This is something that we learned to love living in Tennessee. The Petro is a dish that was first developed for the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville. In keeping with the theme of the World’s Fair that year, the inventor thought it would be funny to name the dish after petroleum since the beans in the chili produce a kind of gas. There was a place in the Food Court at the West Town Mall called Petros Chili and Chips. Now they have a restaurant on Kingston Pike. The dish is basically chili served over Fritos corn chips and topped like a taco.
To make the Petro, place Frito corn chips in the bottom of a bowl. Top with a scoop or two of chili. Then add lettuce, diced tomato, shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.
Here’s my famous Chili recipe. It once won an award at a chili cook-off for Wimpiest Chili but I have to say that every drop of the huge kettle I made was gone by the end of the cook-off event. The chili that won 1st place? Too hot for most people to want to eat more than a taste so there was plenty of it left over at the end of the day.
Mom’s Wimpy Chili
Virginia
1 lb Ground Beef
1 large can Crushed Tomatoes
2 small cans Bush’s Chili Hot Beans
1 small can Pork-n-Beans (remove any pork chunks)
1 small can Light Red Kidney Beans, drained
1 pkg McCormick Mild Chili Seasoning
Brown ground beef in large pot; drain grease.
Add all ingredients to pot. Stir and cook until heated completely over medium heat - about 30 minutes.
Everyone loves this meal. I love that it can cook in the crock pot all day long. Since the family is divided on whether the cheesy chicken is best served over egg noodles or rice, we generally alternate between the two. Tonight I’ll be serving it over egg noodles. I was going to serve it over rice since we were supposed to have Tuna Casserole on Monday, but the casserole ended up being nixed in favor of Steve and Violet going out to eat at Braum’s.
Cheesy Crock Pot Chicken
6 boneless, skinless Chicken breasts - fresh or frozen
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cheddar Cheese soup
Garlic powder
Salt & Pepper
Place chicken in crock pot (rinse chicken if fresh; no need to defrost if frozen) and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Mix undiluted soups and pour over chicken.
Cook 6-8 hours on low. Serve over rice or noodles.
One night Steve and I were watching Rachel Ray’s show 30-minute meals and she made these sandwiches. Steve thought they looked like heaven on bread. We haven’t made them before but I thought they’d be great for using up some of the leftover ham from Sunday dinner. Also, they seem pretty easy to make and don’t take long to cook. I have some leftover deli turkey from the weekend also so I’ll be able to use that up as well.
Super-Stuffed Monte-Cristo Sandwiches
Recipe coutesy Rachel Ray
8 slices center cut or apple wood smoked bacon
4 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup half-and-half, warm
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp coarse ground Black Pepper
2 T Butter
8 thick cut slices of Whole-grain Soft Bread, white or challah
1/2 cup Brown Mustard
1/2 cup whole berry Cranberry Sauce
1/2 lb sliced Havarti Cheese
1 lb sliced Ham
1 lb sliced Turkey breast
1 1/2 cups medium to dark amber Maple Syrup
Heat a griddle pan or large skillet over medium high heat. Cook bacon and remove to paper towels to drain. Drain off fat and reheat griddle over medium heat. Make sandwiches in 2 batches.
Beat eggs with half-and-half, nutmeg and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to griddle and melt. Turn 4 slices of bread in batter, then add to griddle.
Turn bread after it browns (2-3 minutes). Top 2 bread slices with mustard, the other 2 with cranberry sauce. Add 2 slices of cheese and bacon on the cranberry covered bread. Add ham, then turkey to the mustard covered bread.
Use a spatula to assemble 2 sandwiches and turn and press gently to set sandwiches in place. Repeat to make 2 more sandwiches. Cut sandwiches from corner to corner.
Heat syrup in microwave safe container for 30 seconds. Drizzle syrup over sandwiches at the table.
Violet is having a friend spend the night tonight and rather than worry that Sami won’t like Petros and will go hungry or having to fix something else for her, I’m going to switch Petros to Friday. I know Sami likes pizza - we’ve had it before when she’s been over.
This pizza dough recipe is the result of years and years of searching to find a pizza crust that is similar to the crust made at Frank and Pat’s Pizzeria in Green Bay. We like ‘em really thin and really crispy. This comes pretty close.
This recipe uses lard and at first I was like OMG! Lard! But it turns out that tablespoon for tablespoon, lard actually has a couple fewer calories than olive or vegetable oil. So this isn’t too bad calorie wise. The lard is essential to the taste and texture of this dough. I’ve made it with the olive oil and it’s not quite the same. I know lard isn’t great for your heart but a little bit every now and then isn’t going to kill you - at least I don’t think so.
I let the dough rise twice and then cut it into 4 portions and roll it out very thinly into a rectangle (about 9×13). Each crust has about 429 calories - yeah for the whole crust! Put on 1 cup of mozz, 1/4 cup of marinara and veggies and, if you could eat it all, the entire 9×13 pizza would be less than 900 calories. After trying numerous pizza and pasta sauces, we’ve pretty much settled on Paul Newman’s Marinara sauce for our pizzas.
Black Pepper-Lard Pizza Dough
Chef2Chef
1 cup warm tap water
1 pkg Active dry yeast
3 cups AP Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground Black Pepper
2 heaping tablespoons naturally rendered pork lard
Pour water into a medium-sized mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Stir gently with a fork until the yeast has dissolved and the liquid turns light beige in color.
Add 1 cup of the flour, the salt, pepper and lard. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
Add a second cup of flour to the bowl and mix well. After the second cup of flour has been mixed in, the dough should start coming away from the sides of the bowl and should begin to form a soft, sticky mass.
Measure out the third cup of flour. Sprinkle some over the work surface and flour your hands generously. Remove all of the dough from the bowl and begin to work the mass by kneading the additional flour in a bit at a time.
Knead the dough, adding only as much flour as it takes to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and work surface. When the dough no longer feels sticky, push the heel of your hand down into the dough and hold it there for 10 seconds. If your hand comes up clean, the dough is done. If it sticks, more kneading is necessary. Do not overwork the dough by adding more flour than necessary. The kneading process should take about 5 to 10 minutes.
Lightly oil a 2-quart bowl with vegetable oil. Roll the ball of dough around in the bowl to coat it with a thin film of oil. Tightly seal the bowl with plastic wrap to trap in the moisture and heat from the yeast’s action - this will help the dough rise faster.
Place the bowl in a warm, draft-free place. Let the dough rise for 30-45 minutes.
Once the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down by pushing your fist into it. The dough will collapse. Remove dough from the bowl and knead it again for about 1 minute. The dough can be used at this point or undergo additional rising.
Raise the dough a second time and repeat the punching down procedure. Then the dough is ready to be shaped and rolled into pizza.
Add sauce and toppings and bake in a very hot oven (475-500 degrees) until done, about 15 to 20 minutes. If you are going to put on a lot of toppings (or want a crisper crust), prebaking the pizza crust for 3-5 minutes will prevent a soggy center.
This is a meal we had a lot during my childhood. It’s easy, quick and cheap. Although not as cheap as it used to be since now I have to use 2 cans of Tuna to get the same amount of fish that used to come in one can. We usually have this dish a lot during Lent because we’re not big fish eaters but everyone can deal with tuna fish. To make this a true one-pot meal, cook the peas with the noodles during the last 5 minutes of cooking time. I will be making the peas separately because *some* family members like it better that way and I figure the ones who like them mixed in can do that at the table. I like to serve this dish with pear halves that have a spoonful of cottage cheese in the pit hollow. A garden salad also goes well with this meal.
Tuna Casserole
Linda Sisson
1 pkg Wide Egg Noodles
2 cans Tuna Fish, drained
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1-2 cups frozen Green Peas (optional)
Boil noodles in large pot; drain. If making with green peas, add peas during last 5-8 minutes of cooking time.
Add tuna and soups. Mix well.
Put back on stove and heat thoroughly over low temp.
