Gramps's Chili

My gramps, Robert Morris, was famous for his chili.  This is his secret recipe.  So, shhhh, don't tell anyone!  This picture of him is from his younger days serving in the Navy in WWII.

Ingredients:

1 can red enchilada sauce
1 can green enchilada sauce
2 lbs. hanburger
1 can crushed tomatoes
2-3 cans tomato sauce
cooked pinto beans (1 lb. dry)
garlic salt
chili powder

Directions:

Brown hamburger and mix with enough flour to soak up the grease.  Add everything together in a slow cooker.  Add garlic salt and chili powder to taste.  Let slow cook for several hours.  Serve alone or with sour cream and cheese.

Cocktail Sauce

I love shrimp.  But what I love even more, is cocktail sauce on my shrimp!  This recipe is my old standby when I need to whip some up at the last minute.  I really love horseradish, so I add more than the recipe calls for.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. ketchup
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. horseradish
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 drops Tabasco or to taste

Directions:

Whisk all together and chill until ready to serve.

Dad's Salsa

My dad is a connoisseur of salsa.  He says you can always tell if a restaurant is going to be good or not by their salsa.  Good salsa = good restaurant.  Bad salsa = we won't be back.  But the best salsa around is the salsa he makes himself.  Yum!

Ingredients:

2 cans diced tomatoes
1 onion
1 bunch cilantro
1 tsp. minced garlic
jalapeno - to taste
1-2 splashes lime juice
salt and pepper - to taste
mango (optional)

Directions:

Put one can of tomatoes into the blender with the garlic, jalapeno, lime juice and salt and pepper.  Puree until well blended.  Chop cilantro and onion into small pieces.  Put tomato mixture from blender into a bowl.  Add the other can of tomatoes, cilantro and onion.  Mix well and serve with tortilla chips.  For an extra special treat, add diced mango.

Aunt Polly's Salad

Every time I take this somewhere, people fall in love with it!  No one's really sure who Aunt Polly is.  I got this recipe from a Relief Society meeting when we lived in Arizona.  This is my favorite salad recipe ever!  It really doesn't get any better than strawberries, bacon and Swiss cheese all in one bite.

Ingredients:

spinach or red and green leaf lettuce
bacon
strawberries
almonds
red onion
Swiss cheese
Aunt Polly's poppy seed dressing

Directions:

Chop and wash the lettuce, cook and chop the bacon, slice the strawberries , grate the Swiss cheese and slice the onion into thin slices.

Toss everything except the dressing together in a large bowl.  Right before serving, mix in the dressing.  Serve immediately.


Aunt Polly's Poppy Seed Dressing Ingredients:

3/4 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/3 c. white vinegar
3/4 c. oil
1/3 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. mustard
3/4 tsp. salt

Dressing Directions:

Blend all together unil well mixed.  Add to salad and mix right before serving.

Baking Powder Biscuits

Baking Powder Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. butter
3/4 cup milk (or 1 cup for drop biscuits)

Directions:

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together and cut in the softened butter.  Add the milk and stir just until mixed.  Roll out and cut into biscuits.  Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.

***As a busy mom, I don't have time to roll and cut out biscuits.  I always make the "drop" version with the additional milk.  This makes the dough the perfect consistency to scoop out with my large scoop onto a baking sheet.  Bake the same amount of time and you have delicious biscuits in a flash!

If you add cheese to the dough and then sprinkle garlic salt on them before baking, these taste just like Red Lobster's biscuits!

Stone Soup

I grew up reading the story of "Stone Soup" by Marcia Brown.  It always made me so sad that no one would share any food with hungry soldiers.  And then I love the ingenuity of the soldiers to finally teach the town's people to share.  Here's the "recipe" of what goes into stone soup from this book.  Just add as much as you like of the ingredients.  Ours always turns out great!

Stone Soup

Ingredients:

water
stones
salt & pepper
carrots
cabbage
beef
potatoes
barley
milk

Directions:

Put everything in but the milk and cook until the barley and veggies are tender.  Add milk, warm though and serve.