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 Chile Cumin Rice is a flavorful combination of rice, bell peppers, green chiles, cumin, and garlic … duh! Very easy to make – a satisfying combination of flavors. Chile Cumin Rice is a classic comfort food (in my book), much like fried rice – peppers, chiles, cumin, chicken broth. I used mild green chiles so it has a nice chile flavor without much heat. You can add shredded chicken or ground beef and turn it into a one-dish meal.
I was a bit disappointed that the green bell pepper lost most of its color in the cooking – I was expecting more of a Christmas look. Plus the green chiles are light green and blend in with the yellowish color of the rice (from the chicken broth mainly). But, hey, it tastes really good and is mild enough for young kids. You can always add more chiles or use hotter chiles if you want to punch it up.
Tonight I’m making pork carnitas burritos with Chile Cumin Rice, refried beans, and pork carnitas (of course). This rice dish is pretty versatile – it will go with (or in) lots of other dishes. Hope you enjoy it!
Chile Cumin Rice Author: Anita Recipe type: Vegetable Cuisine: Southwestern - ½ cup diced onion (1 small)
- 1 cup diced red bell pepper (1 medium)
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper (1 medium)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup diced mild green chile
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ cups uncooked white rice
- 1½ cups hot chicken broth
- Sauté onion and bell peppers in butter until onion is limp but not brown. Add the garlic, cumin, salt, green chiles, rice, and chicken broth. Mix well and cover the saucepan.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook for about 20 minutes or until the rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Check about 10-15 minutes in, and add a couple tablespoons water if needed.
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 Southwest Meatloaf Southwest Style is a traditional meatloaf with subtle flavors of green chiles and cumin, a mild but interesting combination Classic Meatloaf – Southwest Style is essentially a traditional, homestyle meatloaf but a Southwestern flair. I wasn’t shooting for spicy here – I was aiming for that special flavor combination that you get with green chiles and cumin. I went fairly light on both, since I wanted a satisfying rounded flavor rather than a taste that screams “Southwestern!” Personally, I like it better than classic meatloaf, as it’s more interesting. I specifically wanted that special green chile flavor without much heat, so I used mild green chiles.
I’ll definitely make this one again and again, as it’s not only easy, but is real comfort food. Plus it freezes well. You can make a few of these ahead of time, and just pull them out when you need an easy family favorite for dinner. Another thing, if you have kids who can’t take spicy, this dish is a good bet.
Note that you don’t need the ketchup-based topping, but I think it really adds a lot. And it’s a lot more interesting than plain ketchup. All in all, this is a great dish to have in the family repertoire – hope you like it!
Classic Meatloaf - Southwest Style Author: Anita Recipe type: Main dish Cuisine: Southwestern - 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef
- ⅔ cup quick oatmeal
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- ½ cup milk
- 1 large egg beaten
- 2 tbsp. ketchup
- 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro or 2 tbsp dried cilantro
- ¼ cup diced mild green chiles
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ¾ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. garlic powder or 4 cloves pressed garlic
- ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
- For the Topping:
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp. packed light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, add the beef, oatmeal, onion, milk, egg, 2 tablespoons ketchup, worcestershire sauce, cilantro, chiles, cumin salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Use your hands to mix these ingredients together until well combined.
- Put the meat mixture into a loaf pan. Pat the meat down into an even layer.
- In a small bowl, add ¼ cup ketchup, the brown sugar, and vinegar. Stir to combine. Pour the sauce on top of the meatloaf and spread it into an even layer.
- Bake uncovered for 55 minutes.
- Let the meatloaf rest for 8-10 minutes before serving (or it may fall apart).
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 Maple Chipotle Kabocha Squash is a super easy, healthy way to make yummy kabocha squash, or any winter squash, actually. This is also great with butternut, acorn, etc. Yummy, nutritious, and sooo easy – that describes this Maple Chipotle Kabocha Squash. It uses just a few ingredients and is roasted. I happened to have a bottle of organic Vermont maple syrup and leftover chipotle peppers in adobo in the fridge. I spotted them together and the light bulb went on. The sweet maple and chipotle go really well together.
You might be thinking, “Kabocha?? That’s a winter squash!! How do I get that now?” Well, it’s always there at my local Natural Grocers. Not at King Soopers or Safeway. I talked to the produce manager, and he said they get it from Mexico. Convenient. I particularly like Kabocha – it’s lower in carbs than pumpkin or butternut, but has a very nice natural sweetness and nuttiness. I’m trying to root some Kabocha seeds right now (harvested from this Kabocha in photo above).
You might notice I’ve tended to make recipes with chipotle in adobo lately. That’s because I opened up a can, then I only use one or two chipotle peppers for each recipe. So how long do chipotle peppers in adobo last in the fridge? I’ve seen estimates as long as 3 months, but the totally safe way to do it is to freeze them. I just put them in a small (6 oz or so) sealed plastic container. Or a small ziploc bag will do. They also thaw and refreeze just fine. So I’m getting lots of mileage out of that one can.
Now Kabochas have a hard shell – harder than acorn squash. So with this recipe I give you two ways to cut it up – leave the shell on and cut the squash in inch-wide wedges. Or, alternatively, cut it into wedges and then use a vegetable peeler to cut off the outer skin. I have a good sharp vegetable peeler and had not problem getting that skin off.
This is very tasty – a nice treat as a side dish or sometimes I just eat a bowl of it by itself. Hope you like this one!
Maple Chipotle Kabocha Squash Author: Anita Recipe type: Side Dish Cuisine: Southwestern - 1 medium kabocha squash
- 2 tbsp olive oil (or avocado oil)
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup chipotle peppers in adobo
- 2 tbsp water
- ¼ tsp salt
- salt & pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut the kabocha squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Then cut each half into moon-shaped slices 1 to 2 inches wide at the center.
- Dump the maple syrup, chipotle peppers, water, and salt in a blender. Blend until lumps are gone and pour into a cup.
- For moon-shaped slices with skin on:
- For each slice, brush olive oil on with a pastry brush and arrange on a baking dish, hard shell facing down.
- Brush each slice again with the maple syrup chipotle mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes and serve.
- For cubes of squash:
- Take each slice of squash and use the vegetable peeler to cut off the hard shell.
- Cut the squash into chunks. Dump the chunks into a plastic bag. (I use the ones you put produce in in the grocery store.) Pour the olive oil over and massage the bag to coat the chunks. Then pour the maple syrup chipotle mixture into the bag and massage to coat. Pour into a baking dish and spread evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes and serve.
- Enjoy!
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 Fish Tacos with Chipotle Coleslaw are a tasty, easy to put together lunch or appetizer with an interesting combination of flavors and textures. Fish Tacos with Chipotle Coleslaw make an interesting dinner or appetizer with a combination of flavors and textures. You want to start with a mild white saltwater fish like snapper, mahi mahi, grouper, flounder, halibut or cod and then coat it with a robust seasoning before pan frying it. The chipotle coleslaw is a great complement – it has that distinctive chipotle flavor and just a bit of heat. Get the Chipotle Coleslaw recipe here.
Lately I’ve been cooking quite a bit with Frank’s Red Hot Original Seasoning Blend; it adds a nice spicy flavor to a lot of different dishes. After experimenting with some spice combinations, I hit on blending Frank’s Red Hot with cumin 50/50 … wow! It added a depth and extra Southwestern flair. It is a more robust spice flavor that either Frank’s or cumin alone. I thought it turned out to be the perfect accent to the fish. Now I have a spice bottle (with shaker top) full of my Frank’s + cumin to use in all kinds of other dishes.
I found that to get the seasoning evenly onto the fish, I had to either shake it from a spice shaker bottle (with holes in the top), or put it in a wire mesh sieve and then hold the sieve over the fish with one hand and tap the sieve with the other. Ideally, you cover the fish with one layer of seasoning so you don’t see much fish peeking through.
In the tacos you see in the photo, I used 4 inch corn street tortillas, which made small appetizer sized fish tacos. I had to steam them, spray with cooking spray and bake them in the shape I wanted. Next time, I’ll use prebaked taco shells made with 6-inch tortillas. Or, I’ll use 6-inch flour tortillas for soft tacos. Much simpler and easier to control how they come out. Using the 6-inch size also makes it easier to get a good balance of fish and coleslaw. Tiny tacos can be hard to work with.
It’s easy to adjust this to accommodate the size of crowd you’re serving – just plan on 1 fish fillet for 2 tacos and increase coconut oil accordingly. Super simple. Hope you enjoy this one!
Fish Tacos with Chipotle Coleslaw Author: Anita Recipe type: Seafood Cuisine: Southwestern - 1 tbsp Frank's Red Hot Original Seasoning Blend
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 mild saltwater fish fillets
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 4 taco shells or 6" flour tortillas
- 2 cups Chipotle Coleslaw
- 2 green onions, sliced into thin rounds
- Blend the Frank's Red Hot and cumin. Place the fish fillets on a plate and sprinkle evenly and generously with the seasoning.
- Heat the coconut oil on medium high heat in a medium nonstick skillet. Place the 2 fish fillets seasoned side down into the skillet. While they cook, sprinkle the top, unseasoned side with a generous layer of seasoning.
- Cook about 5 minutes per side, ensuring fish is fully cooked.
- Remove fish to a plate and break into bite-sized chunks.
- Fill each taco shell or soft flour tortilla with a layer of coleslaw and a layer of fish chunks. Top with green onions and serve.
- Enjoy!
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 Chipotle Coleslaw sure doesn’t taste like typical coleslaw, with a spicy tangy taste perfect on pork or fish tacos and easy to make Chipotle Coleslaw is a spicy Southwestern take on classic coleslaw and is ideal on a pulled pork sandwich or fish taco. It’s easy to make and keeps several days in the fridge.
I was about to make fish tacos and top them with classic coleslaw plus a rich chipotle sauce made with sour cream. Duh! Doesn’t Chipotle Coleslaw make a lot more sense? It’s a perfect complement to soups, sandwiches, all kinds of dishes whether Southwestern or not. I’m about to make fish tacos and it makes a big difference having a spicy coleslaw because the fish is very mild. Today I’m having this on a pita sandwich with sausage, sauteed bell peppers and onions. It’s just a great combination.
It’s already got a ton of flavor, but if you want to take it to another level, add sliced black olives and pumpkin seeds. Yum!
This makes a big batch, enough for 10-12 people. Great for upcoming summer barbeques. Hope you enjoy it!
Chipotle Coleslaw Author: Anita Recipe type: Salad Cuisine: Southwestern - ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (1 small with sauce), chopped
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 cups shredded green cabbage
- 4 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup shredded carrot (about 2 carrots)
- 4 green onions, sliced into thin rounds
- Dump the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, honey, chipotle pepper (including adobo sauce), and salt into a blender. Blend smooth.
- In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, carrots, and half the green onion. Pour the dressing over the top and toss well. Add salt to taste if desired. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.
- Garnish with remaining green onions and serve.
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 Pepper Pita is a scrumptious pita pocket stuffed with sauteed bell pepper, onion, chile peppers, avocado, and seasonings that makes for a healthy, satisfying lunch. This Pepper Pita is one of my favorite go-to meals that’s quick, tasty, nutritious, satisfying and more. I’ve probably made hundreds of these, with variations, over the last decade or so. I made this yesterday because I just had a real craving for it – then I realized that I’ve never published a recipe for it even though I’ve made it countless times. So here goes….
Do you have a go-to comfort food that you can make quickly for a satisfying lunch or snack? I think most of us have something like that. For my family, from my very earliest memories, it was probably peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. You can probably make one in 2 minutes, and I’ve had at least hundreds of them over the years. Well, since I shifted to cooking all kinds of dishes with chiles, my go-to quick lunch has shifted to pepper pitas. I’ve gotten so I get cravings for sauteed bell peppers, onions, and chiles with various seasonings. It takes me about 10 minutes to make one. I often keep whole wheat pitas in the freezer just in case.
The variations are endless. I like to use avocado, but sometimes I use a layer of hummus instead. I’ve used a variety of different seasonings – from none to cumin, Frank’s Red Hot, smoked paprika, or … use your imagination. I typically use olive oil to saute in and then add balsamic vinegar, but sometimes saute in an oil-based salad dressing. Sometimes I add cheese. The parsley or cilantro is a nice accent, but not essential. For me, this is a perfect lunch or snack. Hope you like it!
Pepper Pita - 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bell pepper, any color
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp medium diced green chiles
- ¼ tsp dark chili powder
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup of fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
- 1 medium avocado, sliced
- 1 whole wheat pita, cut in half
- Slice bell pepper in strips, then cut each strip in half.
- Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet and saute pepper and onion until soft and edges starting to brown. Stir in the green chiles, chili powder, half the parsley and balsamic vinegar.
- Add 1 tbsp water, top with the 2 pita halves, cover and turn heat off to allow the pita to steam and soften for a minute or two.
- Stuff each pita with a layer of half the avocado slices and then the pepper-onion mixture. Garnish with the remaining parsley.
- Serve and enjoy!
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 Bacon Chipotle Parmesan Crisps are a tasty, addictive snack or appetizer, and brain dead simple to make. A guaranteed hit! Bacon Chipotle Parmesan Crisps are tasty, crispy, addictive, and oh-so-easy to make. It takes just two ingredients – no kidding. The secret is very simple – really good shredded parmesan cheese, and McCormick Grill Mates Bacon Chipotle seasoning. That’s it … except you have to bake it, for all of 5 minutes. I also like using the BelGioioso Parmesan Romano from Costco – perfect texture for this.
A few weeks ago, I published Green Chile Parmesan Crisps – another simple recipe that’s just baked parmesan cheese combined with green chiles. This is a variation that combines the parmesan cheese with bacon chipotle, a great tasting version. Once you make these, it’s so tempting to start experimenting. I tried all different types of seasonings: dark chili powder, Frank’s Red Hot Seasoning, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, and more. Here’s what I found:
Parmesan cheese is salty. Seasonings that have significant salt can make it too salty. Now, the Bacon Chipotle seasoning is salty – but the smoky bacon flavor was so good it didn’t matter to me. The Frank’s Red Hot was also very good even though it was salty. I thought the dark chili powder was too salty. Smoked paprika was pretty good, but it takes a generous sprinkling to really taste it. The garlic powder and the cumin were barely detectable; I might try this again and go very heavy on the seasoning.
If you’re up for it, make up some of your own variations and share them with me. The possibilities are endless here.
Bacon Chipotle Parmesan Crisps Author: Anita Recipe type: Appetizer Cuisine: Southwestern - 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- McCormick Grill Mates Bacon Chipotle Seasoning
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Lightly coat a nonstick cookie sheet with cooking spray.
- For each crisp, scoop 1 tbsp of parmesan cheese and place it on the cookie sheet with about 2 inches between each. Flatten each one so that they are about 3 inches in diameter. You'll be able to see the cookie sheet though small holes in each one.
- Sprinkle each crisp generously with the Bacon Chipotle Seasoning.
- Bake 4-5 minutes, keeping your eye on them and taking them out when they are brown around the edges and starting to brown toward the center.
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 Spicy Sweet Potato Soup is brain dead simple, really tasty, and plenty nutritious. Also it’s great as a base for casseroles and other dishes. Spicy Sweet Potato Soup is a great recipe to have for making something special on short notice that everyone will love. It has a total of four ingredients, yet is plenty satisfying and nutritious. Yeah, we start with canned soup, but it doesn’t come out tasting like canned soup. Plus it’s a great base for many interesting variations – add meat, other vegetables, or serve it over rice.
Now this does come out pretty spicy. If you don’t like a significant amount of heat, you’ll want to use the Mild Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles. That’s the best way to lower the heat, but you also can use only part of the can and just adjust to suit your taste. I used a Beauregard sweet potato, the fat kind with bright orange flesh. Jewels are also good. Note these are sometimes called “red yams” even though they’re actually sweet potatoes.
You see the orange and white blob at the upper left in the photo? That’s a torn-off piece of Jalapeno Cheese Bread from Safeway. It’s really good. It seems to be their bakery French bread topped with cheddar and sliced jalapenos as in this photo.
This dish is just so easy, satisfying, and nutritious, I’m already experimenting with it by adding various other vegetables and chicken or beef. Another variation I might try is throwing it in a blender and essentially making it a creamy soup. I think the sweet potatoes naturally blend in well with the chicken soup and Rotel base. I hope this one becomes a keeper for you like it has for me!
Simple Spicy Sweet Potato Soup Author: Anita Recipe type: Soup Cuisine: Southwestern - 1 large sweet potato, about 8-10 oz
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 1 can Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles
- ¼ tsp cumin (or to taste)
- Peel the sweet potato, cut into chunks, and run through a food processor (with slicer attachment) to make small slices about ⅛ inch thick.
- Dump the sweet potatoes into a covered pot and add the chicken soup and Rotel tomatoes. Stir to blend, bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft.
- Stir in the cumin, adjusting the amount to taste if you wish, and simmer a few more minutes to bring out the cumin flavor.
- Serve & enjoy!
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 Spicy Cheese Phyllo Appetizers are very easy and tasty, and have lots of yummy variations worth trying. Just a few ingredients make an elegant treat. Spicy Cheese Phyllo Appetizers are very simple, very tasty, and easy to overdose on. But this particular recipe was more than me giving you a good recipe to try. It started out that way, but then I started doing more and more experimenting. I used 2 different types of cheeses and several spreads, chiles, or sauces.
This initially started out with just 2 ingredients: cheese and phyllo dough. But not just any cheese – I was in the Safeway deli cheese section where they have gourmet cheeses, and they had Dietz & Watson sliced Jalapeno & Cayenne Pepper Cheddar for half price. It’s like pepper jack, but about 4-5 times hotter and it’s cheddar instead of jack cheese. Wow! Plain old pepper jack is for wimps – this packs some real heat & flavor. I tried 1 piece of this cheese wrapped in phyllo; not enough cheese there. It was sort of like a spicy cheese flavored phyllo cracker. 2 layers of cheese was much better.  Well, sweet and hot go great together; and so does sweet and cheese. I happened to have a jar of Stonewall Kitchen Maple Bacon Onion Jam – sounds like a good match, right? All I did to make these was spread a layer of this jam between 2 slices of the Jalapeno & Cayenne Pepper Cheddar and wrap it in about a half dozen layers of phyllo, then bake for about 10 minutes. Brain-dead simple. That jam was the kicker – you can really taste the bacon flavor and it has the perfect level of sweetness. Can’t say I could taste the maple or onion. Stonewall Kitchen has 59 jams and jellies, and 3 of them have bacon. (How about trying the Bourbon Bacon Jam in this recipe?) 93 stores in Colorado carry Stonewall Kitchen products, including many Safeways. You can find a store at stonewallkitchen.com/wheretobuy.
I also made variations of this with a top quality muenster, green chiles, and other jams. They were all really good, but it’s that Jalapeno & Cayenne Pepper Cheddar and Maple Bacon Onion Jam combo that was truly memorable.
Spicy Cheese Phyllo Appetizers Author: Anita Recipe type: Appetizer Cuisine: Southwestern - 1 16 oz package frozen phyllo dough
- ½ lb sliced Dietz & Watson Jalapeno & Cayenne Pepper Cheddar
- ½ cup Stonewall Kitchen Maple Bacon Onion Jam (or other jam)
- Butter flavored cooking spray
- Thaw the phyllo dough. Set a nonstick cookie sheet aside for baking.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Unroll the phyllo dough. Cut into strips along the length of the phyllo rectangle; the width of each strip will be the length of each appetizer. In the photo, these were 4 inches long; so the phyllo strips were 4 inches wide.
- Cut the cheese slices into pieces about ¾ inch wide and 3 inches long; they should be about ¾ in shorter than the width of your phyllo strips. The cheese will melt and spread some; so you want to allow for this. Each appetizer will use 2 pieces of cheese, the same size.
- Lightly spray the phyllo with the cooking spray.
- Place a piece of cheese at one end of a phyllo strip. Spread a layer of jam on it, then top it with a second piece of cheese.
- Using 2 layers of phyllo, start rolling the cheese up to the midpoint; then cut and put the appetizer on the cookie sheet. Continue until cookie sheet is full, placing them about ½ inch apart. Lightly spray with cooking spray.
- Bake about 10 minutes or until they are turning light brown.
- While the first cookie sheet is baking, prepare the next cookie sheet.
- Cook and serve. Keeps well for several days.
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 Sopa Rustica is a hearty, satisfying soup full of potatoes, sausage, bacon, kale and chiles. Easy to make and a guaranteed hit with everyone. Sopa Rustica is an easy, robust cream, potato and sausage soup made even yummier with green chiles. This version has a lot of substance to it with lots of potatoes and sausage, but it’s guaranteed to also be really good if you want it more liquid with additional chicken broth and milk or half an half. It’s definitely richer with half and half, but I’m very happy with it made with milk instead. Also it would be good with twice the kale if you want it more vegetably.
This is loosely based on the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden – a favorite of mine for years. But theirs has far more liquid with just a small amount of potatoes, sausage, and kale. My version here is basically a meal in itself. It would be really good with a salad on the side, and that would basically make a complete meal.
There are other variations that work. I used a mild Italian sausage, but a hot Italian sausage would also be really good. Also, I used a medium green chile (Big Jim), and you end up with a hint of heat and some added flavor. Most people would not realize there are green chiles in this. I’m likely to add more chiles where they stand out more, but I do like this flavor combination where it works really well without any specifc flavor dominating.
All in all, I see this as a recipe where you can vary just about any part of it and count on it still being really good. I love recipes like this. It’s like every time you make it you can add your own creative touches and still count on it being really good. Hope you like it!
Sopa Rustica Author: Anita Recipe type: Soup Cuisine: Southwestern - ½ lb Italian sausage (bulk or casings removed)
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 5 small new potatoes (about the size of limes), sliced into ¼ inch slices
- 2 cups curly kale, leaves stripped and chopped (~ 1 bunch)
- 1 cup half and half or milk
- 2 slices bacon
- ¼ cup diced medium hot green chiles
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- In a large pot over medium heat, brown the sausage while breaking it up into small bits with the back of a wooden spoon, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a plate to drain.
- In the same pot, brown the bacon and remove to the plate with the sausage, leaving the bacon and sausage fat in the pot.
- Add the onion to the pot and cook until soft, about 5 minutes, then add chicken broth and potatoes. Cover and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 25 minutes.
- Stir in kale and let cook until tender and bright green, about 3 minutes, then stir in the half and half, green chiles, sausage, and crumble in the bacon. Simmer 5 more minutes.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle Parmesan on top and serve.
- Enjoy!
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