Schrock Women's Chili

This recipe has brought me great comfort over the years. I learned to love it from Mom & Grandma. Each lady varies their recipe slightly and I also do the same. That's the beauty of this recipe, it can be easily tweaked to fit your tastes. You can add different types of beans, vary the type of meat, and/or add green pepper.  However, I feel that the base is there to provide a yummy chili recipe. If you're feeling like an Hoosier for a day, add pasta. I don't personally enjoy this, but it's an Indiana thing!

Ingredients:
3/4-1 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey)
1 lg. can tomato juice
3-4 cans beans, drained (I normally use kidney, but  lately Adam has had me use 2 Kidney, 1 black bean)
chili powder
salt
pepper
Optional:
1 can petite diced tomatoes (include juice)
diced green pepper, added during the meat browning.

Directions:

1. In a large pan, brown the meat. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add tomato juice, beans, tomatoes and chili powder (about 10 shakes).
3. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. Taste along the way and adjust seasoning to taste. 

Chad's Summer Salad

Jennie asked me to make dinner tonight so I made this one up on the fly.  It actually turned out really well so I thought I'd share the "recipe" with you all.  I was shooting for a salad to fit the weather here (80+ degrees and Cooper and Jen hit up the pool today).  As always, tweak to taste.


Ingredients

Salad
* Head of Romaine Lettuce
* Two chicken breasts
* 1/2 Granny Apple
* 1/4 Red Onion
* 3-4 Plum Tomatoes
* 1 small package of Honey Goat Cheese (we purchased ours from Publix)
* Salt
* Pepper
* Olive Oil
* White Wine Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette
* 1/3 cup Olive Oil
* 1/3 cup White Wine (we used a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc)
* 1 Tb White Sugar
* 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
* 2 Cloves of Garlic (minced)
* Ground black pepper (pinch or to taste)

Directions

1) Prepare the vinaigrette by combining all of the ingredients in a sealable jar and shaking well.  The vinaigrette can be used immediately or kept for 2 weeks in the fridge.
2) Cook the chicken.  I rubbed down the chicken breasts in olive oil, salt, pepper and a couple of splashes of the vinaigrette.
3) Chunk the chicken, toss in a bit more of the vinaigrette and set aside (or in the fridge) to cool.
4) Clean the lettuce, rip apart and dry.
5) Chop up the apple and the onion.
6) Dice the tomatoes.
7) Dice, to the extent possible, the cheese.
8) In a large bowl, add the lettuce, then the chicken, then everything else.
9) Toss and enjoy.

Janelle's Strawberry Pretzel Salad

It's been a bit since either of us have had the time to attend to this blog, so I thought I'd ask Mom to contribute the recipe from a dish she brought out yesterday for Mother's Day.  We had a very enjoyable time with Mom, Dad, Jennie, Cooper and I being joined by the Walski's, friends who - like my parents and though we met down here in the middle of last year -  also transplanted from Chicago.  The corn on the cob/grilled steak and chicken/pasta salad/etc./etc. was all very good, but this dish garnered the most attention, including stopping Dad mid-sentence to ask where I had procured my second batch (he had missed it in his first-go at the table).  The layered dish works as a sweet side or as a dessert.

From Mom: My version is a little less sweet than the original...
(Brianne and Konnie's favorite salad)

STRAWBERRY PRETZEL SALAD

LAYER ONE:
2 c. crushed pretzels
1 1/2 T. sugar
     Mix together, then add:
3/4 c. melted butter
      Press into 13x9 baking dish. (Can use a slightly smaller dish - can also cut in half for an 8x8 or a 9x9 dish.)  Bake for about 8 min. at 400.  Cool.

SECOND LAYER:
8 oz. pkg. lower-fat cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
Sm. carton Cool Whip (8oz.)
      Mix or beat cr. cheese and sugar well.  Mix in Cool Whip, then spread over pretzel base.  Refrigerate until firm.

THIRD LAYER:
One lg. or two small boxes strawberry jello, dissolving in 2 c. boiling water.  Add 16-20 oz. frozen strawberries.  Refrigerate until slightly set.  Poor over cr. cheese layer.  Refrigerate.

I personally like it better if I don't use all the jello.  I pour the extra into another dish to eat later.