Not-From-Texas Chili Pie – Nance and Robyn make the same recipe

Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Not-From-Texas Chili Pie. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.  The original recipe can be found over at Woman’s Day.

Robyn’s Take:

This week’s recipe was submitted by Paula (who also submitted the Kung Pao Chicken from last week!) Every year around this time Fred (who loves him some chili) starts mentioning that it’s time to have chili, and so Paula’s submission came at a good time.

Ingredients, all lined up and ready to go:

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Ground beef, onion, garlic, chili powder, flour, black pepper, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, Tabasco sauce, kidney beans, diced green chiles, corn chips, scallions, and sharp cheddar.

Of note: the recipe calls for cumin, but I don’t do cumin if I can possibly avoid it (it smells like dirty gym socks, YOU KNOW IT DOES), so I left the cumin out and used some extra chili powder in its place.

Firstly, brown your ground beef. Mine was still frozen in the middle because I didn’t take out of the freezer soon enough to completely thaw. Luckily, that doesn’t matter.

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When the ground beef is cooked through, drain off the fat, add onion and garlic, and cook for another five minutes, stirring every now and again. Add the chili powder, flour, cumin (if you’re using it), and pepper, and cook for about 1 minute.

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Add the (undrained) diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, and Tabasco and simmer 15 – 20 minutes, ’til it’s gotten nice and thick.

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I was standing stirring the chili, waiting for it to get thick, when I got a visitor.

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He sniffed everything on the counter, gave me a dirty look for making something that, once again, was off-limits to kitties. I bet MY kitchen is going to get an F minus on the kitty cooking blogs.

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Then he was like “Oooh, bread. I BELIEVE I’ll EAT SOME OF THIS!”, and tried to eat the bread (homemade, thank you very much – and yes, one of these days I’ll do a post for the bread, which is SO FREAKIN’ GOOD). I ejected Inspector Silvio from the kitchen for that. Keep your lips off my bread, cat!

I added the beans and chiles to the skillet, and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.

The recipe says to use a 2-quart broiler-proof baking dish for this next step. It seemed pretty clear to me that all that chili was NOT going to fit in my 2.5 liter dish, so I got out a big bowl. I can’t swear to it, but I’m 99% sure that’s a 4-quart bowl.  And thank god I did, because it fit perfectly (I think a 9×13 pan would work, too.)

Dump the chili mixture in a broiler-proof baking dish, top with corn chips, and then top those with scallions and then cheese.

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(That’s a pink Gooseberry Pyrex dish, which my mother passed on to me. I LOVE it. I have the whole set, and I use them all the time.)

Stick it under the broiler for 3 – 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

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Then let it cool off for a little while or you will burn your lips right off your face, and I don’t want to hear about it, ya big babies.

The verdict? Two thumbs up from Fred, two thumbs up from me. But we both like chili, and so I’m not surprised that we both liked this. A LOT. We both think it could have used one more can of beans, but that’s just a personal preference. We like us some beans.

Also, the fact that it involves corn chips means that I didn’t have to make a pan of cornbread to go with it, so additional points for that.

A++, will make again – thanks for the submission, Paula!

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Nance’s Take:
I like chili. But let’s face it…it’s pretty much just a beans and beef soup. Cow chowder? Steer Stew? It’s just not that big of a deal in my world. I like it, I make it, I eat it. I will never understand chili cook-offs and all that shit because in my world there is no such thing as bad chili. And there is no such thing as award-winning chili. It’s just a hearty meal for a cold day.

Which is why my soul died when I saw this recipe and it made me announce my feelings to the world…OH HELL NO. I refuse to stand there and measure out 10 million ingredients in order to make chili for this dish. I did make my own easy version that everyone in my family actually likes and will eat without complaint.

2 lbs. ground beef
3 Tablespoons A-1 Steak Sauce
3/4 cup chopped peppers
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
3 envelopes Great Value Mild Chili seasoning (WALMART Brand)

FritoCheeseChili

I browned my ground beef. You can add pepper if you want, but I don’t since all of my seasoning comes from those groovy little envelopes. Drain that shit because you don’t need all that grease in your chili. Yuck.

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Throw in the peppers and onions. See how small these are diced? That’s because there are a few of us that like the flavor of these things, but have no appreciation for the texture. And also, ew, vegetables. Using small pieces also means there’s yummy goodness in almost every single bite. Yummy goodness that a lot of people (children) won’t recognize. It’s a win no matter how you look at it, so take a minute to dice those bitches up small. Or, do what you want. It really doesn’t matter to me unless I’m coming to your house to eat.

FritoCheeseChili

Secret ingredient. Throw that in there and for some reason people think you know some shit when it comes to making chili. I have no idea when I started doing this or why, but I make sure that I do it every single time I make chili now.

FritoCheeseChili

I use three of these bad boys and I make sure that my brain doesn’t think about the sodium because it would surely explode.

FritoCheeseChili

Even though there is only one can in the picture make sure you use TWO cans of diced tomatoes. The vegetable haters in the family don’t mind diced tomatoes for some reason. Maybe because tomatoes are really a fruit. Only one can of kidney beans because two is just too much. Just open the cans and throw it all in, but make sure you drain those kidney beans first because bean sludge is gross.

FritoCheeseChili

Throw it all together and cook on medium heat (with the lid on) for about a 30 minutes. Stir it frequently to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan because who the hell wants that cleaning nightmare? Adjust your heat as needed. The real purpose of this is to cook those freaking kidney beans because nobody wants to gnaw on a squeaky un-cooked bean. I make this chili in the morning and turn the whole thing off once the beans are cooked. Then I basically re-heat the chili for dinner. It’s even better the next day.

FritoCheeseChili

I didn’t bother to use a casserole dish, but for the purpose of this recipe I put my chili in an oven-proof dish.

FritoCheeseChili

Action shot!

FritoCheeseChili

I eat my chili in a bowl with saltine crackers so this is kind of weird for me.

FritoCheeseChili

Per the recipe, I added cheese. This is getting even weirder.

FritoCheeseChili

You will never see scallions in any recipe that I make so we’re gonna just pretend the scallions happened. This is what it looked like after I broiled it. The entire family loved it (of course, FRITOS and CHEESE).

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I didn’t get any pictures of the animals the day I made this so here is a picture of my grandbaby. Her name is Khaleesi and I sorta kinda forced her on Alex and Cheyenne. Cheyenne has been wanting a kitten and Alex was the brick wall asshole that was stopping it from happening. When I saw her, I picked her up out of the cage and handed her to Cheyenne. Of course she was adorable and I offered to pay for shots and spaying. Alex never had a chance. But guess who loves the shit out of the cat and talks all about her? Alex Michael.

She comes here every Sunday for dinner.

Not-From-Texas Chili Pie - Nance and Robyn make the same recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
: Entree
Cuisine: NOT Texan
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 lb (85 percent lean) ground beef
  • 1 lg onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 T chili powder
  • 1 T all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp ground cumin (or leave out the cumin and use extra chili powder)
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 c. low-sodium beef broth
  • ½ tsp Tabasco sauce
  • 1 15½ oz can kidney beans, rinsed
  • 1 4 oz can diced green chiles, drained
  • 3 c. corn chips (ie Fritos)
  • 4 scallions, finely chopped
  • 4 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (Robyn used sharp Cheddar, pre-shredded)
Instructions
  1. Cook the ground beef in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a spatula or big spoon, until browned (around 5 minutes). Drain meat in a drainer, and then put back in the saucepan.
  2. Add onion and garlic to the meat and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder, flour, cumin (if using) and ¼ tsp black pepper and cook for about 1 minute.
  3. Add the tomatoes (undrained), tomato sauce, beef broth and Tabasco and simmer until the mixture has thickened, 15 - 20 minutes.
  4. Start broiler preheating.
  5. Add beans and chiles to the saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes.
  6. Transfer the meat mixture to a broiler-proof baking dish (the original recipe called for a 2-quart dish. I used a 4-quart bowl, and that's what I recommend, although a 9x13 baking dish would likely work well, too.)
  7. Top with corn chips and sprinkle with scallions and top with cheese. Broil until the cheese melts, 3 - 4 minutes.

 

Oven Baked Hot Dogs

The recipe that Robyn and I both made will be posted later this week. The following entry is one that I made specifically for when our tandem post wouldn’t be uploaded on time.  And yes, it’s all my fault, as usual. Shirley’s having some out-patient procedures done today and I forgot that she wouldn’t be able to eat anything on Sunday. So I’m waiting to make our recipe later in the week when she’s able to taste-test for me. Rick’s going out of town, too. Should I be nervous that all of the people that I force to eat this stuff are suddenly bailing? – nance

Baked Chili Hotdogs

This particular recipe kept showing up on my mother’s Facebook feed and I finally decided to try it just to shut her up about it. Hot dogs, placed inside their buns, and baked in a casserole dish with a bunch of shit on them. Oookay. The recipe is from a facebook page called Food And Everything Else.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

You start out by taking a hot dog bun and putting mayonnaise on it. Some people have a preference when it comes to their mayo. As you can see, I stand by Hellmann’s.  Y’all can use what you like, I’m not going to judge.  I just like how it makes my egg salad turn out.  Not that I make a lot of egg salad, but when I do make it I like it with Hellmann’s.  Isn’t this a good thing to know? How Nance likes to make her egg salad when she decides to make it every 8 months?  I know, right?  IMPORTANT information right there.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

I decided that I was going to do it exactly like the recipe says so I proceeded to put everything on that damn hot dog bun even if it was something that I felt didn’t belong there (mayonnaise, I’m looking at you).

Baked Chili Hotdogs

Please note that I couldn’t even make one of these without making a mess. Something died inside of me when I saw that glob on my casserole dish.  I used bun-size hot dogs because I quit buying those short ones that were 10 to a pack when I could only find 8-pack hot dog buns.  8 hot dogs, 8 hot dog buns.  It’s the right thing to do.  Spell check is insisting that the word is not hotdogs.  This is making me very nervous.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

With all the condiments all over the buns I had hot dogs flying up out of there when I tried to squeeze them all in the casserole dish. I used the backside of a spoon to push the hot dogs back down into the buns.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

We had been in Ohio and since we knew we were going to be making these over the weekend we just got our chili from the Hotdog Shoppe.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

It’s right about at this point when I started to realize that I was wasting a whole lot of time making motherfucking chili hot dogs in a casserole dish.Baked Chili Hotdogs

I’m so over it.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

As much as I like sharp cheddar cheese, I needed to slip some good ol’ American cheese pieces in there for creaminess.  I have no idea why.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven.  Eh.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

The best photo I could get of the whole damn thing after it was plated.  I just love being a pretentious asshole that uses the word “plated” in a blog.

Baked Chili Hotdogs

The truth.

I’m noticing more and more that people are passing around the most ridiculous recipes on Facebook and it seems like for every 5 recipes “shared” only 1 of them will turn out like expected.   You know what I did up there?  I wasted a LOT of time to make a chili hot dog with cheese.  Just the construction of the damn casserole was a time-suck.  And for what?  To eat your damn hot dog with a fork!

I’ll pass.  And you probably should, too.

Oven Baked Hot Dogs
 
Original Source/Author:
: Lunch/Dinner
Cuisine: It's hot dogs, for chrissakes!
Serves: 8, I suppose
Ingredients
  • 8 hot dogs
  • 8 hot dog buns
  • 1 can of chili
  • ½ an onion, diced
  • cheddar cheese
  • mayonnaise
  • mustard
  • sweet relish
Instructions
  1. Line inside of hot dog buns with mayonnaise and sweet relish. (I know this sounds crazy, but the mayo did something magical to the bread! It stayed super soft and yummy!)
  2. Evenly add mustard (I added ketchup too). Fill with hot dogs and squish into a 13×9″ baking pan.
  3. Top hot dogs with chili, cheese, and diced onion. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes.
  4. Carefully remove from the pan with a spatula. —

 

Hot Honeyed Spare Ribs

Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Hot Honeyed Spare Ribs by Sandra Lee of Food Network Fame.

Nance’s take:

It was my turn to pick the recipe for the week. Boo-yah!  No healthy eating and/or vegetables up in this hizzy!  And if you thought that my recipe choice was well thought out and done with thorough research you are just nothing but Chris Brown wrong.  I picked this type of recipe out because I had a package of ribs in my freezer and was completely over eating anything that involved chicken or ground beef.  I chose this particular recipe because I googled rib recipe images and it caught my eye.  I’m easy that way (insert whore joke here, I don’t mind).  I also have to admit that I don’t watch Food Network television so the only thing I really know about Sandra Lee is that she apparently likes the alky-haul.  Whatevs, I’m not judging.  I save my judging for bloggers that end up on video because whoa, seeing that fake shit makes me so uncomfortable.  Just type your words, fixate on your husband’s ass and stay off of video because YOU. CANNOT. ACT.

So yeah.  RIBS.  I finally looked  at the recipe after it was all settled between Robyn and I that it was going to be the recipe we would do together.  And that’s when  I realized that I didn’t have all of the ingredients that I needed.  I also didn’t know what one of the ingredients was.  Chili Garlic sauce.  The fuck?  I had to google it.  And I did find out that you can buy the stuff at Walmart, but Rick was going in a different direction (I was having him pick the stuff up while he was out).  I told him that any brand would do as long as it was Chili Garlic Sauce.

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I ended up with this. Apparently Rick is dyslexic. But I don’t think that it matters. We’re trying to eat a little healthier (says she who picked ribs) so I had him get the lighter dressing.

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This is my homemade broiler (cookie rack/cookie sheet). I had a beautiful one that I gave to the thrift store because I never used it. I hate broiling anything because I usually burn foods (I get bored and walk away) or it makes a mess of my oven. Blech, to the broiling. You’ll see why I changed my mind about broiling at the end of this entry.

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I’m also easing up on the sugar in this house. We use Splenda when we can and this is our favorite brand of “artificial” honey. It’s sold at Walmart and it’s cheap.

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I just threw all of the ingredients in a measuring cup (that’s a two cup one) because measuring honey is a pain in the ass so I started with it in the bottom. I knew that once I mixed it all up it would come out easily with a spatula and save me from a sticky mess.

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Once I dumped it all over my pre-broiled ribs (crock pot was sprayed with cooking spray, of course) I was pretty sure this recipe was going to be a total flop. When I walked past it I would try to baste it because I was worried that the meat would have no flavor.  I can honestly say that I was getting PISSED that I wasted good money on a shitty recipe. After I splashed myself with the sauce for the third time I said the hell with it and walked away.

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And that’s when things started to get good. I should have left it the hell alone from the very beginning and let it do its thing!

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Once cooked, my runny mess turned into a delicious sauce. And the ribs came off the bone like butter.

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Crappy picture by my husband. I was too busy shoving my piehole with this deliciousness to even bother taking a picture. I like some spice to my food. Not a lot because I don’t want to have my taste buds burned off, or have to suck down Tums or Prilosec after I eat. This had just enough heat to let me know it was there, but it was really about the flavor. Everyone in the house liked this (except my mother who does not eat ribs, weirdo).

It will definitely be in the mealtime rotation because it’s a great way to do ribs when you can’t do them on the grill. Just follow the directions, have a little faith and don’t mess with ’em!

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 Robyn’s take:

I will be honest with y’all, when I looked at the list of ingredients and saw Catalina dressing on there, I was like “Uh… really?” Because while I like Catalina dressing on a salad (it’s what I always get at a salad bar!), I wouldn’t have guessed it to be a terrific ingredient when it comes to ribs. But then, I rarely make ribs and when I do, I toss them in the crock pot with BBQ sauce and call it good enough, so what do I know?

First of all, the recipe calls for “baby back ribs, cut in 1/2.” This sent me into a slight tizzy because we had ribs in the freezer – ribs from our very own pigs – but what was the difference between those ribs and baby back ribs? I decided to look at baby back ribs at the grocery store, and if there was some huge, visible difference between those and what we had on hand, I’d go with the baby back ribs. Well, I couldn’t find anything labeled “baby back ribs” at the grocery store, so using our own ribs was what I ended up doing.

Gratuitous ingredients shot:

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(The low-sodium soy sauce is missing from this picture.)

Like Nance, I had no idea what Chili Garlic Sauce was. I got in my head that it was something I’d find in the marinade section. So I stood there for about ten minutes looking and looking for something that said Chili Garlic Sauce on it, and nothin’. I was getting frustrated and on the verge of texting Nance to be all “WTF?” when I remembered that I have a smart phone, so I Googled around and found that I’d do better off looking in the Asian section. I looked, and whattaya know, there it was. I think it’s funny that Nance and I both ended up with the exact same brand. Same brand of dressing, too! Here’s a handy tip when it comes to dressings (same holds true for cheeses) : reduced calorie is fine, but for god’s sake, don’t ever buy the fat free stuff. It tastes like plastic, and I am not even kidding you.

I actually had to broil my ribs in two batches, because I ended up with more than four pounds of ribs (and also, they weren’t cut in half like the recipe called for because I could only imagine that I’d have hacked my thumb off in the process).

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I do actually have a broiling pan, aren’t you jealous? I’ve used it maybe three times, ever.

Nance’s idea of using a big measuring cup to mix up the sauce is a good one – I didn’t think of that, so I mixed everything up in a smallish bowl while the first batch of ribs were broiling. Then as I put each section of ribs into the crock pot, I poured some sauce over each, front and back, so I wouldn’t need to do any stirring.

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I was afraid that the sauce wouldn’t thicken up, but right around 3 hours, it got nice and thick. I took my ribs out at the 3 1/2 hour mark to let them cool a bit, while I made our side dishes (rice and veggies).

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As you can see, I put some of the sauce over my rice.

The verdict? Really, really good. Both Fred and I liked it a LOT. We don’t eat ribs very often, and in the past we’ve only eaten them because we had them in the freezer. I don’t know that we’re going to eat ribs more often in the future, but when we have them (I believe we’ve got another couple of packs of ribs left over from the previous pig), this is going to be the go-to recipe.

I love that we’re going to probably get another two meals out of this. The best part of living in a house with two people? You don’t have to cook as often!

Two thumbs up to the ribs. Obviously Nance needs to pick our recipes more often!

PS: I think a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic would have been a nice addition, too.

 

Hot Honeyed Spare Ribs
 
Original Source/Author:
: Main
Ingredients
  • 4 pounds baby back ribs, cut in ½
  • 1 tablespoon garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ cup honey
  • ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • ¼ cup chili garlic sauce
  • 1 cup Catalina dressing
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
  1. Preheat broiler. Line bottom portion of broiler pan with foil for easy clean up. Spray top rack lightly with cooking spray.
  2. Season ribs with garlic salt and pepper. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes, turn and broil for an additional 5 to 6 minutes. Place browned ribs in slow cooker.
  3. In a mixing bowl, stir together remaining ingredients. Pour sauce mixture over ribs. Move ribs around to make sure they are all coated. Cover and cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours or Low for 8 hours.
  4. With tongs, remove ribs from slow cooker and let cool slightly before cutting into individual rib pieces. Skim grease from sauce. Serve ribs with sauce on the side.