The Great Chili Treasure Hunt….

The Great Chili Treasure Hunt….

Soups happen to be one of my absolute favorite things to work on in my kitchen. 

I love the dicing of the vegetables. I feel the stress of my day melting away when I am cleaning, peeling, dicing and measuring vegetables.   I have wondered more than once what that means about me.  I mean using a sharp tool to chop things into tiny bits to eat can seem just a bit passive aggressive, right?

I’ve mastered the Farmer Boy’s Grandmother’s recipe for Chicken and Noodles, which morphed into a family favorite of beef and noodles. A chicken and wild rice recipe that I made after having a great bowl of something similar at a restaurant close to Cabela’s is a regular winter favorite with us. My favorite broccoli and cheese soup is from my piano teacher and pastor who I took Bible Instruction class from in junior high. I have access to amazing canned locker beef that is raised on our farm and can whip up vegetable beef and barley without too much effort.

I thank a close college friend who shared a recipe for Potato soup from the Iowa Machine Shed when the three K’s (Kim, Kristen & Kaitlyn) got together for a weekend onetime while we were still all single.  I have even learned how to make pea soup and an acceptable ham and bean soup… if you like those kind of soups.

I love how most of these have a story and have morphed into favorites in my kitchen. Fixing them is an acceptable substitute for seeing these people and places that matter to my soul.  I really love how soup can feed a bunch and is usually freezer friendly, too.  Which means…Supper presto! Soup is one of the few meals the Farmer Boy welcomes as leftovers.  Soup is my friend.

One soup I have struggled to master is the ever elusive Chili of Noteworthy Status. 

I grew up in a home where chili was a way to use up the bonanza of canned tomatoes Mother Bean put up every year.  It was a simple pound of ground beef browned with onions, added to a quart of those home canned tomatoes and a big can of Mrs. Grimes Chili Beans.  You ate it with saltine crackers.  It was basic.  It offended no one and ran true to my not so spicy heritage of Swedish and Norwegian ancestors.

I married a man who loves chili. The Farmer Boy loves chili with some spice and thickness.  He admits that chili is the one dish that his grandmother on the farm (who is known to me as a paragon of farmhouse cooking from my husband’s childhood and early adult life) did not own.  She was a chili maker who added sugar not heat.  He is willing to eat chili from a can. 

Insert shudder.

So for the 15 years we have been married, I’ve been trying to improve upon my chili recipe.  I think I’ve finally done it.  When I served this version of Chili, the Farmer Boy asked if I had written it down so I could make it again. 

Finally… I can move on to redeeming my reputation as a mediocre cookie maker…. 

Maybe I’ll just enjoy success with Chili.

Kate’s Chili for a crowd

The Groceries:

2 pounds Ground beef browned with 1 medium onion and mostly drained of fat  

2 Cans Chili Beans in chili gravy

2 Cans Black Beans, rinsed

1 Can Northern beans, rinsed

1 Can Red Kidney Beans, rinsed

1 Can White Kidney Beans, rinsed

1 Can Rotel tomatoes (I used mild, but you can spice it up)

1 Quart of canned or fresh tomatoes

1 Cup of diced Onion

1 Tablespoon of Minced garlic

2 Envelopes of McCormick Mild Chili Seasoning

¼ C Wahoo Chili Seasoning from Tastefully Simple

The Process:

Brown the ground beef with onion and drain off most of the grease, but don’t be all no-fat about it.  Chili needs just a little fat to make the spices bloom.

One of my favorite tools in the kitchen
is this Chopper from Pampered Chef.
It has become a favorite gift to give!
I'm not being compensated for
putting this up or the link to one of
 my favorite consultants. I just
wanted to share the joy.

Add meat and spices to a pot where you have dumped in the rinsed beans, chili beans in chili gravy, diced onion, garlic, tomatoes and Rotel.

Simmer for several hours or put in crock pot on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve with cheddar cheese, corn chips, sour cream, fresh diced onion. Our family loves a side of corn bread.  

Hint: If your crock has a removable container, you can put a liner in it and freeze the left overs and remove from the crock when it is frozen.  Place the soup puck wrapped in the crockpot liner in a gallon or two gallon freezer Ziplock and you are ready to just pop it in some morning before you head off to work.

Post Valentine’s Day -2015

The Mini Me started my Valentine’s day off perfectly when she told me a joke that was on a valentine she received at school. It made me giggle with a mouth full of my morning coffee with cream.

“What did the Farmer’s Wife give the Farmer for Valentine’s Day?” (Wait for it… … …) “HOGS and kisses” 

I love a corny Valentine’s joke!  One that feels like it was written specifically about me and the pork producing Farmer Boy is even more fun.

I noticed this week with the release of two diametrically different movies 50 Shades and Old Fashioned that there are a lot of bloggers letting the world know what they think real love is.  All the comments for an against either movie make me wonder why we allow media to tell us what love should look like? 

I can’t say there is a movie out there that is really about the love I want to live out with my Farmer Boy daily or that I want for our Minis when they are old enough to make that commitment to another person. I’m not convinced that any movie out there fulfills the charge in Galatians 5:25 to “keep in step with the Spirit” which is talking about the work of developing the fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  

The days that have been the hardest to live in my farm marriage have been lacking in these crops that take significant work for me to cultivate. If I’m honest my hard working husband is usually much better at exhibiting those fruit of the spirit than I am. It can be really irritating to be married to someone who is better than you are. It is pretty comforting to know someone like that has your back and is your soft place to fall apart.

The Farmer Boy and I aren't very good at the grand romantic gesture Valentine’s Day culture demands. That just isn't who we are. He doesn't like to travel for a weekend get-away and the only roses I like are the ones I grow in my yard or maybe the ones the National and Kansas Pork Producers featured that were made of bacon. 

We were able to go out the night before to a local steakhouse for this Valentine’s Day.  It was the first time in several years that we went out for the big holiday and without the kids.  It was fun to chat - just us - with glasses filled with ice and straws that we didn't have to fetch for ourselves and no kitchen to clean up afterwards.  

On the way home I realized I was a little glad it took over an hour and a half to get our food just so we could have more time together. Valentine’s day is a nice thought to remind ourselves that nurturing our love and relationship matters, but really I think I love my Farmer Boy more on the days when the trash is gone and the car is warmed up and waiting for me at the end of the sidewalk.

I love to make new deserts and treats for the Farmer Boy, because good food is one way into the heart of my hubby. One of my favorite deserts to make at Valentine’s is a cake roll.  It is a little like a good relationship… It takes time, several steps, and it really seems to get better the longer you let it sit in the fridge. It is also a desert that seems to be made better by freezing it and then thawing shortly before serving it. I really like do-ahead foods. Also if you don’t have at least a little powdered sugar on you, your counter and/or floor after you make this, you are more like my husband than me. We might still be able to be friends, but you will need to learn to enjoy the mess.

Chocolate Raspberry and Cream Filled Cake Roll

The Roll

The Groceries:

¾ C Cake Flour

¼ C Cocoa

½ teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Salt

4 Eggs at room temperature

¾ C Sugar

1 Tablespoon water

1 teaspoon Vanilla

The Process:

Preheat oven to 375. Generously spray a 15x10 pan and line with parchment paper that has also been generously sprayed with cooking spray.

Sift together the cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add sugar. Beat until thick and fluffy.

Fold in water and vanilla, then four mixture. Stir until smooth.

Spread batter in the pan.  Bake 12-15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake roll because you will need to trim the edges if you do.  Roll the cake the long way in a kitchen towel that has been heavily applied with powdered sugar and let stand for 15-30 minutes rolled in the towel.

 

Fillings

Raspberry Filling Groceries:

1 package frozen Raspberries

2 Cups sugar

3 Tablespoons Cornstarch

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Butter

Process:

In a heavy pan mash the berries with the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil and boil until it thickens and becomes a jam-like consistency.

Stir in the butter to finish the texture.

Let cool.

Cream filling Groceries:

8 oz Cream Cheese

¾ C Powdered Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 teaspoon Almond Flavoring

1 C Heavy Whipping cream

Process:

With a hand mixer whip the cream cheese, sugar and flavorings until smooth. 

Gradually add the whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Beat on high until it holds a stiff peak.

Cake Roll Assembly:

Unroll the cake roll from the towel.

Spread the raspberry filling across the cake roll.

Spread the whipped topping across the raspberry filling. 

Reroll the cake and wrap tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate at least overnight.  Cake rolls are best after chilling a minimum of 12 hours and are even better 48 hours after the cake has been rolled.

To serve, slice off the rough edge about ½ inch in from each of the roll’s ends and then cut 12 serving sized pieces from the roll. Enjoy with a few fresh or frozen raspberries as a garnish.