So I like cooking. Although not a great cook, over the years I have refined a few recipes for home-made soups and chili that I am pretty proud of.
If you are interested to try my soups or chili, go ahead and make a batch!!! I have listed my recipes below.
Also, based on viewer requests, I have made the page more printer-friendly - with a lighter background and black text, as opposed to a dark background and white text using up all your ink!!!
Recipe written by Darren Dorman, November 2001
Darren’s Turkey Chili
Ingredients:
1 lb. of Ground Turkey meat (ground Chicken will work too).
1 Can of Large Red Kidney Beans
2 Cans of other beans - Black Beans, or Great Northern White Beans, or Pink Kidney Beans can be used.
1 Can of Crushed, Diced, or Stewed Tomatoes
1 Can of Tomato Sauce (8 oz.)
1 Can of Tomato Paste (6 oz.)
1 Large Onion
1 Large Green Pepper
6 or more, Cloves of Garlic
1 Packet of Store Purchased Chili Mix (starter) - McCormick, or Old El Paso, etc..used as started pack.
Assorted spices - Chili Powder, Cumin Powder, Ceyanne Pepper, Paprika, Salt
Water - depending on how thick or watery you want it.
Brown the turkey meat is a pan - it is not necessary to drain any liquids. Cut up (dice) the onion and green pepper and crush or dice the garlic and get alll that in cooking with the meat. After the meat is browned, transfer it to a stock-pot or large deep pot, and follow directions on the chili-mix packet - add the seasoning packet, tomatoes, beans, some water, and tomato sauce and paste to the ground meat and heat and stir, stir, stir. Add spices to your desired flavor and keep at a slow boil for a minimum of 15 minutes, but longer is better for flavor melding. While boiling, leave lid off and boil off water content for thicker chili; and for thinner broth add water and boil with lid on.
Happy Cooking! The longer the flavors meld, the better this chili will be. The next-day heating up the leftovers is usually much better and hartier tasting.
Recipe written by Darren Dorman, September 2000
Darren’s Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
1 (or 2) Large White Potato(es).
1 Large Sweet Potato
1 Large Green Pepper
1 Small Bag/bundle of good sized Carrots
1 Bag/Bundle of Celery
2 Bundles of Scallions, or 1 White Onion
Package, or can of mushrooms (optional), “baby bellas,” or typical white mushrooms.
1 8oz. Can of Sliced Beets
1 12 oz. Can of Cut Green Beans (or fresh cut green beans)
1 8oz. Can of Small Sweet Peas
1 12 or 16 oz. Can of Diced, Sliced, or Stewed Tomatoes
1 Small Can of Tomato Paste
2 or 3 12 oz. Cans of Chicken or Beef Broth
Meat (optional) 1 Pkg of Beef Stewing Cubes, or Cooked Boneless White Chicken meat.
Spices: Garlic Powder or 2 Garlic Cloves; Basil; Rosemary; Dash of Currie; Dash of Cumin.
Peel and cut sweet potato, white potato, and carrots to desired size pieces and add to cans of broth in a large stockpot and begin heating. Cut and add celery and chicken or beef pieces. If using beef, no need to pre-cook, as the meat will cook in the boiling broth and be exceptionally tender.
Add can of tomato paste and stir in till dissolved. Cut green pepper and scallions to desired size and add along with can of tomatoes. As mixture begins to simmer or boil, add in spices to your taste preference. I recommend going rich on the garlic. Adding the cumin and curry will give a distinct savory earthy flavor, but not everyone likes those two spices, so you may want to try different spice combinations with each batch you make. Add the cans of peas and green beans. To thin the broth a little, don’t drain the liquid out of the peas and green beans when you add them. Clean and slice mushrooms into desired pieces and add. I have found that if you use and go heavy on the baby-bella mushrooms, it will change the entire overall flavor of the soup dramatically, so again, experiment on batches. Open and drain can of sliced beets, and cut them down to soup sized pieces and add. Add water to balance out content/broth mixture to desired consistency and continue boiling/simmering over med. heat until carrots are soft. It is best to cover while heating, so the liquid doesn’t all boil off, however, broth can be made into stew consistency by boiling with no lid and adding minimal water.
Happy Cooking! It makes your whole house smell great when you make this soup.
Written by Darren Dorman October 1997
Darren’s Killer Cabbage Soup
1 Head of Cabbage
6 Carrots
2 or 3 Turnips
1 Good Sized Onion
2 Good Sized Potatoes
Fresh or canned Green Beans (optional)
Several Cloves of fresh Garlic
2 cans of Clear Chicken Broth
1 can of Stewed or Crushed Tomatoes
1 small can of Tomato Paste
Additional Seasonings: Bay leaves, Salt (Kosher cooking salt is very good), Basil, Curry powder, Black Pepper, Borscht (beet juice) optional.
In a large pot, combine Chicken Broth, Stewed Tomatoes, and Tomato Paste and begin heating lightly.
Cut up (your desired size) the harder vegetables, like carrots and turnips and get them in first so they begin to soften. Add cabbage, either cutting into strips or squares, or you can leave in more of the whole leaf form. Cut up and place in all remaining veggies, and desired seasonings, and bring to a boil. Boil for at least 10 minutes and then bring back to a simmer until harder veggies are soft enough for your liking.
You may have to add some water depending on how much broth you’ll need vs. the amount of veggies.
I added the Curry and even some Borscht (beet juice) for added flair, but it would probably be fine without. Experiment with spice combinations.
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