Tag Archives: jalapeno pepper

Katie’s Chili

4 Oct

Katie has been asking me to make chili for the longest time, but I kept putting it off. It’s still warm here in AZ, and hot meals just don’t always sound appealing. But, I have never made it before, so it was time. I know there are a ton of different ways to make it, all based on personal preference. So, we found 5 different versions in the cookbooks that we have, and came up with a combination of our own. It was really, really good! Now, I won’t wait so long the next time she asks.

Katie's Chili

Katie’s Chili

What you need:

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (optional)
1 15-oz can dark red kidney beans
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
1 10-oz can tomatoes and green chiles (Ro-Tel)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Juice of one lime
Salt and ground black pepper

How to make it:

In a large pot, brown the ground beef. Add garlic, onion, green pepper, celery, carrot, and jalapeno, and continue to cook until vegetables have softened. Next, add kidney beans (undrained), diced tomatoes (undrained), tomatoes and green chiles (undrained), tomato sauce, and beef broth. Stir well, adding more beef broth or water if it seems too thick. Next, stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, lime juice, and salt and ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 20-25 minutes.

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Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

29 Aug

 

I’m not going to lie – I’m bad at breading and frying things.  I’ve tried it on a few different occasions, and I did okay, but not great.  Plus, I don’t like dealing with all the oil after frying.  So, I searched for alternative ways to make jalapeno poppers with all the jalapenos I had .  And, that search let me to Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers.  You just can’t go wrong with bacon.  These are really pretty easy to put together, too, the worst part is scooping out the seeds and insides of the peppers.  I used turkey bacon because it’s really about the only kind of bacon we eat in my house these days, but these would be great with pork bacon too.  I preferred the turkey bacon also because there is usually less grease, making less chance of grease dripping in my oven.  You can also see in my picture above that I have a tray on my baking sheet.  That is actually a grill cooking tray, but it was perfect to sit on my baking sheet to allow any bacon grease to drip through.  An alternative to this would be to put a baking rack on the baking sheet, or line the baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.  Also, make sure the baking sheet has sides to catch the grease.  Grease fires are no good!

 

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Based on recipe here

What you need:

Jalapeno peppers, about a dozen
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 pound bacon, pork or turkey
Toothpicks

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

If you have them, put on gloves while handling the jalapeno peppers.  Slice each pepper in half lengthwise, and scoop out the insides and seeds.  Scoop cream cheese into each pepper half.  Wrap each pepper in a half or whole piece of bacon, depending on the size of your peppers and bacon.  Use a toothpick to help hold the bacon in place around the pepper.  Place on a baking sheet with sides that has a baking rack, foil, or parchment paper inside to absorb the grease.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until bacon is crispy.

Note: Instead of the oven, you could also grill these.

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Chicken Taquitos

16 Dec

Oh, these are yummy!  They are pretty easy to put together, just takes some time to get them all fried.  I considered baking them this time instead of frying them, but my oven already had enchiladas cooking, so I decided to stick with frying them.   Maybe next time I will bake them.

Chicken Taquitos
Makes 18-24 taquitos 

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups Salsa Verde
1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
2 dozen 6 inch corn tortillas
Oil for frying

How to make it:

Place chicken in slow cooker and pour salsa verde over chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.  If you don’t have a slow cooker, cook chicken by your preferred method and mix with salsa verde.  You could even buy a rotisserie chicken at the store and shred it.  Next, mix cheese in with the chicken and salsa mixture.

Heat oil in deep fryer or a large, heavy pot.  Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

Heat a small skillet over medium low heat.  Place a tortilla in the skillet and heat for a few seconds on each side to make it easier to roll. Put about 2 Tbsp of filling at one end of the tortilla and roll tightly.  Use a toothpick in the center to keep them rolled.  Repeat for remaining tortillas.

Place 5-6 in oil at a time.  Cook for a few minutes, or until golden brown.  I don’t have a deep fryer, so I fry mine in a large pot.  And, of course, I didn’t have enough oil on hand to fully cover the taquitos, so I had to flip them halfway through cooking.

Once they have cooked, remove taquitos from oil and onto the paper towel lined baking sheet.  Allow to cool, then serve.

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Salsa Verde and Baked Tortilla Chips

25 Oct

After making Salsa Roja a couple nights ago, I had the ingredients to make Salsa Verde, but was out of tortilla chips.  I was going to head to the store because I needed a few things anyway, but decided since I had some corn tortillas still, I would bake tortilla chips with them.  Super easy, fairly fast to do.  Here is how to make both.

Salsa Verde

What you need:

1 lb tomatillos, husks removed (if you aren’t familiar with tomatillos, you can see them in this post, second picture, bottom left)
4 jalapenos, more or less depending on the level of hot you want
1 yellow onion, cut in half
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cilantro
juice of 1 lime

How you make it:

You can roast the ingredients 2 ways.  One way is to roast them in the oven, like I did the ingredients for Salsa Roja.  The other way is to roast them on the grill, like I did last night.  Place a piece of aluminum foil on your grill and heat up your grill. Place tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, and garlic on the foil.  Flip the veggies as they start to blacken.  Continue to cook until onions are translucent, and everything has started to blacken.  Remove from grill and allow to cool.  Then, add all of that plus the cilantro and lime juice to your food processor or blender and blend well.  Serve as desired.

Last night we had this with chips, but a lot of times I will put it over chicken in the slow cooker, then shred the cooked chicken for enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, burritos, etc.

Baked Tortilla Chips

What you need:

Small corn tortillas
Vegetable or olive oil
Sea salt

How you make them:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  Cut tortillas into 6 pieces using a pizza cutter.  Spray or brush the foil with the oil.  Lay chips out in a single layer on the pan.  Spray or brush the tops of the chips with oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes.  If you bake 2 pans at a time, rotate the pans in the oven halfway through.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Salsa Roja

23 Oct

I have been making a lot of Roasted Corn Salsa, but since I don’t have corn, I decided to use some of my Mexican veggie pack ingredients to make some Salsa Roja.  I’ve made it a few times before, but I have been working on finding the perfect method.  I have been very close on the taste I want, but I came across this recipe for Salsa Roja and decided to give it a try, but on a much smaller scale than the recipe calls for.

 

Salsa Roja

What you need:

4 tomatoes
1 small onion
4 jalapenos (more or less depending on how hot you want)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cilantro
juice of one lime

How you make it:

Cut tomatoes in half, onions in fourths.  Remove caps from jalapenos and cut in half.  Remove seeds if desired, this reduces some of the heat of the jalapenos.  Line a baking sheet with foil and add tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, and garlic, cut sides up. Roast in oven at 375 F for about 30 minutes, or until onions look translucent.

Allow to cool, then add to a blender or food processor.  Add cilantro, salt, and lime juice to blender or food processor.  Blend well.  Serve as desired.

 

I found this made about 2 1/2 cups of salsa and was a little hot for my tastes, but my husband enjoyed it.

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Guaca-, Guaca-, -mole, -mole!!

21 Oct

Let me explain the title first.  A while back, I was introduced to this video.  I don’t know if it was a commercial Bounty did outside the US or what, but the song is catchy, and K sings it whenever I make guacamole.

I have been waiting all week for my avocados to ripen, and tonight, they finally were.   We are all big fans of guacamole in this house, and this batch was perfect.

Guacamole

What you need:

5 avocados
1/2 bunch green onion
2 jalapeno peppers, tops and seeds removed
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cilantro
juice of 1 lime
sea salt

How to make it:

Coarsely chop all the ingredients and add to a food processor or blender.  Blend as desired.

I left mine a little chunky, but mostly pureed.  It was a beautiful green color and full of flavor.  It made about 2 cups of guacamole.


(So, is the guacamole song still stuck in your head?)

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Steak, Potatoes, and Roasted Corn Salsa

6 Sep

Busy night of cooking for me!  We had a ton of meat in the fridge.  I had thawed out steak and had hot dogs on hand to grill out for Labor Day.  Then, hubby had invited over some friends to cookout on Tuesday, so I decided to not grill on Monday and wait until Tuesday.  Hubby went to the store and bought 2 more packages of steaks and 2 packages of brats.  Then, the friends ended up not being able to come over, so 1 package of brats went to the freezer and I decided to go ahead and grill a package of hot dogs and a package of brats, plus all the steaks.  I also had a few potatoes left from Bountiful Baskets, so I decided to grill those as well.  (Don’t get me started on potatoes, hubby also bought a 10 pound bag of them when he bought the steaks, not knowing that I already had close to 10 pounds at home.  This is why only I should do the shopping!)

Anyway, we had plenty of steak left, so we cut it into pieces, and hubby has requested that I make steak and egg burritos, to which I will add roasted Poblano peppers and onion.  More about that tomorrow, back to tonight’s meal.

The day before, I put all the steak into a 9 x 13 glass pan and marinated them with Dale’s Seasoning.  No, it is not made by my hubby.  We recently discovered this at the Commissary and laughed because it has his name, but seriously, this stuff is really good.  Then, I prepped the potatoes. I washed them really good, then mixed together olive oil and Italian seasoning to brush on them, and rolled them up in aluminum foil.  Then, it was time to put it all on the grill!

As that was cooking, I worked on finishing up roasted corn salsa.  I had already roasted the 7 ears of sweet corn that I received from Bountiful Baskets on 9/3 because I didn’t want it to go bad before I got the chance to use it.  To roast it, I take off some of the outer husks, then pull back the husks to remove the silk.  I put the husks back around the corn and put it on the grill.  I leave it out there 20-30 minutes, turning every so often, and get nice, roasted corn.  If you don’t have a grill, you can roast the corn in your oven’s broiler.  Turn the broiler on low, and line a baking sheet with foil.  You can leave the husks on or remove them.  Place about 6 inches from the broiler and turn the corn every so often until it is roasted.

Next, you cut the kernels off the cob.  Now, the tricky part is what else to add.  I will give you a rough approximation of what I add, but salsa is really about making it to your taste.

  • 4 ears of corn, roasted, removed from cob
  • 1/2 yellow or red onion, or 1 bunch green onion, chopped (I use whatever I have on hand or what is cheapest)
  • 2-3 jalapenos, seeded and diced
  • 1 can black beans, drained
  • 2-3 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • 2 tsp garlic salt
  • Juice of 2-3 key limes or 1 large lime

Here is the final result to serve with your favorite tortilla chips.  We usually get the scoop type tortilla chips, it’s easier with this chunky salsa to be able to scoop it up.  Note that this is a double batch of the recipe above since I had 7 ears of corn.

After this was all finished and cleaned up, I went to work on some fruit that is currently in the food dehydrator.  I will have a full (hopefully good) report on that tomorrow!

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