Name: Choriqueso from Scratch
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Yield: About 3 cups of choriqueso
Ingredients: 1/2 pound ground pork (preferably 80/20); 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar; 1 clove garlic, finely minced (I used my garlic press); 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon paprika; 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/8 teaspoon cumin; 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil; 1/2 medium onion, diced; 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced; 1 tablespoon butter; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 1/2 cups milk; 8 ounces grated Cheddar cheese; TOSTITOS® Scoops or Original

Game Day: Choriqueso from Scratch

January 19, 2016

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GameDayGlory #CollectiveBias

With chorizo, onions, jalapeños, and homemade cheese sauce, this choriqueso is a surefire way to win big with your guests on game day!

Click here to vote for your favorite Game Day Snack Stadium and a chance to win the #gamedayglorysweepstakes – a $100 Wal-Mart gift card or an Xbox One! You can also share your own Snack Stadium on Instagram using #gamedayglorysweepstakes

Game Day Glory Sweepstakes

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not really a football fan. In the South, saying that could really get someone in trouble, right? Don’t worry. I watch football. I just don’t have “a team”, though my husband does, and if we miss a game the world doesn’t come to an end.

I’m going to be completely honest with you, though. My favorite part of watching football = fantastic snacks. I mean, what’s not to love about chips, dips, and other fun finger foods? I’d rather have a meal of appetizers than a regular meal any day, so game day snacks make me very happy. Game day is a time to let down my hair a little and eat all the fun foods that I love!

For this big-game spread, I headed to the new Walmart Neighborhood Market in Middle Valley to check it out (it just opened last week) and pick up the products that I needed. I got TOSTITOS® Scoops Party Size, TOSTITOS® Medium Chunky Salsa, a Skittles® XL 41-ounce bag, and a SNICKERS® Minis 40-ounce bag. To wash it down we grabbed Pepsi™ 20-ounce bottles from the cooler (since it’s just the two of us and we don’t drink a lot of soda, no need for more than that). I grabbed some cheese and some chorizo-making supplies and set to work making our game-watching snacks! By the way, for those of you who are curious about the Neighborhood Market…it is a Walmart grocery store, so much smaller than a regular Walmart but with Walmart prices! They also have fuel pumps out front.

You guys know me…I don’t pull punches when it comes to snack time. The Big Game is definitely not the time to be taking snack short cuts, so you know I went all in when I made this choriqueso. Believe it or not, I’ve never actually ordered choriqueso at a restaurant, though it’s served at all the Mexican restaurants around here. I’m always worried that it will be a little too spicy for me. The great thing about this recipe is that if you make your own chorizo you can control the spice level. Cheese sauce is just so easy to make, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t. Serve this with some TOSTITOS® Scoops or Original tortilla chips at your Big Game festivities and I promise your friends will thank you!

Click here for more recipes and snack stadium ideas! If you make your own Snack Stadium, post it on Instagram and be sure to use #GameDayGlorySweepstakes – and tag @chattavore! Hashtag your game day snacks using #GameDayGlory!

Click here to check out these products on Walmart.com!

Yield: About 3 cups of choriqueso

Choriqueso from Scratch

10 minPrep Time:

15 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

1/2 pound ground pork (preferably 80/20)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, finely minced (I used my garlic press)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
8 ounces grated Cheddar cheese
TOSTITOS® Scoops or Original

Instructions

In a medium bowl, use your hands to combine the ground pork with the vinegar, garlic, salt, and spices. Set aside.

Heat the vegetable or canola oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions and jalapeño and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 3-5 minutes.
Add the chorizo to the pan and cook until thoroughly browned. Add the butter and stir until completely melted.

Sprinkle the flour over the chorizo mixture. Cook and stir for one minute. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened. Stir in the cheese a handful at a time until all the cheese has been incorporated.

Pour the choriqueso into a bowl and serve immediately with TOSTITOS® Scoops or Original chips.

Notes

The chorizo recipe here is from Serious Eats . If you do not wish to make the chorizo from scratch, you can use 1/2 pound of store-bought chorizo. Be sure to remove it from its casings before cooking.

https://chattavore.com/game-day-choriqueso-scratch/

Click here to print the recipe for choriqueso from scratch!

You're sure to get #GameDayGlory if you serve this choriqueso from scratch to your friends for the Big Game! #ad | recipe from chattavore.com

Vegetable Beef Soup

January 15, 2016

Vegetable beef soup is simple and old-school but so delicious and soothing it’s worth a share. It’s also easy to adapt to a paleo-friendly recipe!

My grandmother put alphabet pasta in her vegetable beef soup. It’s funny to remember it now, because she was pretty by the book and didn’t really do cutesy things with the food that she cooked. Alphabet soup was about as cutesy as it got for her. It was just one of those fun little things that made her soup memorable for me (as if I needed anything to make her cooking more memorable for me)…that and the fact that she always served soup with buttered saltines, which I remember lining up around my soup bowl on the plate that was always, always placed under a soup bowl when you dined at her table.

I have been cooking for more than twenty years now (though admittedly a lot of those first few years consisted of Hamburger Helper and frozen chicken that I made homemade chicken tenders from, making my roommates think I was a homemaker supreme especially since I always bought the BEST honey mustard). Oddly enough, I have never made vegetable beef soup. When I realized this a few weeks ago, I thought it was so strange because my mom used to make it on a fairly regular basis (I recall it as something that we used to eat on Monday nights, for some reason, and always with either cornbread or strawberry/blueberry muffins) and my grandmother did too.

So…vegetable beef soup. It’s hardly worthy of a recipe because it is so very very simple. However, I know that a lot of people don’t quite have the confidence or instinct in the kitchen that I do and might appreciate a little help throwing something together. If soup seems daunting to you, know that that’s all this soup is: throwing some things together in a pot. It made enough soup for six servings, which meant that I didn’t have to think about lunch for a couple of days (always a good thing), and while a lot of people still associate ground beef with “bad for you”, this soup is pretty healthy. You can even make it paleo by omitting the corn (you can sub in green beans if you’d like)…a lot of paleo people eat white potatoes on occasion, but you can leave them out too if you want. Or…leave out the meat and use olive oil to make it vegan.

And I didn’t add alphabet pasta, but you totally can if you want. ?

Yield: 6 servings

Vegetable Beef Soup

To make this recipe paleo, use bacon fat, not canola oil, and omit the corn. Most people in the paleo community find it acceptable to eat white potatoes on occasion.

20 minPrep Time:

35 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

1 tablespoon bacon fat or canola oil
1 small onion, diced
4 ounces cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
1 pound ground beef
3-4 carrots, scrubbed clean and diced
2 medium potatoes, scrubbed clean and diced
14.5 ounce diced tomatoes
32-ounce carton low-sodium vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Heat the bacon fat or canola oil over medium heat in a 6-8 quart Dutch oven. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft.
Crumble the ground beef into the pan and brown thoroughly. Drain away any excess fat. Add the carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, vegetable broth, and bay leaf to the pot and bring to a boil (I cover the pot to make it boil faster.
When the soup boils, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender, 15-20 minutes. Add the corn and cook for another minute or two.
Remove the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/vegetable-beef-soup/

Vegetable beef soup is full of vegetables and simple to adapt into a paleo or vegetarian or vegan meal! | Recipe from Chattavore.com

Monkey Town Brewing Company

January 13, 2016

Monkey Town Brewing Company is Dayton, Tennessee’s first brewpub. They serve lots of great food and great beer!

I’ve done a couple of posts about restaurants in Cleveland recently and this past weekend we decided to head to another neglected area area-Dayton, Tennessee-to check out a spot that several readers and friends have told me that we need to try. Monkey Town Brewing Company opened just seven months ago in June 2015 as Dayton’s first brewery and brewpub. Started by father and son team Alan and Kirby Garrison, Monkey Town started off serving high-quality food and great craft beer from other breweries while they got their own brewing operation off the ground. It took a little bit to get all the permits and licenses straight but after a few months they were able to start selling their own brews as well.

Monkey Town Brewing Company is located in downtown Dayton. They don’t have a parking lot but there is free parking on the street and in a public parking lot across the street (there is also another parking lot down the street beside the public library. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon around 2:00 p.m. the place was not crowded but there were quite a few tables occupied. We were honestly a little concerned because there was only one server, Jory, working (with a little help from the bartender), but she is pretty good at her job because she juggled all those tables pretty stealthily. The bartender brought us our menus and grabbed our waters while we perused them.

The menu is divided into appetizers/shared plates, salads/soups, sandwiches, and entrees. They also have an extensive draft beer list and wines/cocktails. There are also daily specials, which, on this day, included Cajun chicken pasta (which I saw a lot of people eating), salmon Oscar, a steak dish, and one other item (I should have taken photos of the specials, apparently, since I can’t remember them now). Philip decided to get a flight (4 5-ounce samples) with Monkey Town’s “Do You Even IPA, Bro?”, Lagunitas Nighttime American Black Ale, Founders Porter, and Black Horse Vanilla Cream Ale. I obviously can’t go into any details about his beers, but he did say that the Monkey Town IPA was very good (and he is not a big IPA fan these days). The flight was $11 (usually $7, but there is an uncharge for high-gravity beers).

We also decided to order an appetizer, beer cheese. The beer cheese is served with your choice of grilled pita, French fries, or tortilla chips. Since we were planning to try the fries with our entrees, we decided to get tortilla chips with our beer cheese. The beer cheese was thick but “dippable” with some herbs mixed in. It tasted fairly hoppy so Philip thought it might have been made with the Monkey Town IPA, but Jory told us that right now their supply just isn’t big enough. I would have liked to have had more chips, but since we didn’t we had some beer cheese left over to dip our fries into. If you go with a group, ask for extra chips or get two orders of beer cheese.

I got stuck between the Philly cheesesteak with sliced New York strip steak, cheese sauce, peppers, and onions on a flour-dusted hoagie roll, or the fish & chips, battered cod served with fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce. I asked Jory for her opinion and she told me that she would go for the fish & chips, mainly because she’s just never been a fan of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. I usually go with my server’s recommendation, so I did just that. You can get a full order (two 5-ounce cod fillets) or a half order (one 5-ounce cod fillet) so I went with the half, which I think was more than generous. The batter on the fish was perfectly brown, crispy, and delicious and clung to the fish perfectly, which can be a rarity. The tartar sauce was very good, very “pickle-y”, which I consider a plus, and they had malt vinegar, which is essential if you are eating fish & chips. The fries are very unique-they are cut in a twisty shape and have a crust that makes them seem battered, so they are very crispy; they are also very well-seasoned. The coleslaw consisted of shredded cabbage, grated carrots, a light and slightly sweet mayo dressing, and celery seeds. It was quite good.

Philip decided on the burger, which was served on a bakery bun with lettuce, tomato, and onion. He also added American cheese ($0.50) and bacon crumbles ($0.75). The bun was nice and soft and the meat was cooked to have a nice crust on the outside while still being nice and juicy on the inside. The condiments (mayo, mustard, and ketchup) are served on the side so that you can add your own to get the right ratio. Unfortunately, after we ate, I heard Jory telling the couple next to us that though it isn’t on the menu, you can order the burger with beer cheese…next time we’ll have to try that. Definitely a great burger.

While we were finishing up our lunch, a couple around the corner from us was served a big, delectable-looking hunk of bread pudding topped with whipped cream. We were quite tempted to order some as well (the other desserts available were chocolate lava cake and cheesecake) but we would have needed to be rolled out. Everything that we ate was amazing so we would have loved to have checked out the dessert menu. The prices weren’t terrible either-including beer cheese ($6), fish & chips ($7), a bacon cheeseburger ($9), and Philip’s beer flight (the most expensive part of our tab at $11), our pre-tip total was $35.42.

The atmosphere at Monkey Town Brewing Company has a great vibe, with dark wood and metal paneling and large chalkboards with specials and the beers on tap listed. You can see the brewing space through large windows and Kirby (who is the brewer) gave Philip a “tour” of the brewing space (it’s a very small space and they only brew one type of beer at a time). He also took some time to talk to us about why they chose Dayton as opposed to Chattanooga: they knew that they could have more of an impact in an area that doesn’t have a restaurant/brewery on every corner. I would say that’s a fair assessment. Dayton has some good restaurants but nothing quite like this. If you are looking for a great restaurant with fantastic, fresh food and great beer (and live music or trivia from time to time!), check out Monkey Town Brewing Company!

Monkey Town Brewing Company is located at 287 1st Avenue, Dayton, Tennessee, 37321. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at (423) 775-1800. Check out Monkey Town Brewing Company’s website, monkeytownbrewing.com. You can like Monkey Town Brewing Company on Facebook, follow @MonkeyTownBeer on Twitter, and follow @MonkeyTownBrewingCo on Instagram.

Warm Cauliflower Salad

January 11, 2016

This warm cauliflower salad is healthy, with clementine sections and pomegranate seeds, but also lush with vinaigrette, pine nuts, and buttered bread crumbs.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. I don’t know who said it first, but it definitely seems like New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken. If you are a resolution-maker, please correct me if I’m wrong…but I feel like if you make a resolution, the second you slip up, your resolution is kind of toast.

Instead, I decided to work in terms that are a little more familiar to me: setting goals for myself. I’ve worked in special education for the last fifteen years and every child that I work with has an individualized education plan (IEP) that has long terms goals and, in some cases, short-term objectives. Objectives are essentially just smaller pieces of the goal. THAT I can do.

The holidays kind of did me in. I went off the deep end a little bit in terms of what I ate, and I was really okay with that because this: I knew I was going to make some changes are I went back to work. I considered doing a Whole30 but finally decided that my goal was to eat fewer processed foods and more fruits and vegetables. I think that making these changes will make me feel better over time and, quite possibly, help me lose a few.

My strategy? For starters, salad. All the salad. We’re a week in as I write this and I have eaten a lot of salads. I’m not tired of them yet. I really believe that’s because I’ve made an effort to shake up my salad game. Salads do not have to be about some tired lettuce in a bowl with some bottled dressing and maybe a couple of half-hearted toppings. I started dreaming of a warm cauliflower salad with some sweet elements, some savory elements, and some crunchy elements.

I don’t believe in fat-free dressings, or fat-free salads, or really anything fat-free unless it come from nature that way (i.e. fruits and vegetables). Science has actually shown that a little fat with fruits and vegetables help the body to better absorb the nutrients…so I thought, “Sure, this salad has olive oil in the vinaigrette, but why not some buttery panko bread crumbs?” I mean really, why not? I did not regret it. I love vegetables anyway, but with ingredients like I put in this warm cauliflower salad, I don’t think eating more of them is going to be an issue!

Did you make resolutions this year? And what is your strategy for getting more fruits and vegetables into your diet?

4-6

Warm Cauliflower Salad

10 minPrep Time:

25 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 clementines or 1 seedless orange, peeled and sectioned (if using an orange, cut into pieces)
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pour the 2 tablespoons of olive oil onto a baking sheet and spread it around.
Place the cauliflower florets onto the baking sheet and toss with the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the cauliflower into the oven and roast until lightly browned, 20-25 minutes.
While the cauliflower is roasting, make the vinaigrette: place the mustard, salt and pepper, and the red wine vinegar into a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the 1/4 cup olive oil while whisking constantly.
In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the panko crumbs and the pine nuts. Cook, stirring constantly, until the bread crumbs and pine nuts are lightly browned.
Place the cauliflower into a bowl and toss with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle over the clementine or orange sections and the pomegranate seeds. Sprinkle the bread crumbs and pine nuts over the top and serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/warm-cauliflower-salad/

This warm cauliflower salad is healthy, with clementine sections and pomegranate seeds, but also lush with vinaigrette, pine nuts, and buttered bread crumbs. | Recipe from Chattavore.com

Creamy Tomato Soup with Artichokes

January 8, 2016

Creamy tomato soup with artichokes is rich and delicious with a healthy dose of spinach…oh, and cream…and sherry.

I find no meal more comforting than grilled cheese and tomato soup. It reminds me of the red and white can of my childhood (you know the one of which I speak)…of winter days sitting at the little round table at my parents’ house, of my elementary school cafeteria and one of the few school food meals that I actually enjoyed, and of my first teaching job, where our lunches were provided for us and grilled cheese and tomato soup were on a monthly (at least) rotation.
I don’t remember the last time that I ate that tomato soup from the little red can. I haven’t bought canned soup in ages, not since I figured out that it was pretty flippin’ easy to make soup from scratch and that it is so much better than canned. I’ll be honest, I’m sure I’d still love that soup from a can. You know, nostalgia and all. But there’s a lot of sodium in those little cans, and sugar too.

Plus, when you make your soup from scratch, you get to choose your own ingredients and put whatever you want into your soup. Me? When I make tomato soup, I want creamy tomato soup. And sherry. Yes, sherry. There’s a lot of sherry in this recipe, so if you’re feeding kids (because not all of the alcohol cooks out) half the amount of sherry or omit it altogether and just replace it with chicken stock. I basically take every opportunity that I can to add artichoke hearts to anything, and, you know, spinach and artichokes go together like peanut butter and jelly.
This winter, make this creamy tomato soup with artichokes as many times as possible. Maybe eat it with a grilled cheese sandwich (or cheese toast, which you can see is what we did) and dream of childhood.

Yield: 6 servings

Creamy Tomato Artichoke Soup

5 minPrep Time:

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup sherry
28-ounce can whole tomatoes (Cento or Tutturosso are my favorites)
4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 cups artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (9-ounce package frozen or 14.5 ounce can, drained)
5 ounce bag baby spinach
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

In a six to eight quart Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions to the pot and cook until they begin to turn translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add the sherry to the pot and allow it to come to a boil and cook briefly (about one minute).
Crush the tomatoes in your hands or lightly puree them in a blender or food processor. Add the tomatoes (including any liquid from the can) to the pot along with the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the artichoke hearts and the spinach to the pot. Cook until the spinach wilts. Add the cream and stir to combine completely. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/creamy-tomato-soup/

Click here to print the recipe for creamy tomato artichoke soup!

Creamy tomato soup with artichokes is rich and delicious with a healthy dose of spinach...oh, and cream...and sherry. | recipe from chattavore.com

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