Multi-cooker Ranch Chicken Chili with cream cheese

Cooks notes: Can be eaten as a soup, served over steamed rice, or in tortillas/taco shells.  With optional toppings: sour cream, freshly grated cheddar cheese, avocado, fresh lime, and fresh cilantro

Needed items:

2 chicken breasts, cubed

2 cans chicken broth, low sodium

1 medium purple onion, diced
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes, with chilis
1 can corn kernels

1 can baja corn

1 can jalapeno corn
1 can mixed chili beans, mild sauce

1 can red chili beans (mild)

1 can white chili beans (mild)

1 can black chili beans (optional)

1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese, cut into smaller bits

Corn starch & water to thicken as needed

1 Multi-cooker, capable of at least 8 functions

Directions:

•    Put the cubed chicken & diced onion into the multi-cooker under the "sauté & simmer" setting. Sauté until chicken is white & the natural juices have come forward.
•  Wisk the ranch dressing into the chicken broth till its smooth then pour over the chicken and onions.
•  Add the tomatoes, corn, & beans, stirring to combine, then top with the cream cheese.
•  Continue to let it simmer, stirring occasionally until the cheese has melted/blended into the broth.  Allow the soup to simmer until the simmer setting flips into the last 10-minutes of cooking.
• In the last 1 - 2 minutes, thicken soup with a corn starch & water slurry.  Let the cooker flip into "keep warm", let sit for a few minutes to let the flavors meld, then serve. 

Heidi's Cabbage Stew

Chop:

• 1lb potatoes, small dice
• 2 onions
• 4 large carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 head cabbage

Meat:

• 1 pound fresh ground pork, or Jimmy Dean sausage
  - OR -
• 1 to 1-1/4lb kielbasa, smoked sausage, bratwurst, polish sausage etc.

Seasonings: To taste.  

• 4-6 garlic cloves or 1 tbsp granulated garlic
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Pepper
• 3 tbsp Basil*
• 3 tbsp Oregano*
• 3 tbsp Parsley*
• 1/4 tsp Cumin*
• 1/4 tsp Coriander* 
• 1/4 tsp Paprika* 
• 1/2 tsp Sage*
• 1 tsp Thyme*
• 1 tsp Rosemary*
• 1/4 tsp Tumeric
• 1 large bay leaf

Liquid: 

• 4 cups of water or chicken broth

1. Brown the sausage in the Instant Pot using the saute function.  Deglaze thoroughly. using the chicken broth or water.   
2. Throw all the remaining items in the Instant Pot starting with the root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions) and ending with the celery and cabbage. Cook at High pressure for 4 minutes.
   
   
   Note:  

• Items with a star can be replaced with 1/4-1/2tsp Italian seasoning mix
• The cabbage will give off a good amount of water (close to two cups I'd wager), so if you don't want "soup" you could cut the liquid back as far as to 1 cup if needed, but then it would stop being "stew" or "soup" and would instead just be a bunch of steamed vegetables with sausage. 

Rice cooker fried rice to die for

Rice cookers with multiple functions are my friend... also... I am an instinctive cook. I will "follow" a recipe, but... Not usually to the letter. I'm like a pirate following the pirate code... "The code is more like guidelines really"...😛

That being said my kids (2 & 3) LOVE the recipe I concocted for "fried rice" in the rice cooker. That way I can dump it all together, push a button & forget about it till the beep. So I can get the table set & any "extras" prepared.

Recipe is:
2 cups white rice, rinsed
Water added according to rice cooker directions
Chicken bouillon, oyster sauce, hoisin, soy & butter to taste. I usually start with 1 tsp each then work up from there depending on the crowd I'm feeding & how they like it.
Set it to the "white rice" setting & walk away. It'll be done in 20 min give or take.

While that's cooking, if you like extra gravy like my kids do, it's 2 cups water, soy, hoisin, oyster to taste (yes you need to taste as you go; I'm a firm believer in tasting along the way.) 1 tbsp Sugar or molasses or sorgum depending on your taste preference. 1 tsp of ginger. 4 garlic cloves minced, or garlic powder to taste. Start with ½ tsp & go up from there. & for those who like a bit of a nip... ½ a smidge of rooster sauce. Kids & I don't, but hubby does.

After I've set the gravy to simmer, I start in on veggies. Usually frozen, but that's just for convenience, nothing says you have to use frozen, or that you're stuck with "peas & carrots & cabbage". Other things can include mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli... Pretty much anything that tickles your fancy. These veggies can either be added to the raw rice & cooked all the way through the process, placed in the streaming tray and streamed all the way through, or held back till the last 10 minutes. The scrambled egg can either be cooked separately, chopped up & added last, or cooked in the steamer tray using the egg poacher gadget. Just make sure you're whipping the eggs & not ACTUALLY poaching them just like they come it if the shell... That TASTES ok, but does not look as nice...

Once your gravy is beginning to boil, taste it. Make adjustments as needed to suit your preference. Then thicken. I prefer a slurry of corn starch... But others might prefer flour and water. It really doesn't matter how you get it thick... Just go with it. Then eat! My kids DEVOUR this.

Fabulous French Onion Soup

"This soup is so rich, it can be served as a main course."

Fabulous French Onion Soup
3 Large Vidalia Onions, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, chopped/minced
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup dry, white wine
2 ounces dry sherry
1 tablespoon flour
2 - 14oz cans beef broth/stock
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt & pepper to taste
French topping, optional

Slice onions into a large, deep skillet; add butter & brown on medium heat for 15 minutes.  Add garlic, turning heat to medium-low & cooking till caramelized - about an hour.  Remove from flame, add wine & sherry.  Return to heat, simmering until liquid evaporates.  While stirring, sprinkle in flour.  Add beef broth, water & thyme.  Simmer for an hour. 
Note:  Soup can be pureed, if desired.


French Topping for Soup
6 slices of french bread, toasted
6 slices of swiss or provolone cheese

Ladle soup into 6 ovenproof bowls, top with a slice of bread and a slice of cheese.  Broil until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. 

**  This recipe was posted in one of our local newspapers, so I'm not sure who the original author is, but I'll cite the newspaper... 'Twas the Sturgis Journal from Sturgis, MI

Sweet Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin

Sweet Bacon Wrapped Venison Tenderloin
2 lbs venison tenderloins (a single deer loin)
1/2 lb bacon
3 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups soy sauce (Regular NOT low-sodium)
1/4 cup white sugar (Optional for added Sweetness)

Directions:
1
Mix brown Sugar and Soy sauce together in a bowl. They should combine nicely into a soupy soy liquid.
2
Put Deer Loin in a cooking tray and pour Brown Sugar/Soy Sauce mixture over loin. Roll tenderloin over in mixture, completely covering it.
3
Let meat marinate in mixture at least 3 hours or overnight in fridge. It's best to marinate for 8 hours if you have the time. Also GREAT to use a Food Saver or other Vacuum device to Vacuum pack/seal the meat with Marinade. With this method, you can achieve Overnight-level marinade in just a couple hours!
4
Remove loin from tray, and place on a slotted bake sheet with a drip pan or aluminum foil below to catch dripping. Don't throw away marinade.
5
Wrap a piece of bacon around the very end of the tenderloin, securing the bacon strip with a toothpick.
6
Repeat this process until the entire loin is wrapped in ten or so bacon "loops." The tenderloin should look like an arm with a bunch of wrist watches on it, the watches being the bacon strips.
7
Drizzle remaining marinade over deer loin. You can continue to baste the loin with the marinade throughout the cooking process with either a brush or a turkey baster.
8
Place on center rack in oven and bake at 350°F for 30-40* minutes. *This should cook the meat to about Medium. For those of you who prefer rare meat (like me), cut the time to 25-30 minutes and then follow with the "OPTION 2" step below regarding searing.
9
OPTION 1 - with about 10 minutes of cooking time left, you can lightly dust the top of the loin with white sugar. This creates a sweet crust on top of the bacon. Might be too sweet for some. Try doing it on just HALF of the loin to see if you like it!
10
OPTION 2 - For a crispier crust and crispier bacon, remove Loin from oven and place the Loin(s) directly on a Grill over medium-high heat to sear the bacon and outer loin. (Thanks to all of you reviewers who taught me this. It's a great step for those of us who like a cooked crust and a pink center).
11
Remove from oven and place on cutting board. Using a knife, cut the loin between each strip of bacon so that you have many pieces of meat, each with their own toothpick.
12
You can eat these pieces directly from the toothpick or remove the toothpick and eat like steak.

Perfect Frappachino

Perfect Frappachino

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup coffee (strong, chilled)
• 1 cup milk (for a thicker result, use light cream)
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp instant coffee (crystals)
• 2 cups ice
• 1 tbsp chocolate syrup (optional)

Directions:

o   Combine everything but ice in a blender and blend until all sugar has dissolved.

o   Add ice and blend until smooth.

Makes about 2 servings

Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Muffins

May I just say that I believe Ghirardelli is some of the best chocolate I've ever had?  They are localized on the West Coast, so although I had been exposed to them just prior to moving & thought they were good, I also thought they are a tad expensive.  Once we lived on the West Coast & had a bit of money though I knew I had to go visit the official Ghirardelli Chocolate company/factory/ice cream parlor in San Diego.

Unfortunately on the day when we went to visit, it was very warm and we had to be back on the Marine Base by a certain time, so although I would have enjoyed actually taste testing the chocolates they had available for sampling, as well as the ice cream they make there in the store we were on a time schedule.

Instead of buying the chocolates themselves, I chose to buy a cookbook, because chocolate will melt, but a book will last.  That was one of the best purchases I've ever made, no kidding.  I love that thing. I have made so many notes in the margins that some of the pages have become tattered.  Not to mention how my beagle loved it too!!  Apparently, it smelled like chocolate or coffee, or both when we brought it home, because he chewed up the corner really bad.  Nothing like it being initiated & branded by the dog!

Through all of these wonderful chocolate related recipes, my husband's favorite recipe is their Double Chocolate Muffins.

At one time, the double chocolate muffins were offered in a boxed mix so you could rip & dump your way to heaven, but either due to a lacking interest, or perhaps it was just too expensive, they discontinued the boxed mixes.  This was a second, and perhaps most important, justification for purchasing the cookbook originally.

When they discontinued these muffins, my husband was so upset that you would have thought the world was ending.  My husband loves chocolate.  The darker the better, and is very picky about what kind of chocolate he puts in his mouth, even to the point he refuses to consume anything that isn't up to the quality of Ghirardelli any longer.

Through trial & error, I have finally been able to nail the perfect muffin, and ironically, it isn't the way it's written in the book.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  Why would they want to let the secrets out?  They wouldn't.  But lemme tell you what, if you tend to substitute ingredients, or use "healthy" ingredients in place of less healthy, this recipe isn't for you.   If you want it to turn out correctly, you have to follow the directions, and not replace items listed such as "finely ground pastry flour" with "all purpose".  There is no such thing as "all purpose" flour.  Flours are made for specific things, and the term all purpose only occurred when the flour mills were trying to get a leg up on the competition. If you replace bread flour for all purpose, your bread will not turn out as it's intended.  Ditto if you substitute a different flour for the one listed.

As I am not allowed to post the original recipe online, (it will be censored) I will e-mail or comment the recipe to those who want it, either with or without my notes on how to make it.


Heidi