Mom's and Tom's Vegetarian Cream Cheese Enchiladas

 

The other day, my Mom finally revealed the secret to her delicious enchiladas. They’re beef enchiladas, but there was something different about them that I really like and they translate perfectly to vege-burger enchiladas. More than that, my Sweet Baboo liked them which is saying a lot for any dish.  Anyway, it turns out that instead of enchilada sauce, mom uses a can of tomato soup. She wasn’t specific about proportions, so I used griller crumbles instead of beef and guessed at some of this. It turned out pretty good. Sheila liked it, so I feel good about posting the recipe. Happy Cinco de’ Mayo. Celebrate with a Tex-Mex Potluck (Haystacks are also appropriate)! We celebrate on May the 5^th when our Mexican friends finally ran the French government out of Norte’ America. That was a good thing. Can you imagine if I’d had to make vegetarian snails?

Filling cooked, ready to stuff the tortillas.

Ingredients:

•      Taco size flour tortillas (Mom makes ‘em with corn tortillas so either way)
  
•   Can of tomato soup
•   Cream cheese
•   Picante sauce
•   Grated cheddar
•   1/3 onion (chopped)
•   Morningstar Griller Crumbles (or any  good vegeburger)
  
•   Sour cream

Directions:

1.     In a large skillet, brown the Griller Crumbles (about 1/3 to half a bag) and set aside
2. Saute’ the chopped onions
3. Add Griller Crumbles to onions
4. Add 4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a block) and can of tomato soup
5. Stir together till the cream cheese melts
6. Add ½ cup picante sauce (I like mine mild, but whatever suits you - hot as you want)
7. Stir together till the mixture starts to bubble then turn off the heat
8. Lay out a flour tortilla, spoon the mixture into it, then sprinkle grated cheddar over it.
9. Roll the flour tortilla up and lay it in a 9x12 casserole dish
10. Repeat laying the enchiladas side by side till the dish is full.
11. Spread the remainder of the filling on top of the enchiladas
12. Drizzle picante sauce onto the enchiladas
13. Cover the top of the enchiladas with grated cheese
14. Bake at 350° until the cheese melts and begins to brown
15. Remove from oven and serve with a dollop of sour cream
    

Here's what it looks like ready to go in the oven.

Breakfast Soft Tacos

 

Breakfast Soft Tacos are very tasty and so easy to make. The insides can be adjusted to what you have in your pantry, freezer or fridge and allow you to eat Tex-Mex in the morning without people thinking you are weird. Breakfast tacos are first cousins to the famed Breakfast Burrito (which I shall describe in a later post). The soft tacos are easier than burritos since they tortillas are smaller and can be corn tortillas if you must. But do try them with warm flour tortillas, preferably homemade flour tortillas warm out of the pan.

INGREDIENTS:

• Scrambled eggs and/or Morningstar Grillers Recipe Crumbles, vegetarian sausages, sausage patties or even vege-bacon. Pick your favorite or combine them.
  
• Vegetable oil
• Salt, or (optional) seasoned salt, Creole or Cajun Seasoning, or taco seasoning)
• Velveeta style cheese (optional)
  
• Butter or margarine
• Your favorite peppers, hot, medium or mild
• Chopped onions
• Grated cheddar cheese or Fiesta Blend (Monterey Jack and cheddar)
• Picante sauce
• Sour cream
• Diced tomatoes (and lettuce if you like lettuce in the morning
• Diced black olives and/or avocado slices
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. In (preferably) an iron skillet, sautee onions and peppers in light oil until the onions are caramelized and set aside in a bowl or on a plate.
   
2. Melt butter in the skillet. Season and brown the Recipe Crumbles or what have you if you're going to use them. Set these aside in a bowl or on a plate. 
3. In the skillet melt butter, scramble your eggs with a bit of salt and maybe a little seasoned salt, Cajun or Creole seasoning (optional). I cube up some Velveeta type cheese and add to the eggs to make them fluffy. Stand over them while they cook or they get overdone and dry. Set eggs aside in a bowl or on a plate.
4. Gently warm your flour tortillas for a few seconds in the microwave or in the skillet. If you make homemade flour tortillas (recommended) prepare them in advance and keep them warm. (You should buy a tortilla press, they're totally worth it.)
5. On a bed of eggs, recipe crumbles, sausage crumbles or whatever you want in your tacos.
6. Add onions and peppers, grated cheddar, diced tomatoes, black olives, avocado slices.
7. Top with picante sauce and sour cream, fold them over and eat them (see photo above).

Serving Suggestion:

A little OJ, cup of milk, some sliced fruit and you've got a ranch breakfast worth serving to the visiting academy choir. Let them make their own soft tacos. Gives them something to do with their hands.

One of my favorite things for breakfast. Enjoy!

Tom King

Poblano Vege-Chicken Enchilada Casserole

 
Prep: 15 mins Cook:1 hr Total:1 hr 15 mins Servings: 8
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

•  6 tablespoons butter or margarine divided (you could even use olive oil)
•  2 cans diced vege-chicken (Loma Linda or Worthington)
•  2 fresh poblano peppers, seeded and slice into strips
• 4 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 lime, halved
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 pint half-and-half
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2 ounces sour cream
• 12 (6 inch) corn tortillas
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Step 1:  In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Drain diced vege-chicken. Sautee diced vege-chicken in olive oil in the skillet with poblano peppers, jalapeno and garlic. Squeeze the juice from one lime half over the vege-chicken. Simmer for 25 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.

Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Step 3: In a medium saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter over low heat. Gradually stir in flour and half-and-half. Mix mushrooms, sour cream, cilantro, and the rest of the lime juice. Simmer until mushrooms are tender (about 10 minutes).

Step 4: In a 9x13 inch baking dish melt butter in the baking dish. Cut up and spread 3 tortillas. Pour half the chicken pepper mixture and one cup mozzarella over the tortillas. Pour half the cilantro sauce evenly over the first layer. Add another layer with remaining chicken and pepper mixture. Pour the rest of the vege-chicken pepper mixture and the cilantro sauce evenly over the casserole. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese.

Step 5:  Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

 

 

Jalapeno Popper Cheese Dip

This stuff is delicious. It’s not very hot at all and you can cut the amount of jalepeno in the mix or add more depending on your ability to tolerate hot peppers. Great for parties or you can put it on grill cheese sandwiches or even as a sauce for cheese enchiladas. It’s sort of a generic Mexican sauce/dip.

  

Ingredients 

 

• 10 slices Stripples, Morningstar Farms Breakfast Strips, or a 8 oz of Artificial Bacon-Bits
• 1 (8-oz.) block cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar
• 1 1/2 c. shredded Monterey Jack
• 1/3 c. mayonnaise
• 1/3 c. sour cream
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 jalapeños, minced
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the oven

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In an iron skillet or electric skillet at medium heat, cook vege-bacon until crispy. Drain on a paper towel. When cooled chop into small pieces. Of course if you use artificial bacon bits you just dump them into the mixture.
3. Stir together cream cheese, mayo, vege-bacon (save a little for topping), sour cream, and garlic powder.
4. Chop the jalapenos. Reserve some for topping the dip. Stir into mixture.
5. Place mixture in casserole or serving dish. Add 1 cup of cheddar and 1 cup Monterey Jack.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Add the remaining 1/2 cups each of cheddar and Monterey Jack and stir together.
8. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until dip is melted and golden and bubbly on top.
9. Once the mixture is cooked, broil for 3 minutes to make the cheese on top extra-golden.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve with tortilla chips or baguette slices. Use as sauce for enchiladas or to make nachos.

Slow-Cooker Easy "Use Up Your Dried Beans" Chili

I had to transfer the chili from the crockpot to a larger pot because
I put too many beans in it and the swelled up and filled the crockpot
so that I didn't have room for the vegeburger and veges. I had to cook
it down the rest of the way on the stove which is trickier than doing
it in the crockpot. Moral of the story? Only file the crockpot to about
half or two-thirds with beans or you won't have room for the other stuff.

 
Slow-Cooker Easy "Use Up Your Dried Beans" Chili

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 8 hours

Total: 8 hours 20 minutes

This makes a very nice vegetarian chili. We tend toward the milder sorts of chili around my house and for potluck purposes. I have built up an assortment of dried beans in my emergency pantry, so I kind of cleared out the shelves for this recipe. I didn’t really measure the beans so much as dump whatever was left in the bags into the crock pot. Also the veges were something of a catch as catch can. When I buy peppers, onions and such, I chop up any leftover veggies like that and dump them in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer. This time I dumped what was left of a bag of onions, a bag of green peppers, a leftover container of Rotel Tomatoes, a half tomato I cut and diced, some poblano peppers diced fine and a smattering of a little hot pepper I had bagged and frozen last spring. The recipe is pretty forgiving. I also dumped a can of diced tomatoes into it since I like my chili with a tomato flavor to it.

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 packages of dried pinto beans (soaked for 4 or 5 hours) Pintos are the usual base, but you can toss in other kinds of beans such as those listed below. Almost any beans will do (except maybe garbanzo beans or lentils unless you are really fond of those).
• 1 packages of dried kidney beans, (soaked for 4 or 5 hours)
• 1 package of dried black beans, (soaked for 4 or 5 hours)
• 1 package of dried Navy beans (soaked for 4 or 5 hours)
• 2 cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes (crushed tomatoes are also good if you like your chili tomato-ish) You can even just dice garden fresh tomatoes if your garden happens to be over-producing at the time.
• 2 medium green Bell peppers or poblanos or whatever your favorite pepper happens to be or even whatever you happen to have in the fridge - chopped (about 3 cups chopped)
• 2 medium yellow onions, red onions, or even green onions,, chopped (about 3 cups chopped) I like those Aggie sweet onions, Noonday onions or other sweet onions better than the more sharpish sorts of onions.
• 2 medium cloves garlic, chopped, or you can just sprinkle in a tablespoon or so of garlic powder. I recommend starting with less and adding until you get the flavor you are looking for. I don’t like too much garlic in mine, but everyone has their druthers.
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (again, start with less and work up to the full dose or more. - it kind of depends on how hot you like it).
• 1 tablespoon of cumin. Cumin is another spice you want to add a little, taste it, then add a little more till you get it right.
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano. Oregano is very forgiving, so I just dump it in and add more later if I’m in the mood for oregano.
• Optional: 20 dashes Tabasco sauce (warning – this is VERY optional. I love the smell and taste of Tabasco, but not the heat. Stuff burns my tongue and I like to be able to feel my tongue when I’m eating chili. I’m kind of a No-Alarm chili sort of guy. I like just a little heat, but without the flame.
  Vegeburger (optional)

If adding vegeburger to it:

Brown a can of vegeburger or a bag of Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles with the veggies in olive oil after the beans are thoroughly cooked and simmer for another hour or so.

Directions:

1. I like to do my beans first so that the veggies don’t overcook
2. Fill the crock pot with beans, cover with water and add the dry spices, stirring it into the uncooked beans. Fire up the crockpot on low and let it cook for 8 hours. You can start it up in the morning and let it simmer while you’re off at work or, as I prefer to do, start it up at night and let it cook straight through till morning.
3. When the beans are almost done, brown the vegeburger (if you are using vegeburger) and sautee the frozen or chopped vegetables with the vegeburger or by themselves if you’re not using vegeburger. Hold back on adding the Tabasco to the beans (if you are going to use Tabasco Sauce that is). When the beans are edible but could stand another hour or two to cook to a more tender state, add the vegeburger/vegetable mix and give it an hour or so to finish.
4. Here’s the fun part if you’re the cook. Taste the chili to see if the beans are done and to determine if you need to add more spices. This is the part where the hand of the cook is most important. You can play with the flavor more easily because you are slow cooking the chili and don’t have to be in a hurry. If you add additional spices, they’ll have time to be absorbed into the beans and give your chili that “Wow!” factor.
5. The cool part of crock pot cooking for potlucks is you can plug it in at church and leave it on low during Sabbath morning services, then when it comes time to serve, simply lift out the crock from the heating part, set it on a hot pad with a handy ladle and you’re ready to go.,

Serving suggestions:

• Straight up – Just pour it in a bowls and eat it. You can add crackers or cornbread if you like. This is lovely stuff and you can have it as hot as you like. I’ve been known to add a gentle smattering of jalapenos when I brown the vegeburger to give this stuff a little kick, but mostly I don’t because of the gentler stomachs in the family
• Topped - This chili is lovely with all sorts of toppings like diced avocado, fresh or dried cilantro, chopped raw onions, sour cream (vegan if you must), grated cheddar or Monterey jack cheese (or even vegan cheese if that’s your desire). Tabasco or Tapatio sauce or some jalapenos can be added to your individual bowl if you like it spicy hot.
• 

  Frito Chili Pie

  Frito Chili Pie - You can make a simple instant Frito Chili Pie by dumping Fritos in a bowl, pouring nice warm chili over it and covering with grated cheese or any other toppings over it. If you’d like you can lay down a bed of Fritos, cover it with beans and cheese and bake it in the oven till the cheese bubbles. This works really well for a potluck dish as you can bake it in a casserole dish and tuck it in with the other casseroles at the potluck for a nice Tex-Mex surprise.
• Haystacks – This recipe also serves as the beans and vegeburger part of traditional Adventist potluck haystacks – the sort where one bunch brings the chips, another brings the cheese and someone brings the beans. Just make up a big crockpot or two of this stuff and there’s your contribution to the Adventist haystack experience. This chili recipe makes really wonderful haystacks.
• Frozen -  The great thing about this stuff is that you can put the leftovers (if any) into ziplock freezer bags and toss it in the freezer.  I divided this batch into enough per bag to give us two bowls of chili per bag.  When we want chili, we just thaw it out in the fridge overnight or gently heat it in the microwave or a pan of hot water to loosen the chili, then slide it into a microwave safe bowl and then defrost it using the defrost settings. You can also heat it up in an electric skillet on low without burning it.

© 2019 by Tom King

Spinach Enchiladas

This recipe I based on one by Niki Lorenz in the Tyler SDA Church Cookbook. I modified it a little to suit the ingredients on hand, but it's a pretty easy recipe to play around with and it's got a lot more fiber and vitamins than most enchiladas. Anyway, her we go...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Small onion chopped fine
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 1/8 cup evaporated milk 
• 1 oz. Velveeta Cheese
• 1 pound cheddar cheese
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 can spinach
• 2 green onions
• 1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Chilis
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can of sliced olives

DIRECTIONS:

The sauce!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Drain out the spinach in a collander and press out the excess water
3. Place spinach, green onions, Rotel, soup, and sour cream in the food processor and process until smooth and creamy sauce is formed.  
4. Pour enough sauce into a large casserole to cover the bottom of the dish
5. In a skillet, saute chopped onions until tender. Add Velveeta cut in small cubes.
6. When the cheese starts to melt, add 3 1/2 cups of shredded Cheddar Cheese and milk and simmer till melted. Stir till smooth.
7. Heat the tortillas in the microwave for 50 seconds to soften them.
8. Divide the cheese and onion mixture between the 12 tortillas roll them up, then place them side by side in the casserole dish. 
9. Cover with the rest of the green sauce, then cover with the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle the olives on top.
10. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling slightly.
11. Cover with foil and set it aside. 

Ready for the oven...

SERVING DIRECTIONS:

Store overnight in the fridge.  Heat to at least 170 degrees. If the church has warming ovens, then get your enchiladas in before Sabbath School so it will be warmed up by potluck. This is an unusually colored enchilada what with the green sauce, but it's quite good.  I intended to take a picture when it came out of the oven, but we were hungry and by the time I remembered to take the picture, we'd already eaten half of it.  The spinach really gives it a lot of really good flavor.


© 2017 by Tom King

Ranch Style Beans for Haystacks

If you’d like to make your own beans for haystacks instead of relying on those giant cans of Ranch-Style beans, here is a version of a Texas version of Ranch beans. I tried it out, made a few adjustments and today we gave it a try.  You can make huge amounts of beans with an army of crockpots and Dutch ovens or large pots. The recipe takes patience because of the need to slow cook the beans, but it’s a good dish to prepare on Friday for the Sabbath potluck.  If, like me you have massive stores of pinto beans, you can say, “I’ll bring the beans,” and not be taking the easy way out or feel guilty that you aren’t doing your part.

Ingredients:

• Medium bag of Pinto Beans
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 small can mild Rotel ® tomatoes and chiles
• 1 small diced onion
• 1 diced red, yellow, orange or green bell pepper
• 15 oz. can of tomatoes (or 2 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 cup water
• 3 oz imitation Bacon Bits

 Tools:

• Crockpot
• Large pot or Dutch oven or large cast iron skillet
• Measuring cups and spoons

Directions:

1. Soak beans overnight. Some add baking soda to the water. Be sure you have enough water because the beans soak up a lot of water.
2. Next morning drain and rinse the beans and put into crockpot with salt.
3. Cook on low for four hours
4. In pot, Dutch oven, or cast-iron skillet add oil, onions and peppers and sauté at medium heat. Add imitation bacon-bits or Loma Linda ® Worthington® vege-burger or Morningstar Recipe Crumbles® and cook till softened or browned.
5. Add can of diced tomatoes, heat and add warm water and all spices, sugar and vinegar.
6. Depending on your taste you can do one of two things. You can puree the spice, vegeburger and vegetables mix or leave it as it is which will give you a little more texture to your sauce.
7. When the pinto beans are done, drain and rinse them and add to the pot with the vegetable, tomato and burger sauce.
8. Gently heat and simmer in the crockpot on low for an hour or two till the beans absorb all the flavors. Stir occasionally until the beans are as thick as you prefer.

Serving Suggestions:

If you have a crockpot that has a removable ceramic pot, simply lift it out with the beans when you are ready to carry them to church. I just take the whole crockpot so that I can plug it in to heat the beans during the service and it’s ready to go by lunchtime. It makes more room in the warming oven that way.

There are as many ways to prepare the beans for haystacks as there are things to put on haystacks. Check here for the haystack recipe, but remember. Both of these recipes are starting places. I’ve eaten haystacks with canned baked beans, refried beans and even black beans that some militant vegan thought would be a good idea. It wasn’t bad.

The thing is, it’s hard to go wrong with all that lettuce, tomato, cheese, salad dressing and corn chips or tortilla chips (depending on your religious belief visa-vie the whole Fritos-versus-tortilla-chips issue). I’ve seen it done with goat cheese, tofu, soy cheese and no cheese at all. I’m a cheddar kind of guy myself. That said, I didn’t balk when the guy brought a can of nacho cheese sauce to potluck for the haystacks. Haystacks, like Jesus, accept what you come with and are very forgiving.

Just sayin’

© 2017 by Tom King 

King Hacienda Taco Enchilada Bake

I call this the King Hacienda Taco Enchilada Bake to differentiate from the King Ranch (no relation) dishes I’ve been posting.  So that you do not confuse this example of Tex-Mex cuisine with that developed on the famed South Texas Rancho Deluxe, let me specify that the King Hacienda is rather less imposing.  We are the other King Family enterprise which consists of a pair of Texas ex-pats living up here in liberal Washington State. It's a sumptuous 1 bedroom hacienda located over a garage deep in a South Puyallup cottonwood swamp, just an ash cloud’s throw from Mt. Rainier where Sheila lives with her husband, Tom and Daisy the Wonder Dog.

You may notice that my King labeled dishes tend to have a certain cheesy quality to them. If you object to cheese, you are certainly free to use grated tofu, grated soy cheese or anything else you can find that’s of a cheesy texture and which melts. It is my own belief that cows are quite proud of their cheddar products and don’t mind me using them to create Tex-Mex dream dishes for celebratory purposes.

The King Hacienda Taco Enchilada Bake is a lovely dish that I based on a Krysten Schwartz recipe on tastykitchen.com.  I simply vegetarianized it. The recipe doesn’t call for a lot of spices. I use Loma Linda Taco Filling which is already spiced up. The rest of the flavors come from the ingredients, which are as follows:

Ingredients:

• Small can or ½ large can of Loma Linda Taco Filling
• ½ large onion diced
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup Picante sauce
• Small can tomatoes and green chiles (Rotel mild)
• 10 corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Carmelize diced onions in skillet then add taco filling and brown
3. In small bowl mix sour cream, tomatoes & green chiles and Picante sauce
4. Spray the bottom of a 9x12 casserole dish with spray cooking oil and add a few little dabs of Picante sauce.
5. Lay 3 or 4 corn tortillas over the bottom of the casserole dish
6. Add a layer of cooked onions and taco filling
7. Spoon in a layer of the sour cream/picante/chiles mix
8. Add a layer of grated cheddar
9. Add a second layer of tortillas. (Tortilla chips will work too, but will make the dish saltier)
10. Add the rest of the taco filling and onions
11. Add the rest of the sour cream/picante/chiles mix
12. Top with cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. If you are going to reheat it for potluck the next day, pull it out before it browns on top, then heat until the cheese starts to brown on top just before serving.

Note:  This is a great way to use up leftover vege-taco meet after a taco supper or something. I can also get two of these enchilada bakes out of a single large can of Loma Linda Taco Filling – a nice contribution to a big potluck. This dish is even better if you make it the day before. The flavors permeate through the dish and give you a lovely panoply of tastes in every bite.

Have a Happy Potluck!

Tom & Sheila King

© 2015

Southwestern Veggie Burgers

It's the avocados slices and cheddar and perhaps a little picante sauce
that give this vegeburger the "Southwestern" touch.

This was a fun sort of vegeburger recipe and turned out really tasty.  We had a giant can of Loma Linda Taco Filling and only used about half of it when we made tacos. Sooooo.....

I'm hungry for vegeburgers and fresh out of regular vegeburger, so I thought, "Why not come up with a Tex-Mex vegeburger.  I already know how to give regular vegeburgers a Tex-Mex flavor, but I wonder if Taco Filling will give it a little more bite?"

Here's what we came up with in the El Rancho de' King kitchen.

What You're Going to Need:

Can(s) of Loma Linda Taco Filling (or however much you have left from Taco Night)
Eggs
Flour
Oatmeal (optional for texture)
Chopped onions
Chopped jalapenos (optional)
Mono-unsaturated oil
Hamburger Buns  (# depends on size of group)
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Avocado
Pickles
Mayo/Salad Dressing
Ketchup
Picante sauce
Shredded Cheddar cheese or Cheese slices (if you want cheeseburgers - cheddar is best)

Directions:

1. Get out a big bowl and put all the Taco Filling in it. How many servings you get out of this recipe will depend on how much Taco filling you use and how big you make the patties. You don't need seasoning because the Taco filling is already seasoned. However, feel free to add a little cumin. I did. Gave it more of a Tex-Mex aura.
2. For every large can of Taco Filling, add a quarter cup oatmeal, a quarter to half of a chopped onion, two eggs (to hold the patties together), 2-4 tbsp of flour and however many finely chopped jalapenos your group can tolerate.  I go very light out of deference to the tender mouths in the group. You can put the rest in a bowl and set them with the condiments. Mix thoroughly.
3. Chop the lettuce, slice the tomatoes, slice some onions, slice the avocados. Set up a burger bar with a plate for the burgers, then put out buns, mayo, ketchup, picante sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, avocado and shredded cheddar/cheddar slices in that order for successful burger building.
4. Once the burger bar is set up start frying up the patties so they will be hot as everyone cues up. If your church has a big grill, you've got a perfect setup. I've used 4 large frying pans to keep up with the demand.  It works for a potluck or a burger sale for Pathfinders in the church gym. The hot vege-burger is what's important to making the burgers extra special. 

Note:  Let people know that these are Tex-Mex burgers so they won't think something is wrong with them. Also make sure the tender-mouths know that the bowl of little green bits isn't pickle relish, but jalapenos.  You might make a separate mix without jalapenos and set up a hot vs mild plate of burgers on the burger bar. 

Makes a nice change-up for burger night with your youth group and also is a great way to use up leftover Taco Filling around the house. This is also a fun thing for small church groups or socials.

Bone Appetite!

Tom King
(c) 2015

The South Of the Border Salad

This salad recipe is likely a variant of the venerable Adventist haystack. It was apparently invented by a restauranteur who owned a little cafe in an antique mall in downtown Cleburne, Texas, five miles from Keene, my hometown. Now Keene is an Adventist college town and notable SDA ghetto.  It is little wonder the basic haystack idea drifted into the Tex-Mex cuisine in the nearby Johnson County Seat.  They had a Pappa and Mama version, probably in deference to all the Adventist vegetarians that came into the place.  The Papa version used hamburger and was more expensive. The Mama salad used ranch-style or chili beans, but otherwise, both were basically the same

The South Of the Border Salad was advertised and listed on the menu by it's three primary initials. The South Of the Border Salad was named what it was named I figure, both for its Tex-Mex flavor and because it gave the local heathens a giggle whenever some very proper Adventist customer or little old Baptist lady, when ordering, would nervously point to the menu or describe the salad by its ingredients or call it a Mama Salad, rather than say the name listed on the menu.  It's an easy-to-make potluck dish and can be added to a haystack potluck setup by baking a bag of potatoes or two ahead of time.  It's versatile for a potluck because you just set out the ingredients and let everyone make their own version. Way better than pizza too!  This is pretty much a whole meal by itself, so while it's listed as a salad, it's a lot more than just an appetizer.

Ingredients:

• Baked Potato, Large

  

  Start off your South Of the Border Salad with a baked potato.

• Butter/margarine
• Salt
• Chopped lettuce
• Diced tomatoes
• Chopped salad veggies like peppers, onions, cucumber carrots or whatever you've got.
• 1/2 cup Avocado or make up a big bowl of guacamole
• Jar or two of Picante Sauce
• Shredded cheddar cheese (for potlucks just buy a big bag of it already shredded)
• Bit carton of sour cream
• Bottles of Ranch and Catalina Salad Dressing
• Black olives
• Pot of Ranch Style Beans or you can use Loma Linda Five-Bean Chili, Chili Man or barbecue beans of some kind.
• Loma Linda Vegeburger, Worthington Vegeburger or Morningstar Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles (you can even brown up some Loma Linda Taco Filling)
• Tortilla chips and Fritos
• Chopped Jalepenos
• Monster jar of Picante' Sauce (Pace or San Antonio Riverwalk is great)

Directions:

Add tortilla chips and beans or chili

1. Bake up a bag of potatoes in the skins before the event. You can take them already baked and heat them up in the church's warming ovens.  Most Adventist churches have these. By the time potluck is on, they should be nice and fluffy inside. 
2. Cook up a big pot of Ranch-Style beans or Vege-chile.  
3. Chop up your veggies, grate your cheese and set out the sour cream, tortilla chips and what not all out in a row in order of how you build your South Of the Border Salad.

Constructing the South Of the Border Salad: 

Next add all the salad stuff and voila!  You're done.

1. Break open the potato and spread it out over the bottom of the plate. You can leave the skin on or peel it off.  It's up to you, but I like all the vitamins to come with my potato.
2. Butter and salt is optional.
3. Add a layer of tortilla chips
4. Spoon on a layer of chili, barbecue or Ranch Style Beans
5. Make a a bed of lettuce and start adding all your chopped veggies. Get what you want. Make it with onions or without. There are no rules. 
6. Sprinkle a bunch of shredded Cheddar over the top.
7. Decorate the whole beautiful pile of stuff with dollops of avocado or guacamole, salad dressing, Picante sauce, olives, crouton, vege-bacon bits (TVP) and chives or whatever else you like.  Add a little peak of sour cream and you have created a magnificent meal - run for the table

This salad is best consumed quickly which is never a problem for me. That way, the salad stays cool and crisp while the potato and chili give you a nice warm base. It's great!  I've seen teenage boys consume two or three of these in a row. Sadly, this feat of gastronomy is no longer permitted me by either my physician or (more importantly), by my Sweet Baboo who does not wish me to explode and die.

Bon' appetite!*

(c) 2015 by Tom King

*And, yes I spelled it "appetite" on purpose - the American way not "appetit" like the French. This is, after all, an American Tex-Mex dish and we don't pronounce words all French and sissified.  Just sayin'.

King Ranch Vege-Chicken, Mac and Cheese

King Ranch Vege-Chicken Mac & Cheese

Once again we journey back down to the King Ranch (no kin of mine - they're rich/I'm not) to borrow a recipe and vegetarianize it for potluck. This is a lovely one that turned out ridiculously delicious. Again, this is a potluck dish and therefore celebratory in nature. I do not suggest you make a whole skilletful of this stuff and eat it by yourself (even if you do share some with your wife and the dog). It's made to be consumed in normal portions at Sabbath potlucks where calories do not count as we all know.

If you've tried out my King Ranch Chicken recipe, you have a general idea where we're going. It's a fresh, Southwestern Tex-Mex take on the macaroni and cheese casserole. Mostly, the big difference between it and King Ranch Chicken is that we're substituting macaroni for tortillas. It's really good and won't last long on the potluck serving table, especially if you draw attention to it by baking it in a big iron skillet. There's just something about serving things in a big iron skillet that makes them look that much more tasty.

Here's how it works:

Ingredients:

1. Macaroni or similar pasta
2. Salt (to taste)
3. Milk
4. Loma Linda Chicken Chunks or other vegetarian chicken substitutes like Worthington Fri-Chik, Worthington Diced Chik or even cut up Morningstar Farms Chicken Nuggets or Patties.
5. Cream of Mushroom soup
6. Cheddar Cheese
7. 1/4 to 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
8. Velveeta
9. Chopped onion
10. Chopped bell peppers
11. Margarine
12. Picante sauce or (if you like it a bit hotter) Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Chilis (small can)
13. Chili Powder
14. Cumin
15. Tortilla chip crumbs
16. Black olives (optional)

Directions:

1.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Put a big pot of water on to boil.
2. When the pot of water boils add enough macaroni to fill the skillet after the macaroni swells up, or (as I did) throw in bits of leftover rotini, pene or whatever loose leftover dried pasta you have hanging around the kitchen. I like the variety and it's a great way to use up any leftover macaroni products you have in your cupboard. Don't worry about quantity. The recipe is very forgiving.
3.  While the macaroni is boiling, get out your big iron skillet or a dutch oven and saute' a handful of chopped onions and a handful of chopped bell peppers till they soften. I threw in a few mild red bell peppers and an even fewer hot red peppers for color.  You can use any color bell pepper you want. 
4. When the peppers are done, set them aside in a small bowl, put a light smear of olive oil on the bottom of the skillet and cook the Chick'n Chunks till they start to brown.
5. Meanwhile back at the Ranch, your macaroni should be done.  Drain it and pour it into a large mixing bowl.  Add a tablespoon of margarine and an eighth cup of milk or so, 4 to 6 ounces of Velveeta cut into cubes to make them easier to melt.  Stir well until the cheese begins to melt. Add sour cream if you want to. Makes things smooth and nice.
6. At this point, I like to add leftover cheeses to the mix. This time I had some provolone slices I cut into strips and some Parmesan I sprinkled into the mix. You can also add the cheese packets from Kraft Mac & Cheese boxes too. The cheese flavors make a nice mixed flavor. Don't add the cheddar cheese yet.
7. As the cheese gets melted, add the onions, peppers and by now cooked Chick'n Chunks. Stir vigorously.  Stir in Rotel tomatoes & chilis or Picante Sauce. For a nice Tex-Mex I use either Pace Picante Sauce or San Antonio Riverwalk Picante' Sauce (available at Walmart). I go mild, but knock yourself out. Both come in medium and hot also.  Rotel even has a "mild" version but where's the fun in that?
8. Add salt, cumin and chili powder to taste. I only added about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. of each. My folk like their Tex-Mex mild. 
9. Stir it all up thoroughly.  Wipe the inside of the skillet with margarine to coat the sides and reduce stickage.  Pour in all that cheese macaroni.  Top with shredded cheddar and lightly crushed tortilla chips.  I always save the crumbles at the bottom of the bag for use on casseroles. I've got a special jar just for chip crumbles. My Sweet Baboo hates when I leave a bag with just a few crushed chips at the bottom. I respect that and have changed my methods of chip crumble storage.
10. Now that you've got a mound of cheesy mac casserole in your skillet, covered with cheddar and tortillas, pop it all into the oven and cooked till bubbly on top with little browned spots - 20 minutes or so, but watch it so you don't burn it.

Presentation:
Take along one of those nice straw hot pads and set the skillet on top of it. I make an aluminum tent over the whole thing while transporting it. One of the great things about this dish is that it tastes even better if you make it Friday and take in on Sabbath. It holds up nicely in the warming oven, especially if you freshen it with more crisp tortilla crumbles. It looks great. has a name you can remember so you can tell people exactly what it is when they ask you for the recipe. 

Neat Trick for Would-Be Potluck Legends:
If you want to be really helpful to your fellow potluckers, make up a stack of business cards (you can get them for your computer printer at Office Depot or someplace like that).  Print the name of the dish and the web address where they can pick up a copy of this or any other recipe we've shown you here. People like knowing the name of the dish and where they can get the recipe without having to follow you around to get it.

I like this dish because it doesn't taste like ordinary Mac & Cheese. It has a nice Tex-Mex flavor. If I would do anything different, next time I'd make sure I had some black olive slices to put on top.

You should pester all the great cooks at your potlucks to send me their recipes at twayneking@gmail.com . I'll post it on the website and give them credit as the chef who donated the recipe. Then they can do handout cards to share recipes with fellow potluckers.  The younger moms will really appreciate getting new recipes that can one day become family favorites.

Let me know how it comes out. 

Tom King
(c) 2015

Frito Chili Pie

 

This is a variant on one of my favorite dishes, adapted for easy prep for potluck in place of haystacks. There's two ways you can do this. Either is good. The first one we'll talk about is the easier to set up and faster to fix if you need a large meal, a few simple ingredients, for a lot of people and quickly or a quick supper for just one or two people.  Frito Pie is just the thing. This version is made with a new Loma Linda Product - Five Bean Chili. I like it because it's sweeter than most chilis. It's not up for sale on Amazon yet and at this writing they don't even have a picture of the can (below) on the website, but it should be appearing in ABC's around the country soon. Frito Pie is a Tex-Mex dish that works like this:

Just 4 simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

1. Loma Linda Five Bean Chili. Worthington Chili is a little sharper if you prefer.
2. Chopped sweet onion (chopped green or jalapeno peppers are good but optional)
3. Fritos
4. Grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Heat Loma Linda Five Bean Chili in a pan - enough to feed everybody - a can feeds 3 or 4 with this recipe.
2. Once the chili is hot set out the pan with a bowl of chips, a bowl of grated cheddar and a bowl of chopped onions.
3. Now get yourself a bowl and cover the bottom with corn chips.
4. Spoon a generous portion of chili over the corn chips.
5. Sprinkle chopped onions over the chili.
6. Cover with grated cheddar to taste.

 

Alternative Preparation:  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a casserole dish, cover the bottom with Fritos.
3. Spoon chili over the Fritos and cover well.
4. Sprinkle with sauteed onions and peppers if you wish
5. Sprinkle a generous layer of cheddar cheese over all.
6. Bake until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling and brown slightly on top

Final comment:

Cover the casserole with foil and it's ready to transport to potluck. If you're in a hurry, you can simply heat the chili and let everyone make their own. as in the first set of directions. This is some good stuff any way you dish it up. I really like the slightly sweet taste of the new 5-Bean chili, but then I'm getting old and my stomach lining isn't as tough as it once was.

However you make it, this is a handy recipe to have in your potluck kit bag.

(c) 2015 by Tom King