Tag Archives: cornbread mix

Chili Like This Makes Foodies Warm

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For me, any time of year is a good time for soups and stews. I’ve never participated in a chili cook-off to bring my own for competition, but I’ve certainly stood in as a willing judge. I love chili.

It’s taken me years to get a chili recipe just right and what I discovered is I needn’t follow someone else’s recipe. You know me—I cook by-guess-and-by-golly. So here’s how I make my chili. Sort of. The amounts of some of these ingredients will vary, depending on what I have on hand.

Chili, Sort Of

  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can kidney beans
  • 2 cans pinto beans
  • 1 large can tomato paste
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 lb. 80/20 ground beef, cooked and drained
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1-2 t. chopped jalapenos
  • 1 T. chili powder
  • Tomato juice (optional)

Drain and rinse all the beans. Place all ingredients except jalapenos into a large slow cooker. If chili seems too thick, add tomato juice until it’s the desired consistency. Cook on high until chili comes to a slow boil. Stir once or twice to prevent sticking. Turn heat to low setting and add jalapenos. Cook for at least 3 hours until flavors are mixed.

Obviously, the by-guess-and-by-golly is a good idea for making chili. At least in my (cook)book.

I prefer to use dried beans. That way I know what I’m getting. If you do too, you have to make your measurements of the beans according to how much chili you want. I use a cup each of the beans, a little more for the pintos since I like them best for chili. I’ve found black beans take a little longer to become soft compared to pintos and kidneys.

Also, I process garden tomatoes and make my own tomato puree. I use this instead of juice to thin the mixture. In fact, I save the water from the blanching process and can it to use in soup stocks. Rarely does anything go to waste in my kitchen.

Along with chili, I like the cornbread as a side dish. This recipe for Cheesy Cornbread is from a friend who goes by Annie Mae. Since she wasn’t stingy in sharing it with me, I’ll share this one too.

Cheesy Cornbread

  • 1 can creamed corn
  • 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
  • 1 stick butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

In a large bowl, mix the egg, both cans of corn, Jiffy cornbread mix, butter, and sour cream. Pour into a large casserole or 9 x 13 baking dish. Spread shredded cheese evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Again, I alter the recipe slightly, but only so far as I use my own homemade cornbread mix. In that case, the equivalent to a box of Jiffy mix is about 1 ¼ cups of homemade mix.

Eat hearty!

A Shelter-in-Place Challenge For a Foodie

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I was walking down the aisle where my grocery store displays the taco seasoning. There it was—a sign hanging next to the shelf tag where the taco seasoning would be. The sign was like many others posted throughout the store and apparently, taco seasoning was a high demand item.

This was my first trip to the store since my state’s executive order had been issued on March 24th. Taco seasoning wasn’t on my list (although toilet paper was because I was down to my last roll. That’s a story for another time). I needed something else in that aisle. I gotta tell you, that sign made me chuckle.

If you had quizzed me on what would be the highest demand items in the store, I would never have guessed taco seasoning. Taco seasoning? What? Is everyone now eating tacos instead of SpaghettiOs?

Anyway, this coronavirus pandemic creates all kinds of challenges. Especially for taco lovers, I guess.

Now, I like tacos as much as the next person, but being who I am, I don’t even buy taco seasoning anymore. It’s one of those things I mix up in my own kitchen from ingredients right in my pantry. If you’ve been reading my foodie blog posts at all, you know I cook/bake/create from scratch (and sometimes by-guess-and-by-golly). So, in case you want tacos and your store is out of pre-packaged seasoning, here’s a recipe for making your own.

Taco seasoning and pumpkin pie seasoning

Bonus? You’ll know exactly what’s in it. **

“Clean” Taco Seasoning Mix

  • 1/ 2 cup + 1 T. chili powder
  • 3 Tbsp. cumin
  • 1 Tbsp. salt
  • 1 Tbsp.  ground pepper (not coarse)
  • 1 Tbsp. paprika
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 2 tsp. onion powder
  • 2 tsp. oregano

Mix up all the ingredients and store the stuff in a glass container. It keeps as long as any spice would when kept out of heat or moisture. For each one pound of meat you use, add 2 1/ 2 Tbsp. seasoning. This recipe makes a small batch of mild seasoning. If you like it spicier, you can add a little more chili powder or even red pepper flakes. Use it to make your tacos just like you would the store-bought kind.

While we’re at it making homemade mixes, here’s one for making cornbread mix. Its taste is identical to commercial cornbread mixes and it doesn’t have weird additives. **

“Clean” Cornbread Mix

  • 1 1/ 2 c. flour
  • 1/ 4 c. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/ 2 c. cornmeal
  • 1 1/ 2 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 3/ 4 tsp. baking soda

 Blend the ingredients together and store in an airtight container. Then, to make cornbread, mix the Clean Cornbread Mix with 1 1/ 2 cup milk, 1 1/ 2 cup vegetable oil, and 3 large eggs.

So when Taco Tuesday rolls around, you’ll have your own seasoning mix and all you need are your tortillas (or shells) plus all those fresh ingredients you like. And if you’re making chili, try your taco seasoning in that too. Just add it little by little until it comes out to your personal taste. Then make some cornbread because that always goes well with chili. Right?

Or you could have SpaghettiOs. Eat hearty!

** Small print. I check labels and this is what I found for two brand name prepackaged products you now have recipes for.

French’s® Taco Seasoning Mix. Spices and herbs, Salt, Corn starch, Dehydrated onion, Dehydrated garlic, Sugar, Citric acid, Paprika extractives, Silicon dioxide.

Jiffy® Cornbread Mix ingredients: Wheat flour, degerminated yellow corn meal, sugar, animal shortening (lard, hydrogenated lard, tocopherols preservative, BHT preservative, citric acid preservative). Contains less than 2% of each of the following: baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate, salt, wheat starch. Niacin, reduced iron, tricalcium phosphate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, silicon dioxide.