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Hearty Garden Chili Recipe

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  Recipes for chili can vary greatly from one family to the next. Our neighborhood’s annual chili party is always fun with all the variety and  sampling from as many pots as we can! Personally I have two recipes that my family absolutely loves; a fabulous white chicken chili, and the red Hearty Garden Chili in this post. This particular chili is very chunky and filling, with beans, lots of ground beef, vegetables, and overall substance. It is wonderfully flavorful and nutritious, and spicy too (about medium), although the heat can easily be adjusted or omitted. Since I have a vegetable garden during the summer, I’ve been able to use my own homegrown tomatoes and peppers for this recipe. But if you don’t have access to homegrown tomatoes, you can use store-bought canned tomatoes as well. Though I have made some changes and added extra ingredients to personalize and create my own family recipe, the original recipe was shared with me by my sister-in-law. Thank you, Kelly!!! We both have made some changes over the years, and Kelly too, has started adding her own, homegrown tomatoes. We both agree it adds so much flavor! It really is hard not to have a second helping of this awesome stuff! Toward the bottom of this post you’ll first find the recipe with standard American measurements, then with metric measurements. If you try this recipe, please consider leaving a comment and star rating […] Read more »

Traditional Norwegian Fårikål, Lamb & Cabbage Recipe

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Fårikål, or Lamb & Cabbage, is an old, traditional Norwegian dish loved by young and old in Norway. It is often on the menu in the fall when lamb is in season and very inexpensive. Lamb meat is a favorite among many Norwegians, and simmering with cabbage is one of the most popular ways to prepare it. This authentic recipe is very easy to make, and even cheap, tough cuts become tender and juicy when fixed this way. Traditionally, this dish is served with boiled potatoes and plenty of lamb broth ladled overtop. Fårikål recipes throughout the country are usually very much the same, using only five ingredients: lamb, cabbage, salt, pepper, and water. Some people add a little bit of flour to thicken the broth just a tad. A simple combination, yet so very tasty! Norwegians abroad will sometimes make changes to traditional recipes, but in this post I will show you how to make the original, authentic Norwegian Fårikål. Directly translated, fårikål (får-i-kål) means “lamb in cabbage”. Får is another word for lamb or sheep, and kål simply means cabbage. We Norwegians are very proud of the quality of lamb meat produced in our country; sheep and their lambs usually graze in the mountains all summer long where they enjoy fresh air, lots of space to roam, clean mountain water, and an all-you-can-eat buffet of natural feed. Drivers must always keep an eye out when up in the mountains and […] Read more »

Authentic Norwegian Meatballs / Kjøttkaker Recipe

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As a native born-and-raised Norwegian, I grew up making and eating traditional Norwegian food. My mother taught me how to cook from I was just a wee little girl as I watched and stirred the pot with her. What a blessing to have had such a loving mother to teach me valuable life skills! One of the dishes frequently served as a mid-week dinner in Norway is “kjøttkaker”, Norwegian meatballs. When searching online, many English-written recipes for Norwegian meatballs seemed to me to be a bit different from your typical Norwegian kjøttkake recipe.  There may be some regional differences in Norway and of course every person will do things their own way. But the recipe I’m about to share, however, is a typical old fashioned meatball recipe from Norway, a recipe as genuine and authentic as they get! Traditional Norwegian kjøttkaker are all-beef, flavorful, and somewhat salty. Although Americans typically serve meatballs with BBQ or marinara sauce, Norwegian meatballs are served with brown gravy. Some Norwegians like to add a little bit of ginger to their meatball dough, and others will add chopped, raw onions. So you’ll find slight variations in these recipes but in the end they are all very similar to each other, and native Norwegians know what. If you decide to try this recipe, I would absolutely love a comment with a star rating as it really helps me out! Thanks in advance! How to make traditional […] Read more »

Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe

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  It amazes me how many recipes can be found on the internet at the click of a button! You can find all kinds of fancy, fun, new and different foods to try. But there there are those times when we really just want to go back to basics and make the food that Grandma used to serve. Many of our mother’s and grandmother’s old recipes have stood the test of time and are still loved today. And that is after we discovered Pinterest and all the changes and dressing-up one can do of basic, old recipes. Today’s post features a classic meatloaf recipe just the way it was made “back in the day.” Nothing weird, just the warm goodness of a meatloaf made with love! And who could argue with that?   To prepare the meatloaf you will, of course, need ground beef. The recipe below uses one pound, but since I like to make extras once I’m at it, I tripled the recipe when I took the following pictures and used three pounds. My meat was in the freezer so I took it out that morning to thaw out in time for dinner prep. At that point you will need almost 1 1/2 hours from start to finish. When dinner time comes around, start out by combining the dry ingredients: oats, sage, salt, and pepper. You’ll also need milk, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Mix all of these dry and wet ingredients […] Read more »

Norwegian Fiskegrateng; Fish Au Gratin Recipe

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  Fiskegrateng is a very popular and much loved fish casserole among kids and adults in Norway.  It is an excellent way to use up fish leftovers, especially if you have cod, pollock, or other white fish on hand. Being that Norway has such a long coast line, fish is widely available and served often, in a variety of ways. So, naturally, there will be leftovers. Translated to English, some fitting names for this dish might be Fish Au Gratin or simply Fish ‘n Macaroni Casserole. As I grew up in Norway, my mother would either make this dish from scratch (she didn’t use a recipe) or she would buy it frozen from the grocery store. It came with or without macaroni, and we all loved this meal, even those who normally didn’t like fish! It was a yummy, mild comfort-food served with boiled potatoes, cooked vegetables, and melted butter. My husband and kids all love this casserole as well. In fact, it’s one of my husband’s favorite meals of all!   The Recipe In this post I will use pictures to show you how to make fiskegrateng. But first I have to give you a heads-up: although this dish isn’t exactly difficult, it is not one of those quick and easy meals to make either. But if you want to WOW your family or friends with a wonderful, old-fashioned, authentic Norwegian fish dish, then this is IT! The skill level […] Read more »

Perfect Chicken with Top 3 Homemade Dry Rub Recipes

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Dry rubs are easy to make at home, and with three truly amazing recipes below, there is really no need to buy expensive spice mixes from the store! A dry rub is a mix of dry spices and herbs as opposed to wet marinades. Dry rubs can be made in large batches as they keep fresh for a long time and are easy to store. In this post I will share my absolute favorite homemade chicken rub recipes (at the bottom of this post), and also give you important tips on how to apply seasonings to chicken, which will make a world of a difference in the end as far as flavor goes! In addition, I’ll let you in on what I do to make sure my chicken is cooked to perfection and super juicy! The flavors in all three of the recipes in this post makes chicken taste like something you’d find at a great restaurant! They have quickly become must-keep recipes for my family as we absolutely love them, and it’s fun with variation! If you do try these recipes, I would really appreciate a quick comment with a star rating (option found immediately under each recipe). It helps me out tremendously! Thanks in advance! Why Make Your Own Rubs? Homemade seasoning mixes have several benefits over those purchased at stores: They save you money, give you variety with the endless choices available, and they are usually also healthier choices […] Read more »

Tasty, Cheesy White Chili Recipe with Chicken

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    I originally tasted this wonderful chili at an outdoor youth event with our church. This was during the month of October, and where we live it can easily get cold this time of year. This evening was chilly indeed, so chili was the perfect food to keep us warm! There were several pots of chili served, all from different recipes, and though all of them were tasty, this one by Tamie was by far my favorite! When I inquired about the recipe, I was given a link to the Taste of Home website. That same fall, with a few minor changes to the original recipe, I made a huge crock pot for my husband’s workplace as they were having a chili contest, and I gave him a big bag of shredded cheese to serve along with it. The cheese was to be used as a topping, of course. Instead he dumped the entire bag right into the pot, stirred it up, and wouldn’t you know, he came home with a trophy! Wow, first place!! This was now an award-winning recipe! I asked how many had entered, thinking maybe there were 40-50 or so, and it turned out there were around 8 other pots… So yeah, we got first place out of 8! Wow, pretty cool, huh? Well, at least people enjoyed it, so I’ll take that to heart. And we had a cool trophy to look at for […] Read more »

Savory & Tender Fall Apart Pot Roast, Recipe

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    Savory & Tender Fall Apart Pot Roast To make an excellent, fall-apart tender pot roast, choose a 2-3 pound piece of chuck roast. This particular cut of beef is marbled with a lot of fat and connective tissues and is initially quite tough, but becomes very juicy and fork tender if cooked the right way. The fat also adds a lot of flavor! Contrary to an already lean and tender piece of meat, which needs a shorter cooking time and dry, high heat, a chuck roast needs to cook for several hours in moist heat.  In other words, low & slow to break down fat and tenderize the meat for that fall-apart doneness a good pot roast is known for. The result is juicy, tender meat that melts in your mouth! Various recipes of herbs and spices can be used with this cooking method, and personally I love to use my crock pot to slow cook this wonderful, savory meat. If you do try this recipe, I would really appreciate a quick comment with a star rating (option found immediately under each recipe). It helps me out tremendously! Thanks in advance! Cooking the Meat The first thing you should do as you prepare to cook a pot roast is to sear it on all sides. Fry the meat in oil on high heat until browned all over. This time I cut my roast into serving pieces, but it […] Read more »

Leg of Lamb for Easter Holidays, a How-To Recipe w/ Pictures

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    A leg of lamb; just how do you prepare it? As I started reading about it on the internet I found a lot of conflicting information. Some methods say to slow cook on low heat, others suggest higher heat. I cooked three boneless legs, around 4-5 Lb each, over a period of time using slightly different approaches and with only small differences in the results. All three ended up with tough connective tissues in them, which I later found out is just the nature of the leg portion of lamb. I also found out that leg of lamb is considered a lean and tender cut of meat, and dry, moderate heat is recommended to preserve that tenderness and moisture. This is confusing since other sources say that with the tough connective tissues in leg of lamb, it needs to be cooked low and slow to help tenderize these tissues. I didn’t know any of that when I cooked up these three pieces of meats, so I cooked at medium heat once, and low heat twice, but all three methods were moist heat. The results? All three ways resulted in succulent  meat, though I thought the medium-well legs were a little less tender than the leg I cooked to well-done. This may have been a carving problem as you are supposed to cut against the grain, and I’m not sure I did a very good job making sure of […] Read more »

My Favorite Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe

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  Chicken Noodle Soup is good; of course it is! But Turkey Noodle Soup made from nutritious, homemade stock, on the other hand, is scrumptious! As I started making homemade turkey stock, or bone broth, a few years back, I went on a search for stock based soup recipes. I found a couple of recipes that I adapted into a soup recipe that is quick, easy, but delicious non-the-less, once you have stock and meat leftovers ready made in the freezer.  When cooking up a turkey, I usually cook a much larger bird than we need for our dinner, in order to have lots of leftovers in the freezer for meals like my much-loved soup. This recipe is adapted mostly from Paula Deen’s Chicken Noodle Soup, with a couple of changes. For one thing, I use a bag of frozen soup veggies from the store, to save time. You really can use any vegetables you want, though some vegetables tend to fall apart more easily than others, such as broccoli, so I try to avoid those. Root vegetables often work well. If using potatoes, use white, red-skin or Yukon potatoes as they keep their shape better than baking potatoes. Two important ingredients added toward the very end that I kept in this recipe, as per Paula Deen, are heavy cream and Parmesan cheese. These ingredients make the soup extra luscious. But still, it all starts with rich, homemade turkey stock […] Read more »