Corn, Poblano, and Bean Chili

I love chili.  Well, I take that back.  I love meatless chili with very few onions and lots of beans and no red peppers.  That is the chili I love. 

Below is a recipe I threw together the other night.  I have "created" so many vegetarian chili recipes in my time but this is the first one I am actually proud to share.  As was posted earlier in the week, because we didn't go to the party last Friday night, we had a bunch of beans and corn hanging around the fridge.  This recipe is what was created out of that leftover bean and corn dip.  

I decided to use a leek in this recipe instead of an onion because I didn't want the overpowering taste of an onion.  Although I have been cooking with onions a lot lately, I really don't like big chunks of them in soups and/or chili and/or many other dishes.  I thought using a leek would be a good compromise.  I also added some chickpeas because they are delicious.  That's really the only reason.  Who wouldn't want something delicious in their chili?

This chili took less than an hour to make from start to finish.  After adding the initial ingredients, I just left it alone and let it cook down.  I would periodically stir but didn't have to do much more.  If you decide to try this recipe, I hope you enjoy!

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Corn, Poblano, and Bean Chili

2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)

1 leek (only the white stem portion), chopped

1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cayanne pepper (less out for less spice)

1.5 teaspoons salt

1 can of chickpeas

1 can corn

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1.5 cups of vegetable or chicken broth

Place butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add leek, poblano, and garlic to the butter.  Saute for about 5-8 minutes or until slightly softened.  Add chili powder, cayanne powder, and salt.  Mix well and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add the chickpeas, corn, kidney beans, black beans, tomatoes, and broth to pot.  Stir all the ingredients together.  Once it begins simmering, add the lid onto the pot.  Cook covered at a simmer for 20 minutes.  Take lid off and cook for 15 more minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with tortilla chips, cornbread, or biscuits.  Can be topped with shredded cheese, feta, or a bit of greek yogurt. 

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Pearled Barley with Roasted Onions and Butternut Squash

Warning!  If you are doing any sort of food cleansing fast, please avoid looking at the pictures and recipe linked below.  Another warning!  These photos do not do this meal justice.

This was the experience Matt had today at school when warming up his leftovers for lunch.  He said a couple of his coworkers are doing a cleansing fast and when they saw him warming up this dish, they basically started asking him all sorts of questions about it.  When he described the dish by saying "roasted butternut squash, roasted onions, and pearled barley topped with goat cheese," it is hard to blame them for drooling.  

Here is the link to the original recipe from 101cookbooks.com: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/farro-and-roasted-butternut-squash-recipe.html  

As you will see from the link, the original recipe calls for farro instead of barley.  Because I didn't have any farro but I did have some leftover pearled barley, I just did some ingredient swapping.  From what I can tell farro and barley are often used as substitutions for each other.  And man, let me tell you, this dish turned out nutty delicious!  Barley has a very nutty texture and taste which compliments the butternut squash so well.  Topped this dish with goat cheese and you've got yourself a little slice of heaven.  I have already told my mother that this is going to be a perfect recipe to compliment our Thanksgiving dinner.  It is a little different from the a more traditional rice and/or butternut squash dishes out there but definitely a winner!  

Starving on a Sunday Afternoon

Sometimes when I get really hungry, I get really mean and angry.  I have heard many people call this feeling "hangry." As a counselor, I am endorsing this feeling.  Sometimes you do get angry because you are just so, so hungry!  This emotion makes sense to me.

Yesterday after church I could feel "hangry" coming on in full force.  Maybe it was because of the time change but when we got home, I was ravenous.  As I sat in silence on the way home from church (I was trying to avoid letting the hangry out), I began planning what my lunch was going to look like.  I knew we had spinach (as always), some parmesan cheese, butter (praise Jesus!), and whole wheat Israeli couscous.  Although I knew it might take about 20 minutes to make, I decided to experiment with these ingredients in order to satisfy my desire for a hearty lunch.

Below is the end result of my experimenting.  It turned out to be a great success!  In case you care, this meal was 7 Weight Watcher points.  That is an ideal amount for one of my lunches.  It was also the perfect serving size.  Matt had eaten a late breakfast so he was not interested in my couscous concoction.  The serving size below is just right for one person.  Add a piece of fruit and you got yourself a meal!  If you try it, I hope you enjoy.

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Whole Wheat Couscous with Spinach and Parmesan
(makes a 1 cup serving for 1 person)

1/2 cup whole wheat Israeli couscous
1 cup chicken broth
3 big handfuls of spinach
1/2 tablespoon butter
shake of red pepper flakes
1 pinch of salt
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Bring chicken broth to a boil.  Add couscous, stir one time, and lower heat to a simmer.  Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes or until couscous is cooked through.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large pan.  Add spinach to pan.  Sprinkle spinach with the salt and red pepper flakes.  Cook until spinach is wilted, stirring occasionally.  Take off heat and set aside.

When couscous is cooked, add spinach and stir.  Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

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Nice Looking Bean Dip

On Friday night, Matt and I were supposed to go to a Halloween/Fancy party at some church friends' house.  We didn't end up going because Matt has been fighting off his fall allergies.  About 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave, he started sneezing, sneezing, sneezing.  Because we knew our friends' had three cats (which Matt happens to be allergic to), we figured going over to their house when he was already sneezing would not be a good idea.  So we stayed home and watched "Arrested Development."  I drank wine and he drank some beer.  Clearly even with the sneezing, the night was not a bust. 

But before the sneezing attack of November 2012 began, I made some bean dip to take to the party.  I didn't quite know what I was doing in making this bean dip.  I was inspired by a bean/avocado dip my friend Holly's husband makes every time we go to Hilton Head and by a dip my aunt makes called "Red Neck Caviar."  Unfortunately, I did not have time to look up either of these recipes so I decided to be creative and just try something new.  I think this dip turned out pretty good.  I will be honest though, I am slightly biased because I love all things bean.  And I loved the way this dip looked!  I thought the colors of the beans, corn, and cilantro looked so pretty together.  I don't know if you should base your review of a dip on how it looks but this one is very nice looking.  And it was tasty!

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Nice Looking Bean Dip (again, this is a working title)

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 can kidney beans

1 package of italian seasoning

shake of pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of cayanne pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped

Combine black beans, corn, and kidney beans in a large bowl. Stir. Add italian seasoning, pepper, garlic powder, cayanne pepper, olive oil, red wine vinegar and stir.  Chop cilantro and add to bean mixture.  Chill for about an hour before serving.

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PS- Because we didn't end up going to the party and because the bean dip wouldn't be eaten before going bad, I rinsed off the seasoning and plan to use the beans and corn Monday in a chili.  We will see how that goes. Wish me luck!

His and Hers breakfast biscuits

By now, it is pretty clear on Saturday mornings my go-to breakfast option is some sort of egg item.  Yesterday I told Matt I would make him a sausage biscuit for his Saturday morning breakfast.  If it were possible, I am pretty sure he would love to have a sausage biscuit every single morning.  

Although volunteering to do this wasn't a bad decision, it was a gross one.  I had forgotten how gross sausage (or any ground beef, turkey, chicken item) is to cook with.  I think I washed my hands about six times between first opening the sausage tube (yes, tube) and finishing the patties.  As I type right now, my hands are literally drier from all the hand washing.  I washed them that many times.

Even though our lotion budget may not appreciate my cooking sausage, Matt definitely did.  He had a sausage patty on a Pillsbury Simply Biscuit and I had an egg concoction on a biscuit.  For my egg, I added chopped spinach (which was again on the verge of going bad), fontina cheese left over from the pizza, some soy milk, one egg white, and one full egg.  I salt and peppered it as well.  If you are interested in Weight Watcher points, the total for my egg and biscuit breakfast was 6 points.  Pretty good in my opinion.  I would definitely consider this Saturday morning breakfast a win for both him and her. 

A-pizza A-pie

Last night I wasn't feeling real hot.  With the combination of the changing weather, fall allergies, and working at a hospital, my body was not just feeling up to par.  Luckily for me, I had already planned on Matt making dinner.  Whenever we have pizza, it is always better if Matt makes it.  I have tried to make pizza multiple times but I am just not as good at it as he is.  He is really good at figuring out the perfect balance of spices, sauces, and cheese.

When he looked in the fridge yesterday, he noticed we had a pie crust that wasn't being used.  He decided to use that instead of a regular pizza crust.  Below are the pictures of the process.  We had fontina cheese, parmesan cheese, pepperoni, and banana peppers in the fridge as well.  These ingredients, along with the pie crust, created the foundation of the pizza.  Matt topped it off with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and oregano.  Because he took the lead on this dinner, I decided I was going to be the one to rate this meal.  I told Matt I gave it a 4.5 out of 5 broccoli florets.  It was pretty delicious! I can't give him a 5 out of 5 quite yet because I want him to keep making pizza.  When he finally reaches a 5 out of 5, then I will let him stop... which will never happen because I love pizza.

An Enchilada Recipe Revisited

About a month ago I posted an enchilada sauce recipe that I had created for a weeknight dinner.  I was super excited about posting the sauce on this blog because it turned so delicious and was so quick to make.  Since the first time making these enchiladas, we have had them three other times! That is pretty regular for this household.  One of those wonderful times was this past Tuesday for dinner.  

On Tuesday I decided to experiment with some of the ingredients we had in the house as possible enchilada fillings.  I knew I wanted to use the same enchilada sauce but thought I would mix it up with what actually went into the tortillas.  For some reason, we always seem to have spinach that is on the verge of going bad.  I have no idea how that happens. I guess we aren't eating it fast enough or something. But anyway, I thought I would add some spinach into the enchiladas along with a jalapeno pepper and some pinto beans.  I, of course, added some cheese as well.  What is an enchilada without cheese! In Tuesday night's enchiladas I used 2 tablespoons of reduced-fat mexican cheese, 3 tablespoons of pinto beans, a small handful of spinach, and 1/5 of the chopped jalapeno to fill each tortilla.  I ended up making five enchiladas and served Spanish rice as the side.

Here are some additional ideas for enchilada fillings.  Again, all ideas assume you are going to be adding cheese.  Please let me know if you come up with any other enchilada filling ideas.  The more I can make this recipe, the better my life is!  I am also going to include the enchilada sauce recipe below just in case you can't find the previous posting.  I hope you enjoy!

corn, jalapenos, and black beans

pinto beans, ground beef, and green pepper

green pepper, corn, red pepper, and sweet potato (all cooked before adding them to the tortilla)

white rice, black beans, and ground beef

cilantro rice, pork, green peppers, and sweet potato

broccoli, poblano pepper, zucchini, and squash

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Jenny's Enchilada Sauce (This is not the official name-just the working title.)

1-8 oz tomato sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup water

1 teaspoon onion salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt

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A Soup Disaster Waiting to Happen

For the past two years I have been holding onto a recipe from the Food Network Magazine. Although you might be thinking, 'This recipe must have some super crazy ingredient and/or preparation process because she has been holding on to it for so long', sadly it is really neither of those things.  It is called "Curried Sweet Potato-Apple Soup."  That's it.  It's just a soup.

For some reason, my instinct was telling me to just throw this recipe away.  I carried it from house to house, thinking that maybe this recipe was going to be a gem even though I doubted it deep inside.  This recipe doubt is not one that I have very often. Instead of listening to myself,  I chose to ignore my questions and forge ahead with making this recipe.  And I decided this was the week to finally make it.  Here is the recipe for your viewing pleasure:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/curried-sweet-potato-apple-soup-recipe/reviews/index.html?pn=3

Man, oh man, do I wish I would have trusted myself on this one.  Not only was this soup thin and slightly boring, I also used a lot of ingredients such as chickpeas, raisins, and whole wheat couscous to try to make it a little better.  But alas, my work was for loss!  This is surprising to me considering how many positive reviews the recipe received on the Food Network website.  Maybe I did something wrong?  I promise I won't keep writing about recipes that aren't tasty and delicious.  I will include good ones again!  In fact, tomorrow's recipe is a wonderful repeat recipe with a twist.  Until then...

Roasted Vegetables with Braised Pork Ribs

My wonderful mother has taught me so many things in life.  She has taught me how to be creative, how to drink amaretto coffees in the late morning (after turning 21 years old), how to be nice to people, and last but not least, how to roast some mighty fine vegetables.  I was reminded of her influence again yesterday when I made some roasted vegetables with our dinner.  

Last night for dinner we had homemade bread (meaning bread made in the bread machine a.k.a 'throw in the ingredients and leave it alone' bread), braised pork ribs, and roasted vegetables.  I got the Braised pork rib recipe from The Food Network website here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/braised-country-style-pork-ribs-recipe/index.html I didn't have the celery called for in the recipe so I just left that out.  Actual pork ribs were too expensive at Publix this week so instead of ribs I used two pork chops with the bones still in.  Other than those two slight modifications, I pretty much stuck to the recipe. 

As for the vegetables, I used cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and yukon potatoes.  I cut them into bite size pieces and then shook a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder on top.  I mixed them all around, hoping to coat as many as possible with the seasoning.  I then dumped them all out on a cookie sheet, tossed them in the oven at 350 degrees and roasted until they were tender, about 35-45 minutes.  

For me, the roasted vegetables were the highlight of the meal but in the end really everything turned out great! The vegetables! The pork! The bread!  I didn't actually eat the pork but I did try the sauce it was in.  It was delicious.  I dipped the bread in the sauce and ate it that way.  I don't count that as eating meat.  Also, I forgot to actually take a picture of the pork after it was completed.  Sorry about that.  I just have the picture of Matt eating the meal instead.  BTW- Matt gave this meal a 4.8 out of 5 chicken wings.  I'll take it. 

Caramel Pecan Cupcakes

Yesterday evening Matt and I went out for dinner at Radial Cafe.  The restaurant had recently offered a deal where for $35, you could buy a dinner for two that included two alcoholic beverages, an appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert.  What a ton of food for such a small amount of money!  Because I have been curious about their dinner menu, I jumped on the deal asap.  Needless to say, we didn't eat much for breakfast or lunch yesterday in preparation for our evening feast.  

Although everything we got for dinner was delicious, one of the standouts of the night was the praline caramel cake.  We got the dessert to-go because we were so stuffed by the time we got to the dessert  option.  Later in the evening when we finally did try to cake, Matt and I found ourselves fighting over the last bite.  It was that good.  On the way from church today, Matt mentioned in passing that he was wanting more of the praline caramel cake from Radial Cafe.  I took that as a challenge and decided I would try to make my own version.  We could save a couple bucks and I could spend an afternoon baking.  Both two wonderful, wonderful things.

Below is a recipe for a caramel cake I got from smittenkitchen.com, a blog I have been following recently.  Here is the link: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/12/caramel-cake  As you will see, her cake was specifically a full fledged caramel cake.  I tweaked the icing, halved the recipe, and added the chopped pecans to ours.  I also turned them into cupcakes.  When making the icing, I ended up adding about 3/4 cup of powdered sugar to the caramel sauce.  I wanted to thicken the icing up a little bit.  

These cupcakes turned out so well!  The yellow cake is moist and not too sweet.  The caramel icing/glaze is also so good.  It is pretty sweet so it balances well with the yellow cake.  Matt has already asked me to make this recipe as an entire cake for his birthday. Matt said it gets a five out of five chicken wings in his book.  If you try them, I hope you enjoy!