Two-bean Chili

There's something about a crisp, Fall day that makes me crave chili. Even if I'm chilled to the bone, one bowl of chili brings me back to right and makes me feel cozy. I've tried a million recipes with varied success, but this here recipe I'm about to give you is Chili The Way I Like It. It didn't come from a published recipe, it came from tinkering with process and spices, and it's not super hot, but it does have a nice heat at the back of it. Just The Way I Like It. If you're in need of a satisfying chili recipe, give this one a whirl!

Two-Bean Chili

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 c. water
28-32 oz. of canned tomatoes (I used a can of stewed tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes because that's what I had on hand, but use whatever you've got)
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder (or use 1 clove minced)
1 1/2-2 tsp. chili powder (adjust this to your taste)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
1 can kidney beans, mostly drained
1 can black beans, undrained

First, heat up a pot until it's "screaming hot" (as Rachel Ray likes to say), then crumble in your ground beef. Cook it most of the way through, constantly breaking it up with a spoon or spatula. Then add the salt and black pepper, along with the onion and water. Cook over high heat until most of the water has evaporated--this makes the meat nice and tender and really saturates it with the onion and salt and pepper. I could almost eat it just like this.

To the now-relatively-dry ground beef mixture, add the oregano, cumin, white pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and cayenne. Stir the mixture over medium high heat for about a minute, just to "toast" the spices and bring out their flavor.

Then add the tomatoes and beans. Then toss in the bay leaf and give it a stir. Let the mixture come to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer for at least half an hour, preferably more. OR you could toss it into the crock pot and let it simmer for a long time on Low. Mmmmm good.

My favorite way to serve this is over pasta (radiatore, rotini, and elbow noodles are all favorites) and topped with cheese. Delish!

Serves 6.

Taco Soup

When I was a junior in college, I took a very humanitarian Spring Break road trip to Arkansas to help clean up after an F5 tornado destroyed a small town. The sister of a friend of mine lived nearby, so we stayed with her and her husband during our time there, and she introduced me to two delicious dishes. The first was queso dip. I'd had queso dip from a jar before, and loved it, but Rebecca made queso with Velveeta and this fantastic stuff called Ro*Tel. I won't post a recipe for that one; chances are, a)you already know how to make it, and b) even if you don't, you probably gleaned enough from the list of ingredients to surmise how to make it.

The second dish was a chili-like concoction called Taco Soup. Spicy, tangy, and hearty, it was Tex-Mex heaven in a bowl, and I was instantly smitten. Believe it or not, I am an introvert, and because of that, I did not ask her for the recipe for this soul-satisfying soup. But I was able, some time later, to hone its ingredients to achieve the flavor I fell in love with at Bill and Rebecca's house. My recipe has become a trifle more sophisticated over the years, but it is still the smoky, spicy soup I met in Arkansas those many years ago. That, and it couldn't be easier! I'm sure you've seen recipes for this before; here's mine.

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef
1 small sweet onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. water or beef broth
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 16-oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can yellow hominy, undrained
1 can beans (your choice--I like dark red kidney beans or black beans), undrained
1 tsp. ground oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. taco seasoning
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 bay leaf

Steamed rice
Cheddar cheese
Fritos

In a dutch oven, brown ground beef, and drain. (Make sure beef is browned and not merely gray; color=flavor!) Add in onions and saute over medium heat until onions are translucent. (Beef will continue to brown. GOOD!) Add in garlic, and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Deglaze the pan with water or broth, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom. Add in oregano, cumin, taco seasoning, and cayenne, stirring well to combine. Then add the tomatoes, hominy, and beans. Stir to combine. Toss the bay leaf into the mixture, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Serve over rice, topped with cheese, and sprinkled liberally with fritos.

Serves 6.

White Chicken Chili

Back before my husband and I tied the knot and he whisked me away to the land of promise, I worked for a small, non-profit organization. I was there for three years, and I loved it; hundreds of miles away from my family, they became my local family.

One of the days I most looked forward to was soup and salad potluck day. One of the dear ladies I worked with, Betty, always brought in her signature soup, a White Chicken Chili. It was, among so many delicious options, my personal favorite, a fact that I shared with her on more than one occasion. I remember having the feeling that its recipe was a closely guarded secret, and I always imagined Betty in the kitchen tinkering with this and that until it had arrived at perfection. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I alone manufactured that story; I can't remember a single shred of evidence to support it. (At least, I hope that's true--otherwise, I could be in big trouble for sharing this recipe with you.) But it seemed a much more romantic and intriguing notion than reality: Betty, under shroud of night, clutching her cumin and cayenne, casting furtive glances about to check if anyone was hiding in the shadows, watching her develop her secret soup formula. She probably got the recipe from a book somewhere, but that isn't very exciting, is it?

When it came time for me to wed (doesn't that sound old timey?), the ladies I worked with threw me a bridal shower. Most gifts came from my registry, but there were, of course, several exceptions: some hand-knit dishcloths, a decorative wooden rooster (thanks, Sandy), a soup tureen with bas relief grapes and squash and things on it. The soup tureen was from Betty. I hadn't registered for it, and to be truly honest, it wasn't really my style (sorry, Betty, if you're reading this). But tucked inside that tureen was the best present I received all day: Betty's White Chicken Chili recipe.

I have since seen many versions of this recipe, and I'm sure they're all quite similar, but I've been making this one for years because it was a gift to me, and I love it. I'm passing it along to you in the hope that you will love it, too.

White Chicken Chili
1 48 oz. jar Great Northern Beans
4 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. ground oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 cups cooked chicken, diced

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, saute onion in oil until tender and translucent. Add chilies and spices and mix thoroughly. Add beans, broth, and chicken, and stir well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour.

Serves 10

Betty even noted for our information: 415 calories, 16 grams of fat per serving.

Being health conscious, Betty probably doesn't do what I do after the soup is done: ladle it into soup bowls, and top it with shredded cheddar and a dollop of sour cream. But it's really, really good that way, even if you have to throw those 415 calories and 16 grams of fat out the window.

Baked Potato Soup

(Sorry for all of the funky spacing you're about to see. Silly Blogger is having its way with my post.)

BooMama has created a Soupatcular bloggy carnival today so people can showcase their favorite soup recipes. I've given you this recipe already, but it's a good one! So if you haven't tried it yet, get to it! And while you're at it, check out lots of other tasty soup recipes at BooMama's blog.


This soupy story begins post-college. I had procured a job teaching with an educational company called Readak that sends its teachers for a month or two to private schools all over the world to teach kids better study skills. My first assignment was in Orlando, Florida, where a lovely single lady who taught at my first school offered to house me during my stay there. At her house, I ate well--home cooked meals, as you might expect. I had no complaints, except for the fact that, as a good southern girl, she had been taught that vegetables must be cooked until they are grey and mushy. She told me it was the southern way. Hopefully that isn't true. One day, I cooked--and when I told her the fresh green beans shouldn't take any more than about seven minutes or so, she looked at me like I had flipped. Of course, she drank her Sweet Tea so sweet, it was practically syrup, so to say we came from different culinary backgrounds would be an understatement. Moving on...





My second assignment took me to a boarding school just a bit north, in Altamonte Springs. There, I was housed by the school in one of the spartan "hotel" rooms on their campus usually reserved for visiting parents. When I say the room was spartan, I mean it--no phone, no TV, no refrigerator, no cooking device of any kind--so I did all of my eating (ALL OF IT) out. I tried the cafeteria at the school, hoping for a lower-cost meal option, but the school was a Seventh-Day Adventist school, and they served only vegetarian fare. Apparently, the highlight of their menu was their faux sea scallops. Considering I don't even like the real thing, I opted out of that particular delicacy, and all of the other pseudo-meat meals they offered. I had family in Florida at that time, though, and they recommended to me a then-new restaurant called Bennigan's. Yep, that Bennigan's. They told me that I must go there, and that furthermore, I must partake of their Baked Potato Soup. Having no reason not to take their recommendation, I went, and suffice it to say that I loved that soup. Thick, creamy, and served steaming, topped with generous portions of crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and sliced green onions, it was a comfort food I eventually came to crave--even when it was November in Florida and still hotter than Dante's Inferno. I think it goes without saying that I made many trips back to Bennigan's for this comforting soup--though, it's so thick and so rich, the name "soup" barely applies.





Fast forward a few years, when I've moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they drink tea that isn't syrup and green beans that aren't mush. That Bennigan's soup was still a favorite, but since I was now paying rent and utilities and working full-time for a non-profit ministry, I had considerably less disposable income to apply toward meals out. I determined to re-create Bennigan's soup at home, so I set about scouring the internet for a recipe that sounded similar. I found two. The first used mashed potatoes and chicken broth as a base; it looked healthy and relatively easy, and, as a connoisseur of mashed potatoes, I was comfortable with the cooking processes involved. When my parents came to visit shortly thereafter, I decided to try out this fantastic recipe for dinner, wanting to show them just how delicious and life-changing this soup could be. We were all very disappointed. The recipe said it was a copycat recipe, and "just like" the original, even promising that we "wouldn't know the difference!" But we did. I tossed that recipe bitterly, cursing its failed promises of deliciousity.





I still had the other recipe I'd found, but two things held me back from trying it: 1)I was so disappointed at being burned by the first recipe, I just wasn't ready to trust again, and 2) it required that I make a roux, which sounded way too difficult.





Fast forward again, to the beginning of my marriage. I was unemployed at the time, and so had all sorts of time to experiment in the kitchen. Feeling adventuresome, I made another dish that called for a roux, and found it to be very easy--all you do is melt an amount of butter, add an equal amount of flour, whisk until no lumps remain, and cook over low heat for just a minute. What had I been afraid of all those years? It turned out my fears were completely unfounded. Roux were simple. And then an alarm sounded in my head--a ROUX! I knew how to make a ROUX! Maybe, just maybe, it was time to dust off that second Baked Potato Soup recipe and give it a go. So I did. Lawsie. It was good. It was very, very good. It quickly became The Recipe That Everyone Wanted a Copy Of, and I was happy to acquiesce. Over the years, I have tweaked the original recipe, so now, it's even better. It has become a family favorite, and that's the truth. So without further ado, here's a recipe that will change your life.





Baked Potato Soup





6 lg. russet (baking) potatoes


3/4 c. butter


3/4 c. flour


6 c. milk


3/4 tsp. salt


1/2 tsp pepper


1 tsp. chicken base (like Better Than Bouillon, available in your soup aisle)


8 oz. sour cream





Garnish with:


Shredded Cheddar cheese


Crumbled bacon


Sliced green onions





Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the potato and discard the skins. Slightly mash up the potatoes, and set aside.





In a large pot, make a roux with the butter and flour. Gradually add milk, whisking well to avoid lumps, and cook over medium heat just until thickened and bubbly.





Stir in potato, salt, pepper, and chicken base. Cook just until potato is heated through--do not boil.





Add sour cream, and again, just heat through. It won't take long.





Sprinkle individual servings with the cheese, bacon, and green onion. Add a lovely salad, and you've got yourself a humdinger of a meal!





Serves 6.