Texas Straw Hat – And Really Big Rabbits!
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When I was around seven or so , my grandmother Lucille, got to go to Dallas, Texas. This doesn’t seem like much these days but no one in my family had ever been out of our little corner of the country at that time it felt as if we had a world traveler suddenly among us!
She went with a group of ladies from her work and even though it was only a short trip, she came back loaded down with postcards and souvenirs for all of us. I had no idea where Texas was at the time but my worn out Pecos Bill storybook record kept my mind reeling with what all Grandmama must have experienced – that and one particular postcard she sent me that I will never forget as long as I live.
Imagine being a seven year old girl hearing tales of Texas and then getting this in the mail:
I just KNEW my Grandmama had ridden that rabbit!
And to be honest ~lowers her voice and looks around to make sure it’s just us here~ when I went to Texas for a weekend five years ago, I kept my eyes peeled for it…just in case. After all, it IS Texas…
Today I’m bringing you another easy ground beef recipe. Don’t you just love recipes that use the words “easy” and “ground beef”? For me, that spells food for the masses! This one is also easy to tailor to what you have on hand so don’t go out buying special ingredients if you don’t already have them. Feel free to add drained diced tomatoes or tomato sauce in lieu of the tomato paste, leave out the thyme if you like and just add a little extra chili powder. Cook it until it is nice and thick for layering and you’ve essentially just made yourself a Frito Chili Pie. But we’ll call it the same thing Granny Jordan did when she made it and maybe smile a bit as we think about how many tribes a Texas rabbit stew would feed!
To make it by Granny Jordan’s recipe you’ll need: Chili powder, tomato sauce, onion, pepper, thyme, salt, fritos, and some cheese.
And some ground beef, of course.
You know what is cool about this recipe? I made the meat up and then just popped whatever was left in the fridge so throughout the weekend if anyone is hungry they can just heat up some meat and toss it on some corn chips! It’s kinda like my pizza rolls, gives you some time off from cooking later :). I love cooking, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a beautiful sunny day and my Katy and I like spending some time in the back yard swings seeing if we can touch the sky with our feet. I think Katy is almost there…
Brown your beef and onion together.
Usually I have my beef all browned and in the freezer and just take out a bag to use in order to cut out an extra step but we all have off days
Drain your grease off good and add tomato sauce and chilli powder…
add Salt and Pepper…
And thyme…
You know what I’m gonna try next time that I think would be good?
Italian seasoning. Y’all just don’t know how much I love that stuff!
and Worcestershire.
Now just for kicks, close your eyes and see if you can spell that word…
and pour in your water.
My photos are out of sequence here but basically, after you got the beef browned, just add everything else except the cheese and chips ~grins~
Stir all of that up good and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve atop corn chips, topped with cheese.
Sour cream would be good, too!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:279]
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Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
I was reading through some of the other posts and someone mentioned vegetarians. You can replace the meat with TVP (textured vegetable portein, also called textured soy protein). The trick with that would be measuring out the dry protein product, add boiling water with enough water left out to be replaced with either the spicy V-8 or the El Pato Sauce and tomatoes. I would also add a couple of beef bullion cubes to the boiling water to make it taste more like beef (it’s like tofu, it will take on the taste of whatever flavoring you add to it). You have to let the TSP sit in a hot liquid in order to reconstitute it or it’s like eating little rocks! (Ask me, I made that mistake ONE time, learned my lesson real quick!) But add the V-8 or El Pato Sauce to it once you start to brown it in a skillet. Then continue on with your choices from there. And we used to do it buffet style, bowls of this, that and the other thing, just like with the tacos and tostadas, and everyone built their own.
Speaking of tacos, if you don’t want a fried shell, try half a wheat pita bread. The pita bread makes a nice pocket to hold all the goodies and it definitely give you a different taste experience.
Judi
Here’s another recipe where I would be replacing the tomato paste, water, thyme and Worcestershire sauce with my good old trusty El Pato Sauce and about enough water to rinse out the can good, maybe half a can (comes in cans the size of the small tomato sauce does).
And I would replace the American chili powder with some my friend from India brought me. That stuff is so potent that where I was using 1/2 cup to make chili and it still wasn’t spicy enough, I used about a tablespoon of that and definitely cleaned my sinuses out! You can get the really good chili at any of the Middle Eastern food stores (they are cropping up everywhere I have been and they have some really good stuff in them!).
Again, it is all a matter of taste and I love to experiment! My mom and I have added salsa to pizza sauce to give that some kick and topped the sauce with frozen stir fry vegetables (at least partially thawed out or it takes forever to cook that pizza where the center isn’t frozen anymore). Then top with cheese. She loves it so I make a medium one every time I go over there, even if we are having something else for dinner. She doesn’t eat much at one sitting, but she eats a whole pizza within 24 hours because she doesn’t sleep much. I am sitting here chuckling about it even now.
And I sure would like to get my hands on one of those Texas rabbits. That critter would make a mess of stewed rabbit and dumplings! YUM!!
Judi
Christy, Sure can’t wait for your next cook book to come out. You have the best recipes!!!
Love all the recipes, but even more than that?? I love that you answer comments! Love your heart. 🙂
Thank you Annette. I try to get to as many of them as I can, I know I miss some but I do try. ~HUGS~
hey Christy, another gluten free meal. !be sure to use real fretos and gf chilli powder. thanks
. getting your book at Sams this weekend.
Thank you so much Debbi!!
Gratefully,
Christy
Mmmm were a Texas Homegrown family and we do love our frito pies 🙂
im going to hoioji
Your site is so easy, down to earth and you show pictures of the products you use. You make it seem so easy and for a task that I do not like you make me want to try. I love your imput and the way you make me feel right @ home. I really like your site and I thank you for a fresh idea when I am all out of them. My daughter is very picky and I just don’t want to eat the same things night after night. I like to try something new.
Your really cool!
Thanks and God Bless!