfect cold weather food, and I had all the ingredients on hand! You can scale it down to suit one family meal or make it in bulk and freeze the extra casseroles!
-Amanda

Chili Casserole

Chili:
1 onion
2-3 pieces of bacon
2.5 lbs of lean ground beef
2 cans of black beans, drained
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can of diced green chilies
4 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
salt & pepper

Cornbread: (You can also use a Cornbread Kit)
2 1/2 cups of cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shredded mexican cheese
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk (give or take)

Dice bacon into tiny bits. Saute the bacon with diced onion and garlic. Add ground beef. Break up the beef with the end of your spoon and add seasonings: chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. Add tomato paste and mix it into the ground beef. Add drained beans and fire roasted diced tomatoes. Last, add the diced green chilies. Continue cooking over medium high heat until meat is fully cooked. Transfer over to baking dishes. I made 3, 9"x9" casseroles.

Preheat oven to 350º. Mix all the ingredients for the cornbread into a big mixing bowl. Spoon wet cornbread mixture over the chili in a thin layer. Sprinkle the top with extra cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.

Chicken Spinach & Rice

Alot of times when I cook, I make things up on the fly. Other times I use an idea for a recipe and then change things as I go along. For instance tonight I wanted to make my Pantry Chicken and Rice Casserole. The problem was that I didn't have any broccoli, one of the main ingredients. So I used the basic idea for the dish and subbed in spinach and canned mushrooms for the broccoli. It was delicious and everyone pretty much cleared their plates, even my twin toddlers. I'm not posting a recipe because it's the same as the Pantry Chicken and Rice with the simple subsititution!
-Amanda

Balsamic Chicken Turnovers

The idea for this meal just sort of popped into my head today as I was looking at the ingredients I had on hand. I wish I had made more! This is one that is super easy to make but looks and sounds fancier!
-Amanda

Balsamic Chicken Turnovers

1 package of pizza dough or crescent rolls
1/2 chicken breast
4-5 asparagus, chopped into small pieces
1 clove garlic
2-3 button mushrooms
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese)
1 egg
spring of rosemary
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375º. Cut the chicken into very small pieces. In a small skillet, cook the chicken, asparagus and mushrooms. Add the rosemary, salt and pepper to taste and the balsamic vinegar. Cook until the balsamic vinegar reduces. In a small mixing bowl combine the cheese and egg. Temper the cheese and the egg by adding a bit of the chicken mixture at a time. Cut the pizza dough into fourths. Place a couple of tablespoons of filling into each rectangle and fold over. Sprinke the top with extra kosher salt. Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle a bit more balsamic vinegar over the top before serving. Serves 4 small portions or 2 bigger ones.

Chocolate Pecan Carmel Cookies

John made these cookies for me to take to a Christmas cookie exchange party two years ago, a few days before Maddie and Izzie were born. I'm headed off to another cookie exchange and since these were such a hit, he made them again. They are from the cook book: Best Loved Cookies. A lot of the cookies from this book are a hit!
-Amanda

Chocolate Pecan Carmel Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, separated
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Carmel filling (recipe follows)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp shortening (do not use butter, margarine, or oil)

1. Beat butter, sugar, egg yolk, milk and vanilla in a medium bowl until blended. Stir together flour, cocoa and salt; blend into butter mixture. Refridgerate dough at least 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.

2. Heat oven to 350º. Lightly grease cookie sheet.

3. Beat egg white slightly. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Dip each ball into egg white; roll in pecans to coat. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Press thumb gently in center of each ball. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set.

4. Meanwhile, prepare Carmel Filling. Remove cookies from oven; press center of each cookie again with thumb to make indentation. Immediately spoon about 1/2 tsp Caramel Filling in center of each cookie. Carefully remove from cookie sheets; cool on wire racks.

5. Place chocolate chips and shortenting in smal lmicrowave safe bowl. Microwave at High (100%) 1 minute or until softened; stir. Allow to stand several minutes to finish melting; stir until smooth. Place wax paper under wire rack with cookies. Drizzle chocolate mixure over top of cookies.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Caramel Filling: In small saucepan, combine 14 unwrapped light caramels and 3 tbsp whipping cream. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted and mixture is smooth.

Mushroom Risotto

I make this a dish that is sometimes called Chicken Mushroom Glop. I basically add rice, a can of cream of mushroom soup, diced mushrooms and chicken broth to a pot and cook on low until the chicken and rice are cooked through adding chicken broth if needed. I decided to glam up that recipe and make Mushroom Risotto with baked chicken. The only problem, I think the last time I made risotto was last December so my risotto rice has gone rancid. And eating rancid food can make you very ill. So I made this version with regular white rice, it was still creamy and delicious just not as creamy as real risotto would be. Risotto isn't hard, but you do have to babysit the pot and stir almost the entire time.
-Amanda

Mushroom Risotto

1 cup of rice (preferably risotto)
3 cups of chicken broth/stock
1/2 diced onion
1 stalk of celery (optional)
1/2 pint of button mushrooms
1/2 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
pat of butter

In a small pot bring the chicken broth up to a low simmer. You don't want to add cold (or room temperature) stock to your rice.

In a medium size pot, melt the butter and saute the onions and celery until soft. Add 1 cup of rice and about 1 cup of the chicken broth to your rice. Stir constantly until the rice mostly absorbs the broth. Adding a laddle at a time of chicken broth stir until rice keeps absorbing the broth. It usually takes about 2 minutes between adding more broth. When you have about one or two ladles of broth left in your small pot, add the 1/2 can of cream of chicken soup to the stock and mix well. When the soup has come up to temperature incorporate it into the rice the same way you were doing with the stock. The entire process will take about 30 minutes until the rice is cooked through. The best way to tell is to taste and see if the rice is cooked all the way. It will also get thicker and creamier as it cooks. Keep the heat on medium on your rice pot, you don't want it to boil, just simmer.

While the rice is cooking quickly chop about 1/2 pint of mushrooms and saute them in a skillet on high heat. Add the mushrooms to the rice when it is finished cooking. Melt in a second pat of butter. Serves 4. I served with oven baked chicken breast and green beans.

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

I'm headed out to my first Christmas party of the season. I was asked to bring an appetizer or a dessert. Since I don't bake unless I get a wild hair (with usually disastrous results,) I picked the appetizer category. After asking some of my Mommy friends for suggestions this was recommended to me from AllRecipes.com. I have to say, they are a perfect balance of smokey, sweet and salty.
-Amanda

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

2 packages of little smokies
2 packages of bacon
1 cup or so of brown sugar.

Cut bacon into thirds. Wrap each smokie with the bacon really tightly. Put brown sugar in a bowl and roll the bacon wrapped smokie in the sugar. Cover a cookie sheet with foil. Place a wire rack on the cookie sheet and line your smokies up on the rack with space between each one. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and cook for 40 minutes. Serve warm OR After cooling, place all smokies in a crock pot, add 1/2 cup of maple syrup and serve with fancy toothpicks on the side.

Ham and Spinach Casserole

Some dishes don't photograph very well. I mean, I don't claim to be a food photographer by any means, but this didn't photograph that well. Anyway, it was very good. It brought back some childhood taste that I couldn't quite place. This would make a great brunch item, perfect for the holidays that are coming up! The girls asked for 3rds not even realizing that it was laced with SPINACH. Then again, that ingredient is probably the lone healthy thing in the dish...
-Amanda

Ham and Spinach Casserole

20-24 oz shredded potatoes (or about 5 smallish baking potatoes)
2 cups shredded cheese, divided
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 onion diced small
1 stalk celery diced very small
8-10 oz diced ham
1 cup of sour cream
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
salt and pepper
1 egg (optional)

In a pot, saute the onions and celery until soft. Add soup, sour cream, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, spinach and ham. Stir very well. Add potatoes. (You can either use a grater, a food processor or buy pre-shredded potatoes.) Stir everything really well and pour into a greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Take out of the oven and break an egg on top and bake for an addtional 10-15 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked through and the yellow is still runny.