Fake Nog

This recipe for eggnog has nary an egg in site. My kids love it. I do too...but it certainly isn't healthy by any stretch of the imagination. The good part about it is that I can find the ingredients to make it all year long.

1 gallon whole milk
1 1/4 Cup sugar
3 - 3oz boxes French Vanilla (or plain Vanilla) instant pudding
1 1/2 TBSP vanilla extract
nutmeg to taste (I use about 1 tsp)

It's best to use a gallon of milk that has a few cups missing. Use a large mixing bowl that you can easily pour liquid back into the gallon container with. Empty pudding boxes into bowl. Add some milk, maybe 5-6 cups or so, (I don't measure), and mix well with whisk. Keep mixing until pudding is dissolved and very well combined. Add sugar while mixing and blend well. Add vanilla and nutmeg. Add more milk if it's too thick to pour. Pour the mixture back into the gallon milk jug and shake well to mix with the remaining milk. Chill for several hours. (If you start drinking it right away, the remainder fake-nog gets pretty thick so mix it up the day before you're going to use it...if you can resist.) Shake a few times occasionally to make sure the pudding doesn't settle on the bottom. Shake before serving and enjoy. (I can make this for about $4.50 a gallon...much cheaper than store bought eggnog.)

Some Purty Tasty Chili, If I Do Say So Myself

I was getting tired of my old chili recipe and we had an upcoming chili cook-off at church, so I decided to Google "award winning chili". Well, lo and behold, I discovered my new fav-o-rite chili recipe. My dad makes a mean breaded chicken chili that is to die for but it's way too labor intensive for me and therefore I never make it. So while I can say I think his is the best chili I've ever had, this recipe riiiight here comes in at a close second. Now, I'm not saying it's THE BEST because good chili is a fairly subjective thing, but we can't get enough of it around this here household. Just sayin'. I did change up the recipe ever so slightly, (we like a fair amount of beans in our chili) but the original can be found [here].

The night before you want to eat the chili, mix in large bowl:
1 large white onion chopped
1 red pepper, chopped (I think they're sweeter than green bell peppers)
1 poblano pepper, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely diced jalapenos (mine is jarred, and I add a few spoonfuls of the juice too)
3 lbs round steak, cubed (Yup, I said steak. Buy it on sale and it's as cheap as ground beef, but waaaay better!)
1 lb. hot sausage
5 TBSP Worchestershire
2 TBSP liquid smoke
salt and pepper to taste

Allow mixture to marinate, covered, in the refrigerator at least overnight.

The next afternoon, fry everything, (it will probably take 2 or 3 separate batches) and don't discard those yummy juices! Don't worry about cooking the meat all the way through as it will finish cooking while the chili simmers. Transfer to medium-large stock pot.

Add:
2 - 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
1 can pinto beans
1 can red kidney beans (I rinse these)
1 can ranch style beans
Tapatio (or other) hot sauce to taste
chili powder
ground cumin
cayenne pepper (go easy on this until you reach the amount of heat you can handle...we like a little kick but we don't like faces-melting-off-kind-of-heat at our house)
ground coriander (mmmm, my mouth is watering as I type...I love me some coriander)
additional salt and pepper, as needed

Adjust the spices to your personal taste. Heat mixture, stirring frequently over medium(ish) heat until it is warm throughout, then reduce heat to low and let simmer, covered, for 4 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally, (and of course tasting often *wink*.) Just be sure not to scorch the mixture. Long and slow is the key to tender meat here. (I haven't tried to make this in the crock-pot but if I ever do I'll post my results...I'm sure there would have to be some liquid adjustments.)

Enjoy! (Oh, and how you will enjoy this. I promise.)