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Reinventing Yesterday's Chili

My “Eats and Treats” column in the summer issue of Prairies North Magazine features a quick, delicious pressure cooker chili. Whether you make our Prairies North Magazine recipe or a familiar family favourite, you will be grateful for all the ways you can serve the leftovers. 

We love to turn leftovers-night into a party by letting each family member decide how to reinvent the chili. Even my son-in-law, who isn’t fond of most leftovers, agrees that chili tastes even better the next day. 

A variation on Huevos Rancheros can be served for a weekend breakfast or a filling lunch. The kids enjoy a choice of tortilla; my granddaughter likes spinach wraps. Each person can fill their tortilla with a selection of ingredients like chili, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream. Roll up the tortilla and top it with a fried egg. Delicious! 

If there is rice available, I usually choose to make a Chili Rice Bowl. I simply layer chili over rice, add grated cheese, and top with chopped, crisp lettuce. Scrumptious!

 Chili Nachos piled with cheese is another option. Layer corn chips on a cookie sheet, add a layer of chili, and a layer of shredded cheese. Bake nachos for about ten minutes at 350°F. Watch the nachos closely because these chips brown up quite quickly. My grandchildren use the microwave to warm their nachos and melt the cheese. 

I have a friend who likes to make a Chili Omelette. I love the sound of that. Chili is also great served in a bread bowl, or in Tea Party Toast Cups. You can also fill treasure chests with chili: they are rectangular boxes cut from unsliced bread, hollowed out, and toasted in the oven.

Whatever way you reinvent your leftovers, you will likely want to pressure cook another batch of chili soon. 

My granddaughter likes her wraps crispy. 

For the Pina Colada Rice Pudding just click HERE. 

Spring 2020 Prairies North Magazine Has Arrived

In my spring Eats and Treats column, I shared a few of my favourite memories about microwave cooking, from a time when microwave ovens were new and exciting. Decades later, I still rely on my microwave oven for many fantastic recipes. 

You must try my Popcorn in Caramel Sauce. Get inspired to eat popcorn in the morning, by reading I Love Popcorn for Breakfast. 

Every Christmas I make Fantastic Microwave Oven Peanut Brittle. This year I also made it with mixed nuts.  

Oat Snacking Cake is delicious when cooked in the microwave oven. 

Six-Minute Lemon Pie Filling is one of my favourite recipes. 

Also, Best Ever Microwave Rice Pudding is a delicious microwave dessert.  

Don’t overlook the simplicity of the cheese sauce featured in the Spring Issue of Eats and Treats. This particular cheese sauce is simple enough for kids to make. It dresses up everything from corn chips to broccoli. I recently discovered that leftover veggies smothered in this sauce can be frozen and reheated perfectly. You might even want to try making Scalloped Cabbage, which I adapted from a vintage family recipe, using a microwaved cheese sauce. 

In these days of self-distancing, I’ve had a lot of time to play. I want to draw your attention to a short video that features my talking microwave, circa 1980. Tee Hee! 

Click here: Talking to My Microwave

More Recipes for Prairies North Magazine Subscribers

In the “Eats and Treats” column of the 2019 winter issue of  Prairies North Magazine, I feature Vintage Christmas Pie, which is filled with spicy, fruit-based mincemeat adapted from my great-grandmother's recipe, which dates back to the 1800s. The recipe no longer contains minced meat, but I do include farm-fresh suet. This delicious Christmas filling can be incorporated into a variety of baked goods. Since many of my blog followers also subscribe to Prairies North Magazine, I am sending this recipe update by email, as well as posting it on Facebook. 

My favourite way to serve this colourful Christmas mincemeat is in tarts made with Vintage Hot Water Pastry. This year, I made a second batch of mincemeat, so I could freeze some to make Mincemeat Oat Squares and Mincemeat Bran Muffins. Of course, you can purchase canned mincemeat for these recipes, but my homemade mincemeat results in better taste and texture.   

Here are the links to the recipes I mentioned in the magazine. If you want the Vintage Christmas Pie recipe, you can always contact the magazine HERE! Better yet, subscribe during their gift-giving special and surprise your friends four times a year with a seasonal sampling of Saskatchewan life. 

Vintage Hot Water Pastry

Mincemeat Oat Squares

Mincemeat Bran Muffins