I am so mad at myself! A few weeks ago one of my foodie friends posted a recipe for Chili Colorado. I thought I saved the recipe to try and by-jingos (as my MIL is apt to say)...I cannot find it. So after a little research on my own, I came up with my own recipe. It's IT Guy's thing he loves to order when we go out for Mexican food. He loves that dark red chili flavor. I have to say...and he did, too...this turned out pretty good. I think next time I'm going to add some chili powder along with the re-hydrated chiles, but IT Guy said this was a keeper for sure!

Chili Colorado



1  2 – 3 pound chuck roast
1 medium onion - sliced
1 ½ cups beef broth
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
8 dried New Mexico chiles – rehydrated
Hot water for rehydrating the chiles
About 1/2 cup water - divided use


Place dried chiles in a medium sized bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside for 30 minutes. After chiles have rehydrated, pat dry. Slit open and remove the seeds and chop off the stems. Pulse in a food processor with 1/4 cup water until smooth. Strain mixture through sieve with 1/4 cup water to remove skins and seeds.

Place roast in crock pot and add sliced onions.

In a small bowl, combine beef broth, tomato sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth then add the chili paste and stir. Pour mixture over roast in crock pot and allow to cook on low 6 – 8 hours or until meat is fork tender.

Serve with rice or flour tortillas.

The goods. Next time I'm going to add 

about a tablespoon of chili powder to this.

Rehydrate your chiles. I put mine in a bowl then 

put a plate on top of them to help keep them submerged. 

I let them soak about 30 minutes.

The dried chile is on the left and the 

rehydrated one is on the right.

Mix together the broth, tomato sauce, salt, 

pepper, cumin, oregano and garlic.

Whizz the rehydrated chiles through the food processor then run it through a sieve to get a smooth sauce, discarding and chile skins and seeds. I added 1/4 cup water to this because it was so thick. I just poured a little bit at time into the sieve as I was straining the chile mixture. Combine chile paste with beef broth mixture.

Put your roast in your crock pot and cover with sliced onions.

Then pour the chile mixture over that. Cook on high 

for several hours....5 - 7 should do it. As it's cooking, 

break apart the meat when it gets tender enough.

Serve over rice or plain with flour tortillas.

Again...my mom to the rescue! She scored big in the meat department the other day and brought me some Italian sausage. So I whipped up this easy casserole for dinner. I wish I'd had some of my homemade pasta sauce leftover but I didn't and had to settle for the jarred stuff...and was happy to have it on hand! Not only is this casserole good, it's a *snap* to throw together!



Snappy Italian Casserole



1 pound Italian sausage links– sliced into coins
1 medium onion – diced
1 green bell pepper – diced
2 cloves garlic – minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, but good!)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese – divided use
1 26-ounce jar pasta sauce
8 ounces rotini pasta - cooked and drained (I like rotini because of the swirls...they hold the pasta!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large skillet, sauté onion, garlic and bell pepper until tender.

Add sliced sausage and cook until almost done. Sprinkle with seasonings then stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese.

Stir in pasta sauce and cooked pasta. Turn into a 9x13 inch casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Go get this stuff to make this yummy casserole.

Saute the onions, peppers and garlic.

Then add the sliced sausage. 

They look like little meatballs.

Cook those until ALMOST done then stir in the cheese.

Add the jarred pasta sauce...

..then the cooked pasta. Stir that up then....

..dump into a prepared casserole dish 

and sprinkle with more cheese.

Cook it up!!

Copyright © 2011 Simple Fare, Fairly Simple. All rights reserved.

Filled French Vanilla Cupcakes with French Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting

I love cream filled pastries. BUT...I'm a cream-filled pastry snob. It has to taste just right. The cream in a pastry has to be thick and creamy. None of this thin, runny stuff that some bakeries pass off as filling. I decided to try making my own with some french vanilla instant pudding. Turns out that if you use half & half and heavy cream, the end result is pretty delicious! I had french vanilla in my pantry, but you could use any flavor. I thought I had some white chocolate instant pudding which I think would have been divine, but the french vanilla was a big success!! Next time...chocolate!!!

Filled French Vanilla Cupcakes with French Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting



¾ cup self rising flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 stick butter – room temp
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs – room temp
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flours. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth on medium speed. Gradually add the sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Combine the milk and vanilla.

Add the flours alternately with the milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Carefully fill prepared cupcake liners about ¾ full.

Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until done.

Cool cupcakes in the pan for 15 pans then on a cooling rack until completely cool.

When cupcakes are cooled, carve center of cupcake out with a sharp pointed knife held at an angle, making sure to leave some cake along the sides and bottom. Fill cupcakes with prepared French Vanilla mixture.

Frost with French Vanilla Frosting. Store in the fridge until ready to eat.

About 12 cupcakes

 
Here's the line up for the cupcakes.

 
Mix the flours and set aside.

 
Cream the butter and sugar.

 
Add the eggs one at a time.

 
Combine the milk and vanilla.

 
Add the milk/vanilla alternately with 
the flours, beginning and ending with flour.

 
Fill the cups 3/4 full. I used slightly 
smaller cups so I got about 20 cupcakes.

 
Bake 'em up and let 'em cool!



French Vanilla Cream Filling

1 cup half & half
1 3-ounce package French vanilla instant pudding using only 3 tablespoons
1/2  teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Let sit to thicken. Fill hollowed cupcakes.

 
Here's what you need for 
the filling. Plus powdered sugar!! 
Don't forget it like I did for the 
picture. Combine everything 
and set aside to thicken.

 
Cut little holes in your cooled 
cupcakes with a sharp knife.

 
I put my mixture into a squeeze 
bottle which made filling the 
cupcakes a snap but you could 
certainly use a spoon or use a baggie 
with a hole snipped in the corner.

 
Here they are all filled!



French Vanilla Frosting

2 cups heavy cream
Remaining French Vanilla pudding mix from filling
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whip until thick.


 
These are the frosting ingredients...again...
with no powdered sugar shown. Oops, again.

 
Put everything into your mixer and 
whip it until thick and creamy dreamy.

 
Then frost away! Store these babies in 
the fridge until you're ready to eat!

A week or so ago, I posted mixes for tacos and fajitas. Here's one for chili. I used it in the Steakhouse Chili I posted the other day and it was really good. A little heat...a little smokiness from the cumin makes for delicious flavors in a warm pot of chili!!

Chili Mix



2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine in a small bowl and mix well. Store in a covered jar. Use 3 tablespoons for chili.

So easy....

 

..just combine and store in a sealed jar.

 

You all might remember that I'm a huge user of jarred pasta sauce. There are just recipes that CALL for it, you know? I'm not ashamed to say I use it, and you shouldn't be either! BUT...sometimes it's nice to have the homemade stuff, right? And you can't go wrong with this recipe. It's easy and delicious and makes a ton. It's easy to freeze if you don't need as much as this recipe calls for or its perfect for a big crowd. You can make it more on the sweet side, if you like..or leave out the sugar completely...but I have to say, adding a little sugar does cut the acidity of the tomato. The last time I made this, I served 9 people initially...sent some to work with IT Guy the next day, and STILL had leftovers. It's good for spaghetti, lasagne...whatever your pasta needs are! A nice recipe to have on hand when you need to serve LOTS!

Homemade Pasta Sauce



2 28-ounce cans tomato puree
2 28-ouncce cans crushed tomatoes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
4 cloves garlic – minced
2 medium onions – diced
3 – 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ to 1 cup sugar (according to taste)

In a large dutch oven, sauté onion in olive oil until almost tender. Add garlic and cook another few minutes.

Add tomato paste and chicken broth and cook until smooth. Add tomato puree and crushed tomatoes. Cook and stir until combined.

Add seasonings and stir to blend. Set temp to low and allow to simmer for 3 or 4 hours.


Meatballs for Sauce

1 ½ pounds Italian sausage
1 ½ pounds ground beef
½ cup water
½ cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 small onion – diced

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well and form meatballs about the size of small golfball.

Heat a large skillet. Add several glugs of olive oil then place meatballs in skillet. Brown on both sides and allow to cook until almost done.

Spoon meatballs into sauce the last hour of cooking.

Here's the stuff for the sauce. If I had had some red pepper flakes I would have added about 1 tablespoon, but I was out. (sad face) Also...one of those onion powders is SUPPOSED to be garlic powder. Oops.

Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until tender.

Then add the tomato PASTE and stir in some chicken broth.

Pour in the tomato puree and the crushed tomato and all the seasonings. This is where you will decide how much sugar to use. I think I put in about 3/4 of a cup.

Here's what you'll need for the meatballs.

Combine the bread crumbs, egg, water and spices.

Add the meat and shape in balls!

Fry 'em up or you could put them in the 

oven on a cookie sheet and bake them.

Throw the meatballs in the sauce about the last hour that the sauce needs to simmer. Or leave them out if you're using the sauce for something else.

Cranberry Orange Spice Scones

Scones are fun! You can do so many different things with them. I decided to make some to celebrate fall. Plus I love the combo of orange and cranberry so it was a no-brainer for me to come up with something that had these two things. With the addition of some cinnamon and nutmeg, these little babies turned out perfect. Then..the added orange/cinnamon drizzle just topped it off! If you're looking for something to serve that has an autumnal flair to it..this is it!

Cranberry Orange Spice Scones



3 cups flour
2/3  cups sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
pinch salt
2 sticks butter, chilled and cut into chunks
1 egg - beaten
3/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup Craisins
½ cup finely chopped pecans 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking pans with parchment paper. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Using the paddle attachment, add the butter chunks. Combine until mixture is crumbly. 

Combine the cream and beaten egg. Add slowly to the flour/butter mixture until well combined. Add orange juice and zest.

Gently mix in pecans and Craisins. 

On a floured work surface, dump out the scone mixture. Shape into an oblong. 

Gently roll dough out into an 18x9 inch rectangle then cut into three long strips. Cut across strips into 6 equal parts to form 18 squares. Cut diagonally to form 36 triangles. 

Place scones on prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Drizzle with glaze.

Makes 36 scones.

 
The line-up.

 
Add flour, sugar, salt and baking 
powder to a large mixing bowl. 
Oops....add the cinnamon and nutmeg 
here, too! Stir that around a bit.

 
Then add your chilled and chunked buttah. 
Whiz that around some.

 
Then pour in your beaten egg/cream 
mixture. Then add the orange juice and orange zest.

 
Dump in the pecans and Craisins.

 
Turn out onto a floured surface.

 
Roll out to a 18x9 inch rectangle. 
Cut three strips lengthways. Lengthwise? 
Then cut across into 6 short strips.

 
Then cut each square in half to 
get triangles. You should end up 
with *about* 36 triangles.

 
Place them on your prepared cookie sheets.

 
And bake 'em!!

Drizzle:

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
Half & half to thin

Combine powdered sugar, orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a mixing bowl. Add enough half & half to thin.

Drizzle over cooled scones. 


 
Here's the stuff for the drizzle.....

 
In a mixing bowl, combine the 
powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, 
vanilla, orange juice and orange zest.

 
Then pour in enough half & half 
to thin it to drizzling consistency. 
A few tablespoons should do it.

 
I poured mine into this little squeeze 
bottle but you can just use a spoon.

 
Allow icing to dry (or not) 
then chow down!