Really Easy, Really GOOD Chili!

I had this chili at my friend, Robyn's, and it was SO good, I had to get the recipe. She had gotten it from a friend who has even entered it into contests and won! Robyn and I were both so surprised that it was so easy, but grateful! Yum!

INGREDIENTS:

2lbs ground beef 

1/2 onion, chopped 

1tsp ground pepper 

1/2 tsp garlic salt 

2 1/2 c. tomato sauce 

8oz salsa 

4 TBS chili seasoning mix 

15 oz light red kidney beans 

15 oz dark red kidney beans

DIRECTIONS:

Cook beef and onion together until onion is tender and beef is done. Add rest of ingredients and simmer on low for at least an hour.

Cajun Pumpkin Soup in a Bread Bowl

Not the best picture, but this was SO good. My kids brought home a pumpkin from their teacher's garden (YUM!) and so we had tons of fun cooking it up and making muffins, soup, and pasta with it! I decided this would be super yummy in a bread bowl. Click HERE for the recipe.

Acorn Squash Soup

From: Carrie

I love ginger so when my friend made this for a Wine Night, I could have licked my bowl! I was looking for something different to make for the family, so this was perfect. Although soup in the summer doesn't always sound good, this was really yummy. Here's the basic recipe from Carrie (with some of my notes included):

1. Bake the squash. I only used 1 for this soup but if I did it again I would probably use 2. The baking directions are on the sticker label on the squash. Plan for about 30 minutes. (My sticker label said to microwave it, so I did... and it took about 5 minutes!).

2. Chop up some onion, garlic, Ginger, or whatever vegetable you want in the soup. This is just your decision on how much flavor of each thing you want. This is where you can get creative/make other kinds of soups (Potato? Bell Pepper?)

3. Couple tablespoons of oil (I use grape seed oil these days, but feel free to use olive)... put into a large sautee pan and turn heat on to medium-ish.

4. Throw in your veggies and sautee for about 5 minutes.

5. Next add your broth - either chicken or veggie- and your squash. I would either use almost all of a carton size or 3-4 cans. 

6. Turn heat to low and let the vegetables and broth simmer for around 20 minutes. This is where you can season it too, using salt, pepper, cardamom, etc.

7. Have a blender ready. After all has cooked, put it all into the blender and puree:)

8. Taste it and determine if you want to make it creamy. If so I would add a tablespoon or so of butter and maybe about a cup of heavy cream. You can also add more seasoning in this step, too, if needed. (I put in some coconut milk!)

9. And that's that! There's a recipe using bell peppers and tomatoes and onions that is the same process, and when everything is being blended, you're to add 1/2 cup Almond Butter. It's real good!

Kara's Chicken Soup

My friend, Kara, brought us this soup when my son was born. Here's what she does:

 INGREDIENTS:
3-4 peeled and chopped carrots
3-4 chopped stalks of celery
1 onion, chopped
Olive Oil Chicken (cooked/shredded)
Mrs. Grass' Chicken Noodle Soup Mix
6-8 cups of water
Corn
Peas
Egg Noodles

DIRECTIONS: In a large pan, heat olive oil and cook carrots, celery and onion until tender. Add in chicken, soup mix and water. Add salt and pepper to taste and corn, peas and egg noodles if desired. Cook for 30 minutes.

Italian Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup

From Sarah


A sweet friend made this meal for us and we loved it SO much I begged for the recipe. We made it this week- and it is SO good. It makes a lot, so I froze half of it to save for another time, which is a bonus in my opinion. I served with a loaf of Italian bread and a glass of wine!

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb Italian sausage

1 cup chopped onion2 garlic cloves3 cans beef broth½ cup red wine1 can crushed tomatoes (28oz)1 can peeled whole tomatoes (28oz)1 can tomato sauce (15oz)1 cup sliced carrots½ tsp dried basil½ tsp dried oregano1TBS parsley flakes1 cup sliced zucchini1 large package of fresh cheese tortellini1 med green bell pepper choppedParmesan cheese




DIRECTIONS:
Remove the casing from the sausage. Brown sausage over medium heat in a 6-quart stock pot. Set aside, reserving drippings in the stock pot. Cook the onions and garlic in the sausage drippings for about 10x minutes. Add the cooked sausage, beef broth, red wine, crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, carrots, basil, oregano, and parsley flakes. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30x minutes. Stir in the zucchini, tortellini, and bell pepper. Cover and simmer for 20-25x more minutes until the tortellini are tender. Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS:
4 baking potatoes
Olive Oil (optional)
Herbs (optional)
3 TBL flour
Milk or Heavy Whipping Cream (about 8 TBL)
Salt and Pepper
Butter or Margarine
Sour Cream
Bacon Bits
Cheddar Cheese
Chives


Wash/scrub baking potatoes and you may also- coat in olive oil/salt and pepper or other herbs like thyme or rosemary. Bake potatoes in 400 degree oven for about an hour (until fork tender). Allow to cool and discard any tough spots of skin that might have cooked too long. Mash the potatoes until lumpy.

In a sauce pan, put in the flour and slowly add milk just until enough well blended. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add in potatoes, and salt/pepper and cheese until it meets your tastes. Add in butter and sour cream and remove from heat.

In each individual bowl, top with more sour cream, cheese, bacon bits and chives.

Vegetable Soup

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 lb hamburger
1 lg onion
1 lg can stewed tomatoes- chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tomato cans of water
1 pkg frozen mixed vegetables
3/4 cup barley
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Saute meat and onion until cooked. Add the rest of ingredients in, bring to a boil and let simmer with a lid for 4 hours.

PW's Chicken Tortilla Soup

While I was looking at PW's cooking site, I decided I'd give her Chicken Tortilla Soup a try- and it was so good! I have to say, without the toppings, I wasn't that impressed at first-but all together, it was like a restaurant meal in my own home! Loved it! Click HERE for that link.

Hearty Beef Stew

INGREDIENTS:
3 lbs beef stew meat, cut into cubes
1/3 cup Reduced Fat Italian Dressing
2 cups water
2 tsp beef bouillon granules
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 10.5 oz. can of beef broth
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bag of baby potatoes
1 bag of baby carrots
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 TBL cornstarch
1/3 cup hot water

DIRECTIONS:
In a large pot, brown meat with italian dressing. Add in the next 10 ingredients and bring to a boil. Add in potatoes, baby carrots, green bell pepper and onion. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 2-3 hours. Combine cornstarch and hot water until smooth; stir into the stew. Bring to a boil until thick and discard bay leaf before serving.

Serve with parmesan cheese biscuits.

"The" Chili

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground beef (the leaner, the better)

1 lb ground pork

1 lg onion, diced

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained

1 28 oz can of tomato puree

2 cans kidney beans- I use one light, one dark

1 4.5 oz can of green chilis, chopped

1 cup of Gusiness Stout Beer

2-3 cloves garlic

2 TBL Chili Powder (or 1 TBL Chili Powder, 1 TBL Creole Seasoning)

2 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 TBL cocoa powder

Hot Pepper Sauce, to taste

Toppings: Shredded Cheddar, Sour Cream, Lime Wedges

Directions:

Cook meats and onion over medium high heat until the meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain and return to pot.

Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients (not toppings, of course), Put 2-3 shots of hot sauce in at this point.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 hours.

Serve with desired toppings. Cook up some corn bread muffins with this chili! Also, if you don't want the beans to get too mushy- wait to put those in until the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. I always tweak this as I go- adding in different seasonings, etc. as I taste test it while it cooks. This is just the base of the recipe!

White Chicken Chili

INGREDIENTS:

1 can white kidney beans

1 can rotel

1 can chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 onion, diced

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 TBL butter or oil

1 tsp cumin

Salt/Pepper to taste

1 tsp chicken bouillon

4 chicken breast tenders, frozen

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the onion and garlic in the butter (or oil) until the onion is translucent. Add in the beans, rotel, cumin, salt and pepper, chicken bouillon and the chicken breast tenders. Pour in the chicken broth and if needed, add some water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the chicken tenders are cooked. Remove them and with a fork, shred the meat. Add it back in and also add the cream of chicken soup. Simmer until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Submitted by Natalie Vertin

1 rotisserie chicken (de-boned) OR 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked in 2 cans chicken broth for about 30 minutes. Remove chicken and cut up into bite-sized pieces. Return to broth.

Combine:
Chicken meat
2 cans chicken broth
2 cans Southwest Chicken-Vegetable Soup
1 can chili beans (drained)
1 can Rotel
1 can diced tomatoes w/ onion and garlic

**Can season with fresh/dried cilantro to taste. Heat thoroughly…5 minutes before serviing, crush a couple handfuls of tortilla chips into soup.

To serve, top with crushed tortilla chips, tortilla strips or Fritos, Monterey-Jack cheese, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

Taco Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups diced onions

2 (15 1/2 oz) cans pinto beans

1 (15 1/2 oz) can pink kidney beans

1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (14 1/2 oz) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes

1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (14 1/2 oz) can tomatoes with chilies

2 (4 1/2 oz) cans diced green chilies

1 (4.6 oz) can black olives, drained and sliced (optional)

1/2 cup green olives, drained and sliced (optional)

1 (1 1/4 oz) package taco seasoning mix

1 (1 oz) package ranch salad dressing mix

Corn Chips, for serving (I use very small strips of tortilla chips)

Sour Cream, for garnish

Grated Cheese, for garnish

Chopped Green Onions, for garnish

Pickled Jalapenos, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat , then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chilies, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.

Corn Chowder

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb frozen corn, thawed

3/4 cup whole milk

3 slices bacon, minced

1 small onion, minced

Salt and Pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 3/4 chicken broth

8 oz. red potatoes (about 3 small) cut into 1/2 inch pieces

DIRECTIONS:

Process half of the corn with the milk in a food processor until smooth; set aside. Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over med-low heat until beginning to brown. Transfer 1 TBL of the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned. Stir in the garlic, thyme, and bay leaf- cook until fragrant. 

Add the pureed corn, broth, potatoes, and 1/4 tsp salt, bring to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are almost tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining corn; return to a simmer and cook until the corn is warmed through and potatoes are tender. Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with reserved bacon to serve.

We've been having some rainy afternoons- so this sounded great to me for dinner! I made this with BLT's (with home grown tomatoes- YUM!) and so I cooked the entire package of bacon, and then just crumbled what I needed for the soup. I also saved the bacon grease for Pioneer Woman's Green Bean recipe, which I made the next night!

Potato Soup

We've been having rainy weather here- so I felt like soup! We had potato soup, italian bread sticks and salad. Yum!

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 stalks of celery, chopped

1 onion, diced

4-5 cups of cubed potatoes (I left the skins on red and gold new potatoes)

3 cubes or 3 tsp. of chicken bouillon

Bacon, crumbled

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp celery salt

1 TBL chopped parsley (fresh is probably best, but I used dried)

1/2 cup of butter

6 TBL flour

2 cups milk

Cheese- I used pepper jack, american and mozzarella because that's what I had extras of in my fridge. Any cheese would be good!

DIRECTIONS:

Cook and crumble bacon.

In a large pot, add celery, onion, potatoes, bouillon, pepper, salt and parsley. Add enough water so that all vegetables are fully submerged. Heat until boiling and cook until all vegetables are very tender. 

In a small skillet, melt the butter and whisk in flour. Slowly pour in milk and whisk until it thickens. Add that mixture to the vegetables, with bacon and cheese. Keep warm until you are ready to eat.