I was very happy to be asked to assist in judging the recent Knights of Columbus Chili Fest competition at which the turnout was great! I was elated when The Three Amigos who won the award for Best Presentation gave me their chili recipe and also permission to publish it here. Unfortunately, due to a lot of people tasting theirs, they ran out of chili before the contest was completely over. The Three Amigos are Larry Gagnon, Dave Csordas, and Roy Arthur. They call their chili No Beans About It. Although the original recipe made several huge pots of chili, they scaled down the recipe for us to a single-family serving size. Thanks for allowing us to publish your amazing recipe.
This orange glazed pork chop recipe is from an old Rockford United Church cookbook. It is a recipe for two people but could easily be doubled. I tried it and liked the sweet yet a bit spicy flavour. I cooked up a serving of brown rice to accompany it.
Today’s crack cake recipe is from a reader who has contributed some excellent recipes recently. Jen Marks of York sent this one and, as someone who enjoys a glass of white wine occasionally, I thought it looked interesting as there is wine in both the cake and the glaze. I could detect a definite wine taste in the finished dessert, but it certainly resulted in a moist and delicious cake. Be sure to pour the glaze over when it is still nice and hot.
Three Amigos No Beans About It Chili
- 1 – 14lb beef brisket
- The rub contains salt, pepper, cumin, onion powder, brown sugar. Smoke with hickory and mesquite at 225˚F for 9 hours. Allow it to rest for two hours. Cut it up into very small cubes, removing fat.
- 2 cooking onions, diced
- 2 red bell peppers, diced
- 1 tsp. pureed garlic
- 3 cups tomatoes, diced
- 1.5 cups green chilies, diced
- 1.5 cups of frozen corn
Hot sauce:
- 3 reconstituted Ancho chilies
- 1 tbsp. Guajillo chili powder
- 1 oz. Cholula hot sauce
Cook the onions and bell peppers first. Once the onions are clear, add in the tomato, green chilies, and garlic. Mix hot sauce ingredients together and add in the hot sauce in small amounts until the mixture is at the heat level you prefer. Add in the cubed meat and simmer for an hour. Add in the corn 10 minutes before you are ready to serve. When serving you can top off your chili with PC Chipotle crema.
Orange Glazed Pork Chops
- 2 pork chops
- 1 tsp. cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp. ginger
- 1 Tbsp. soya sauce
- 1 tsp. water
- 1/4 cup orange marmalade
- 1 Tbsp. lime juice
- 1 ½ tsp. olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small lime
Preheat oven to 400. Mince garlic clove and thinly slice the lime. Combine cornstarch, ginger, soya sauce, and water in a small saucepan until smooth. Stir in the marmalade, lime juice, oil, and garlic until blended together. Bring to a boil and cook and stir 2 or 3 minutes until thick. Put pork chops into a greased baking dish and spoon half of the glaze over them. Turn the chops over and cover with the rest of the glaze. Top with the lime slices. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes until the juices run clear.
Crack Cake
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 box vanilla instant pudding mix
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- ¾ cup water
- ¾ cup oil
- ½ cup white wine
Glaze ingredients –
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- ¼ cup white wine
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a Bundt pan. Mix cake ingredients. Pour into pan and bake 60 minutes. When you remove cake from the oven immediately mix the glaze ingredients together and pour over the hot cake. Cool, turn out of pan, and serve.
HINT: If you have some Italian seasoned breadcrumbs add a spoon full to scrambled eggs for extra flavour.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just to show up.
