LOL...I didn't notice this thread started last year. We've had 'spring', too. Snow in November and then rain and now ice, but it's cold and windy now, and we're in for several days of snow. We've been on a soup binge (damp, cold, dark weather and I'm trying to clean out my freezers). Last week I POOFed the Christmas ham bone and broth and made black and white bean soup, and today I made turkey (meat and broth left from TDay) and noodles for our staff mtg. We had Sticky Chicken the other night. The leftover meat and broth from the carcass are in the fridge and later in the week I'll pull out some frozen creamed corn for this chowder. The seasoning on the chicken really makes it, but I've used plain roasted chicken and Penzey's Northwoods Fire seasoning. * Exported from MasterCook * Cheesy Sticky Chicken Chowder Recipe By :Katie, April, 2001 Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Soups Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 Sticky Chicken carcass 3 potatoes 1 small onion 2 stalks celery 2 cups creamed corn 1 can diced green chiles (at least) 1 8 oz. brick cream cheese 1/2 - 3/4 cup cream -- or evaporated milk Pick meat off chicken and dice. Cover carcass with water and simmer. Strain and cool broth. Skim off fat. Cook potatoes, onion, and celery in broth until tender. Add diced chicken, corn and chiles. Heat through and stir in cheese and cream. Makes about 1 1/2 qt. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And this one is next, since I have a couple of sweet potatoes that need to be used. Found this on pinterest: African Sweet Potato Soup with Peanut Butter and Black Beans Serves 4-5, adapted from Gluten-Free Goddess 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 medium red onion, peeled and diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced 1 large yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced very finely 1/2 lb dried black beans, soaked overnight and cooked until tender 1 quart veggie broth 1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter (or sunbutter for those allergic!) 1/2 cup boiling water 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro 1 lime 3 tsp brown sugar salt and black pepper, to taste 1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the curry paste and cinnamon. Stir for a minute so that the olive oil gets infused with spice. Add the onion, garlic, sweet potato, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Stir and cook the veggies for 5-7 minutes, until softened. 2. Add the beans and broth. Melt the peanut butter by mixing it with 1/2 cup boiling water. Add that to the mix. Add the red pepper flakes and cilantro. 3. Bring the soup to a boil, then cover and simmer. Cook until veggies are tender, about 25 minutes. 4. Stir in the lime juice and brown sugar. Season with salt and black pepper. Here is a link that might be useful: African Sweet Potato Soup

I love this recipe, but it is NOT a traditional chili, it is more like a Greek/Middle Eastern stew. I've served it twice to friends while they were visiting and they loved it. Cincinnati-Style Chili - Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine Serves 6 2 TBLSP vegetable oil (I use EVOO) 2 med. onions, chopped 5 cloves garlic, minced (I'm conservative with garlic, the most I ever use is 3) 2 lbs beef chuck (I use 1 lb. fake meat crumbles) 4 TBLSP commercial chili powder (not straight ground chili peppers, use the kind of chili powder that is a mix of spices, or use your own favorite kind of chili mix but adjust the amount you add because commercial chili powder is not very hot. I use prediminately ancho chilis in my chili powder but then add a pinch of cayenne and chipotle, but just a pinch of those very hot spices. You could also use some of the sharp paprika in this, with caution. Start with less than the recipe calls for and adjust up to suit your heat preference. Commercial chili powder also has oregano and sometimes cumin, corriander and garlic in it too, so adjust accordingly.) 1 TBLSP sweet paprika 1 tsp. ground cumin 1/2 tsp. allspice 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. ground cloves 1/4 tsp. ground corriander Salt and fresh pepper to taste 1 bay leaf 1 TBLSP red wine vinegar 1 TBLSP molasses 1 cup tomato sauce 1 1/2 cups water In a large heavy pot heat the oil over moderate heat and cook the onions and garlic until softened. Add the ground beef (or fake meat crumbles), stirring, until the beef is no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat and discard. Add the spices starting with the chili powder and ending with the salt and pepper, to taste, stirring to combine, and cook for 1 minute. Add the bay leaf, red wine vinegar, molasses, tomato sauce and water and bring to a boil. REduce heat and simmr chili, covered, for 1 1/2 hours, adding additional water, if necessary, to achieve a thick, soupy consistency. Discard the bay leaf and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve the chili over cooked spaghetti with traditional accompanyments, which inlcude kidney beans, grated Cheddar, chopped white onions and oyster crackers. Note: I make a notable change in how I do this recipe. First, as I mentioned, I don't use real meat. But more importantly, I add a can of dark red kidney beans to the stew before it gets simmered for the hour and a half. Then, when the stew is done, I mix it all together with a cooked box of spaghetti and about 1 cup of cheddar cheese and pour it into a casserole. I top with a little more cheddar and some crumbled oyster crackers (or bread crumbs if you don't have oyster crackers) and put in the oven at 350 for about 20 min til heated through and topping is melted and toasted. One more note, I doubt I simmered this for an hour and a half. I think I actually may have made it in the crockpot, which you could do if you sauteed the meat first. This is really spicy but not hot and definatly good if you like spicy. It is unusual though, but it's the kind of complex spicy I like.

First, for Christineny, here's the vegetable stew, greek style. The recipe comes from "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest" by Mollie Katzen. Influenced Vegetable Stew . . . similar to a Greek "stifado/stifatho" but meatless, and containing more vegetables . . . 3/4 cups raw kidney beans, soaked overnight, then cooked in twice their volume of bioling water until tender (1 1/2 - 2 hrs.) and drained. Yeah right. I use a can of dark red kidney beans! 3 TBLSP olive oil 4 med. cloves crushed garlic 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup THINLY sliced potatoes 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ground cumin lots of fresh black pepper crushed red hot pepper, to taste juice from one large lemon 2 large carrots, thinly sliced 1 SMALL head of cauliflower, brokien into small flowerettes (good luck finding a small one!) 4 med. sized fresh ripe tomatoes, cubed (I use a can of diced ones most of the time) 2 tsp. honey In a very large skillet, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil, with salt, for 5 min., or until the onions are soft and translucent. Add potatoes, spieces, and lemon juice. Cover and cook 8-10 min., stirring occasionally. Add small amounts of water, if it appears to be sticking. (It almost always does!) Add remaining ingredients exept beans. Cover and let it stew over med. heat about 30 min., stirring occasionally. Add the cooked beans, stir, and cover and let simmer about 10 min. more. Good with tsatsiki, greek olives and crusty bread, or over rice. I only made this dish once out of desperation because I had a head of cauliflower going bad in the fridge. That's how I end up trying most of my new recipes--desperation. I was very leery about the cinnamon in a savory dish too, but I actually love it. This would be a good opportunity to try one of Penzey's fancy "varietal" cinnamons, if you were so inclined. I bought some once, but now in an attempt to get a handle on my spice shelf, I am trying to avoid Penzeys. Speaking of Penzeys and spice shelves, the only reason I am considering this Cinci chili is I have a plethora of chili powder due to a comedy of errors. I lost my chili powder, ordered more, and then of course found it. So I'm looking for novel ways to use up chili powder, other than straight ahead chili. I also have a plethora of paprika, which is another reason some of these recipe appeal to me. I got two kinds from Penzeys and then a friend went to Hungary and brough me back a bag. No more Penzeys!!! :) OK, now for the Cincinnati Chili recipe from Cook's Illustrated Cover and Bake. They bill it as a skillet dish. The ingredients in this one seem a little scary to me. 2 TBLSP vegetable oil 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef 2 med. onions, minced salt to taste 2 med. cloves garlic, minced or pressed 1 TBLSP chili powder 1 1/2 tsp. cocoa powder 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp. ground allspice 3 cups low sodium chicken broth 2 TBLSP cider vinegar 2 tsp. dark brown sugar 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce 1 cup water (here's where they loose me) 1/2 lb. spaghetti, broken in half ground black pepper Heat 1 TBLSP oil in the pan and cook the beef until it is no longer pink. Then drain the meat and wipe the pan clean. Saute the onion and garlic in the remaining oil until translucent. Then add the meat and spices, broth, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato sauce and water. Simmer until the chili is deep red and the beef is tender, about 1 hour. Stir in the spaghetti and continue to cook, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, intil the pasta is tender, about 20 min. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with diced onion, grated sharp cheddar cheese and tabasco sauce as accompaniments. (No mention here about kidney beans). Personally, I would reduce the water and cook the spaghetti on the side. Easier to freeze the leftovers. Since I'm making this with fake meat crumbles, I'm going to brown them, add the kidney beans ahead of time, and cook the whole mess up in the crockpot, with less water and broth. I might not get to this until this weekend. I really hate how hectic my weeks are these days! For even more interesting takes on this style of stew, Google "stifado" or "stifatho." Lots of variations, some with cinnamon, some without. I love Greek food!

Success!  IÂm thrilled to say that everyone loved the Tacos!  Thanks so much to all of you (Linda especially) who helped me with this. Yesh - I received a lot of flax this week over some of my decisions, but I stuck to my guns and was prepared to resign after the event if need be. However, these went over so well that I think we will be serving them at our Jazz Festival later in the year. No one there had ever heard of Walking Tacos before and I got some interesting comments from the kids as they came through the line.  Some were more than a little skeptical.  The one who was the loudest in her skepticism came back for seconds. :-) One kid said "These make me happy!" LOL - That was the Booster PresidentÂs son.  :-) I had prepared for 200 tacos  but as Linda predicted, we ate far less. I've not counted the remaining chip bags, but it was less than 150. I discovered that cooking ground meat in a Roaster Oven works really well.  If any of you cook bulk ground meat for your freezer or ??, you should try this.  I only used 10 lbs, but IÂm sure 15 would have worked too.  Just turn the oven up to about 400, place the meat in breaking it up as best as you can, and cover with the lid.  Every 10 minutes or so, stir and break up the meat more.  It will take about an hour to brown the meat.  I then drained the fat and placed it back into the RO with the water and spices and let it simmer with the lid off for about 40 minutes - stirring occasionally. So easy! After testing this method earlier in the week, I cooked the remaining 20 lbs in 2 Roaster Ovens 2 hours before heading to the school so that it would be hot and ready to go. I combined all the meat into one roaster which I plugged in at the school to keep warm. One of the difficulties of heading the food committee is that everyone has a different idea about food safety. One of the new moms who showed up to help, was not happy that I was serving the shredded lettuce right from the bag. I may yet hear more on this one  she may complain to "higher powers". And "they" (the boosters) wonder why no one wants this job... I'm happy. :-)