First Attempt Chili

Today I made my first ever attempt at chili. I've never really eaten chili, mainly because of the beans that you find in most versions. I decided to give it a go. I used Pioneer Woman's recipe as my starting point, but modified several things based on what we like. Here's my version.

Basic, Simple Chili
In a large pot, brown 2 lbs lean ground beef (I use 93% lean) and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped.

Drain off the fat (there shouldn’t be much if you’re using lean beef).

Pour in one 8 oz. can tomato sauce, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tbsp. ground cumin, ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp. chili powder, and 1 tsp. salt. Stir together well, cover, and simmer on low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup masa (corn flour) and ½ cup water. I couldn’t find masa at my grocery store, so I ground up some corn tortillas in the food processor, which seemed to work fine. Add the mixture into the chili and stir well.

This is the point at which I started throwing stuff in, tasting it, then throwing more stuff in. What you do here is going to depend on the spice level and consistency that you want your chili to have. I ended up adding in one can of Rotel one 15 oz can of tomato sauce (my chili was really thick and Brett wanted it to be a little “soupier”), about ¾ cup of tomato paste, and more chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, and oregano. I let it simmer for about 10 more minutes to let those flavors meld together.

Here’s where it gets tricky, at my house at least. Brett loves beans; I’m scared of them and won’t touch them. So at this point, I divided the chili in half. In Brett’s half, I added in one can of pinto beans. My half just stayed plain and happy. I let them both simmer awhile longer in their separate pots. We weren’t ready to eat yet anyway, so I figured I’d just let it get delicious until we were ready. If you’re hungry, I’d say another 10 minutes or so to let the beans get mixed in would be sufficient.

The verdict: DELICIOUS! I didn’t even know I liked chili… this is definitely a new favorite! I served it with some 2% shredded cheddar, and Brett crunched up some whole grain taco shells into his. We also had a whole grain baguette from Panera. It was a perfect Sunday night meal!

Chicken Burrito Bake and Corn Casserole

One night last week, we had a friend of Brett's over for dinner and to watch some football. We took that opportunity to have a "cheat" meal. I made one of our favorites- Chicken Burrito Bake, and paired it with a new (to me) recipe from my sister in law- Corn Casserole. If you love corn, you will die for this Corn Casserole. I am obsessed. It's making my mouth water right now just thinking about it. Anyway, both recipes are easy, and I made them both earlier in the day and just popped them in the oven when it was closer to dinner time. Enjoy!



Chicken Burrito Bake (from "Dinner Doctor" cookbook)

You will need:

• 4 large chicken breasts
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 cups shredded taco cheese
• 8-10 8-inch flour tortillas
• 2 10-ounce containers refrigerated Alfredo sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Boil then shred chicken breasts.

In large bowl, combine chicken, salsa, and 1/2 cup cheese.

Spoon 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the chicken mixture down the center of a tortilla. Roll into a burrito shape and place, seam down, into a 13x9 baking dish.

Repeat with remaining tortillas and chicken mixture. You will end up with 8-10 burritos.

Combine Alfredo sauce and remaining cheese in the mixing bowl and stir to combine. Pour this mixture over the burritos.

Bake until sauce bubbles, 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.


Corn Casserole (from my sis-in-law, Jessica)

You will need:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 can (15 oz.) creamed corn
• 1 can (15 oz.) kernel corn
• 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
• Salt and pepper

Combine butter, sour cream, creamed corn and kernel corn in large bowl.

Add in cornbread mix and mix together.
Add a dash of salt and pepper.

Pour into a 2-quart baking dish and bake at 350 for 40 minutes (mine took a bit longer, probably closer to an hour. I took it out once it looked "set")


That's it! Super easy, right?

Whole Wheat Bread

I made my first attempt at homemade bread yesterday. I have a breadmaker (courtesy of my mom, who never used it so passed it along to me, and I consequently never use it either), but I don't think throwing a box of bread mix and turing the breadmaker on counts as making homemade bread. Anyway, it turned out pretty well! We've gobbled most of it up in the past 24 hours, so I don't know how long it would stay fresh, but it's delicious for now!



Whole Wheat Bread (adapted from http://www.tammysrecipes.com/)

You will need:

• 1 cup warm water (120 degrees F)
• 1 tbsp. milk
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups whole-wheat flour (I used Trader Joe's 100% white whole-wheat flour)
• 1 pkg. (2 tsp.) instant active dry yeast

Combine water, milk, oil, honey, brown sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

Add flour and yeast. 

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl; turn once to grease all of dough.

Cover with a clean towl and put in a warm place to rise until doubled, approximately 40 minutes.

Punch dough down, then knead for a few minutes until smooth.

Form into a loaf, then place in a greased loaf pan and cover. Let double in size, approximately 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. If it starts to get too dark, lay a piece of foil over the top.

It was a very cold day when I made this, so my dough took longer to rise. Just be patient and let it do its thing, and it should turn out okay!

Poppy Seed Chicken

I tried another new recipe on Sunday... (another) one of my New Year's Resolutions is to try at least one new recipe a week. Our dinner rotation is getting a little boring so I'm hoping to add some new winners! We're 2 for 2 on the week... after Saturday's Chicken Tortilla Soup (which, by the way, was even more delicious leftover the next day, just as I suspected...), the Poppy Seed Chicken we had on Sunday night was a hit too! It tastes much richer and much un-healthier than it actually is... which is always a good thing in my book! I served this with some fresh sauteed green beans. We discovered that when the green beans mixed together with the sauce from the chicken, it tasted a whole lot like Green Bean Casserole... it was delicious. Next time I might try mixing the green beans in from the get-go.

I snagged this recipe from the Cooking with LT blog... this lovely lady has definitely got it going on in the kitchen. Hop on over and check out some of her great recipes when you get a minute.


Enough talk... enjoy the recipe!

Poppy Seed Chicken (from Cooking with LT blog)

You will need:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1 can reduced fat, low-sodium cream of chicken soup
• 40-50 Wheat Thins crackers, crushed
• 1 tbsp. melted butter
• 2 tbsp. poppy seeds
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Cover chicken breasts (with water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and put in the bottom of a greased 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish.

Mix sour cream and soup in a bowl. Pour mixture over chicken.

Mix cracker crumbs, melted butter, and poppy seeds together; sprinkle cracker mixture over chicken/soup.

Season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Since I'm so far behind on blogging, I've got a lot of recipes I'm wanting to share, but I'm going to start with just the one today. I made this Chicken Tortilla Soup last night for the first time, and it is definitely a keeper! We're planning on having the leftovers for lunch, and I'm certain it will be just as good, if not better, than it was last night.

Chicken Tortilla Soup (adapted from foodnetwork.com)

You will need:

• 2 ancho chiles
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 6 corn tortillas, torn into small pieces
• 3 large chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt

Boil the chiles for about 15 minutes to soften them.  Cut open and remove stems and seeds.

Puree chiles, onion, tomatoes, and garlic cloves.  Transfer mixture to a large saucepan and fry in olive oil for just a few minutes.

Add chicken broth, tortillas, cooked chicken, and cilantro.

Simmer until thick, about 30-40 minutes.  The tortillas will disolve and thicken the soup.

Add salt. Serve with mexican cheese, lime juice, sour cream, and crisp tortilla strips (I fried up a few tortillas and tore into strips).