Recipes

I didn't take home the extra chili on Sunday...I could have. But seeing as I still had a ton of turkey and DH & Darly won't eat chili it seemed like the church was a better place for it.

But for those of you who offered to eat the chili for me...here's the recipe

Church Supper Chili

Servings 20-24 Time: Prep: 15 min Cook: 50 min

Ingredients:
2 -1/2 pounds ground beef (yes you can use a substitution here!)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin (optional)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (46 ounces) tomatoe juice
1 bottle (32 ounces) V8 juice
2 cans (16 ounces each) kidney beans, rinced & drained

Directions:

In a large dutch oven or soup kettle, cook meat over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add the green pepper, celery, onion and garlic; cook until tender. Add the spices, tomatoes and juices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Add beans and simmer 20 min longer. Yield: 20-24 servings

Renee's Family recipe for Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:
1 pound of macaroni noodles cooked and drained (make sure to salt the water when cooking!)
1 pound of cheddar cheese (we like sharp or extra sharp! but go with what your family will eat) cut up...the smaller it is the faster it melts.
4 tablespoons of butter or margarine
4 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup onions diced (you can also sub 1 tablespoon of onion powder)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
2 cups milk (I'm not really sure how much milk I use cuz I pour it directly from the bottle until it looks right...sorry!)

You can make this all in one pot...here's how.
Cook the macaroni according to the directions on the package and drain into a colander. Leave the noodles in the colander while you make the sauce.

You will first be making a white sauce
melt the butter in the pot that you just drained the noodles out of. If you're using chopped onions cook them in the butter until soft, if you're using onion powder it will be added with the flour. once the onions are soft, mix in the flour, salt & pepper and stir with a whisk until all the liquid has been absorbed. your flour mixture will look a bit like playdough. pour in about 1/2 cup of milk and stir like crazy to combine it with the flour mixture until it has smoothed out and then turned back into the playdough. Now pour another 1/2 cup of milk and repeat. Keep repeating this process until the mixture thickens but doesn't turn back into playdough.

Now add the cheese slowly giving each handful a chance to melt into the sauce. Stir this constantly. Check the seasonings now. I like to grab a noodle and dip it into the sauce so I can get an idea of how it all tastes. Adjust according to taste if necessary. Once your sauce is all ready add the noodles back into the pot and mix to coat the noodles...yes, it is suppose to look like there's too much sauce.

You can serve it right now...or you can transfer it into a baking dish and bake for 20 min. The baking will make for a less creamy mac & cheese, but if it gets too dry, you can add more milk.

Note: this cheese sauce is really good on potatoes and other items too! I use a variation of it on my creamed spinach w/cheese.
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Here's my turkey recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html I've left the bird in the brine for longer than he suggests and it comes out just fine...once the bird & the brine reach an equalibrium (same amount of salt in each) it quits absorbing the brine.

This is almost my stuffing recipe: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/SpecialtySiteRecipeDetail.aspx?specialty=swansonbroth&recipeID=23838
The differences I use are I chop the veggies much finer and I add the turkey giblets chopped very fine too (they resemble baby food when I'm done with them! and the dog usually gets at least half the liver.)

I'm pretty sure that I've posted the pumpkin dessert recipe before.