My favourite winter recipe is my killer chili. I won a chili cook-off with this one.

1/4 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 bottle dark beer
1 1/2lbs ground bison (ground beef if you don’t have bison handy)
5 slices bacon, chopped
1lb yellow onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can chipotles in adobo
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large cans tomatoes (diced or whole)
1 can tomato paste

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Add bacon, and fry. Add onion, garlic and chipotles (de-seeded and chopped) and cook until onions are translucent.

Add cumin, coriander and cinnamon. Add bison, and brown. Deglaze pan with beer. Stir in tomato ingredients and adobo sauce. Bring to boil, then stir in chocolate until it melts.

Simmer for 3 hours. Let chili sit overnight to improve flavour.

Very yummy, and to make it even more filling, add some ham. The great thing with this: there’s a bazillion possible variations… ;)

I also make a killer omelet.

Oh, and I got a crock-pot for Christmas, so I’ve been practicing making spaghetti sauce from scratch and beef stew. Mmmmm!

- 1 shitload of garlic (I usually use 6-7 cloves), minced
- 6-8 ripe roma tomatoes, diced
- olive oil
- freshly ground sea salt and pepper
- 1/2 bag frozen spinach
1 13-oz. bag Barilla spinach and cheese tortellini

Heat oil in pan at medium heat, add garlic and cook about a minute. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally.

Put up water to boil for tortellini.

When the water is boiling, add the frozen spinach to the tomato mix. Break it up and keep stirring occasionally.

Add tortellini to boiling water and cook per package directions.

Toss with tomato mixture and serve with freshly-grated parmesan cheese and a salad.

1 brisket or bottom round roast
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 bottle decent beer (I use Sam Adams Boston Lager)

Brown meat on all sides in a little olive oil in hot frypan. Remove and rub with onion soup mix on all sides.

Put in crockpot. Pour beer around sides to minimize rinsing off the soup mix from the meat.

Cook on low 8-10 hours or till tender.

I usually make this the day before because it slices better cold and you can skim the fat off the juices before thickening for gravy. You could also probably dredge the roast with flour before browning to thicken in the crockpot.

1 package flour tortillas

1 lb ground beef (or whatever meat you like)

1 tomato

1 block of your favorite grated cheese

Green chile sauce (about 2 cups) (homemade or canned)

Grease a baking pan

Brown meat (season to your liking)

Layer tortillas, meat, sauce, and cheese until pan is full.

Bake uncovered at 375 until cheese is melty and delicious.

Serve hot with a side of sour cream. MMM

(usually ready from start to finish in an hour)

* It’s been a long time since I cooked this, and the memory
is dim. Don’t worry about adding more orange juice or less
brown sugar if you think it necessary, or more palatable.

Slice apricots in halves or quarters, and simmer them in the orange juice mixed with brown sugar for 20 – 30 minutes. Meanwhile, trim the fat off the pork chops, and brown/sear
the chops in a skillet. (I used bacon grease; olive oil would
be healthier.)

Place pork chops in a baking pan, and pour orange juice /
brown sugar / apricot mixture around them; cover with a lid
or foil. Place in oven; bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes,
or until tender.

These were the juiciest, tenderest, most flavorful pork chops
I have ever eaten. Yummy!

But, if you’re interested, here’s the recipe that I modified –

3.5 pounds lean pork butt, boned
2 tablespoons salad oil
1 package (8 oz.) mixed dried fruit
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup apple juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon each ground ginger and pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch blended with 1 tablespoon water

Trim and discard excess fat from pork; cut meat into 1-inch
cubes. Add oil to a broiler pan; set in oven while it preheats
to 450 degrees. Then add meat and bake, uncovered,
stirring occasionally for about 25 minutes or until meat is browned. Stir in fruit.

Combine broth, apple juice, lemon juice, honey, soy, garlic powder, ginger, and pepper; pour over meat. Reduce
temperature to 350 degrees. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes
or until meat is tender when pierced.

* Source: Sunset Casserole Cook Book

Midnight Black Fruit Compote
2 large fresh black figs
1/2 punnet blackberries
6 prunes, pitted
1/3 cup marsala
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cocoa
Cut fruit to size of the blackberries. Toss in saucepan with the marsala, and bring to boil. Careful of flames! Add honey and cocoa, and simmer for a few minutes, then tip into a bowl and refrigerate. Leave for an hour before serving to chill, and let prunes swell up. Serve with a scoop of chocolate sorbet!

And here is the chocolate sorbet:
Sorbet Chocolat Noir

275 mL (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) water
40g (1/3 cup, packed) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
100g (1/2 cup) sugar
85g (3 ounces) bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped as finely as your patience allows
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Makes about 1/2 liter (1/2 quart); the recipe can be doubled.

Pre-freeze the bowl of your ice cream maker as instructed by your friend the manufacturer.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the water, cocoa powder, and sugar. Set the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil, whisking continually. Remove from heat, and add the chopped chocolate. Let rest for 30 seconds as the chocolate begins to melt, add the vanilla and salt, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Let cool on the counter, then refrigerate until chilled.

Whisk the mixture again just before using, and freeze using your ice cream maker.

This is copied from Chocolate & Zucchini, the best food blog ever,. I adore Clothilde, for many reasons, including just for being named Clothilde.

1-2 pounds of chicken (I use breast tender, but anything would probably work)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbs prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder

Arrange chicken breasts in 9×13” pan. Mix butter, honey, mustard, salt, and curry powder together. Pour mixture over the chicken. Back in a 350 degree oven for 1-1 ½ hours (really depends on the cuts of chicken you are using) until chicken is done, basting every half hour or so. Serve with rice or noodles using the marinade as a sauce (I haven’t tried it yet, but could pretty easily make a gravy type thing by adding some flour/cornstarch to the leftover marinade).

It’s not overly sweet and clumsy-cook-proof ;o)

400g plain flour, 300g unsalted butter, 500g sugar, 4 eggs
grated lemon zest, grated lime zest (a full tablespoon of each), lemon juice, lime juice (approx. 70ml of each), pinch of salt.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees centigrade (it’s pretty obvious I’m writing from Europe, isn’t it?), oil a large tin and evenly sprinkle with either flour or breadcrumbs, mix all the listed ingredients together, transfer batter into the tin and bake for approx. one hour.

Enjoy!

Chicken Casserole

6 cups cubed chicken (that’s about 7 good-sized boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cooked)
18 oz cream cheese (softened)
12 tablespoons melted butter
12 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons pimento
6 tablespoons chives
8 oz can of Pillsbury Grands (or any other biscuit dough in a tube-type thing)

Mix the chicken, cream cheese, butter, milk, pimento, and chives all together in a bowl. Put into a 9 X 13 pan (Pyrex, whatev). Top with the biscuits and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-35 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the rest of it is bubbling and hot and awesome.

The following is a recipe I found in some monthly magazine and tweaked…so much so that much of it’s approximate and a bit on the half-assed side. But I’ll try to be as descriptive as I can.

Chicken-Tater Bake

2-3 good-sized boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
approx. half a 16 oz container of sour cream
about half a goodly-sized bag of tater tots (maybe 16 or 20 oz)
cheddar cheese

Marinate the breasts in a barbecue-style marinade (A-1 has a mesquite one that works well) either overnight or use one of those 30-minute marinades. Cut into cube-esque shapes.

Mix the chicken with the tater tots, mushroom soup, sour cream, and some of the cheddar cheese and place in a casserole dish (I suspect a 9 X 13 Pyrex would work — I use an oval one whose measurements are unknown to me). Top with more cheddar cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees until the chicken’s cooked — usually about 40-50 minutes. I’m busting this one out on an unsuspecting male in a few days (I’m going out of the country on Thursday) and if you hear a soft “boom” from the Southern Hemisphere, it’s because his head exploded from the goodness contained within this casserole.