berry desserts: chili

Showing posts with label chili. Show all posts

Road Trip Food (Yellowstone): Cowboy's Lodge and Grille (Gardiner, Montana)

On my last trip to Yellowstone, we flew into Bozeman, Montana and drove 1.5 hours to the North entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Feeling hungry on the road, we decided to stop in Gardiner, Montana for a bite, but most restaurants were closed in between lunch and dinner service. Luckily, Cowboy's Lodge and Grill was open.

Being cold, I had to order a cup each of their gumbo, chili, and the ranch hand stew ($4 for a cup). I've had better gumbo elsewhere but the other two were hearty and really hit the spot.

If you ever find yourself looking for food in Gardiner, Montana, I recommend the stew here!

I had to order the bison steak since I was in Montana (it's on all the menus here, pretty much) but here it turned out to be pretty tough (a bit overcooked) and pretty expensive ($28), especially compared to the stew and chili!

The cobbler ($3) was unfortunately disappointing, with canned peaches and mushy crust.

Despite the disappointing steak and cobbler, we were happy with our stews and chili and were just glad to find a place to eat here between lunch and dinner service! Not too bad of a first meal at Yellowstone.

Cowboy Lodge and Grill
303 2nd St S
Gardiner, MT

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Simmzy's Takes Over Long Beach

Simmzy's had just opened in Long Beach and it was already as popular as their first location in Manhattan Beach. We came on a Saturday and their open dining room was packed, with a waiting list for tables.

Lucky for us, we were being hosted by the restaurant, so we didn't have to wait for a table.

The place is also already popular enough for them to put up this sign!

At Simmzy's, you gotta order from their 31 rotating beers on tap (they also have 10 wines on tap). We had a beer flight with Allagash Victoria, Lost Abbey's Lost and Found, Monkish Anomaly, Hangar 24 Essence

This was the first time I tried a beer from Monkish, a new brewery down in Torrance, and it was pretty good. The Essence is a double IPA and too hoppy for me (I'm not big on hoppy beers), so I stuck with Lost Abbey, possibly my favorite Southern California brewery. We also tried Karl's Flan-diddly-anders, a Flanders red from Karl Strauss Brewing, which was lightly sour.

The kitchen sent out a sampler of their appetizers:
Ahi tartar with spicy soy, avocado, scallions, fried wonton. Seared tuna, jalapeño, and shrimp in spicy sauce

I quite liked the seared tuna, topped with a slice of jalapeno. I didn't see this on the regular menu, but the treat shows what the kitchen can do.

The appetizers at Simmzy's are big and meant to be shared. If you've never been to a Simmzy's before, this one is a must order:
Blue Cheese Haystack ($6) - shoestring fries tossed with homemade blue cheese dressing, garlic, and a touch of spicy sauce

The crispy fries were the perfect vehicle for that blue cheese+spicy sauce mixture. A dangerous snack to have on the table.
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White Chicken Chili

Where I'm at, I'm not even THINKING about chili. Like that is the last thing I want right now, because it's so hot out. But I did just post about that Monterey Ranch Bread a little whiles back, and figured since I served this chili with it that I may as well post about it too. Plus it was next up in line of photos to edit in my camera :)

So here I bring you a tasty white chicken chili recipe, in the dead of summer, yes, but wait until a chilly day to make this comforting chili. The original recipe called for alot more beans, but looking at other recipes and using my own discretion, I decided to use only 2 cans of beans. The only thing was, that it got kind of mushy after cooking it for so long. Maybe next time I will cook it for less time. The original recipe calls for an hour, or until it is hot all the way through and the beans and meat are tender. But really it could be considered hot all the way through after way less time, and also the chicken is already cooked so... I'm not sure how long is needed. But next time I would probably start at 30 minutes then check how it's doing, but also may turn down the temperature to low or at a small simmer so that the beans don't overcook and become mushy.

White Chicken Chili

adapted from Bubaboo, Mini, Mr & Me

2 (16 oz) cans of Great Northern beans
4 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup diced onions
2 (4 oz) cans diced green chiles
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
3 cups Monterey Jack cheese
Sour cream, for topping if desired

Place the beans and chicken stock in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium once boiling and keep at a simmer.

In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and chiles and saute for about 5 minutes or until onions are soft. Add the chile mixture to the large pot of beans and stock. Add in the chicken and seasonings. Cook, stirring occasionally for an hour (? I would probably start at 30 minutes then check after that. Or keep chili on low instead of medium, so that beans don't become mushy). Add the cheese and cilantro and stir well. Top with sour cream just before serving, if desired.

Printable Recipe

And as you already know, we served this with some Monterey Ranch Bread. Cuz chili and bread go together so well.

Peace, and bacon grease!

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Cookbook Review: Chili for Two from Taste of Home Down Home Cooking for One or Two

Yes, I am posting a chili recipe in May. No, I didn't just make it though! I've been meaning to blog about it for awhile now... so no better time than now. My man and I am always looking for different chili recipes. I like to take different concepts from different recipes and discover what we consider to be the best chili.

And I've been trying to use my cookbooks more. With the internet, I get so caught up in making recipes from other food bloggers. But I seriously have so many cookbooks that need to be used up! So I figured that I would try to make as many recipes as possible from a single cookbook before I move on to the next, and give you guys a review of the recipes I make from each cookbook! So I'm starting with Taste of Home's Down Home Cooking for One or Two. The longer I am in the food blogging world, the more I learn obviously. And I am learning that these Taste of Home cookbooks aren't anything high quality like ones you'd find from well-known celebrity chefs or seasoned pros. They are more basic cookbooks for the average person who just needs to make a simple, quick meal for the family... or in this case, for one or two people! I thought this was a perfect cookbook to start with because it suits our needs... quick and simple recipes that don't call for a lot of ingredients, and they are already scaled down to our portion size. So I hope to be making more recipes from here coming up!

We started with this quick chili recipe - Chili for Two. What a creative name. I want to change it, I really do. That's no name for a recipe! But I didn't make the recipe so who am I to say what it should be called? So yeah, we're talkin a pretty basic chili recipe. Nothing special from any other chili recipe you can find anywhere. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't fantastic. Not THE BEST CHILI ever! I did like the small batch and not having to bust out my math skills to convert measurements. But it could use some more ingredients to spruce it up, that's for sure!

Chili for Two

from Taste of Home's Down Home Cooking for One or Two

*Yields 2 servings

1/4 lb ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (15.5 oz) can chili beans, undrained
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp sour cream, divided, for garnish
2 tbsp cup shredded Monterey Jack and mild cheddar cheese, divided, for garnish
2 cilantro leaves, divided, for garnish

Cook beef, onion, and garlic in a saucepan on medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Serve in two bowls. Garnish each bowl with 1 tbsp sour cream, 1 tbsp shredded cheese, and 1 cilantro leaf.

Printable Recipe

Rating: 3 out of 5 forks