Fall is around the corner — my favourite time of the year — and it’s soup season! Take:

3 – 4 pounds beef
8 red potatoes
1 large yellow onion
1 16oz bag carrot slices
3 cans of stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can Rotel
3 small cans green chilies
3 tablespoons minced garlic
32 ozs beef broth
32 ozs vegetable broth
32 ozs water
1 glug red wine
Steak seasoning

Cu your beef into cubes, sprinkle well with steak seasoning — I’m currently using Head Country Original, but use the one you like — and throw it into a pan with some oil to brown.

While the meat is browning, dice your onion, and chunk your taters. Throw them into a large stock-pot with all the canned stuff, the broth, and the water.

Once the beef is browned, toss it into the pot, and then use your red wine to deglaze the pan. Bung all those glorious bits into the stock-pot. Add everything else, except only the carrots, and simmer for an hour. Stir occasionally.

After an hour, throw in the carrots and let simmer for another half-hour.

Voila! Cowboy stew.

LawDog

Ah, autumn.

Take:

2 pounds of pork
Oil
1 big white onion
1 tablespoon of Squeeze Garlic
2 tubs of Knorr Swiss Chicken In A Tub
6 cups water
1 pound red taters
1 to 2 cups (ish) of roasted, peeled, and chopped Hatch chilies*
1 tablespoon Chipotle Topper
Salt and pepper to taste.

(If cilantro doesn’t taste like soap to you, chop some of that.)

Get out your big stew pot, cut your pork into one-inch cubes, and toss it into the pot on Medium-High with some oil.  Chop your onion, bung it in there, too, and brown the pork.

Once the pork is brown, run the heat down to Medium, drain the oil, and toss in the garlic.  Give it some stirs until you start to smell that lovely nutty aroma, add the water, and bump the heat back up to Medium-High.

While you’re waiting for the boil, chunk your taters into 3/4(-ish) inch bits.  When you get a rolling boil, throw in the taters and both the tubs of chicken.  Chop the heat down, and let it all simmer for about an hour, or until the spuds are cooked.

Once that’s done, throw in the Hatch chilies*, and the Chipotle Topper.  Simmer for about another 15 minutes.

(Now is the time to stir in the cilantro, if you like, but not for me.  Stuff tastes like diswashing detergent.)

Serve over rice, with a salad.

LawDog

*Please be advised:  Hatch chilies come in two heat levels.  Mild, and Spiky.  If you send someone to the market for some freshly roasted Hatch chilies, and they’re not aware of this little fact, they may come back with some Spiky ones.  Damned fine flavour, but if your guests are expecting the Mild chilies — because Mild ones are all they’ve ever gotten from your kitchen — and get a mouthful of Spiky chilies, there may be startled exclamations.  Forewarned is forearmed.

If tongue-scorching heat is your thing, this recipe probably isn’t for you; but if you’d like a mild little chili that’s done in less than an hour, you might give this one a try.

Take:

2 pounds chili-ground lean beef, or venison. (Hamburger meat will do, lean.)
1 pound mild Italian sausage
1 medium-to-large yellow onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 Chipotle cube
3 teaspoons(ish) chili powder (if you’re not mad at Penzeys, sub in 1 teaspoon(ish) of their Chili 9000 for one of the regular chili powder)
1/2 teaspoon smoked salt
1 can Rotel Fire-Roasted tomatoes & chilies
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (I prefer fire-roasted, but up to you)
1 small can Hatch diced mild green chilies
Glug or so of a decent red table wine

Dice your onion, toss it into a frying pan, bung in your meat, and brown the whole mess.  Drain off any grease, and dump into your chili pot.

Mince your garlic cloves, and drop them in.  (I use squeeze garlic, but I’m lazy.)  Put the chipotle cube into a bowl, and mush it into powder, add your chili powder and the smoked salt, muddle the mix a bit with a spoon, and toss it into the pot.

Stir in the Rotel, all of the other tomato, and the chilies.  Simmer for about twenty minutes, glug in the wine, stir, simmer another ten minutes (plus or minus), then serve with shredded Mexican cheese mix and crackers.

Voila!  Quick and dirty chili.

(Again, if you’re looking for a spicy chili, this isn’t for you.  However, if you’re not sure of the heat tolerance of your dinner guests, and don’t have all day to simmer a proper chili, this might do you.)

LawDog

Ok, you’ll need:

Six chicken thighs
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 white onion
3 stalks of celery
3 carrots
White wine
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Ozark Seasoning (or poultry seasoning)
2 Knorr-Swiss Chicken In A Tub
1 7.5 oz tube of whomp biscuits**

Turf your chicken thighs off into a stockpot in enough water cover them by about an inch.  Simmer them until the meat falls off of the bone.  Pull them out and set them to the side.

Toss your Chicken In A Tub into the water, followed by the diced onion, and the minced garlic.  Cut your celery and carrot into acceptable lengths, and bung them in there, too.

Add about a third of a cup of the white wine (more or less.  More.)

Bring to simmer.

Take your whomp biscuits and cut them into quarters.  Fling them in there.  When they’re all in, give the mix a good stir.

Bring back to a simmer, then add your cans of soup.

Simmer about 15 – 20 minutes.  While it’s simmering, shred your chicken; then add the chicken after the simmer period.

Bring back to a simmer, then serve.

Voila!  Chicken and Ersatz Dumplings!

LawDog

*”Ersatz Dumplings” because Herself holds opinions Most Firm about what makes a good dumpling.  It starts and ends with “Bisquick”.

**Whomp biscuits are those tubes of biscuits found in the dairy section.  You peel off the wrapper, and about halfway through the process the inside cardboard tube bursts with a “whomp” sound.

Take:

2 1/2 pounds stew meat
4 cups beef stock
28 oz little taters (one to two inches in diametre)
3 carrots
3 stalks celery
2 medium yellow onions
5 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs of thyme
4 sprigs rosemary
1 cup red wine
couple of slugs of Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper
flour
olive oil

Okay.

Bung your beef stock into the slow-cooker, or decent-sized stock-pot, and start it going.

Generously salt and pepper the stew meat, dredge it through some flour, throw it into a frying pan with some oil, and brown it.  You’ll probably need to do this in batches.  When the meat is brown, bung it off into the stock.

You’re probably going to have a nasty mess inside your frying pan.  That’s perfectly okay.  Take your cup of red wine and pour it into the frying pan. With a wooden spatula, scrape the goodie off of the bottom of the pan while still on a medium flame.  This is called “deglazing” and you may be surprised at how easily the gooey bits come loose.  When it’s all loose, pour all that goodness into the pot with the meat.

Quarter the taters (I prefer the little red or gold ones), cut the carrots and celery into one-inch lengths, chunk the onions, and throw it all into the pot.

Run the garlic cloves through a press into the pot, toss in the bay leaves, and tie the sprigs of thyme and rosemary together with twine, and into the pot with it.

End up with a couple of generous glugs of Worcestershire sauce (about a teaspoon worth).  Simmer or slow-cook on high, until the meat is nicely tender, pull out the bay leaves and the spice bundle; and serve with crusty bread.

Voila!  Stew.

LawDog

Ok, you need:

Two whole chickens.
Two cans of beer.
Garlic, limes, poultry seasoning.
Your favorite BBQ rub.

Take your chickens. Make sure they are defrosted, and the giblets are removed. Fire up your BBQ grill, find two buddies, hand each buddy one beer with instructions to lower the level of beer in the can by one-third.

Rub the outside of the chickens generously with your BBQ rub. Sprinkle poultry seasoning on the inside of the birds.

Smack your buddies on the back of the head, and retrieve your now half-full cans of beer.

Crush and dump one clove of garlic into each can. It’s going to fizz, it’s okay.

Split your lime into quarters and place two quarters on top of each can of beer.

Grease the outside of your beer cans, and insert your chickens onto the beer cans, so that the two legs of the chicken form a tripod with the beer can being the third leg.

Wait for the inevitable jokes. (“You know, ‘Dog, in some States that would be a felony…”)

Carefully place the upright chickens on the grill, close the lid and cook until the juice runs clear at the joints.

Carefully remove the chickens and cans from the grill and very carefully un-violate the chickens.

Slice and serve.

LawDog

Get your paws on:

6 chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes (don’t drain)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 can mild rotel (don’t drain)

2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

3 cups instant rice
3 cups water

Mix your dried spices together, then sprinkle generously over the chicken breast halves.

Oil large skillet, place over medium heat until hot. Add chicken and cook until brown – about two minutes or so per side.
Add diced tomatoes, green onions and Rotel to skillet. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat.

Simmer until chicken is tender – about 20 minutes or so.

In seperate pot, combine rice and water according to instructions on package.

Remove chicken from skillet.

Combine cornstarch and water, stirring well. Once cornstarch is completely dissolved, add to mixture in skillet. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened – about one minute.

Put rice on plate, lay chicken half on rice, ladle tomato mixture over chicken. Serve with a salad and sweet tea.

LawDog

24 ozs of pasta
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can chicken a la king
1 small can mushrooms (don’t drain)
1 cup chicken broth
1 to 2 pounds of cooked chicken from last night roast chicken (or turkey)
Shredded cheese

Cook your pasta according to instructions.

In a big pan, put all your canned stuff and the cup of chicken broth. Add the chicken and heat to bubbling.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and stir it into the pot of canned stuff. Mix well.

Pour entire mess into a roasting dish, cover with shredded cheese and pop into a 300 degree oven until the cheese is nicely melted.

LawDog

You need:

1 1/2 to two pounds of chicken breast.
1 chopped medium onion.
1 can chicken broth.
1 can chili beans – don’t drain.
1 can kidney beans – don’t drain.
1 can black beans – don’t drain.
1 can mild Rotel – don’t drain.
2 cans whole kernal corn – don’t drain.
1 pkg mild taco seasoning.
1 pkg Ranch salad dressing/seasoning.

Cut your chicken breast into soup-sized chunks. Dice your onion. I prefer a red or a yellow onion, but white or green onions work just fine.

Put a big pot on medium heat, dump in all of your canned stuff and add the two seasoning packets. Stir the packets into the mix well.

Throw your chopped chicken and onion into a frying pan with a little olive oil, and cook until the chicken has been browned. Once the chicken is browned, dump your chicken/onion goodie into the pot with the canned stuff.

Bring to a boil, and then simmer for one hour.

When you spoon this into a bowl, sprinkle some shredded cheese over it.

Voila! Comfort food.

LawDog

PS: I always get asked, “What’s Rotel?” Rotel is diced tomatoes and chilis, found here:
http://www.texmex.net/Rotel/main.htm

Get some extra cans, because you’re liable to wind up adding it to a lot more things than just my soup.

LawDog