This dip is ideal for that special game day party. It can be made in 5 minutes and is easy to vary for different tastes.
If you’re having a big game day party, you might want to double or triple the recipe and separate into 2 or 3 different batches. Make one really spicy with extra jalapeno. Make another with more lime juice, Note this is also very good with canned green chiles instead of jalapenos – be careful about picking the heat you want. You can get hot canned green chiles, but it’s also common to find medium or mild in typical grocery stores. I like to just blend canned chiles into a dip like this as the last ingredient a small amount at a time, tasting as I go along.
I used just Original Rotel Tomatoes & Diced Green Chiles. I typically have all these ingredients. It’s very good and always welcome at a party. Hope you enjoy it!
Chipotle Chili is a robust, meaty, spicy and flavorful chili that’s soooo easy to make and memorable with that distinctive chipotle taste
This particular Chipotle Chili is one of my all-time favorite chilis – hotter than most chilis and the distinctive chipotle flavor really stands out. You can easily tell it’s chipotle, but it’s also not for people who like to have their mouth on fire. I think of this as ideal for most Coloradans I know, but if I took it back to the friends I grew up with in Virginia or to my sister in California, they would definitely say it’s too hot.
This is basically a classic chili but it heavily relies on the chipotle and goes light on the other chili seasonings. Many aspects of it you can tweak with however you want . Add more or less celery, bell pepper, onions, sausage, whatever. In this case, I grabbed whatever cans of bean I had, which was the La Costena Bacon Seasoned Charro Beans and Bush’s Chili Beans in mild chili sauce. Note that I always keep both of these in the cupboard, plus I tend to have spicier versions. With this recipe, just about any beans can be used … red beans, even garbanzo beans. For this recipe I like to use beans that come in a sauce, but it’s not necessary. This is an infallible recipe.
With a football weekend like we have now, this is an ideal recipe, and for a party I’d double it and take it in a really big slow cooker. Hope you enjoy it!
1 (20 ounce) can La Costena Bacon Seasoned Charro Beans, undrained
1 (16 ounce) cans chili beans, undrained
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
½ red bell or orange pepper, chopped
½ cup chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce (such as Frank's RedHot®), or to taste
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and break up beef and sausage in the hot skillet until starting to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until meat is browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes more.
Transfer beef mixture to a slow cooker.
Add remaining ingredients and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.
Chipotle Crema is an extremely simple, yet flavorful and elegant recipe. Here it’s served on prime rib on a bed of mushrooms sauteed in butter. Great mixed together or just on top.
Chipotle Crema is an ideal topping with a really good steak or other beef. In this photo, I’ve served it on top of prime rib on a bed of mushrooms sauteed in butter. First I created the Chipotle Crema and put it in the fridge. Then about 15-20 minutes before serving, I sauteed the mushrooms in butter, then set them aside and seared the prime rib in the same pan. To serve I cut the prime rib, heat the mushrooms again as needed, and then plate them and top with the Chipotle Crema.
I tried two ways of eating it … first I’d cut a piece of the prime rib, stab a couple mushrooms, and dip it in the crema. Yum! I also tried stirring the Chipotle Crema in … you know what you get when you do that? Chipotle Prime Rib Stroganoff! It’s all good either way. This really can be made with just about any good steak and should also be good with a nice beef roast. In this case, this was a very good, very tender prime rib and the result was something you’d find at a high-end restaurant.
You also can’t mess this up. The Chipotle Crema will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, and you can use it on just about any meat, fish, eggs, or even vegetables. It would be awesome on baked potatoes. Note that it uses canned chipotles in adobo sauce. I always have small cans of chipotle in my pantry; this is a common ingredient in a number of distinctive Southwestern dishes. A chipotle pepper is actually a smoked jalapeño and it usually comes canned in adobo sauce which is made of dried guajillo and ancho chiles, vinegar, and spices. Sometimes it also has tomato paste, but not always.
So try this one out during the holidays (preferably on a great cut of beef) and make enough so you can also serve it on leftovers. Hope you like it!
Anita’s Turkey Quesadilla is a great game day appetizer or meal using that leftover Thanksgiving turkey
Anita’s Turkey Quesadilla is a very easy, satisfying and tasty main dish … or it makes an awesome appetizer for holiday parties. Plus it’s one of my favorite uses for Thanksgiving turkey. It’s only a few ingredients and you just can’t mess it up.
Personally, turkey isn’t one of my favorite proteins. Generally, I find its taste to be pleasant but nondescript. I mostly like it in a sauce, gravy, or made into turkey salad with mayo and perhaps some seasoning. This quesadilla is one of my favorite dishes using leftover turkey. It doesn’t matter if it’s white meat, dark meat or a combination. Note that most of the flavor is from salsa and green chiles. I’m not specifying a specific brand, heat, or variety of either salsa or green chile. What I do with this is sautee up the onions and peppers until soft, then add the chopped turkey and the salsa, and taste it. Then I add the green chiles and add more salsa and green chiles to tweak the flavor and heat to my liking.
Often it’s the green chiles that I use to increase heat, but it all depends on how hot the salsa is and how hot the chiles are. If you’re making this for a party, it’s very easy to make two skillets of the filling with one hot and one mild to please the hard core spicy food addicts along with the wimps (… or perhaps I should say normal folks). Here’s what the mixture looked like on the first tortilla before I covered it with the second layer of cheese and second tortilla. What you see in the photo was made with 2 10-inch whole wheat tortillas. I found it to be about right for a meal for 2 people. On the other hand, my 27 year old son ate a whole one all by himself. Many people tend to overstuff quesadillas and end up with lots of cheese and filling oozing out the sides. You need to see some small patches of the bottom tortilla showing through before you put the top tortilla on. I hope this photo helps … this amount was about right.
Anita’s Turkey Quesadilla … halfway through assembly, before second layer of cheese and top tortilla is added. Yes, you can start cooking at this point….
I usually use a quesadilla maker – I have both 8-inch and 10-inch ones, 4 total. I bought all of them at thrift stores for under $10. For these, I just used a very large skillet. I just heat it till the bottom is starting to brown, then slide it onto a large plate; then I turn the skillet upside down over the plate, flip it and lightly brown the top side. It’s easy with either skillet or quesadilla maker. Buying a quesadilla maker is only worth it if you make lots of quesadillas.
¼ cup diced medium hot green chile (about 1 Anaheim)
¼ tsp ground cumin
1½ cups shredded cheddar or cheddar-jack cheese
4 8-inch or 2 10-inch flour tortillas
Instructions
In a medium skillet, heat oil, then saute onion and bell pepper until soft; then add the turkey, salsa, green chile, and cumin.
Mix well while cooking for a few minutes, taste, and add more salsa and chile as desired to taste. Note everything is already cooked, so no need to cook more than a few minutes.
Place a 10-inch tortilla on a large dry nonstick skillet (no oil) over a burner and sprinkle half the cheese evenly over; then spread the turkey mixture evenly over the cheese and then spread with remaining cheese and top with second tortilla.
Heat over medium heat until bottom tortilla is starting to brown, slide it off onto a plate; then place the skillet upside down over the plate and flip it. Then lightly brown the top side.
Slide off onto a plate, cut into 6 or 8 wedges, garnish with chopped tomatoes or cilantro and serve
With only a couple ingredients, Easy Fiesta Queso can be whipped together and served in just a couple minutes … and it’s spicy, tasty and versatile. It can be served as either a spread or a dip
This Easy Fiesta Queso is spicy and super tasty … yet it has only 2 ingredients and can be whipped up in a minute or two. Plus it is versatile. You can use it as a dip for chips, a spread for crackers, hors d’oevres or sandwiches. And I have a confession … after serving some to family with chips, I ate over a cup of it by myself straight out of the bowl. Didn’t even put it on crackers or tortilla chips or anything.
Rotel Chili Fixin’s
One thing I discovered here – originally I was making this as a dip for chips. I stirred it up in a couple minutes, dipped tortilla chips in and it was awesome – perfect for game day parties. Then I left it sitting a few feet from a window for about an hour and I found it had become more solid, more suitable to spread on crackers than dip chips in. The room was probably around 60 degrees rather than 70+. It tasted great either way, it’s just a matter of how you want to serve it. That means you might want to heat it and serve it warm as a dip. Or at room temperature you can spread it on bread or crackers or perhaps dip chips in it.
If you definitely want it viscous enough to dip chips into, adding liquid works great. I just added diced tomatoes with juice from a can. Tomato juice or V8 work great, or you can always add milk or cream to get the desired consistency. You can also add mild salsa, keeping in mind that it can increase the spiciness some.
Now I usually buy several 8 oz packages of cream cheese about a month before the holidays since cream cheese is often in so many holiday dishes; it keeps well in the fridge in the sealed wrapper for about a month after opening.
Hope you enjoy this … it’s an amazing dip or spread for almost no work!
optional: additional tomato juice, V-8, tomato sauce, or milk or cream for desired consistency
Instructions
Leave packages of cream cheese out for 2+ hours so it reaches room temperature.
Dump cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl and stir in 1 can of Rotel Chili Fixin's. Stir with a fork to blend well (or a hand mixer).
If desired, warm in oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes (or microwave a minute or two), sprinkle with paprika or chili powder and serve with chips.
Note: This dip can be served warm or cold but will become more solid the colder it is. If more viscous consistency is desired, you can also stir in liquid such as tomato sauce or milk as above. Or heat it in oven; of course you can do both to get desired result.
Stuffed Poblano Peppers are a main dish full of beef, corn, salsa, and spices – packed into half a poblano chile, tasty and satisfying
These Stuffed Poblano Peppers are super easy yet very tasty and satisfying. They are a spicy full meal in one dish that can be ready to serve in under a half hour. I generally have all the ingredients on hand except for the fresh Poblano peppers, which are easy to find in most grocery stores. Note that you can also use bell peppers and they work just as well.
This is also a good dish for a game day get-together. You can assemble these the day before, place them on the baking dish, then cover with plastic and refrigerate. Pop them in the oven about a half hour before serving and you’re all set. If you have a buffet, people will probably eat one (1/2 a pepper) rather than two.
This is also a very forgiving dish. You can vary the seasonings, like using taco seasoning instead of cumin and chili powder. Or perhaps you’d rather make Chipotle Stuffed Poblano Peppers by using chipotle powder instead of the cumin and chili powder. Or…. you can use a can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chop them up and blend them in with the meat before cooking. Chipotle has some heat, so be careful to go easy on them.You can also use black beans instead of corn, or perhaps use both.
Note that in the photo, I’m serving them with guacamole. They are very good with avocado, guacamole, and/or sour cream on the side.
Green Bean & Chile Casserole is a variation on the classic dish topped with fried onions, but with Hatch Chile Cheese sauce and Fried Green Chiles instead of onions. Yum!
This recipe was inspired by my discovery of Fresh Gourmet Crispy Hatch Chiles- just like Crispy Fried Onions but with green chiles. I think everyone has had green bean casserole topped with fried onions, so this was a no-brainer. This is so simple, it’s impossible to mess up. I found these at Costco just by chance. I wasn’t expecting chiles to fry up this nicely, but they are just as good as the French Fried Onions that we are all so used to.
I had some choice in creating this. If you check out the many green bean casserole recipes (topped with fried onions), you’ll see many are made with a can of cream of mushroom soup. This was definitely a possibility, and I’ll be trying that out shortly. But some dedicated chefs choose to make their own cream sauce or creamy cheese sauce. I happened to have a tub of Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar Cheese Spread with Hatch Chile. When I opened this up and tried it, I started eating it straight out of the tub – not recommended for any weight-watchers out there. It’s ideal for spreading on Ritz Crackers, with a tangy cheesy flavor and distinctive Hatch chile flavor. I thought about blending it right in with the cooked green beans. Would that work? Sure, but the cheese spread would likely overpower the beans. Plus the spread is fairly solid at room temperature.
Crispy Hatch Chiles ( from Costco)
Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar Cheese Spread with Hatch Chile
Instead I chose to make a classic cream sauce (milk, butter, flour) and blend it with the TJ’s Cheddar Cheese Spread w/ Hatch Chile. I also tried blending the cheese spread with milk, but the result was runnier than I wanted – I really wanted that thickened consistency that flour provides. I also wanted the sauce to just accent the beans, so I made less than a cup of the sauce. I also found that garlic powder is a nice touch, but not necessary.
Another thing – the Fresh Gourmet Crispy Hatch Chiles are in strips; just take a look at the photo on the bag. Does that mean you need to chop them up? Nope, not at all. You’ll find the top 2/3 of the bag are the strips and the bottom has a bunch of chile crumbles (like in the recipe photo). The crumbles make a perfect topping as is. In our family, the strips got eaten in a matter of days and we were left with probably 2 cups of fried chile crumbles. Note: Besides Costco, they can also be found at some Sam’s Clubs, Walmarts, some Krogers, and on Amazon.
I had planned to take more photos, but my son ate the entire batch in one sitting. It’s supposed to serve four but if your family acts like he did, you’ll have to double the recipe. I only left it out for about 15 minutes and it was gone.
So this is a keeper. I’ll be making this (and variations) for years to come. Hope you enjoy it!
Wash and trim green beans. Place in steamer or in pot with ½ inch water; cover and steam until just tender, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
In the meantime, make the white sauce: melt butter, stir in flour. Then cook for a minute or two and then gradually stir in the milk while cooking. Cook about 5 minutes or until thickened.
Add in the Cheese Spread, stirring well until fully blended.
Stir in salt and, if desired, garlic powder.
Spread beans in 1½ quart rectangular baking dish, pour sauce over, stirring to coat beans if desired. Top evenly with the crumbled Crispy Hatch Chiles.
Slow Cooker Beef Green Chili is a classic green chili but with beef rather than pork, spicy but not overly hot, easy to modify to suit different tastes.
Slow Cooker Beef Green Chili is a simple, fail-proof classic green chile made with beef or steak rather than pork; it’s spicy but not overly hot and easy to adapt to your family’s particular tastes. Using beef rather than pork does change the character and texture a bit, but it’s quite good in its own right. The green chile aspect of this is primarily the shortcut of using a good green enchilada sauce and diced green chiles. It’s very forgiving and the amounts of the spices and sauce can be changed to suit your tastes.
I used about 3 lbs of Beef Top Round London Broil for this – it turned out to be rather tough; I cooked up a bite before I made the recipe to see how tender or tough it was. This actually is an ideal recipe for lower quality beef that tends to be too chewy; after several hours in a slow cooker, the fibers break down nicely and it’s not tough at all. In this case, it’s also important to cut the beef against the grain and into fairly thin slices. I cut this beef into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick pieces that were maybe an inch or two long.
The seasoning mix is a good balance of flavors. If you want it spicier or more garlicky, it’s a safe bet to tweak it in moderation. You might want to adjust the amount of green enchilada sauce and/or tomatillo. For instance, if you are serving it in a bowl as a soup/chili, you might want it soupier. You could use this as a beef filling for burritos where you put the chunks of beef inside the burrito and use the sauce more as a topping. It’s quite versatile. Also note that this freezes well. I always keep plastic tubs of homemade green chili in my freezer so that I can throw together a dinner that’s satisfying but really quick.
This one’s a keeper that I’ll be making many times in the future, including variations. Now I still see pork green chili as the true classic green chili, but this is a really good alternative. Hope you like it!
2.5 to 3 pound boneless lean beef roast or steak (chuck cross rib, bottom round rump roast, skirt steak or top round steak)
2 cups chopped yellow onion, about 1 large
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 tsp dark chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic or garlic powder
24-32 oz can mild to medium green enchilada sauce (I like Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada Sauce)
¼ to 1 cup medium hot diced green chiles (to taste)
1-2 cups salsa verde or crushed tomatillos (optional)
Shredded cheese, sliced avocado, and chips (optional)
Instructions
Slice the beef across the grain into 1-2 inch strips about ¼ to ½ inch wid and set aside in a large bowl.
In a cup, combine the smoked paprika, salt, chili powder, garlic, cayenne pepper, and black pepper; sprinkle over the beef while using your hands or a wooden spoon to mix the spices in with the beef chunks. Set aside (or in fridge) for 15-30 minutes or more to let spices permeate. This step can be done day before.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the beef until starting to sear on all sides).
Transfer the beef to the slow cooker, pour the enchilada sauce and diced green chiles in and stir to mix. If desired, pour salsa verde in (or it can be added in the last half hour).
Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, or until the beef is tender.
Serve in bowls with shredded cheese, avocado slices and chips on the side, if desired. Enjoy!
A full meal that’s full of flavor with an added kick and chile flavor
Brats and cabbage are a classic … but this version has a particularly robust flavor and the chiles give it a unique and interesting character. It’s particularly easy to make – you fry up the brats then cook up all the vegetable while adding the sauce. Voila! It’s a complete and very satisfying meal.
I do believe this dish is more interesting with the green chiles in it; but as you might expect, you should adjust the amount and type of chile you use to fit your own family. Some will like this pretty hot and some will like it much milder. One nice thing about this dish is that you can separate it into two dishes and make one hot for the chile fans and the other mild for the wimps. The “sauce” for this dish is a keeper all on its own. It’s very simple with only a handful of ingredients, yet it’s truly memorable. I put it in quotes because it’s not exactly a sauce; it’s a mixture of ingredients that make up all the seasoning for this dish. And then you don’t pour it on top of a dish – you stir it into the cabbage mixture and cook it into the dish. The notable thing about it is that it’s really exceptional and I expect it to be very versatile … so you can expect me to come up with many dishes in the future that have this sauce as a foundation for a main dish. Plus you can make up a double or triple batch, keep it in the fridge, and cook with it for the next week or two in various dishes.
Green Chile Cabbage and Brats keeps very well. You can store it in the fridge and serve it days later – it will still be very satisfying. Likewise, it’s easy to double or triple it for those big holiday family gatherings.
8 cups thin sliced green cabbage (about 1 small head)
1 cup diced medium green chiles, or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
In a large skillet, brown the bratwursts. Remove to a baking dish and place in oven at 200 degrees. Do not clean the pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk vinegar, water, olive oil, and mustard.
Heat the same skillet over medium-low. Add onions and cabbage to skillet and cook for 10-15 minutes, tirring several times. Pour ¼ of the mustard vinegar sauce into the pan with the cabbage cooking for 1-2 minutes before repeating. Repeat the process until all the sauce is gone.
Stir in the green chiles, adding more as needed for desired heat.
Add brats back to the pan and warm for 1-2 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
Killer Carnivore Concoction is a simple yet robust sausage and beef mixture ideal as a pizza topping or filling for burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tacos, whatever!
Killer Carnivore Concoction? Say what? This recipe invention started out to be a fairly simple yet robust sausage and beef filling for quesadillas. By the time I was done I realized I had a Southwestern meat mixture that I’d end up using in a dozen or more recipes. It’s really that versatile …. particularly since it freezes very well. From now on, when I make this, I’ll prepare it in advance and freeze it in small containers (12 to 16 oz); I’ll move it to the fridge 24 hours before I’m planning to serve it in a dish. Then I can put it on quesadillas, pizzas, in burritos or enchiladas or whatever and just pop it in the oven maybe 15-30 minutes before serving at a party. Note that how much you want to make depends on what you use it for. Quesadillas and pizzas generally take less meat than burritos, enchiladas, and tacos.
I first made this for a big 3-day camping party in northern California, and I was serving about 50 people. This is soooo easy. I cooked up this meat mixture a few days in advance. Then I used my quesadilla makers and I just cranked them out. It took me about 30 seconds to assemble each quesadilla, and then they cook for about 5 minutes … until they are lightly browned and cheese is all melted. Most people grabbed about 1/4 to 1/2 quesadilla and gave it rave reviews.
I made a quadruple batch and a single or double batch would have been fine. I have enough packed up in my freezer now for several more parties. You just can’t put as much meat in a quesadilla as you might expect. But as I mentioned, this is really versatile … the next dish I’m planning to make with it is Game Day Pizza. Just spread a cup or two of it lightly over your homemade, Papa Murphy’s or frozen pizza and add a little extra bit of shredded mozarella. You’ll have a loaded, spicy pizza everyone will love. It will also be great in burritos with refried beans or in enchiladas. Another easy party idea is to put it in a chafing dish over heat and let people assemble their own tacos; just provide taco shells or small flour tortillas, some shredded lettuce, cheese and taco sauce. And don’t forget the sour cream and guacamole.
Throwing this together only takes a few minutes, but you might cook it for 10-15 minutes. Chances are, I’ll always make this a day or so ahead of time and I’ll keep some in the freezer for convenience. Personally, I’d plan on serving this is some form for most game day gatherings. Hope you find it as useful as I do!
1 lb chub hot pork breakfast sausage (such as Jimmy Dean)
1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped red onion
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp chili powder
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup medium diced green chiles
Instructions
Dump the sausage, ground beef and onion into a large skillet. Over medium heat, break meat into small chunks with a wooden spoon making sure the sausage and beef mix together. Sprinkle the seasonings over the meat.
Cook until mostly browned and add the garlic. Then cook until fully browned and add tomatoes and green chiles.
Drain fat off. If you wish, add more seasoning and chiles to taste.
Use this meat mixture to top pizzas, or fill burritos, enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas or whatever.
Pack any leftover into plastic tubs and freeze for future use.
This dip is ideal for that special game day party. It can be made in 5 minutes and is easy to vary for different tastes.
