Southwest Meat Pie

Here is a quick and easy little recipe for Southwest style meat pies (for lack of a better term). All you need is canned biscuits (the kind that pop open under pressure and scare you) Flatten them out and add taco-mix beef or chicken, Mexican Rotel and cheese. Pop them in the oven for 10 mins. at 400 degrees and you've got a great dish. And, you could use just about any kind of fillings for variations of this dish.

Southwest Meat Pie Taste Test

Here is a quick clip showing the meat pie done and me sampling it. After taking them out of the oven, let them sit a few minutes to cool down. Then you can eat them with your hands and not scald the roof of your mouth like I did. Quite good, and again, you can use just about any filling with this recipe.

Honeycrisp Hen

Here is a great little dish I cooked up this weekend. It is super simple to do and combines the great flavor of apples and Cornish hen. And not just any apple - the great Honeycrisp apple. I stuffed the bird with apple slices and cooked it in a tagine cooker over a bed of sliced portobello mushrooms. It was one of the best things ever. Check out the prep video below.

Honeycrisp Hen Ready To Serve

Here is a short clip, peering into the tagine cooker as the Cornish hen is cooked and ready. I cooked the bird about 2 hours and 45 minutes on low heat. I served the hen and mushrooms with mashed potatoes. I mixed in a little of the stock from the pan in with the potatoes. OMG, it was great.

Smoked Eye Round Beef

I know what your thinking. You can't go and slow smoke an eye round roast. That don't make sense. Well, after finding the store didn't have brisket, I decided to give it a whirl. It turned out pretty darn good. With the seasoning and smoke, the flavor was outstanding. It came off the smoker less tender than I'd like, but the next day it was more tender for whatever reason.

I cooked it a little longer than I should I think (six hours). I'd check it around 5 hours - it would probably be about the right rareness. All in all, I was quite pleased with it.

Eye Round Looks Good

I must say the eye round grew on me. This shot is the morning after I cooked it and it seemed to have gotten better overnight in flavor and tenderness. I sliced it thin and it is quite tender now and full of great flavor. I'd venture to say it could be one of the best things ever. Enjoy.

Southern Comfort Artichoke Soup

This one is a bone warmer and stupid simple to make. This artichoke soup recipe is at the very "heart" (he he) of my cooking philosophy. Keep it simple stupid (KISS). That suits me well. In other words, this is a recipe that has few ingredients (like seven or so) and doesn't require a ton of work. This soup is one of those, yet it is super good.

Here's what you need:
One can family size Campbell's Cream of Chicken
One small can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom and Roasted Garlic
One can quartered artichoke hearts
One can Original Rotel
One head green onions chopped up
One 8-ounce pack of mushrooms
Chicken broth to make soup more soupy.

Dump it all in a pot and bring to a slow boil and simmer for 3-4 hours. Start adding chicken broth slowly as the cream of soups will liquefy more than you might think as they warm up. As it heats up, add broth to your liking. Give it a try.