Chile Colorado

This stuff is my father in laws FAVORITE thing I make. Every time he hears that I'm making it, he's right over. =) I always make it on a really cold or rainy day.. Goes GREAT with some red rice, beans and tortillas. I like to top it off with some onion, green onion, cheese and sour cream! You can cut back on the beef broth, to make it more thicker, but you can do it either way =) 

Ingredients

• 9 New Mexico dry chiles - washed, with stems and seeds removed
• 3 cups water
• 5 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat (you can also you stew meat.)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 garlic cloves 
• garlic salt to taste ( for the red sauce) 
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cups beef stock or water
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• Directions
• Place chiles, garlic and 3 cups water into a medium stockpot, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and steep for 30 minutes to soften. Strain into a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid. Place the chiles, garlic, garlic salt and some of the liquid into a blender, and puree until smooth. Add more liquid as necessary to form a smooth sauce. Pass sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove any seeds and the tough skins; set aside.
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• Cut the roast into 1 to 2 inch chunks. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge the beef chunks in the seasoned flour; shake off any extra flour on the beef, set aside. But you can also use stew meat to pass time =) 
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• Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onion until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add beef chunks a few at a time, so as not to overcrowd the pot, and cook until evenly brown. Remove cooked meat, and continue browning remaining meat. Return reserved cooked meat to the pot. Stir in pureed chile mixture. Add beef stock to just cover beef chunks, or to personal preference. ( we love extra sauce so i add more)  Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to lowest setting, and simmer for 3 hours, or until meat is tender. If necessary, adjust with more stock during cooking as it does reduce in cooking =)

Enjoy!!!

Xo-Kelly

My Husband's FAVORITE Green Chili Stew!!

My husband is your typical "meat and potatoes" kind of guy.. If you make something that has HUGE chunks of veggies in it, you'll see him sit there and pick out every chunky piece before he even touches his food or not even touch it at all!!
Beef stew is one of my favorites growing up. I always said my grandpa makes the best stew ever, i still believe til' this very day that it's the best!! I was talking with my mom one day last year and asked her what i could do to a beef stew that Peter (my husband) won't sit there and pick out everything but the meat and potatoes.. She told me she use to make this green chile stew all the time along time ago. it had meat, potatoes, the onions disappear while cooking, it had corn, the tomatoes were chopped small enough, and it had chile. ALL THE THINGS HE LIKES!! is what came to my mind.. So I scribbled down the recipe as she was telling me the recipe.. and gave it a shot!! I had his family over when I made it that night. Everyone loved it, including Peter.. He was mad when he went for his 3rd!! serving, it was gone. so i have to double the recipe now.
This is my doubled version..

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 pounds cubed beef stew meat
• 2 onion, chopped
• 2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chile peppers ( sometimes when i don't have a can of rotel on hand, I'll chop up some tomatoes with either a Serrano or jalapeno) 
• 4-5 small cans of beef broth ( i buy a few extra) 
• 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers ( I use New Mexico Green chile) 
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin (optional) 
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 Can of corn 
•  -    In a large pot over medium heat, heat the oil and brown the stew meat and the onions until onions are translucent; about 5 minutes
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• -    Pour in the diced tomatoes with chiles, beef broth and chile peppers. Stir in the garlic salt and cumin. Salt and pepper to taste.
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• -   Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add a little more beef broth or water if needed during simmering
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• -  Stir in corn and cubed potatoes to the mixture and simmer for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

I like to serve this with some red rice and fresh tortillas and a squeeze a lime for me!! ;)

Enjoy!!

Xo-Kelly

The Best Chicken Tortilla Soup In The TOWN!

The name says it ALL! I remember when I first started getting interested in cooking, My friend from high school gave me this recipe and told me to just throw it in the crockpot and LEAVE IT ALONE! I thought, ok, thats easy! So a few days later, I went to the grocery store with my then boyfriend ( and now husband ) and gathered all the ingredients. I did what my friend told me to do, chop everything up and throw it in! Easy enough. Ever since then, I fell in LOVE with this soup and I now make it all the time, And I still do. Sometimes when I don't feel like using a rotisserie chicken, I like to buy some chicken breast  and cook it with the olive oil, garlic and onions seasoned with some lemon pepper and garlic salt =) You can also add anything you want to you this soup.. sometimes ill toss in some black beans and some corn. or whatever you have on hand..  If you DO decide to try out this amazing recipe please don't skip the garnishes! they're for sure the icing on the cake!!

Ingredients:

1 (46 ounce) can chicken broth

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes 
• 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded (I use rotisserie from the deli)
• 2 anaheim chiles , diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 -4 large tomatoes, diced
• 2 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chili powder ( but i always use about 1/8 - 1/4 of a teaspoon of cayenne powder)
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
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Garnish

• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, pulled from stem
• a couple of lime, cut into wedges
• 2 cups of crushed tortilla chips 

- Throw everything except the garnishes in your crock pot and let it cook on high for 5-6 hours.

- Dress with garnishes and give it a squeeze of lime (a must:-) and you're good to go!

OR! 

If you are not using a crock pot, saute the garlic and onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil before adding the remaining ingredients.Let it simmer for at least an hour so that all the flavors mix together!!  I like to serve it with some red rice on the side OR in the soup :)

ENJOY!! 

xo-Kelly