Green Chile Enchilada Casserole

I hear that Hatch Green Chile will soon be in season.  They really are yummy, especially if you are in New Mexico and can get them fresh.  My family likes Hatch Green Chile in an enchilada casserole that my family has been making (and adapting) for at least 50 years.

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Ingredients:

1-2 lb. ground beef or chicken

1 onion, chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream on mushroom soup

1-2 cans Hatch Green Chile (depending on how spicy your family likes their food)

1 can tomatoes (whole, crushed, or blended)

12-16 corn tortillas or flavored or unflavored tortilla chips (like Doritos)

1-2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese (or more) (longhorn cheese or shredded "Mexican" cheese works well)

Instructions:

Cook the ground beef or chicken with the onion until browned (when cooked, shred the chicken).  Add the soups, the green chile, and the tomatoes and stir over medium heat until the mixture is warmed through.  If using the tortillas, heat some cooking oil and lightly fry each of the tortillas (they should still be pliable) and then allow them to drain on a paper towel.  Layer in a casserole dish with either the corn tortillas or the tortilla chips. If you want it extra cheesy, add some cheese after each meat layer.  Top with the cheese and put it in the oven until the cheese has melted.  Fast, easy. delicious, and even good as leftovers.  Enjoy!

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Twisted Hummus

My daughter and I like hummus a lot and so we wanted to make our own.  There came in a tiny problem of living in a small town where the grocery doesn't have odd things like tahini (sesame seed paste).  But we wanted hummus, so here's what we tried:

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Ingredients:
2 Cans (16 oz) garbanzo beans (1 drained, 1 not)
4 T. Peanut butter (just unsweetened plain peanut butter, unless you can find tahini, then use it)
1/2 C. Lemon juice
4 tsp. Chopped garlic (about 4 cloves)
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 T. Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Cayenne pepper (or less depending on your tastes)

Directions:

Put all ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.  Serve with yummy things to dip into it, like celery, snow peas, grape tomatoes, pita bread, broccoli, etc.

We enjoyed this mixture, but still think there are some improvements to be made.  Maybe cilantro.  Let me know what you think in the comments :)

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*UPDATE*  Today my daughter and I tried this with the addition of cilantro.  It was quite good.  Just what it needed.  Measurement...we pulled a handful of leaves off of their stems and threw them in the blender with the rest.

Bacon Gravy with Biscuits

Now, if you are looking for something healthy, this is not it.  If you are looking for old fashioned, stick to your ribs, delicious, naughty food, this is a good choice.  We have made this with sausage, it's just not as good as the bacon is.

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Ingredients:
1 lb. (16 oz.) bacon (or bacon end pieces)
Flour (we use all purpose flour)
4 C. milk (we use skim milk)
1 T. garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. (or more) pepper
2 tsp. Red Devil or other cayenne pepper sauce
Sour cream (optional)
Shredded cheese (optional)
Prepared biscuits (about 6 per person)

Directions:
Prepare the biscuits so that they are ready when the gravy is finished.  Lightly warm the 4 C. of milk in a sauce pan or in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Open the package of bacon, cut or slice into bite sized pieces (about 1 inch).  Cook in a large skillet on medium-high heat.  Use a wooden spoon to separate and turn the bacon pieces.  Cook them until they are mostly brown.  Remove the bacon from the skillet.  Pour the bacon grease into a (glass) measuring cup.  Check how much grease there is so that you can measure the same amount of flour.

Pour the bacon grease back into the skillet.  Turn the fire on low-medium.  Add 1 T. minced garlic and stir.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Add in the flour (the amount of flour should be the same as the amount of bacon grease that you measured earlier).  Stir the flour mixture until the flour is lightly browned.

Add the milk to the skillet.  Use a whisk to incorporate the flour mixture into the milk.  Continue to stir and whisk the mixture until it thickens (it should become about the consistency of thick cake batter, about 10-20 minutes).  (Don't leave it for more than a minute or two or it will burn.)

Once thickened, return the bacon pieces to the gravy.  Add in the salt, pepper, and Red Devil sauce.  Stir and taste.  Adjust the spices to your taste.  We usually need to add more pepper.

If it doesn't seem to taste just right, it can be salvage by adding some sour cream and/or shredded cheese to it to add more flavor and creamy texture.

We serve this by breaking up the biscuits into a bowl (about 6 per person) and cover them with about 3 very large spoonfuls of gravy.  This makes a very hearty breakfast.  We have also been known to serve our gravy bowl with a nice fried egg or two and cheese.

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