Day 348: Hearty Corn Chowder

Hi everyone!  I'm back from taking a little break and spending time with my family.  A big thanks to Randy and Arlana Patten for filling in this week.  I hope you enjoyed their recipes as much as I did.  They are wonderfully kind people to take over for me on such short notice.  I noticed one of their recipes waiting to be published, so you may get one more from them! 

Thanks for all your kind words and prayers on behalf of my mom.  She is doing well and we did get some encouraging news from the doctor on Friday.  Her cancer was caught at an early stage and is very treatable.  Not that it will be fun, but the prognosis is good.  Her treatments will start after the new year so we are planning on enjoying Christmas to the fullest!

The break from blogging was nice, but I didn't take a break from cooking.  Its such a habit to cook in my dutch ovens, that I kept right on doing it.  Cooking really is therapy for me.  It gives my mind something else to think about and is an outlet for all my nervous, stressed out energy!  So, thanks again for all your love and support and on to today's recipe.  Its one of my favorite soups.  This is comfort food at its best.  The fact that it is loaded with bacon is a plus too!

Hearty Corn Chowder
12" dutch oven

1/2 lb. sliced bacon
1 cup chopped celery (I ran out of celery so I used carrots)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1 cup water
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 can cream style corn
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
6 oz. smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices (I used kielbasa)
1 tsp. dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

In your dutch oven, over a full spread of coals, cook the bacon until crispy.  Remove and drain on paper towels; crumble and set aside.  Drain all but 2-3 Tbs. of the drippings.  Saute the celery and onions in the drippings until the onion is lightly browned.  Add the potatoes and water.  Move about 1/4 of the coals to the lid and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in the corn, milk, sausage, dill and bacon.  Continue simmering until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.  Season to taste.  Serves 6.

The Finished Product

The Review

This gets an A just for the bacon, the fact that it is delicious is just icing on the cake.  The sausage also adds a really nice flavor.  It is hearty and very filling.  I served it with bread sticks and a green salad and we were all stuffed.  This is one of those recipes where you can really taste the dutch oven flavor.  And that's saying something coming from me.  I'm so used to the flavor dutch ovens add that I rarely taste it anymore (sad, I know).  You really should try this one!  Grade A.

Day 268: Cheesy Skillet Vegetables and Bacon

I'm so sorry about the late post!  I was running behind and almost didn't make it to church, then we had unexpected company.  I finally have a few minutes to sit down and write this post!  But I can't complain, it was a great day!

Cheesy Skillet Vegetables and Bacon
12" dutch oven

1 lb. bacon
2 (16 oz.) pkgs. frozen broccoli and cauliflower blend
1 lb. baby carrots
1 small onion
2 cloves minced garlic
6-8 potatoes
2 cups grated cheese

Brown bacon in a dutch oven over a full spread of coals.  While the bacon is cooking, cut the onions, carrots and potatoes into bite sized pieces.  When the bacon is done, place on a paper towel to cool.  Brown the onion in the bacon grease.  When brown, add the vegetables and garlic.  Cook until tender, about 20 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  While the vegetables are cooking, crumble the bacon.  When the vegetables are cooked, sprinkle with cheese and bacon.  Place a lid on the dutch oven and allow to sit until cheese is melted.  Serves 6-8.

The Finished Product

The Review

This was really good!  Even my picky eaters ate this well.  I wasn't expecting this to be as good as it was.  The bacon really put this over the top.  I'll be making this again.  While mine was cooking, it was taking forever, so I put the lid on and put 8 or 10 coals on top to keep in the heat and help it cook faster.  This was really simple and easy.  Grade B+.

Day 193: Alice Springs Chicken

I've been looking on the Internet for some good knock off restaurant recipes.  With my large family and since my hubby had some of his hours cut at work (courtesy of the recession--love it!)  we don't eat out very often at all.  When we do its usually the dollar menu at Wendy's.  So I told my kids we would just bring the restaurants home to us.  We use the nice tablecloths, put candles on the table and float lemon slices in the water pitchers.  We even put on some nice music and I play chef and waiter.  This is becoming a once a week ritual--kind of like veggie night.  I have to say, its really fun.  Its also a great way to brush up on using good manners before we're out in public.  : ) 

I ran across this Outback Steakhouse knock off on one of my favorite recipe sites.  I've never had the Alice Springs Chicken, so I can't tell you how close this one is to the real thing.  Even if its totally off the mark, it was totally worth trying!

Alice Springs Chicken
10" or 12" dutch oven

Honey Mustard Marinade:

1 c. Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1 c. honey
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. lemon juice

Chicken:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 c. sliced mushrooms (10−12 mushrooms)
2 Tbsp. butter
kosher salt and pepper
paprika
8 slices bacon, cooked
1 c. shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tsp. finely chopped fresh parsley

Use an electric mixer to combine the mustard, honey, 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whip the mixture for about 30 seconds. Pour about half of the marinade over the chicken breasts and marinate them, covered, in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Chill the remaining marinade until later. After the chicken has marinated,  add 1 Tbsp. oil to your dutch oven over a full spread of coals.

Sear the chicken in the pan for 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown on both sides (mine took 10-12 minutes total).  As the chicken is cooking, in a small dutch oven saute the mushrooms in the butter. Brush each seared chicken breast with a little of the reserved honey mustard marinade (not the portion that the chicken soaked in) being sure to save a little extra that you can serve on the side later with the dish.

Season the chicken with kosher salt, pepper and paprika. Stack two pieces of cooked bacon, crosswise on each chicken breast. Spoon the sauteed mushrooms onto the bacon, being sure to coat each breast evenly. Sprinkle 1/4 cup Monterrey Jack cheese evenly onto each breast followed by 1/4 cup of Cheddar.

Bake at 375° for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted and starting to bubble. Use 1 1/2 rings on top and 1 ring on the bottom for a 12" oven.  Sprinkle each breast with 1/2 teaspoon parsley before serving. Put extra honey mustard marinade into a small bowl to serve on the side.

The Finished Product

I didn't realize how awful this pic is--trust me--it tastes awesome!

The Review

This was fabulous!  It makes me wonder why I couldn't come up with this myself.  It was very simple and very delicious!  The honey mustard marinade was perfect.  Good Dijon mustard is the secret here.  I accidentally overcooked my bacon and I didn't use nearly enough cheese, but it was still great.  A half cup of cheese per breast seemed like a lot, but that is part of what makes this so good.  This costs $11.99 for one person in the restaurant, and I serves 9 of us for about $15.  That smells like a bargain to me!  I have to give this one an A.

Day 139: Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a confession to make.  When I went to cook my dinner last night, I found that I only had 14 coals left.  That is just not enough to cook a 2 1/2 lb meatloaf for an hour.  So, in my shame, I had to cook this, in my dutch oven, in my oven.  For some reason, cooking dinner wasn't as much fun.  It almost seemed a drudgery.  So I am off to the store this morning so we can kick Old Mother Hubbard out of the house, and get back to some real cast iron cooking.
I also have to let you know, that Kingsford charcoal and I are making amends.  I'm swallowing my pride, eating some crow and buying another bag today.  I have two reasons for doing this.  First, if I want to enter a cook off this summer, I better learn to use Kingsford. And second, as I thought about it, I think I let the frustration and my inexperience cloud my judgment.  I'll let you know how it all works out after I've used a bag or two!
On to today's recipe!  This is probably a recipe everyone already has, but since there wasn't much left in my fridge, this is what you get.  The meatloaf recipe is off the back of a box of Lipton Onion Soup, and I dressed it up with the toppings.

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf
12" dutch oven

1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs (I used oatmeal)
2 eggs
3/4 cup water (I used milk)
1/3 cup ketchup
6 bacon strips
BBQ sauce or ketchup
cheddar cheese
caramelized onions (french fried would work too)

In a large bowl, combine the soup mix, beef, bread crumbs, eggs, water and 1/3 cup ketchup.  Mix well.  Form into a loaf and put inside your dutch oven.  Top with bacon strips.  Bake at 350* for 45 minutes.  Top meatloaf with BBQ sauce or ketchup, cheese and onions and bake 10 minutes more or until meat is cooked through.  Serves 8.

The Finished Product

Sorry, I started cutting into it before I remembered to take a pic!

The Review

What is it about bacon that makes everything better?  This is the first time I've put bacon on meatloaf, and it won't be the last!  I've tried a lot of meatloaf recipes, and with the exception of the spinach stuffed one I did a while back, this is my favorite.  Even my kids liked it, and thats saying something.  This was a huge loaf, and even though there wasn't a bite left, the kids were still asking for more.  I think this will have to be my go to recipe for meatloaf.  Grade A-.

Day 123: Monterrey Chicken

Sorry about posting this late.  I've been having some computer problems, and apparently duct tape won't help.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that this old dinosaur won't die.  That would be very, very bad! 
I made another recipe that would be in my top ten list.  It is a variation of the Smothered Chicken I did a while ago.  This time I used home made BBQ sauce, and it was really good!  I combined a couple of recipes to get this one.  The BBQ sauce recipe came from Picky Palate.

Monterrey Chicken
10" dutch oven

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 bacon strips, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup BBQ sauce (recipe below)
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Cook the bacon in your dutch oven until crisp.  I used about 18 coals for this.  Set aside to drain on paper towels.  Drain all but about 1 Tbs. of grease.  Salt and pepper the chicken on both sides and add to the DO.  Bake at 350*, using 12 coals on top and 8 on the bottom, for about 20-25 minutes.  Smother the chicken in BBQ sauce on both sides and return to the DO for another 5 minutes or until they are cooked through.  Evenly top each breast with bacon and cheese.  Cook for about 5 minutes to let the cheese melt.  Top each breast with green onions and tomatoes.  Serves 4.

BBQ Sauce

1 1/4 cups ketchup
3 Tbs. Dijon Mustard
4 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp. honey

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

The Finished Product

The Review

These were oh, so good.  I could eat them everyday.  I really should have made more, even though I doubled the recipe, there still wasn't enough.  The BBQ sauce is my new "go to" sauce.  It is simple to make, and tastes great.  This is another recipe that should be on your "must try" list.  Everyone should make this at least once, but I will guarantee that once won't be enough!  Of course, this gets an A!

Day 118: BLT Braid

I woke up this morning with the worst headache I've ever had. I think I would rather have a baby than a bad headache! But now that I can sit up without barfing, here is today's recipe. I got it from Paula Deen. I really love her. She either deep frys everything or cooks it in bacon grease. What's not to love about that? Her recipe used puff pastry, which I love, but never have on hand. I just used bread dough. You can make your own dough like I did, or use Rhoade's. It will work either way. This would be great for breakfast or brunch. I made it in the middle of the day, and my kids ate it when they got home from school.

BLT Braid

14" dutch oven

12 large eggs, divided

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 lb. bacon, chopped

1 (6 oz) package fresh baby spinach

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup shredded swiss cheese (I used an Italian blend and some mozzarella)

1 cup seeded and chopped tomato

1/4 tsp. salt

2 loaves bread dough

In a large bowl, whisk together 11 eggs and mayonnaise until smooth. Set aside. In a DO (I used my 12" with 18-20 coals), cook bacon until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. Reserve 1 Tbs. bacon drippings in DO. Add the spinach and garlic; cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until spinach is wilted. Add egg mixture and cook until eggs are set, but not dry, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, tomato, salt and reserved bacon. Spoon mixture into a bowl, cover and chill 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out bread dough to a 10 x 15 inch rectangle. Cut strips 1 inch wide and 4 inches long along the long sides of the dough (see pic below). Spoon half of the egg mixture down the center of the dough. Criss cross the strips over the filling alternating sides to form a braid (see pic below). Carefully transfer to a 14" dutch oven. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. 

In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg until smooth. Brush egg evenly over both braids (I forgot to do this).  Allow to rise 25-30 minutes. Bake at 350* using 16 coals on top and 14 on the bottom for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

The Finished Product

What I Learned

When you make this, or any braid, use parchment paper. Cut it to the size of the DO and then roll the dough out on top of the parchment. After it is filled and shaped, it is easy to transfer to the DO without ruining the shape. I also removed about 1/3 of the bottom coals after 15-18 minutes so I didn't burn the bottom.

The Review

My kids ate this as an afterschool snack. My 15 year old son ate half of one braid. They loved it. I was lucky to get a piece. The filling was moist and delicious and had awesome flavor. They didn't even complain that there was green stuff inside it. This was a total hit with my family. It was also very simple to make. I didn't take a lot of time either. You could do it faster with puff pastry, though. You really should try this recipe. Everyone will think you spent a lot of time and will be impressed by the braid! We gave it an A.

Day 106: Creamy Ranch Chicken

How many favorite recipes am I allowed? I have to say, with the exception of a few, I've been pretty lucky with the foods I've made. As we get closer to the end of the year, I'm sure I'll have more flops, but so far, most have been really good. It does help that I'm generally not a picky eater, except for a few foods. My children on the other hand.... Sometimes I wonder how they stay alive when they only eat the required one bite of everything. I am happy to report that this chicken got rave reviews, even from my pickiest eaters.

Creamy Ranch Chicken

12" dutch oven

6 slices of bacon, cut up

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

2 Tbs. flour

2 Tbs. dry ranch salad dressing mix

1 1/4 cups milk
3 cups dried medium noodles

1 Tbs. finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to package directions. I did this in a 10" DO. In your 12" oven, cook the bacon until crisp. I used 20 coals for this. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Drain all but 2 Tbs. of grease. In the same DO, cook the chicken in bacon drippings until no longer pink. Sprinkle flour and salad dressing mix over the chicken; stir well to coat all the chicken. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in bacon. Serve over egg noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serves 4.

The Finished Product

The Review

I loved this! My kids loved this! There was not one scrap of chicken left after dinner. And talk about easy. It is the perfect week night meal. It comes together quickly, and it tasted great! I, personally, could have left out the chicken and just had the bacon. But if you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you already knew that. Seriously though, it does need more bacon. You could probably put in a 12 oz. package and it wouldn't be too much. This recipe should be on every one's "must try" list. Grade A.

Day 98: Chicken Stroganoff

You know it is a busy day when you finally sit down to dinner at 7:30. My kids were starving! I almost forgot to take a picture of this recipe. I adapted this recipe from one in a Taste of Home magazine. It is a great week night meal because it comes together pretty quickly.

Chicken Stroganoff

12" dutch oven

10 bacon strips
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1/4" strips

1 medium onion, chopped
2 (4 1/2 oz.) jars mushrooms, drained
3 carrots, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika
pepper to taste
4 tbs. flour
1 cup sour cream
In your DO, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 2 Tbs. drippings, set bacon aside. In the drippings, cook chicken, onion, mushrooms and carrots until the chicken is no longer pink. Add the broth, garlic, salt, paprika, pepper and bacon. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Combine flour and sour cream until smooth; add to the DO. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes, or until thickened. Serve over noodles or rice. Serves 4-6. I used 22 coals for this one.

The Finished Product

The Review

This recipe didn't "wow" me, but it was a good week night meal. Everyone liked it, and there weren't any leftovers, so I would call it a success. The bacon (of course) was the best part. I didn't have enough sour cream so I ended up using some cream of chicken soup as a substitutefor part of the sour cream. My sauce also didn't thicken up very well, so I used some of the roux from my fridge to finish thickening it. I will make this one again. Since I usually have all the ingredients on hand, it may make an appearance on busy nights quite often. We all decided that this recipe gets a B.

Day 90: Penne Rustica

I really love Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica. It is my favorite thing to get when I go there. So I started searching for a recipe I could do at home. I know it will never be as good as you can it at the restaurant, but that's okay. So I found a few recipes, one was on Mark's Black Pot, and several from various other sites. I didn't have all the ingredients for any of them, so I just improvised a little from each recipe. I did use the sauce recipe from Mark's post though.

Penne Rustica

12" dutch oven

1 lb. penne pasta

1/2 lb. bacon

2 clove minced garlic

3 chicken breasts, cubed

1 large red pepper, diced

16 oz. grated mozzarella cheese

Sauce:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 Tbs. Dijon mustard

healthy shakes of rosemary, salt, thyme, ground cayenne pepper

healthy shakes of oregano and paprika

First I cooked the bacon in my 12" DO until it was nice and crisp. Then break it into pieces and set aside. Drain off most of the grease, and cook the chicken, garlic and bell peppers in the same pot. In my 10' DO, I cooked the penne on my camp stove, according to package directions. When the pasta is done, drain it and set it aside while you make the sauce. Combine all the sauce ingredients and stir well. I used a 10" DO with about 12 coals underneath. You don't want to boil the sauce, just heat it through. I also threw in about a quarter of the shredded mozzarella.

When the chicken and peppers are cooked, drain off any liquid. Add the pasta, bacon and stir in the sauce. Top with the mozzarella cheese. I baked mine at 350*, with 14 coals on top and 10 on the bottom, for about 20 minutes. Serves 8-10.

The Finished Product

I really wish I could make it look as good as it tastes!

The Review

I think I died and went to heaven! I ate WAY more of this than I needed to! It was so good. I was really unorganized in my preparation since I had never made this and I was combining a couple of recipes. It was worth the effort! Next time it will be easier, and there will be a next time, probably many next times. This is probably one of my favorite recipes so far this year! It made a lot and there were no leftovers. The whole family gave it an A.

Day 69: Barbecue Smothered Chicken

I have a lot of good recipes and I've made a lot of good recipes, but there are only a handful of really memorable recipes. Sometimes they are memorable because they are really different or very comforting. Some have good memories attached to them, and some are just so dang good that you can't forget them. This recipe falls into the latter category. I've had this recipe for months, and never tried it because I really don't like mushrooms. I can't stand the taste or texture of the gross little things. Some of my problem is because they're fungus. Disgusting! Anyway--I finally bit the bullet and decided to try it. Now I am kicking myself for not doing in sooner.

Barbecue Smothered Chicken

12" dutch oven

3 Tbs. butter

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 onion, sliced

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

2 Tbs. olive oil

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup BBQ sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup pre-cooked bacon crumbles

In your DO melt the butter over high heat and add mushrooms, garlic and onions and cook until soft. I used 22 coals for this. Add the kosher salt and pepper and mix well. Remove from the DO and set aside. In the same DO heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 3-5 minutes per side, don't fully cook them, just brown them. When they are browned, remove them from the DO and drain off the oil and juices. Put the chicken back in the DO. On top of each breast put the mushroom mixture, BBQ sauce, cheese and bacon crumbles in that order. Bake at 375* for about 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Use 18 coals on top and 9 on the bottom. If you work fast, you can use the same coals for the entire cooking process. Serves 6.

The Finished Product

The Review

Wow! All I can say is WOW! These were amazing! I can taste them right now they were so good. These flavors mix perfectly. How can you go wrong with bacon, onions, BBQ sauce and cheese. Delicious on their own, but they fit in the "food of the Gods" category together. I want to make this again tomorrow! It was really easy too. With a total cooking time of 35 minutes, it went together in a snap. These rank up in my "top 10 favorite meals ever". You really need to try them! Grade: A+.

Day 57: Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Happy Friday! Hallelujah! It has been a long week! After a week of getting up at 5 am I am sooo looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. Heaven knows, I need all the beauty sleep I can get! Today is also a good day because Uncle Sam is supposed to be giving back some of the money he overspent with all year. I can't wait because today I am ordering a Camp Chef cook table. It is a metal table that I can actually cook on with the charcoals and everything. I really should post some pics of my current "set up". It is not fancy at all. Nobody can use the excuse that they don't have the right equipment to use their DOs because I have been cooking on my porch with pieces of aluminum foil on the ground. I'll take some pics tonight and post them tomorrow.

Last night, after a trip to the grocery store so I could kick out old mother Hubbard, I made a recipe I found on Mark's Black Pot, Bacon Wrapped Chicken. Bacon...ah bacon! It really is the food of the Gods! I'll warn you, this is a heart attack waiting to happen, but it would be totally worth it. I had to cook and run last night, so I didn't get to take a picture. But since I will definitely be making this again, I will post one next time. Until then, click the link above to see Mark's post, it has a great pic.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

DO size depends on how many you make

boneless, skinless chicken breasts or tenders

Bacon (I used hickory smoked, just use your favorite)

lemon juice

I cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise, wrapped them with bacon and secured it with toothpicks. Then I plopped them in my DO and started them cooking. I used a 14" DO with 28 coals underneath. (If you use a smalled DO just make sure it is nice and hot. Maybe 22 coals for a 12" and 18 coals for a 10".) You want to use your DO as a frying pan. No top heat and no lid. Let the chicken cook until the bacon is crispy and browned, then turn it to cook all sides. About 2/3 of the way through cooking, I drizzled it with lemon juice (I just used the bottled stuff). They took about 30 minutes to cook completely.

The Review

These were AMAZING!!!! I wish I could eat them everyday, and I had to have the cold leftovers! Next time I will cut the chicken into thinner strips to up the bacon to chicken ratio. I will also use thick cut bacon. I think I will also try draining off the grease and let the cooked chicken simmer in some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce; not a lot, just enough to lightly coat the chicken. I wouldn't want to drowned out the bacon flavor! These get an A+.

Day 41: Dutch Oven Potatoes

Side dishes are my Nemesis. I have such a hard time finding side dishes that everyone will eat. Summertime is not so bad because the garden gives me something new and fresh every day. But in the winter I get tired of boring frozen or canned veggies. I search high and low for new recipes. Anyone that knows me will be laughing out loud right now because I am being conservative when I say my recipe collection includes about 5000 recipes. I read cookbooks like novels. But I especially love it when I have a great recipe delivered to my door in the form of the Tuesday newspaper. They did an article on DO cooking (and they didn't ask me--how rude! LOL LOL) and printed a DO potato recipe. Since the first ingredient on the list was bacon...I knew I had to try it. This was a recipe from David Littlefield printed in Provo's Daily Herald.

Dutch Oven Potatoes

12" dutch oven

1/2 lb. bacon (I used a whole pound and it was perfect!)

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped (I didn't have one)

1/2 Tbs. McCormick Creole Seasoning

1/2 tsp. black pepper

6-8 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1/4 lb. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the bacon in your DO. Remove from the pan and drain all but a few Tbs. of the grease. Saute onions, peppers and spices until veggies are soft. Add the bacon and potatoes; mix well. Add the soup and mix well. Let them bake for about 40 minutes. I used 8 coals on the bottom and 16 on top. During the last 5 minutes of cooking remove the pot from the bottom heat and add the cheese. Cook until it melts!

The Finished Product

Wow--that pic is dark! Sorry!

What I Learned

I started out with 10 coals on the bottom and 14 on top, but about 15 minutes in I went to stir them and I could tell there was too much heat. I just moved a couple of coals from the bottom to the top. I am seeing that in a lot of cases the problem with too much heat isn't the actual temperature of the oven, rather the distribution of the coals. So I've learned not to be afraid of moving the coals around. Honestly, I haven't cooked a bad meal yet.

The Review

These were Fabulous! This is my new favorite DO potato recipe. Every time I went to stir them I was snitching half cooked potatoes "just to see if they were done". Yeah right--I just couldn't keep them out of my mouth. They just sort of kept jumping in! This recipe is going camping with us this summer. These potatoes get an easy A.

Day 34: Hearty Corn Chowder

We had another busy day at our house. You can tell, because on busy days we usually have soup for dinner (at least in the winter). I did have to use my propane camp stove again, but I have gotten over the guilt involved and I'm alright with it. :) This is a recipe I have had for years and I have no idea where it came from, only that we love it. It has 2 of my favorite meats in it--bacon and smoked sausage. I could write (really bad) poetry about bacon. Bacon is the food of the Gods. It adds so much flavor and its crispy crunch is irresistible. And it is perfect in this soup.

Hearty Corn Chowder

12" dutch oven

1/2 lb. sliced bacon

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups diced peeled potatoes

1 cup water

2 cups corn

1 can cream style corn

1 12 oz. can evaporated milk

6 oz. smoked sausage links, cut into 1/4" slices

1 tsp. dill weed

In your DO, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towels; crumble and set aside. Drain all but 2 Tbs. of the drippings. Saute the celery and onions in drippings until onions are lightly browned. Add the potatoes and water. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir in corn, milk, sausage, dill and bacon. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

The Finished Product

What I Learned

That bacon cooked in a DO is Fabulous!!!

The Review

This is in my top 10 list of soups. It is amazing. The bacon and sausage give it just the right flavor, and the DO makes it even better. Tomorrows leftovers will be even better! This soup gets an easy A.

**Just a note--I doubled this recipe for my family and it fit great into a 12" oven. So this will probably fit in a 10" oven if it is not doubled.**

Day 6: Dutch Oven Potatoes

I think I am overthinking dutch oven cooking. I am so worried about getting it right, that I am forgetting that the one thing that I am going to learn the most from is my mistakes. Trial and error is sometimes our best tutor. Today, I have to give a hearty thanks to Mark from Marks black pot. Mark site has become sort of a mentor for me. If you haven't found his site yet, be sure to check it out. He is creative, inventive, knowledgable and has a real passion for food and dutch oven cooking. Anyway, I was browsing his site and found a great post he made about dutch oven heat. He really brought it down to the basics of cooking, and that is that all we are doing is adding heat to food. I have no problem adjusting heat when I modify or create a recipe in the kitchen, so I just need to remember that I am doing the same thing when I cook outdoors. So, no more stress about heat. I will just follow the basic formula for using coals, and add a few more coals when a meal isn't quite doing what I want it to. The rest will just come with experience. So, thanks Mark for helping me de-stress and reminding me that cooking is really very simple.

Today's recipe is the most simple and "dutch oveny" recipe ever. It is the first dutch oven food I ever tasted. It was my father-in-law's specialty. It has only 3 ingredients plus salt and pepper, and they happen to be 3 of my favorite ingredients: potatoes, onions and bacon. So, here we go!

Dutch Oven Potatoes

10" dutch oven

10 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced (leave the skins on red potatoes)

1 onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

1 lb. smoked bacon, cut into 1" pieces

salt and pepper to taste

I cooked the bacon first with 20 coals on the bottom until it was just beginning to crisp. Then add the potatoes and onions. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook until potatoes are tender with 12 top coals and 8 bottom coals. Stir occasionally.

The Finished Product

What I learned

This is a really easy dish. I still need to add more heat to compensate for the cold air temps. It took about 40 minutes to cook, which isn't bad. I am getting closer to figuring out how much heat to add. This was a morale booster for me.

The Review

How in the world can I say anything bad about a dish with bacon in it. It is fabulous just by virtue of the fact that it uses bacon. Honestly, this one has real sentimental meaning for me. My father-in-law has been gone 15 years. He was an amazing man, and this dish reminds me of him.