Chorizo Fiesta

Spicy Chorizo Mac N Cheese

Went to the grocery and they had chorizo on sale so I bought a few pounds and yesterday we had a chorizo fiesta.  Will wanted a chorizo con queso dip, so I googled a few recipes and these are the ones I tried.  This recipe from food.com was very easy, but Will didn't like it.  He's not fond of cream cheese, so that would explain it.  The other one I found on food network.  Will liked this one much more and that is the one he proceeded to eat in its entirety.  I also made a spicy macaroni and cheese also from the food network.  Yummy!!  This is one of he best mac and cheese dishes I've had in a long time.

Since Will didn't like the recipe from food.com I took the dip and added an additional pound of cooked chorizo (casing removed), a few TBS of my own mexican spice blend and a blended a can (to eliminate the chunks) of Rotel tomatoes to it and I simmered it for about 20 minutes.  I served it over a pasta with cilantro.  This was a very good use of the dip that wasn't a huge hit and it really tasted good.

All of these dishes were easy to make and not too time consuming.  Give them a try and good eats!!

New Years Peas & Ham

We need all the luck we can get so today I made Black eyed Peas with Ham, mixed greens and  cornbread.  For the peas you will need:

• 1/2 large green bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 large yellow onion chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 C of cubed ham
• 1 15 oz can of black eyed peas
• 1 C of chicken broth or stock
• To make the pea dish I sauteed 1/2 green bell pepper chopped, 1/2 yellow onion chopped, 3 cloves garlic chopped for about 4 minutes.  I added 1 cup of cubed ham (leftover from Christmas) and cooked an additional 3 minutes just to get the smokiness out of the ham.  I then added 1 15 oz can of black eyed peas, 1/2 C of basmati rice and 1 C of chicken stock.  I stirred to mix it all the ingredients.  I brought it to a boil, covered and reduced heat and simmered for 20 minutes.

I bought Glory canned mixed greens which were ok, but not great.  Not sure what they should taste like, but again they were just ok.

For the corn bread.  I preheated my oven to 450.  I took my cast iron skillet and added 2 tbsp of bacon fat to it and placed it in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.  Yes, I store leftover bacon fat in a container in my fridge and use it periodically.  Anyway, for the corn bread you will need:

1 C of Martha White Self Rising White Corn Meal Mix

3/4 C of milk

2 tbsp of bacon fat.

Mix the corn meal and milk together and then add the hot melted bacon fat.  Mix together, pour into hot cast iron skillet and bake for about 20 minutes in the oven.  This corn bread is very thin and crunchy, not fluffy at all, so you might not like it if you're used to fluffy cake like corn bread.

Anyway, that's all their was to this meal.  Let's hope it brings us lots of good fortune in 2013.  Good Eats in 2013!!