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Beef and Sausage Stew

As you may (or may not) know, DH and I have entered the local Chili Cook-Off contest for the last couple of years. Unfortunately that event was held the same day as Jay's Daytona Party. And since free food (and beer) always win, we did not get to enter into the contest. Which is too bad because I had a kick-ass, sure as shootin' winner this year.

So, since we didn't get to enter, and since Alanna has called for an entry in her Soup's On! event, I decided to make the "chili" that I entered with last year to share with the world. (Lucky world!) It's not really chili in the strictest sense of the word. Come to think of it - not even in the loosest sense of the world. But since the contest rules didn't allow beans, I wanted to find a recipe that would not just be hamburger, tomatoes and hot peppers - or a variation of these.

One thing I discovered in my search for a recipe is that there are two different views of what "chili" is. It's either a soup or it's something you put over hot dogs. Since I'm of the soup persuasion, I needed to find something that was liquid, unusual and would knock your socks off. Oh - and win*.

Somewhere I found this recipe and it certainly was "different" to say the least. Before I committed myself to making this for the Chili Cook-Off, I looked up the definition of chili. All the dictionary had to say was that it was a type of pepper. Since this soup had pepper in it as well as hot sauce, I figured that was close enough and made up a batch to see how good it was before we entered it. I must say that it blew us away with it's taste!

Beef and Sausage Stew

1 lb. Chorizo (all Chorizos taste different - find the one you like)
1 lb. Beef Stew meat
1 14.5 oz can of beef broth
2 Tblsp. tomato paste
1 10 oz. pkg. white mushrooms quartered
2 celery stalks thinly sliced
4 cubes beef boullion
4 cups water
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1 head cauliflower, halved, cored and cut into bit-sized pieces (about 4 cups) (yes - you read that right)
1 Tblsp. minced garlic
1 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce (about 4 shakes)

1. In a skillet over medium heat, brown sausage and stew meat until thoroughly cooked; drain off fat. (I use the fat from the Chorizo to brown the stew meat in. Why waste that flavor?)
2. In a slow cooker, whisk together the beef broth and tomato paste. Add all remaining ingredients as well as the cooked meat and stir together.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours. Stir well before serving.

NOTE: Use as much boullion or beef broth as you need to make it the consistancy you like. I don't alter the flavorings even if I do use more. That Chorizo is spicy stuff!

*It didn't. It was a little too unusual for the judges. I for sure would have won this year though!

Why?

And why won't Blogger let me put spaces between my paragraphs in the previous post?

Bear In Mind

Speaking of the Sesqui cookbook, each section is divided by a tabbed insert. On the one side is an old picture from someone or something in West Bend's history. On the other side are Household Hints, Bread Making Tips, Cookie Hints or some such thing as that. The following really caught my eye:

Bear In Mind

"That West Bend has a good creamery; two lumber yards carrying a complete line of lumber and all kinds of building materials; a wholesale butter, egg and poultry company; two elevators; live stock buyers and feeders who always pay the highest market prices; four general stores who carry large stocks of dry goods, clothing, ladies' ready-to-wear and groceries; two blacksmith shops where good work and prompt service are always to be had; one wagon shop; four auto dealers who handle the standard makes of cars; one bakery; one jewelry store; one harness shop; one exclusive clothing store; one exclusive grocery; one meat market; two restaurants; one hotel; two hardware stores where all kinds of shelf and heavy hardware are handled; two implement dealers; two shoe repair shops; two banks whose combined deposits are $998,202.59; one music dealer; one drug store; one newspaper; one plumbing and electrical supply company; several land firms; opera house; one barber shop; two pool halls, and one exclusive shoe store. Your wants can be supplied in a satisfactory manner by the above firms who solicit a share of your valued business.

West Bend has five churches, namely: Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Apostle Christian and Catholic. We also have a large consolidated school, also a parochial school. We have two lodge halls and seven secret lodges: Masonic, Odd Fellows, Woodman, Yeoman, Eastern Stars, Rebeccas and Royal Neighbors, and a well-established American Legion Post.

Our professional list consists of a doctor, dentist, two veterinaries and an attorney."

(From the West Bend Booster - September 20, 1920)

Wow. Just, wow. When we moved here in 1989 we were impressed by the number and diversity of businesses that were here. West Bend is a small town with a population of only 900 people, yet it had a Ford dealership, a lumber yard, a grocery store, a meat market, a clothing store, a shoe store, a furniture store, two implement dealers, an office supply/liquor store, three restaurants, two bars, a florist, a drug store, two vets, two banks, a golf course, two schools (public and parochial), three or four beauty shops, one barber, one blacksmith shop, a motel, four churches, two doctors (with a full medical clinic), a realtor, a funeral parlor, a nursing home, one elevator and a part-time attorney. (DH was recruited to make that one FULL time attorney.) Even Onawa, which is the county seat for Monona County, was hard pressed to top that.

Slowly, over the course of the years, the face of the town has changed. The clothing and shoe store closed. The furniture store decided to quit selling furniture and concentrate on it's flooring business. The druggist died and the store was sold to a pharmacy in Emmetsburg. You can still get your prescriptions filled - it just takes a day to get them (delivered to your door). There is only one doctor in the clinic now (but one really good PA). Restaurants have come and gone, and come again.

And we just learned that the Catholic church will close the school after this year. They only have 23 students in it (only one kindergartner) and don't want to spend the money to keep it running. As with every small town, schools are the center pin holding the whole thing together. Our public school has consolidated and is now sharing classes and sports with surrounding small schools, but we know its a matter of time before we will have to close our doors and bus the kids to Emmetsburg or Algona. I've seen too many towns simply dry up when their schools close, so any school closing is a cause for concern.

On the "plus" side, the West Bend Elevator is still the biggest employer around having bought several elevators in surrounding towns. The town decided it needed a newer and better motel, so it raised the money and built one. The lumber yard is thriving and has ventured into building spec houses, all of which have sold. Butter Braid built a new, modern manufacturing building and is another big employer. They also bought the old Roupe Furniture building and totally renovated it to make it into three new, beautiful shops (a home decor/furniture store, a clothing store and a coffee shop). The nursing home has added assisted living apartments (that are full). Skoglund Meats built a brand-new processing facility. And this past year the city put in new sewer/drainage to expand the Industrial Park.

On the whole we've never regretted our decision to move to West Bend. I guess there's something to be said for that.

Edith's Maidrites

While perusing the West Bend Sesquicentennial Cookbook in order to find inspiration for Alanna's one-off event Soup's On, I came across the following recipe. As you know (if you followed the link) West Bend's Sesquicentennial was this past year and I worked on the cookbook committee. After categorizing, alphabetizing and proofing all these recipes, I didn't want to even look at the book again. But I found the following recipe under Soups, Sandwiches, Salads and Dressings and was so taken by what the submitter wrote, that I knew I just had to try it.

Karen Nellis Smith wrote: "This recipe originally came from Edith Crofts. Born in 1899 (I don't remember her maiden name, but her father was the train depot agent in West Bend), she married Dewey Crofts and as a young bride lived at the south end of the main street. My grandmother (Bertha Reinhart Johnston) lived across the street and she was a great family friend from the time my mother was born in 1915, through my mother's marred life (Yvonne Johnston Nellis) and until the time she passed away at the age of 103! We grew up with these 'maidrites'. I've served them to my family, and now my oldest daughter is serving them to my grandchildren."

Now THAT is history! Making these simple sandwiches, I felt a real connection to all of the women who have made these over the years to feed their hungry families. I hope you will give them a try, too.

Edith's Maidrites

2 lb. ground beef
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp. prepared mustard
1/2 c. ketchup
1 T. brown sugar

Cook beef until all red is gone in skillet. Add other ingredients; simmer.

Peek-a-Boo!

I see you! Growing among the other herbs. When I brought my herbs in this fall I also potted up a clump of chives to use this winter. But, alas! They didn't survive. Or so I thought! I almost chocked on my coffee this morning as I was staring out the window when I saw this ->

I knew chives were hard to kill, but this really surprised me. I guess it just wanted to "rest" for four or five months before presenting me with this baby. Isn't it cute?

In another couple of months the parent plant will be sending up new shoots. But this baby is going to stay right on my window sill. The parsley, basil, sage and rosemary will be planted back in the garden to grow and prosper. But I think I'll keep this plant in its pot. By next winter it will have filled the pot and I'll have fresh chives all winter long.

On another note.... today it got up to 38 degrees F.!!! It's hard to believe that one week ago it was -9 degrees with a wind chill of -28! Ah, Iowa - gotta love it! I guess the groundhog got it right this year. Spring is in the air!

Daytona 500 - Party 3

Here are pics from this year's Daytona 500. The food was great!!

I can't believe this is the only picture I got of Jay (whose party is was!)

Bettina and Natalie

DH going for some more marinated shrimp

Phil relaxing

Max in his favorite chair!

Joel straight from the Chili Cookoff.

Phil looking over

That's it for this year. It was fun again... watch for next year.

Finished!

Finally! My bathroom from hell is finally finished! What started out as a fix for a leaky faucet and a facelift for my tub before Thanksgiving is now over. Not to mention, what should have been an $800.00 repair quickly turned into a $2,000+ remodel. Although I love the textured wall covering, if you even look at it crooked the surface scratches leaving the white paper it's made from showing through your paint. And with this deep purple paint, that really sucks. I now have to go around and touch up the paint where it was skinned while putting up the shelf and mirror. (Note to self: If you ever use this stuff again, put it someplace where no one or nothing can even touch it!)

Anyway - here are a couple of pictures of my "brand new" bathroom. I should hold an open house for this sucker....

BPW2

It's here! My postcard finally arrived! All the way from India, too. I was really beginning to worry since I haven't had the best of luck with the postal service lately. (Right Ivonne?) But it came yesterday and I was so excited to see what Ekta sent me.





It is this wonderful hand-made card. I was, however, heartbroken when it arrived damaged. As you can see, the beautiful painting on the front of the card is all but completely worn off. The hand-made paper is a delight - even the envelope is made this way. And Ekta wrote me such a lovely Valentine's note as well. I was so thrilled.

Thank you, Ekta, for your wonderful card and thoughtful note. And thank YOU Meeta, for hosting another exciting Blogger Postcards Around The World event!

White and Nerdy

I'm totally in love with this crazy video from Wierd Al Yankovic. Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Soup

Ever on the look-out for a recipe worthy of entering the annual Chili Cook Off Contest, I decided to try this recipe this weekend. At first taste I thought beef would have been better; but after finishing two bowls of this, I've decided that chicken is the perfect meat to use. It makes a LOT - my 6 1/2 quart stock pot was full to the brim. But it freezes well so don't be afraid to make the whole thing.

I did "spice it up" a bit with my choice of ingredients. So, grab your hankies and dig into:

Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup
(Posted on AllRecipes.com)

2 quarts water
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used 4)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon onion powder (didn't have any - left it out)
5 cubes chicken boullion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (16 oz.) jar chunky salsa (my pot was so full, I only had room for about 4 tablespoons)
2 (14.5 oz.) cans peeled and diced tomatoes (I used one can of Rotel and one can of plain)
1 (14.5 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes (oops! forgot to add this! oh well...)
1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed tomato soup
3 tablespoons chili powder (I used McCormick's Hot Mexican Style Chili Powder)
1 (15 oz.) can whole kernel corn, drained
2 (16 oz.) cans chili beans, undrained (I used ONE can of Mrs. Grimes Spicy Chili Beans and ONE can of Black Beans - drained)
1 (8 oz.) container sour cream (I left this out too. You can always add a dollop of sour cream over your soup in the bowl.)

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and boullion cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserve broth. Shred chicken. (I skipped this whole thing and just chopped up my chicken and threw everything in one pot. You could even do it in the crock pot and let it cook all day.)

2. In a large pot (ain't THAT the truth!) over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. (I didn't do this either - see above.) Stir in salsa, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, tomato soup, chili powder, corn, chili beans, sour cream, shredded chicken and 5 cups broth (...oh...maybe that's why my pot was so full! I really should read my recipes more carefully.). Simmer 30 minutes.

This is seriously good soup and I hope you all try it. Make it with my ingredients and it'll knock your socks off!

Wind Chills

My computer tells me it's zero degrees outside with a wind chill of 13 below. Brrrr! It must be January in Iowa. I was reminded of the last winter I hauled mail. We had ice and snow with dangerous wind chills. I had gotten stuck in a snow drift and had to walk back to a farm house and ask to be pulled out by the farmer. Luckily he was kind enough to brave the 65 below wind chill to start up his tractor and get me out of the ditch. That's when I realized that $10 an hour wasn't worth risking my life over.

I had wanted to be a rural mail carrier pretty much all my life. I remember watching Don Reese load his VW Bug from floor to ceiling with packages and bundles of mail when I was a little girl and thinking he must have the best job in the world. I especially liked watching in the spring when he delivered the baby chicks. He carefully placed the peeping box of fluff on top of the mail, wedging it into place with boxes and bags until he could get his precious cargo to its destination.

The desire to deliver mail never left me. I took my Rural Carrier exam in Sioux City along with about a hundred other hopefuls in 1986, and in 1988 was hired as a sub for a route in Onawa. I was so happy because part of my route covered my beloved hills. I even delivered Don's mail, which made me so proud. I believe he was proud of me as well. Even when I demolished his mail box by pulling out with the lid still down! He graciously forgave me and told me of his "mishaps" on the job as well. (I will say that his was the only mail box I toppled in all the years I hauled mail.)

In 1989, when we moved to West Bend, I was able to transfer my route to the Rolfe post office. I also liked that I worked every weekend as the sub. (The different length and size of the routes dictate how often a sub can work.) I drove 128 miles, in three different counties and was rarely out of sight of the West Bend Elevator.

Most of the time, it was a pleasant drive in the country. Except in winter. Especially in that winter of 1993. That's when I almost died trying to find someone to help pull me out of the ditch. That was before cell phones of course. Now, I wish I still had the route. It was the perfect job for me. I went to work and cased my mail, loaded my car and took off. Other than the visit with the postmaster in the morning, I didn't have to talk to another soul for the rest of the day if I didn't wish to. I could listen to what I wanted on the radio, smoke a cigarette when I wanted, pet the dogs who greeted me at the mail box, and just generally have my "alone time" with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company. Pure heaven!

But - on days like today - I sure am glad I'm not out freezing my butt off lugging mail to boxes that have been plowed in by the snow plow and praying that the wind won't blow me into the ditch. Give and take, eh?

Wishing anyone reading this warm thoughts.

Blogger Postcards Around the World 2

Meeta from What's For Lunch Honey? has organized a second Blogger Postcards Around The World event for our enjoyment. Her theme for this one is Valentines Day and the race is on! This time there are 60 entries from all over the world. So go check out who all is participating. Maybe you'll discover an interesting new blog to add to your ever-growing list of really talented people yacking it up over this wonderful thing we call "The Internet".

Here's my postcard which will be dutifully dropped in the mail tomorrow morning. Some "lucky" person across the world (or across the state) is going to get these cute cows for their Valentines Day card from yours truly.

Thanks again Meeta for thinking up this really wonderful event. This makes our world just a tad bit smaller and a lot more friendly. Plus, it's fun!

New Walls

Now that I have a nice shiny new floor, it's time to put the wall covering up. So last Thursday Robin and Beth from the Perfect Touch came in and worked their magic.

Why is it old houses all have those slanty ceilings upstairs? There is no way I could have done this! When they finished I had beautiful "new" walls. All I had left to do is paint. Piece of cake, right?

Friday afternoon I painted the woodwork figuring I'd have all day on Saturday to paint the ceiling and the walls. I love our painted Italiante woodwork - I just hate painting it. I need a ladder to reach the top and I'm on my knees for the bottom. It's hard on my old body and I was aching and tired when I finished. I was actually looking forward to painting the walls.

Saturday morning bright and early I was up spackling and taping off in preparation for painting the ceiling. I decided to re-prime the ceiling as I was painting it an off-white over that deep pink and knew that I was going to have to put two coats on to cover it. After fillng my rolling pan full of oil based primer I put it on the ladder and moved the ladder into position - rather I started to move the ladder - when the entire pan full of paint fell upside down on my new floor! I stared in horror at the mess. Sure, I had layers of papers on the floor, but when I tried to roll up the papers to get the ones full of paint off the floor, a huge puddle of paint spilled out ON to my floor! Now I was truly in a panic. I don't normally use oil-based paints and I had nothing to clean it up with. I mopped up most of it with rags and ran to the lumber yard for something to use to clean up my mess. Charlene sent me home with mineral spirits and that seemed to do the trick. However I won't truly know if I've done any damage until I remove all of the papers when I'm done and see what is underneath. I was devastated - we just had that laid on Wednesday and it wasn't even paid for, now I've done this!

After (shakily) finishing the ceiling it was time to start on the walls. I taped off the ceiling and woodwork and (carefully) put my rolling pan on my ladder and started on the walls only to discover that the roller I had wasn't the right one to use on my deeply textured wall covering.

What should have taken me one day and one gallon of paint is now taking me a day and a half and two gallons of paint. Why does this not surprise me. I spent all day yesterday, with a brush, painting the walls. (I kept thinking of Karate Kid - "Show me 'paint the fence' ") Today I'm going to the lumberyard and getting the correct roller and another gallon of paint to give the walls the second coat of paint. That color is a deep plum - I call it eggplant - and it is going to be beautiful. It's darker than the little paint sample card but I'm really liking it (thank God!).

Tuesday Tom will be replacing the tub and stool into the room and I'll be finished. I hope. My "little" project will finally be finished.

New Floor

Out with the old....

and in with the new!

View From My Window

Saturday it was gorgeous! Everything was covered with frost making it look like a winter wonderland.


Sunday we had six inches of snow.

Bean Soup - Sorta

Unlike many of the wonderful food bloggers out there, I don't like to bake. I used to. When I was younger a cold, snowy day always drove me into the kitchen to bake some cookies or a cake. Age, weight and laziness has replaced this drive with another - soup! This weekend has been miserably cold and snowy so it was a perfect time for soup. Since DH has a cold I decided I would make him some home-made chicken noodle soup. After thawing out a pint of chicken stock I discovered nary a piece of chicken meat in the entire house. No problem - I've got vegetables languishing in the refrigerator from my party, dried beans, pasta, and rice. I had already thawed out the stock so I was good to go.

Unfortunately neither of us wanted broccoli or cauliflower soup, so it looked like the winner was bean soup. I know that I've posted my bean soup recipe before, but since I know most people never look at the archives and since I was too lazy to go look for it to link it here, and since I knew this bean soup was going to be a little different, I decided just to fly with it so you can see the steps I took to give us something good to eat today.

As I've said before, I use as many types of legumes I can get my hands on. Any single type of bean is boring to my palate and I've found the texture and flavor is much improved with this technique. Nyda Gleason is the one who taught me to "de-gas" my beans with baking soda. This is easy - you just cover your beans with water, throw in about a tablespoon of baking soda and bring it to a boil. It will boil up some nasty looking foam, but that's OK as you'll be pouring that off.

Do this three or four times rinsing the beans after every boil. Then on the last one, rinse the beans well. You'll pour off all of the husks.

Be sure and pour it through your colander. You don't want to clog your drains with this crap.

Now it's time to start the fun stuff. I always make any soup using The Holy Trinity - Carrots, Onions and Celery. It turned out I didn't have any celery so I just had the carrots and onion say an extra Hail Mary and threw them in the pot with the beans. Next came my stock which, of course, wasn't enough to fill the pot so I added some water and a beef bouillon cube. (This is bean soup not chicken noodle soup - I wanted a deeper flavor.)

Next came my second "Holy Trinity" - Bay Leaf, Salt and Pepper. I really like that Crazy Mixed-Up Pepper. Don't know what all is in it, but I like the flavors.

Another thorough look through the freezers confirmed my suspicion that I didn't have any smoked ham hocks. No problem. I've made bean soup using kielbasa, ring bologna, even hot dogs. The only thing I don't put in is bacon. That shit is just nasty when you bite into it while eating your soup. (By the way, Nyda used to throw a stick of butter in her bean soup... just thought I'd throw that in.... .) The only acceptable meat I found was half a stick of Summer Sausage (left over from the party). So, in it goes!

I also had a package of Baby Bella Mushrooms that desperately needed used. Even though I've never added mushrooms before I had to either use them or lose them, so in they went.

That's it. All it needed now was time to cook. I left it on low for about four hours, nursed DH with herbal tea, played a little Pogo - it doesn't get any easier than this! When dinner time came, DH decided he was hungry for spaghetti, so I put the soup in the fridge. All soup tastes better the next day anyway.

Today I made some Jiffy Mix cornbread to go with the soup. The verdict? Well, the mushrooms gave it a beautiful deep brown color along with a nice "earthy" taste, but I don't think I'll routinely add them to bean soup. The Summer Sausage was OK, but wieners probably would have been better with the ham hock being the best. I missed the flavor of the celery too. But, all in all, it was pretty good soup.

As I've said before, you can make (literally) anything into soup. Paired with sweet cornbread this was a wonderful meal to eat while watching the snow fly.

New Year's Day 2007

I think I've finally recovered from our annual New Year's Day party. It was a short crowd this year owing to flu and weather. Considering some of the parties we've had in the past, this was a nice, manageable size. This is our seventh year hosting this party and it is looked forward to each year. I fixed George's Maid Rites, Ham and Bean as well as Chicken Noodle soups, snackie things, plus a full bar. Kathy made hot wings and Bettina brought deviled eggs. After New Year's Eve, it's nice to just eat, drink, visit and relax with friends. Here are some photos I'd like to share showing family and friends gathered for a day of eating, drinking, football and a nice friendly game of Scattegories:

The table is full, but the hot stuff is in the kitchen. As you can see, that's where everyone gathers:


That's my DH directing traffic.

There's ice in the ice chest in the living room....

Kathy's favorite spot,

and Quinten's too!

Traffic jam.

Bettina's daughter, Dani.

Bettina, Gary, Natalie and Dustin. And what did you do last night, Dustin?

Dustin and my daughter Della. Wonder why he doesn't want his photo taken?

The contestants in the "best pickled egg" contest. Mine are the beet eggs. I lost.

"Doc" and Karla Vernon. And, yes, that room really is orange.

Concentrating hard for Scattagories in the north room. Notice we had a blizzard the night before.

Santa among the herbs. That's it for this year folks. Hope your New Year's celebrations were lots of fun too.