Chili's Nacho Burger

Here's a clone recipe for a delicious new burger from Chili's unlike any you may have tasted before. It was designed by the folks at this popular chain to incorporate several of restaurant's prepared sides -- all of which you will now have clones for -- including Chili's chili queso, Chili's pico de gallo, and Chili's guacamole. Stack it all onto abun with a juicy 1/4-pound ground beef patty and some crumbledtortilla chips for crunch, and you've got a slightly spicy, South-of-the-border taste. Muy bien, amigos!

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Pico de Gallo

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup diced Spanish onion

2 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and de-ribbed

2 teaspoons finely minced fresh cilantro

Pinch of salt

Guacamole

2 small or 1 large Haas avocado

2 tablespoons sour cream

1/4 cup diced tomato

1/2 teaspoon diced jalapeno

1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

Chili Queso

3 ounces ground beef

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

pinch of ground black pepper

16-ounce bottle Cheez Whiz

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 pounds ground beef

4 large sesame seed buns

2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded or chopped thin

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 green onion, chopped

16-20 tortilla chips

2-3 fresh jalapenos, sliced

1. First make the pico de gallo. This is easy. Just combine all of the ingredients for the pico in a small bowl and mix well. Cover bowl and chill in the refrigerator.

2. Now we'll make the guacamole. In a small bowl, smash up most of the avocado, but be sure to leave several unsmashed chunks. Add the remaining ingredients for the guacamole to the avocado and mix well. Cover bowl and chill in the refrigerator, next to the pico.

3. Next we'll make the chili queso. In yet another small bowl, mix together ground beef, flour, a pinch of salt, a pinch of black pepper, and a pinch of chili powder. Use your hands to work the dry ingredients into the ground beef. Brown the beef in a small skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Use a spoon or spatula to crumble the beef as it cooks. Cook until it's brown, then set aside.

4. Melt the Cheez Whiz with 2 tablespoons of milk over low heat. When milk and cheese has been combined, add the remaining queso ingredients. Heat while stirring often until cheese is smooth and creamy, then cover saucepan and remove it from the heat.

5. Pre-heat a griddle or large frying pan over medium heat. Lightly butter the face of each bun and brown the buns face-down on the heat.

6. Separate the ground beef into four 1/2-pound portions. Roll each portion of meat into a ball and then pat the meat down into a circular patty slightly larger in diameter than the hamburger buns. Cook the hamburger patties for 5-10 minutes per side, until done. Lightly salt and pepper each burger patty.

7. Build the burger open-faced in the following order starting with the bottom bun:

On Bottom Bun

1/2 cup shredded lettuce

hamburger patty

2 tablespoons chili queso

4 or 5 crumbled tortilla chips

2 teaspoons green onion

On Top Bun

1/2 tablespoon mayonnaise

2 tablespoons pico de gallo

2 tablespoons guacamole

4 jalapeno slices

Serve burger with extra queso and guacamole. May also serve french fries on the side and use the chili queso for dipping.

Makes 4 burgers.

Carl's Jr. Ranch Crispy Chicken Sandwich

We'll use elements of the Carl's Jr. Bacon Swiss Crispy Chicken Sandwich clone recipe to whip up oneof the other Carl's Jr. crispy chicken sandwiches, because I always say you can never have too much crispy chicken. This fried chicken breast sandwich includes lettuce and tomato, and is slathered with a clone of Carl'stasty ranch dressing. Use the recipes together and you can easily serve up two different sandwich clones for different tastes, with little extra effort. And you diners will be so impressed.

Recipe for Ranch Dressing

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tablespoon buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon parsley

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

dash dill weed

dash garlic powder

dash ground black pepper

2 teaspoons hot water

1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
6 to 8 cups vegetable shortening

1 egg

1 cup water

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

4 chicken breast fillets

4 sesame seed hamburger buns

4 lettuce leaves

4 tomato slices

1. Preheat 6 to 8 cups of shortening in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. If you don't have a deep fryer, you can also pan fry using a large frying pan, and just a couple cups of shortening.

2. To prepare the ranch dressing, combine all of the ingredients except the water and gelatin in small bowl. Mix the water with the gelatin in a small cup until all of the gelatin is dissolved. Add this gelatin solution to the other ingredients and stir. Cover and chill the dressing until it's needed.

3. Beat the egg and then combine with 1 cup of water in a small, shallow bowl. Stir.

4. Combine the flour, salt, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder in another shallow bowl.

5. Pound each of the breast fillets with a mallet until about 1/4-inch thick. Trim each breast fillet until it is round.

6. Working with one fillet at a time, first coat each fillet with the flour, then dredge it in the egg and water mixture. Coat the chicken once again in the flour and set it aside until all of the fillets have been coated.

7. Fry the chicken fillets for 8 to 12 minutes or until light brown and crispy.

8. As chicken is frying, prepare each sandwich by grilling the face of the hamburger buns on a hot skillet over medium heat. Spread about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the ranch dressing on the face of the top and bottom buns.

9. On the bottom bun, stack a leaf of lettuce and a tomato slice.

10. When the chicken is done frying, remove the fillets from the fryer and drain on paper towels or a rack for a couple minutes.

11. Stack one fillet on the bottom of the sandwich (on top of the tomato), then top it off with the top bun. Repeat the stacking process for each of the sandwiches.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

Applebee's Baked French Onion Soup

Applebee's Baked French Onion Soup

Don't even try to find this one on the menu at Applebee's, because it isn't there; though it's the most popular soupserved each day at this huge restaurant chain. This is the first of several big-time soup clones we'll unveil here inthe next few weeks to help get you through the cold wintermonths.

And they're all a cinch to make. Just be sure you have some oven-safe soup bowls for this one, since we'll have to broil it a bit before serving. Under the gooey melted provolone of the original version you get from Applebee's is a unique round crouton that's made from bread similar to a hamburger bun. So that's exactly what we'll use in our clone.

Ingredients for this recipe:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 medium white onions, sliced

8 cups beef broth (Swanson is best)

1 cup water2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

5 plain hamburger buns10 slices provolone cheese

10 teaspoons shredded parmesan cheese

1. Add 3 tablespoons oil to a large soup pot or saucepan over medium/high heat. Add the sliced onions and saute for 20 minutes until the onions begin to soften and start to become translucent. You don't want them to brown.

2. Add the beef broth, water, salt, garlic powder and black pepper to the pan and bring mixture to a boil. When soup begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

3. To make the croutons cut off the top half of each top of the hamburger bun so that the bread is the same thickness as the bottom half of each bun. Throw the tops away. Now you should have 10 round pieces of bread -- 5 bottom buns, and 5 top buns with the tops cut off. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place the bread in the the oven directly on the rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until each piece is golden brown and crispy. Set these croutons aside until you need them.

4. When the soup is done, spoon about 1 cup into an oven-safe bowl. Float a crouton on top of the soup, then place a slice of provolone cheese on top of the crouton. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of shredded parmesan cheese over the provolone.

5. Place the bowl into your oven set to high broil. Broil the soup for 5 to 6 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown (you may need to broil longer if you are making more than one bowl at a time). Sprinkle an additional 1/2 teaspoon of shredded parmesan cheese over the top of the soup and serve. Repeat process to prepare remaining servings.Makes 10 servings.