Author: Jacque K

Green Chile and Cheddar Corn Bread

Between school, birthdays and football parties? It seems like I’m always trying to come up with some sort of a dish to take somewhere! So I thought I’d share with you an easy, quick and delicious side dish that you can just throw together and take just about anywhere!

Cornbread is ALWAYS a big hit in our house! A quick meal is to toss some leftover beef chili (like this delicious Slow Cooker Lumberjack Chili)  over the top, add a pinch of cheese and sour cream and you’ve got a delicious and quick dinner! But it’s also fun to just grab a piece for a snack, with a little bit of butter! We’ve found quite a few ways to add some flavor to our cornbread over the years, but my absolute favorite is Green Chiles!!

 

Green Chile and Cheddar Corn Bread
Recipe Type: Side Dish
Author: Jacque
Prep time:
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Serves: 12
A delicious side dish, or main course for any meal! Corn bread is the perfect fall treat!
Ingredients
  • 1 cup boxed biscuit mix
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 2 Tablespoons Sugar (you can substitute 1 Tblsp Sugar, 1 Tblsp Brown Sugar too!)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 medium roasted Pueblo Chile (diced) *You can add a second Chile if you like a little extra kick!
  • 1 can (drained) sweet corn
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease a 9 inch Square baking pan. (Although I prefer to use my 10 inch Iron Skillet for this!)
  2. Stir biscuit mix, cornmeal, sugar, salt, milk, oil, butter, and eggs ina medium bowl until moistened – DO NOT OVER MIX! This batter will be slightly lumpy and have a gritty texture! Gently fold in the corn, cheese, and Chiles!
  3. Pour into Pan
  4. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown and be sure to serve warm!
  5. If you have left overs, store in an air-tight container, and reheat before serving a second time!

If you’re looking for something else do to with your chile this year? How about Green Chile Mac N Cheese, or this awesome Green Chile and Corn Queso Dip?!

 

Green Chile and Corn Queso Dip

Green Chile Queso

My sister is visiting from Nebraska, and while we were at church the other day we were all talking about our favorite ways to include Green Chile! (We’re a little excited for Chile Fest, but who isn’t?) Of course, the most popular was breakfast burritos! (Maybe because our youth group was selling them, but who knows.) But my sister wasn’t so sure about this green chile thing, so I decided the best way to indoctrinate her would be to make a delicious snack!

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon and we decided we were going to have a movie night, and with any good movie night you need a snack! So I took one of my favorite dip ideas, and decided to add Pueblo Chiles! The results were amazing!

 

Green Chile and Corn Queso Dip
Recipe Type: Dip
Author: Jacque
A delicious dip, perfect for Football Sunday!
Ingredients
  • 16 oz sour cream
  • 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
  • 1 (14 oz) corn, drained
  • 1/4 cup diced Green Chiles (or 1 4oz container, if using store-bought.)
  • 2 cups shredded “Fiesta Blend” cheese (or your favorite mexican food cheese)
  • 2 tsp Chile Powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to broil.
  2. In a saucepan, melt sour cream, cream cheese, corn, green chiles and 1 cup cheese together over medium heat. Stir in seasonings.
  3. Pour into a baking dish, I used 2 bread pans, but a 9 inch cake pan would work fine.Spread remaining 1 cup of cheese evenly over the top of the pan. Broil for 3-4 minutes, until cheese is nicely browned.
  4. Serve immediately with your favorite tortilla chips, celery or bread!

 

Is it Chile or Chili? Either way, check out some of our other favorite Chile recipes! Green Chile Macaroni and Cheese and Pueblo Green Chili!

Curious where to get Chiles?  Musso and DiSanti are two of the local farms in Pueblo that I love! (And they ship, if you’re not from Southern Colorado.) Or you can order New Mexico Hatch Chiles from Amazon! (I prefer Pueblo Chiles, their a little spicier – but the Hatch Chiles are still an excellent choice!) 

Green Chile Mac and Cheese

I love Green Chile! But twelve years ago, before moving to Pueblo? I have to admit (sadly) that Green Chile was nothing to me, aside from the weird-looking sauce poured over my burrito when the local Mexican Restaurant in my Nebraska hometown messed up my order and put green sauce instead of red. But in the past few years? It’s become a regular staple in our diet, buying a huge bag each year at Chile Fest and then using it throughout the year!

Mac & Cheese is a favorite in our house, of course, that’s not surprising since I have a six-year-old! I’ve always added veggies in to sneak them into her diet – broccoli, peas and green beans being her favorite. But a few months ago I decided to try Green Chile, and what I got? It was a winner! It’s a bit spicy for my six-year-old, but this is my perfect “Grown Up” Mac N Cheese! (Super bonus? It freezes well! So you can just reheat later!)

If you don’t have a reserve of Green Chile in your freezer, and it’s not Fall in Pueblo? (Where we are fortunate enough to have chile’s roasting at the local grocery store/Walmart!) Then you still have several options for your chiles! My favorite option is to buy from one Pueblo’s Farms! (Most all of them have online ordering if you’re not from the area!) Musso and DiSanti are two of the local farms that offer online ordering! Or, you can order a frozen product from Amazon as well, but those are mostly New Mexico Hatch Chiles. (Which are still good, but we’re partial to the Pueblo Chile!)

 

 

Green Chile Mac and Cheese
Recipe Type: Casserole
Author: Jacque
Prep time:
Cook time:
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Serves: 4
Who doesn’t love Mac and Cheese? When paired with Pueblo’s Signature Chiles, this dish is a rich and creamy favorite with a hint of spice!
Ingredients
  • 4 oz. elbow macaroni noodles
  • 3 qts. water
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
  • 2 Tbsp sour cream
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 3/4 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 Cup Green Chiles
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
  • bread crumbs for topping
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. In a large pot bring the water to boil, add the noodles. Cook the noodles until they are just a slight bit “crunchier” than you desire your mac n cheese. (I find that if I undercook the instructions by about 2 minutes, it makes for the PERFECT Mac N Cheese once baked!)
  3. In a large skillet melt the butter over low heat. Slowly add in the flour, whisk then cook for 3-4 minutes. Slowly add in the milk while whisking. (Whisk regularly to avoid clumping.) Cook for 5 minutes, the sauce will thicken. Add in the sour cream, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Stir in both cheeses and green chiles. Add the noodles and mix until all noodles are coated generously with the mixture.
  4. Transfer your mixture to a casserole dish, top with bread crumbs and then bake -uncovered- for 25 minutes. Switch your oven to broil and cook an additional 4-7 minutes to brown the top.

 

Pueblo Chile Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken

 

Beer Can Chicken is a pretty simple favorite at our house! It’s super moist, has simple prep and can be done on the grill – so my hubby is cooking dinner and not me! But I started to wonder if I couldn’t jazz it up a bit, and decided to try green chile! This recipe was a huge hit at our house, and I’m happy to be able to share it with you all!

 

Pueblo Chile Beer Can Chicken
Recipe Type: Chicken, Dinner
Author: Jacque
Prep time:
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Total time:
A delicious recipe for beer can chicken with a kick!
Ingredients
  • 1 Roasting Chicken (3-4 lbs)
  • 1 medium Pueblo Green Chile, sliced
  • 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced
  • 1 (12oz) your favorite beer beer
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Rub
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp Mrs. Dash Original
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • ½ tsp brown sugar sugar
Instructions
For The Rub
  1. In a small bowl mix smoked paprika, Mrs. Dash Original, garlic salt and brown sugar sugar, set aside.
For the Chicken
  1. Preheat your grill to medium-high heat.
  2. Rub the chicken (inside and out) with the vegetable oil. Season the chicken with rub mixture, make sure you remember to get the rub thoroughly coating the inside of the chicken to!. Insert the onions and chiles under the chicken skin.
  3. Take your can of beer and pour out about 1/4 of the can, then set your chicken over the top of the can and carefully transport to the center of the grill! (The can will prop the chicken just fine.)
  4. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees F. Remove from the grill and cover loosely with foil for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

 

Chile, Chili, or Chilli

Chile Chili Chilli

We have just over a month to go until the 20th Annual Chile & Frioles Festival! (September 19-21) So after a bit of discussion, we’ve decided to focus on our beloved Pueblo Chile for the next month! (Don’t worry – we’ll still be bringing you local events, but since we are ALL THINGS PUEBLO? We figured we should focus on the all important Pueblo Chile! )

While discussing which of our favorite chile recipes to feature (Like this delicious recipe for Pueblo Green Chile!) we decided that we needed to settle this debate first. Chile, Chili or Chilli? The Official Chile Fest site uses the “Chile” spelling. (Growing up, I always heard that Chile was the pepper, and Chili was the soup!) But I know that everyone I know uses different spellings, so I did a bit of investigating.

Sure, I know it doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things, but I thought it could be a fun way to kick off our Chile Season!

So what exactly are we debating? Capsicum Peppers – specifically Green Chile Peppers, ideally from Pueblo of course!

Before we really start? Let’s rule out Chilly. (Which wasn’t even technically in the running – but let’s throw it out there anyway!) According to my good friend, Miriam-Webster, Chilly is :  noticeably cold, feeling cold or noticeably unfriendly. (No mention of yummy peppers anywhere!)

Chilli is less commonly used, but still in the running. I found several articles and blogs referring to Chilli (with the double L ) being used by the Aztecs as describing a spicy fruit. One of the best blogs I found was this Spicelines post about the same topic, in which she points to Francisco Hernandez de Toledo and his writings. (I read a lot, but I have never ventured to read anything by King Phillip II’s physician!) So in a historical fashion, Chilli is indeed an acceptable spelling.

Chili is probably the most commonly used spelling. Although many foodie blogs, such as Hot Sauce Fever and MJ’s Kitchen, have come to the agreement that Chili is referring to the actual dish. A soup-like meal of meat, vegetables (especially chile’s) and a variety of spices and broth or water.

Chile overwhelmingly around the internet seems to be agreed upon as the proper spelling for the pepper.  (Although Grammarphobia seems to agree that either spelling is acceptable.)

Does it really matter which spelling you use? No, it doesn’t. Either way? Pueblo Chile Peppers are a huge part of our local culture, no way to overlook that! (Fun little fact – according to the Pueblo Chieftain? The Pueblo Chile is slighting hotter than the Jalapeno on the Scoville Scale – Jalapeno — 2,500-5,000 :  Pueblo — 5,000-6,000 : Serrano — 10,000-20,000 )

The area is known for its Pueblo chili, which is a mirasol type of pepper. It means “looking at the sun” in Spanish, Musso says. They are one of the few peppers that grow straight up, as opposed to New Mexico chilies that grow hanging down. –Colorado Springs Gazette