Ashley's Best Turkey Chile Chili

Yesterday I was in the mood for chili so I decided to whip up a batch from some things I had lying around the house. It turned out to be wonderful!! The best chili I have ever made. Here is what I did. Enjoy!!

Ashley's Best Turkey Chile Chili

Fire Level: yellow - red

Ingredients (for orange)

• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 hatch chiles
• 1 can diced zesty tomatoes (drained)
• 1 can stewed tomatoes (drained and tomatoes torn into pieces)
• 1 can whole kernel sweet corn (drained)
• 1 can red kidney beans (drained)
• 1 can chili beans
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 packet chili seasoning mix
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• **For yellow, remove the chiles and used regular diced tomatoes rather than the zesty.
• **For red, add a tablespoon of red chile peppers, or add in some diced jalepeno

Step 1: Roast the chiles

Cut the chiles in half lengthwise, deseed and destem. Put them on a baking sheet, skinside up, and into the oven on broil. Once the skins have turned black, peel the skins off the chiles and cut the roasted chiles into pieces.

Step 2: Cook Turkey

While the chiles are roasting, cook the ground turkey until no longer pink.

Step 3: Saute

In a large pot, saute the onion and celery with a little bit of olive oil until softened.

Step 4: Simmer

Turn the burner down to Medium Low. Add the tomatoes, diced chiles, corn, and chili seasoning mix into the onion and celery mixture and let the whole batch simmer for about five minutes.

Step 5: Add it all In

Add in the beans, sauce, and turkey. Let the whole batch of chili simmer on Medium Low for about an hour, letting all of the flavors mix together.

Add-In Options:

Mix up a batch of corn bread to go with the chili. An easy and cheap mix is made by Jiffy.

You can also sprinkle with some cheddar cheese to add some creaminess.

A Sweet Treat on a Snowy Day

So, what are you all doing on this snowy evening? If you are like me, you are getting a little cabin fever. When I get that way I like to whip up some cookies. Here is a great go to recipe that takes ingredients often found around the house. Enjoy!

Fire Level: yellow

Almond Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. Salt

Step 1: Preheat the Oven

Duh! For any baking recipe the first step is always to preheat the oven. In this case it's to 375 degrees.

Step 2: Mix up the "wet" ingredients

Mix the sugar, butter, vanilla, almond, and egg until creamy

Step 3: Mix the "dry" ingredients

Mix the flour, powder, and salt together

Step 4: Combine

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue to beat until well blended.

Step 5: Choose your baking method

Choose whether you want to make almond bars or cookies. Either spread the dough onto a greased cookie sheet for bars or place teaspoon full amounts of dough onto the cookie sheet to make individual cookies.

Step 6: Bake

Bake 'em up! cook 7-9 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

Step 7: Serve

If you are making bars, cut the cookie sheet into strips. Let cool and serve!

Step 8: Frost

If you'd like, you can frost the cookies. Simply mix some powdered sugar and milk together until the frosting is the right thickness.

Easy Breezy Pasta

I saw a really simple pasta dish on the Today Show one morning and I modified it with items I had lying around my kitchen. This is the perfect dish when you want something new, light, colorful, or when you are just cooking for one. I made this one night and ended up with three different meals out of the leftovers.

Fire Level: yellow – red

Ingredients

• Your favorite pasta noodle (I prefer angel hair)
• Chopped bell peppers (vary the amount depending on how many people you are cooking for. Half a bell pepper for one serving, or one chopped green and one chopped red bell pepper for a more plentiful and colorful dish)
• Crushed red pepper (for orange-red spice, leave out for yellow)
• Minced garlic
• Parsley or Dill (Fresh is preferable but I used dry spice and it was just fine)
• Olive oil (also vary depending on how much you are making)

OPTIONAL ADDITION

I also added a little lemon juice and shaved Romano cheese to the finished product to give it an extra pop of flavor.

STEP 1: Sauté the Peppers

Heat olive oil over a large skillet. Use slightly more olive oil than you normally would for sautéing. You want the bell peppers to be coated well in the oil

STEP 2: Cook Pasta

Meanwhile, bring your pasta to a boil and cook it until al dente.

STEP 3: Spice it Up

Add your crushed red pepper and minced garlic to the bell peppers. Make sure your pasta is finished before you do this. You don’t want to cook the garlic too long. Stir the spices in with the bell peppers for just a couple minutes until the garlic is tender but has not turned brown.

STEP 4: Add your Pasta

Add the pasta into the large pan with all of your spices and bell peppers. Mix until the noodles are coated in olive oil and the flavors are all mixed together.

STEP 5: Garnish

Poor your almost-finished pasta into a serving dish and sprinkle with either fresh parsley or dill, whichever flavor you prefer.

Serve with some baked bread (I like the "everything" bread from the Walmart bakery) and a dish of EVOO, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and thyme. You're set for a yummy dinner!

LEFT OVER OPTIONS

Since I was cooking for one, I had a lot of pasta left over. The next day I heated it up with a can of fire roasted, diced tomatoes. This gave it a completely different flavor and was delicious!

Spicy Poppers

Another great recipe from the Taste of Home Cooking School! These jalapeno poppers are delicious and the addition of the crescent dough takes away a little of the kick so that they aren't as spicy.

Fire level: orange-red

Crescent Jalapeno Poppers

Ingredients:

• 4 jalapeno chiles
• 1/3 cup Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs
• 8 slices packaged precooked bacon, halved
• 1 can (8 oz.) crescent dinner rolls
• 1/2 cup pineapple or fruit salsa for dipping

Directions:

STEP 1: Prepare your peppers

Destem and Deseed the chiles. The more seeds you leave in, the spicier the chiles will be. Cut each chile lengthwise, and then lengthwise again, creating four long jalapeno chile pieces from each pepper.

STEP 2: Prep your poppers

Spoon about 1 teaspoon of cheese into each chile quarter. Wrap a half slice of bacon around each stuffed chile quarter.

STEP 3: Wrap your poppers

On a cutting board, unroll the crescent dough. It should show 8 triangles. Cut each triangle in half from largest corner, creating 16 pieces. Place the chile, cheese side down, onto the middle of the dough triangle. Fold one point of triangle over filling, fold two remaining points over the first point. Place all of the poppers on ungreased cookie sheet.

STEP 4: Cook your poppers

Bake the poppers 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with the fruit salsa and it will cut out some of the spice. Enjoy! They are quite tasty.

Beautiful Appetizer for the Holidays

Some friends and I went to a Taste of Home Cooking school a couple months ago and we witnessed a lot of yummy dishes being prepared. One appetizer in our recipe booklet stuck out to me and I made it over the Thanksgiving holiday. It looked beautiful on the table and is perfect for Holiday get togethers.

Fire level: yellow

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 10 bacon strips
• 20 large fresh basil leaves
• 20 uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used precooked frozen shrimp and they worked just fine)
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1/2 cup finely crumbled goat cheese

Directions:

STEP 1: Prepare your shrimp

Cut each bacon strip in half widthwise; set aside. Wrap a basil leave around each shrimp. Wrap a piece of bacon around each; secure with a toothpick.

STEP 2: Bake the shrimp

Place all of the shrimp onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for around 15 minutes or until bacon is crisp.

STEP 3: Flavor the shrimp

Brush with barbecue sauce; sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 2-4 minutes more or until they are heated through.

If you want to increase the fire level you can buy a spicy barbecue sauce. The presentation of these is beautiful. Spread them out on a nice serving dish and heat up some of the barbecue sauce for dipping. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Dip

Saturday night several people came over to my house to watch the Mizzou Tigers' disastrous loss to Texas Tech. In addition to discussing what an awful mascot a gun-slinging cowboy is for young children, we also ate some delicious food! Melanie made a dip she called "Beer Dip." It was so simple and yummy, I just had to share. If you have a last minute get together with no time to spare, this is a go-to recipe to keep in the kitchen drawer.

Beer Dip

Fire Level: Yellow

Ingredients

• 2 Packages Cream Cheese softened
• 1/3 to 1/2 a beer (depending on how runny or thick you want your dip)
• 1 Packet Ranch Dressing
• 1 1/2 Cups finely shredded cheddar cheese

STEP 1: Create your base

Mash up your cream cheese. If you have a food processor, this is the perfect time to use the "plastic blade" they gave you in the box that is gathering dust in your cabinet. Otherwise, just use a wooden spoon. While you are mashing, add in your beer until you have the consistency you want.

STEP 2: Add the rest

Add in the other two ingredients.

STEP 3: Enjoy!

Eat it up with pretzels, pretzel chips, pita chips, tortilla chips... whatever you want.

Other Options

I think this dip would be really yummy, and a bit spicier, if you add a can of diced green chiles!

Take Me Out to the... World Series!!!

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. It has been a crazy couple weeks between Mizzou's football games, Chiefs games, and the Rangers in the World Series! When we were at the Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4, we treated ourselves to the new item they revealed for the Series: a bacon wrapped hot dog. It was delicious! I thought it would be a good thing to add to my blog because it is really simple, AND with baseball season over and football season into its second half, the time for grilling is almost over. :( So here you go and enjoy while there is still time!

Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog

Fire Level: Depends on the toppings yellow-red

Ingredients

• Hot Dogs
• Equal number of bacon strips (I suggest the thick cut premium bacon. Don't skimp on it for this)
• Equal number of buns (I suggest getting thicker, more brat-like buns if available)
• Numerous Toppings (see options below)

STEP 1: Prep the dogs

Wrap your hot dogs with the bacon. Take the end of a bacon strip and start at one end of the hot dog wrapping in a spiral formation around the dog. If the bacon has trouble staying on, you can use toothpicks to attach the ends of the bacon to the ends of the dog.

STEP 2: Cook the dogs

If you have a grill around, then great! Throw them on the grill. If not, you can use a large skillet. Cook the dogs until the bacon starts to get crispy.

STEP 3: Put your dog on your bun

No explanation needed. :)

STEP 4: Add your toppings

Topping Options

This is where the magic happens! Toppings make all the difference on the hot dogs. Here are some options based on what we had at the ballpark, and what I just think sounds really good. The fire level will change depending on how many jalepenos, siracha, etc that you add.

Ballpark in Arlington Version

During the World Series, they grilled some onions along with the dogs and added those onto the dog. Delicious!

They also had numerous other toppings:

• Pico de gallo
• Shredded cheese
• Jalepenos

A Tex Mex Version

• Shredded pepper jack cheese or even melted nacho cheese
• Avocado
• Pico de gallo or salsa
• Jalepenos

Kansas City Version

• Barbeque sauce
• Diced onion
• Shredded cheddar cheese

The Standard

• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Mayonnaise

California Cobb

• Avocado
• Bleu Cheese
• Diced tomato
• Shredded Lettuce
• Ranch Dressing

Japanese Version

• Siracha
• Teriyaki Sauce
• Spicy Mayonnaise