I recently updated my chicken pot pie recipe.  Go check it out. 

Chicken pot pie has always been my go to pantry recipe.  It consists almost entirely of things I keep on hand so it is perfect for stretching the days between trips to the grocery store.  I keep pie crusts, vegetables, and usually some form of cooked or uncooked chicken in the freezer.  If you don’t have or can’t make the pie crusts you can serve this delicious chicken gravy over rice or noodles or make it into a soup, or top it with with biscuits or dumplings.

The key to any good pantry challenge recipe is to be able to use what’s on hand.  Pretty much the only ingredients you must have for this are flour, milk, and chicken broth or the ability to make chicken broth (i.e. chicken bones, meat, or bouillon cubes).  The rest is whatever bits of meat and veggies you have on hand.  Serve with a starch-rice, bread, potatoes, noodles, etc-and you have one of my favorite comfort foods.

Chicken pot pie also freezes wonderfully both before or after baking-you don’t even have to thaw it just put it right in the oven frozen.  You can also freeze the filling separately if you aren’t sure how you want to serve it.

If you like Vietnamese food I highly recommend Bon Appétit’s Pork Meatball Banh Mi which was absolutely wonderful.  I love the flavor combinations in Banh Mi sandwiches but I didn’t think I could properly cook the caramelized paper thin slices of beef or pork at home.  These meatballs are a great, easy solution to get all of those flavors without too much work.  My favorite julienne peeler was perfect for making the pickled carrots and daikon.

One last tip if you make this recipe, I used Sambal Oelek Chilli Paste because I feel like it has a lot more flavor than sriracha.  It also has a lot more heat!  However tempting don’t cut back on the amount in the meatballs.  It really adds a nice flavor and not too much heat.  The Hot Chili Mayo is much spicier, so I did cut the amount in half there-you can always stir in a little more!

I subscribe to Bon Appétit but I might have missed this great recipe if Biz hadn’t made it on her blog! Thanks Biz!

My kids have long been fascinated by watermelon cake.  I don’t know why.  One day, I told them we could make any flavor fruit cake they wanted and of course their first choice was watermelon cake-probably the only fruit cake I couldn’t imagine making.  I have been putting them off for sometime but when my now five year old’s birthday was approaching it was all watermelon cake all the time.

Me: What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?

Her: Watermelon Cake!

Me: Ok but if I can’t make watermelon cake, what do you want?

Her: Watermelon Cake!

Me: Ok so you just want a cake decorated like a watermelon right? What flavor do you want the cake to be? Strawberry? Chocolate?

Her: Watermelon!

Me (several hours later): So, um what kind of cake do you want for your birthday?

Her: I already told you.

So with that, watermelon cake it would be.  Watermelon cake that tastes like watermelon.  We make strawberry cake all the time which is basic yellow cake with either strawberry puree or strawberry jello (or both) blended in.  So the watermelon cake follows the same concept.  I did not add the additional watermelon puree this time because it is the dead of winter and any watermelons I could find just tasted like water.  However if making this cake during watermelon season you might want to add it.

Watermelon Cake

• 1 3 oz package watermelon flavored jello
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter melted, at room temperature
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup watermelon puree (optional)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• pink and red food coloring
• 2 cups white frosting
• green food coloring
• green decorating sugar

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Grease a 9 or 10 inch springform pan or 2 inch deep round cake pan and dust lightly with flour.
2. Combine dry ingredients (powdered jello, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt) in a mixing bowl.
3. Beat in melted butter for about 2 minutes and until mixture resembles cornmeal (pink cornmeal).
4. Combine eggs, vanilla, milk, and watermelon puree, if using, in a bowl.
5. Add liquid mixture to dry mixture, beating constantly for 2 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl mid-way.
6. Stir mini chocolate chips into batter and tint with a few drops at a time of pink and red food coloring until you achieve a suitably hot pink color.
7. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
8. Allow cake to cool briefly in the pan before removing the side of the springforn pan or turning the cake out onto a rack to finish cooling.
9. Position cake on a serving tray or cake stand so that the bottom is on top. Use a serrated knife to cut off a thin, flat layer and expose the pink cake and chocolate chips beneath.
10. Mix a few drops of green food coloring into frosting until you get the desired rind color.
11. Place strips of parchment paper under the edge and frost the sides of the cake.
12. Press sugar onto the sides and refrigerate until the frosting sets.
13. Remove parchment and serve in wedges.

I used the kid’s favorite marshmallow frosting tinted Kelly green but any stiff white frosting will work.  You can also make this cake with a box of yellow or white cake mix, simply add the jello and/or watermelon puree along with the rest of the ingredients called for on the box and stir in the chocolate chips before baking it in the springform pan.  By the way, the chocolate chips will fall to the bottom of the cake and only be on the bottom layer (which becomes the top when you flip the cake).  If you want fewer “seeds” you can reduce the amount to 1/4 cup.

The verdict? “Wow, it really tastes like watermelon.”  “It’s different-but good!”  “Tastes like watermelon jolly ranchers.”  “This is the best birthday cake I ever had.”

When I get a chili craving it is generally the Yankee concoction of loose ground beef, tomatoes, and-dare I say-beans that I have in mind.  This, however, is not that chili.  This is Texas chili: a thick and spicy slurry of chilies and meat, never to be disgraced by either a bean or vegetable.  This is Grandpa’s chili recipe, the one mrChaos grew up eating with Saltines and cornbread.  It’s pure, stick-to-your-ribs cowboy food.

Gramps (and Son)’s Chili

• 5 lbs chuck shoulder, trimmed of all fat
• peanut oil, lard or bacon fat for browning meat
• 32 oz beef broth
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 16 oz can tomato sauce
• 6 tbsp, heaping, chili powder
• 3 tbsp, heaping, sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp, heaping, cayenne
• 16 oz spring water
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp cumin, divided
• 2 tsp oregano, divided
• 1/2 can tomato paste
• 2 jalapenos, cut a slit in the flesh but do not chop
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 packet Goya Sazon (cilantro and tomato) (found with other Mexican staples or alongside bouillon)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 tbsp flour

1. Trim all fat from the chuck shoulder roast and cube the beef into bite-sized pieces-not too small or they will fall apart during cooking.
2. Heat oil or fat in a cast iron skillet and brown beef in several batches.  Add to crock pot.
3. Add the beef broth, chicken stock, tomato sauce, chili powder, paprika, cayenne, water, onion powder, garlic powder, 1 tbsp of the cumin, 1 tsp of the oregano, tomato paste, jalapenos, bay leaves and Goya seasoning packet) to the crock pot.
4. Cook on high for 4 hours.
5. Taste, add the remaining 1/2 tbsp cumin and 1 tsp oregano, salt and pepper as desired.
6. Remove peppers and bay leaves.
7. If chili needs to be thickened mash 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp flour, stir into the chili until combined.
8. Serve with cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, crackers or cornbread.

You can make this with sirloin or round steak but you will have to cook it longer to get the meat tender.  This is some pretty spicy stuff so temper both the cayenne and the jalapenos to your tastes.  Also, if your jalapenos get so soft that the seeds begin falling out, you can remove them early.  If you like your chili bitter you can also add a teaspoon of instant coffee granules, but I don’t think it needs it.