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Sing a new song, Alyce

Baked Chili on Tortilla Chips for the Broncos to Win the Super Bowl

A replay of a favorite post, CHILI FRITO, for Super Bowl Sunday.  If you'd like the real-deal Chili Frito, substitute Fritos for the tortilla chips.

 GO BRONCOS!!!!

When Dave and I were in college, the cafeterias did their best to serve food that was wholesome and healthy (a salad bar appeared at student request), but that also made a teenager's heart sing rather than sink.  As I spent a couple of years there cracking eggs--this is true--I know better than some.  Saturday nights were "steak nights," and you seldom missed that meal, even if you had eaten all day long that day or were out at the lake at a kegger.   It was there I first heard the words London Broil or realized steaks could have sauces.  In the house where I grew up, good steak didn't need sauce; it simply wasn't done. (Groan.)  You wouldn't ruin a gorgeous piece of midwest beef like that.  Looking back, of course the cafeteria steaks probably needed sauce.  The rarely-seen (ha) summer ribeye at home was fine with only a bit of garlic salt with pepper and a nice big crunchy salad right out of my Dad's garden.  Mayonnaise was the dressing of choice.

This is Lincoln Hall.  I lived in Washington, it's nearby exact twin.

Current dorm room--exactly the same as mine in 1971.  Some things don't change. The site does say the rooms were renovated in the '90s.  Hm.

I don't remember a lot of the meals I ate at the cafeteria, though I can see the room clearly if I close my eyes. I do know for a fact we had real scrambled eggs because any eggs with broken yolks went in the scrambled egg vat.  But one meal that has stood out in my mind all these years was something called "Chili Frito."  In 1971, Chili Frito wasn't a familiar concept on the western Illinois border near Keokuk, Iowa.  Chili, yes.  Fritos, of course.  But Chili Frito?  Well, today you know immediately what it was: a bowl of Fritos topped with chili and maybe cheese. You probably call it "Frito Pie."  We loved it. If there was Chili Frito for dinner, we were cheering in the halls of the dorms and we made it to dinner almost as if it were steak night.

What's for dinner tonight? Anybody see?  ...  "CHILI FRITO!"  "Oh, my God."  (We spelled it out back then.)

The precursor to the ubiquitous plate of nachos (that we'd never heard of), it was luscious--crunchy, tomatoey, full of chili powder and loaded with cheese.  Remember, we had just gotten our first Jack In The Box tacos--our first-- in the south-western Chicago suburbs around 1970.  Chili Frito was IT.

Over the years, I occasionally would throw some leftover chili on top of Fritos for my kids with a smile of remembrance, but only when the chili pot was almost empty or there was no time to cook something else.  I never made Chili Frito from scratch that I can think of, though I remembered it fondly.  In the intervening years, I had chili with spaghetti in it at friends' houses or Chili Mac at Dave's folks'.  I lived in places in Europe where was no chili at all and I spent four years in San Antonio where if you knew beans about chili, you knew there were no beans in chili.  As you might remember from other posts.

Last night, though, I had Chili Frito on my heart.  I had no idea what was for dinner, but it was dinner time.  The weather (another snow storm) had been awful; I didn't even want to go to the garage to get something from the freezer.  I knew I had ground turkey and bison in my kitchen freezer that needed cooking  and that a bag of soon-to-be-stale tortilla chips (XOCHITL) was sitting looking forlorn on the floor of the basement pantry.  In the frig was a bag of already-grated cheddar leftover from a soup tasting.  And within about forty minutes, we were watching The Big Chill (which Dave had somehow never seen) and eating Chili Chips.  Without Fritos, I had to rename the dish.  It was all the same; we adored them and were happy as clams eating a nearly junk-food dinner.  Funny how food and movies kinda match sometimes. Or that comfort food is sometimes not from your mom's kitchen, but from the college cafeteria.  I sang through the whole movie and I'm still mad they cut Kevin Costner out; he was the corpse in the casket.  (On the DVD version, are there out takes with him in it????)   Here's how to make updated Chili Frito right before you put on THE BIG CHILL:

FIRST:  Make nearly instant chili or bring a couple quarts home from Wendy's, I guess

In a 6-quart stockpot or Dutch oven, cook until softened over medium heat a chopped, large onion and a chopped red or green bell pepper in a tablespoon of olive oil flavored with a pinch of crushed red pepper, a tablespoon of chili powder, and a few grinds of black pepper.  Stir in a pound each of ground bison and turkey, as well as 2 minced garlic cloves. Add 2 teaspoons ground cumin, another tablespoon chili powder, and a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Cook, stirring, until meat is browned and nearly done.

Pour in a 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes, a 6-ounce can of tomato paste, a cup each of red wine and water.  Stir in 2 tablespoons each Dijon-style mustard  and lemon juice, as well as 2 teaspoons dried dill weed and a teaspoon each of granulated sugar and kosher salt.   Stir and bring to a boil.  Let cook five minutes or so and pour in two cans of drained beans such as pintos, black beans, or kidney beans.  Let cook 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in 1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives (optional.) Taste and adjust seasonings.   Add more chili powder or shake in hot sauce if needed.

• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and fill a 9-inch x 13-inch rectangular casserole with tortilla chips (8 ounces or so)
• Ladle chili generously over all the chips (about six cups) and top with about a cup of grated cheddar cheese.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted to your liking.  Serve hot, of course, with milk, which is how we ate it in college.  Ok, beer, though I only drank beer once in college.  That was enough, you see.
• 6 servings
• Dear God, I promise we'll have grilled white fish the next three days. But there is still chili left for lunch.  Love, Alyce

Two-Dog Kitchen

Go away, winter; you're bothering me.
... ... ... ...

 THIS WEEK ON DINNER PLACE:

FROSTED BROWNIES JUST FOR YOU-A SMALL PAN

LINCOLN HALL AND DORM ROOM PHOTOS - COURTESY WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

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Tortellini and Shredded Beef in Broth with Vegetables

Note to readers:  This blog is now published on WordPress:  www.moretimeatthetable.com.  I'll publish at both sites for a while, but not for too long!  Please change your links and favorites and follow me to the new site!  Thanks to my smart daughter, Emily Suzanne Morgan, for managing the migration.  Follow Emily @ www.fightthebees.com

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The famous Italian dish, Tortellini en brodo, is a beautiful, well-known holiday pasta and broth soup upon which my simplified, shredded-beef American version is based.  I truly didn't have this dish in mind, I just happened to have a pot roast, a bunch of tortellini, and a desire for something besides the things I usually make with pot roast on a cold snowy day: pot roast and vegetables,  beef-vegetable soup, beef-barley soup, beef burgundy, and so on. If you'd like to make the real Tortellini en brodo, visit a blog that has the directions in English; many are in Italian!  Here's a good home-made blogger's  version  (Stefan's Gourmet Blog) that is totally from scratch, including the meat filling for the tortellini, and looks luscious.  If you'd rather have a little video action and a Mario Batali recipe, here's that link.  The simplest shortcut recipe is here.  In other words, you're not cooking meat for broth, bones for stock, or making homemade pasta and filling in my soup, but you are cooking a pot roast!  And while my ingredients' list isn't short, the method is simple and gives you time for other things.  

Baby Kale and Kluski Noodles with Chicken

Note to Readers:  This blog has moved to WordPress and is now published at moretimeatthetable.com.  Please change your links and favorites and follow me at the new site!  I'll post in both places for a while, but not for long!  Many thanks to my smart daughter, Emily, for managing the migration.  Follow Emily on fightthebees.com.

When you google Chicken and Noodles, there are over 23 million results.  Anyone who cooks and isn't a vegetarian has probably made some variation on the Chicken and Noodles theme, such as this one from a couple of years ago on this very blog:

How quickly can you say Chicken and Noodles?

Mom's Turtle Cheesecake for a Special Son's Birthday

A note to More Time Readers:  I've moved the blog to WordPress and it is now published at moretimeatthetable.com.  Please change your links, favorites, etc.  I'll publish both places for a while, but not for long!  Great thanks to smart, gorgeous daughter Emily Morgan for managing the migration and for being my super-tech.  Follow Emily on fightthebees.com.

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When your children are growing up, if you're a baker (and sometimes even if you're not), you bake a cake for their birthdays.  I wonder if that's still true?  Most of the time my kids' parties were simple affairs---celebratory and fun, to be sure--but sort of cake and ice cream parties for a bunch of their buddies or maybe even just the family and neighbors.

(below:  Sean, a marvelous cook, making his world-renowned pizza--one of my frequent requests.  He's also a fine brewer.  Nice combination, huh?)

Green Chile Beef with Cheddar Mashed Potatoes

Note:  This blog has moved to WordPress. I am now publishing at moretimeatthetable.com and hope to see you there!  Please reset your favorites and links and follow me at the new beautiful location.  Migration accomplished by my smart youngest, Emily Morgan.  (I'll publish here as well for the next little while, but not for long!)  

Over the holidays, and since, we've been making big pots of soup when we weren't finishing off the leftovers.  Colds, strep throat, and the need for lighter fare after all the heavy meals were the instigators, but the weather contributed…  Today, the sun came out to melt the snow--

and it was time for something else:  real cooking in the oven maybe?  Two big pot roasts called my name at the store the other day, and one of them simply jumped into the Dutch oven cut up with a big bunch of cooked green chiles and onions.  Sounded incredible--a green chile braise--but I also decided to whip up a pot of cheddar mashed potatoes to keep it company.  A side of barely tender green beans, stirred up with just the teensiest bit of butter rounded out the meal.

Chicken-Wild Rice Soup with Butternut Squash and Pecans

WE'VE MOVED! More Time at the Table is now published on wordpress.com!  This blog has been hosted on blogger for the past four-plus years and will be published at both urls for a month or so…or until all the kinks are worked out of the transition process.  Do change your bookmarks or links, please, and follow me here on Word Press:  http://www.moretimeatthetable.com/   Great thanks to my gorgeous daughter Emily who managed the migration.  So cool to have smart kids!

In January it's so nice
While slippin' on the slidin' ice
To sip hot chicken soup with rice
Sippin' once, sippin' twice
Sippin' chicken soup with rice...

--Maurice Sendak, lyrics; music by Carole King:   REALLY ROSIE (click to listen to the music)  Original text from Sendak's book CHICKEN SOUP WITH RICE one book in the Nutshell Library:

As a student in library school, I once was in charge of a weekend seminar about famed children's author, Maurice Sendak.  I had to plan the event from soup to nuts, including speeches, lunches, lodging, etc.  I also had to invite the man himself.  I was flabbergasted when he accepted.  I was near collapse when his assistant called a few days ahead, and citing illness, informed me the author would need to miss this particular conference.  Hundreds of people from miles around were nearly on their way.  Crushing…  But, still--the weekend went on as planned….though we certainly missed the main attraction.  No great matter in the long run, though, I never lost my deep and sincere admiration for the man, nor my love for his sweet lyrics about one of my favorite soups ever.  All of my children heard the Sendak books and we kept the REALLY ROSIE book around until…well, actually I still have it.

Ina Fridays -- Salads, Soups, and Sides -- Winter Minestrone with Garlic Bruschetta

WE'VE MOVED! More Time at the Table is now published on wordpress.com!  This blog has been hosted on blogger for the past four-plus years and will be published at both urls for a month or so…or until all the kinks are worked out of the transition process.  Do change your bookmarks or links, please, and follow me here on Word Press:  http://www.moretimeatthetable.com/   Great thanks to my gorgeous daughter Emily who managed the migration.  So cool to have smart kids!

A fast, hearty, healthy, rich, and inexpensive main course is what this soup is all about. A little pancetta to set the stage for the quickly sautéed vegetables bolstered by a heart-happy hit of garlic.  A big blustery can of Italian tomatoes added to chicken stock to create instant broth.  Pasta and beans to fill your tummy.  A few fresh leaves of spinach and a splash each of white wine and pesto to top it all off and make it so.