White Chili

Fixins

• 3 15-ounce cans white beans, drained 
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped (For Ryan)
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 3 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• Chopped Cilantro to your liking
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs trimmed of excess fat and diced into 3/4 inch pieces
• 1 rope of smoked green onion sausage sliced
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup of water
• Grated Monterey Jack cheese for topping

Your Concoction

Preheat your pot over medium heat. Add the oil, chicken, sausage and onion. Heat until chicken browned stirring often.

Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes more to release that flavor.

Add in all the seasonings, chicken broth and water. Simmer on low heat covered stirring some here and there until you feel that food of love thing going on. (Approx. 30 min.)

Add the white beans, green chilies and the cilantro.

Cook it down to your desired consistency on a simmer or add a little more water if too thick for you. Serve in a bowl with the cheese sprinkled on top.

You can serve over rice if you want.

How about some cornbread on the side?

Some other garnish choices are sour cream, tortilla chips, sliced avocado or hot sauce.

There ya go! When a cold snap comes through this will warm your bones for sure!!

Italian Wedding Soup

Fixins

Meatballs

1 pound ground beef 80-20
1 pound of pan sausage or ground pork
2 eggs
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan/Romano cheese
Black pepper to taste


Soup

1 onion chopped
1 cup of matchstick shaped carrots
1 head of celery chopped
3 tsp minced garlic
10 cups of low sodium chicken broth
6 cups water
1 1/2 cups of acini di pepe pasta (little bitty stuff)
2 packages of baby spinach
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano

Your Concoction

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients for the meatballs. Mix well. Shape into 1/2" or 3/4" meatballs. Around 60 meatballs or so. Place on an oven tray.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place meatballs in oven and cook for 25 minutes.
Pour about 4 tbsp of grease from the oven pan into a  medium sized stock pot.
Add onions. celery and carrots. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until veggies are soft. About 5 minutes or so.
Add garlic, basil, parsley and oregano. Cook for 2 more minutes stirring.
Add the chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 30 minutes or so until carrots are soft. This is your food of love stage so baby it stirring the love into it often and tasting a carrot for softness now and again.
Lower heat to low. After a low simmer is obtained add your meatballs to the pot. Whoop!!
Cook for 10 minutes.
Increase heat to medium low until a  low boil is obtained.Add the pasta and cook stirring often for 10 minutes.
Add the spinach and stir in until wilted. Turn the heat off, cover the pot with a lid. The longer it sits the more food of love goes into it. Garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese.
Serve with garlic bread! Oh yea! Enjoy!

Bacon Mushroom Swiss Burgers on Thin Bread

Fixins

4 Frozen precooked hamburger patties (OK...I cheated. You can make your own if you want)
Sandwich Thins bread
4 slices Bacon
1 6 oz can Mushroom Steak Sauce
8 slices of deli sliced Swiss cheese
1 6 oz jar of Green Giant Mushrooms drained

Your Concoction

Cook bacon until crisp.Set aside reserving two teaspoons of the bacon grease.
Add the frozen hamburger patties and heat over medium heat flipping a few times for about 8 minutes. Drain the grease from the pan.
Place pan back on medium heat. Add one slice of bacon halved to each hamburger patty.
Pour equal amounts of the mushroom steak sauce over each patty.
Top each patty with equal parts of the mushrooms.
Top each patty with 2 slices of the Swiss cheese.
Cover and continue to cook until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted. Approx. 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and let sit for about 5 minutes so all that food of love gets mixed in.
Serve on the sandwich thin bread cutting each one in half.
Serve with steak fries seasoned with Texjoy Saltgrass 7 seasoning. Enjoy!!!!

Gumbo Eggs

Fixins

As many eggs as you want
A big pot of chicken, sausage and shrimp gumbo prior to de-boning the chicken into your gumbo

Your concoction

Make sure your gumbo is on a very slow simmer with the boil barely bubbling just a little bit.
Crack an egg into the gumbo using clock positions to remember where you dropped them. Cook for 15 minutes or so. DO NOT STIR THE GUMBO. Fish the eggs out very carefully with a large spoon starting at the bottom of the pot and gently lifting up. Put the eggs into a bowl. Add a ladle of gumbo juice along with some sausage and baby shrimps from the pot. sprinkle with Cajun seasoning and some green onions. ENJOY!!

Beef Soup (Kitchen Sink)

Fixins

5 Lbs cubed beef stew meat
2 pounds ground chuck 85-15
1 smoked beef sausage rope
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
Onion powder to taste
Celery salt to taste
Garlic salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Chili powder to taste
1 Large onion chopped
2 Green bell peppers chopped
1 Whole celery bundle chopped
3 Bunch green onion chopped
2 tsp full of minced garlic
2 Packages McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning Mix
1 46 ounce bottle of V8 juice
4 Heaping Tbsp of Better Than Bouillon
2 10 Oz packages of angel hair coleslaw
1 16 Oz package of sliced carrots
8 Idaho potatoes cubed
2 Zucchini cubed
2 Yellow squash cubed
1 28 Oz package of frozen butter beans
1 16 Oz package of frozen sweet corn
1 16 Oz package of frozen cut green beans
2 14.5 Oz cans of diced tomatoes
3 15 Oz cans tomato sauce
1 8 Oz bag of spinach
1 12 Oz bag of wide egg noodles
1/4 cup of Basil
1/4 cup of parsley
1/4 cup pf Italian seasoning blend
15 or so shakes of your favorite hot sauce
As much love as you can pour in it


Your Concoction

In a skillet brown the ground beef and drain grease. Set aside
Season stew meat with onion powder, garlic salt, celery salt, chili powder and black pepper.
Heat a 40 Quart stainless steel pot over medium high heat. Add vegetable oil. Brown your 5 Lbs of stew meat until all the liquid is absorbed and evaporated. Scrape the bottom of the pot pulling all that goodness up. Add a small amount of water if needed.
Add chopped onion, bell pepper and celery. Cook until vegetables are soft.
Add in your ground beef and sliced smoke sausage. Let them cook together for 5 minutes or so. Add the minced garlic and cook for 3 minutes or so to release the garlic flavor.
Pour in 16 cups of water (4 quarts),  the McCormick Seasoning Mix, bottle of V8 and the Better Than Bouillon. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium. Cover and cook for 1 hour stirring occasionally pouring your love in as you stir.
Reduce heat to a high simmer. Add angel hair coleslaw and carrots.Cook covered for 30 minutes more stirring often.
Add the zucchini and squash and cook on a high simmer covered for 30 minutes stirring often.
Add the potato, butter beans, corn, green beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and green onion.
Add 4 cups of water. Bring back to a boil and cook on high simmer covered for 30 minutes stirring often.
Add the spinach and cook on a high simmer covered for 30 minutes stirring often.
In a separate pot bring some water to a boil. Cook the egg noodles according to directions and drain.
Pour as many egg noodles in the soup as you would like.Add Basil, Parsley and Italian seasoning blend.  Reduce heat to a low simmer for 15 minutes.
Add your favorite hot sauce to taste. I gave 15 shakes of Cholula. Turn the heat off and leave covered for as long as you like. The longer it sits the better.
Pour your bowl and serve with cracklin' cornbread.
As you can tell this is a food of love. It takes patience.
This is just the way I made this soup today. It will be different the next time I make it I'm sure. Please feel free to play with the ingredients and amounts to what will make your family happy.