the cooking & recipes thread

[sketch]

Inspired by conversation from the shoutbox this morning, I felt the need to get this thread up and going so we can all share our favorite recipes for various dishes and meals.

[sketch]

Over the past weekend I made a baked taco pasta casserole
ingredients:
12oz pasta (I eyeballed 3/4th of a 16oz box)
~1lb of ground beef
16oz jar of salsa
16oz jar of queso
canned veggies of choice
1lb shredded cheese, taco style

~1lb ground beef (use whatever percent lean you prefer - I used 85% lean as it was on sale, 1.2 pounds)
brown and break up the way one normally would for tacos, after browning add 1 cup water and mix in 2/3 cup taco seasoning and bring it to a boil in the pan. Once it boils, let it simmer for a couple minutes until the water/seasoning mix has thickened a bit and then take it off of heat and let it cool a bit. You can choose to drain the fat or not before mixing in the water/seasoning....I did not.

~12oz cooked pasta (I used rotini as I thought it would grab the ground beef well in the dish)

mix it all together in a casserole dish (I used a disposable one - probably 10" x 16") and then mix in your 16oz jars of salsa, queso dip and your canned vegetables of choice (drained)
for the queso I used the Chipotle Mrs. Renfro's, on the right:


and Arriba! medium fire roasted mexican chipotle for the salsa:


Pretty much any variety of flavors can be used for the salsa and queso, purchase to your desired taste.
I didn't plan ahead and only had a can of corn at home - I would have mixed in some diced tomatoes and some other stuff had I put more thought into it.

After mixing it all together in the casserole dish, I liberally spread out the shredded cheese on top covering the hole thing and then tossed it into the oven on bake at 350 (convection oven) for 15 minutes.

to make the dish even more heart stopping, I was considering mixing in some sour cream next time....and some crushed Doritios (nacho flavor) on top, under the shredded cheese.

[FeaRpb]

Bacon

with some bacon

add some bacon

wrapped in bacon

bacon

/thread

[sketch]

you. i like the cut of your jib.

[OhioSpyderman]

OhioSpyderman's Chili

2 lbs. Ground Chuck
1 lb. Ground Sausage (I usually use Bob Evans mild sausage)
1/3 container of Kroger Minced Onion (about a 1/3 cup)
2 cans of Brooks Chili Beans (mild)
2 cans of Kroger Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 jar of Frog's Ranch Medium Salsa
To Taste - Kroger Chili Powder
Franks Red Hot Sauce


Brown the hamburger and sausage and onions in a LARGE (PAM sprayed) pot.
Add the beans, tomatoes, salsa, chili powder and Hot sauce and simmer/stir for at least two hours.

Grab yourself some Town House crackers and Bars Cheese and your favorite beverage and have as many bowls as you like

Kinda wimpy, I know, but I'm not big into hot....

Bob.

[j2k4]

I'd have figured a strong personality like you would go for the heat, Bob.

You're just trying to be magnanimous and inclusive...aren't you?

[j2k4]

Some action pics from today, very briefly described:

Crockful, post stir:



A bit of onion:



Final stir before coverage:



It's gonna be good and thick.

I can't be fussed to list all the goodies you can't see - it'll be done for a late dinner.

I'll THINK about posting a recipe.

Maybe.

[sketch]

oh man. that looks delicious. i assume it's face meltingly hot?

[j2k4]

oh man. that looks delicious. i assume it's face meltingly hot?

I'm gonna guess about 7 on my personal scale; 10 being a comfortable max for me.

This will be mild enough for me to eat at work without any sort of offensive gastric distress.

Beyond that, I'll willingly try an 11 or a twelve, before deciding if I can make a meal out of it without suffering later.

Gotta leave room for someone to surprise me, cuz I'm not the only guy who can make chili, and I don't want anyone to get that idea.

This batch should be good for medium scalp-sweat, Jeff - you might want to eat with a towel draped over your shoulder.

[green-lantern]

Damn, I just made my Chilli today, I should have took pics!

I'll add some of my stuff soon. I've been hounded by people wanting my recipes after GNC. I'll share my Gumbo and Hot wing.