Tomatillo Chili

Hello again!

We had a chili cook-off with our parenting group recently.  No, we did not feed the 13 month olds chili, but it did remind me of the scene in Mr. Mom.

One friend made this chili.  I really enjoyed the flavors, and have been looking for a good white bean chili.  While the recipe doesnt call for white beans, my friend successfully added them in.  I did not use any chicken, except for the broth (note, when my friend made it, she used a rotisserie chicken from the store).  To the flavor paste, I added one can of white beans so they were pureed to add thickness.  I also added one additional can of white beans, whole.  It ended up being pretty thick, so perhaps I would add more broth next time, or not puree as many beans.   I used canned tomatillos but think it would be better with fresh and will try that next time.

Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup

My soup obsession continues, and boarders on addiction: Sometimes I eat it for breakfast. A friend asked that I bring a butternut squash soup to a dinner party, but I wanted something more fun. I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and it sounded exotic enough, and super easy. I used a butternut squash or two, and then delicata squash because they are new to me. Lovely display at Whole Paycheck:

This soup is supremely easy, and as you would guess, the only thing I changed was the amount of curry paste (more more more!). You could also make this vegan by brushing the squash with olive oil instead of butter. The soup was a huge hit at the party, I will make this all fall / winter long!

Roasted-tomato Soup with Parmesan Croutons

This soup recipe has been with me for two years, and is from Shape magazine.....which sounds scary. But fear not, it is enjoyable!

When it looks as amazing as this outside, one doesn't necessarily think of soup, but I could eat soup every day of my life, even when it's warm outside:

But, it is amazingly simple, and doesn't taste like marinera, which I often find an issue with tomato soup. You just throw the veggies in the oven for a bit, then take them out and add the broth and some basil, and puree. Easy. I did not make the croutons, but will think about it next time.

Take 5 Carrot Cupcakes

This recipe from Food & Wine was good but could be altered - I've never used so much oil, and think replacing some of it with yogurt or applesauce would not only be healthy, but actually taste better as well. I find it hard to believe this has been "tested and perfected" but maybe it has and I did something wrong. I love carrot cake more than any other! 

Cucumber-Mint Water

I've been putting cucumber and ginger in water for awhile, but wanted to try something else. This minty cucumber water is easy and refreshing....and mine was very green...good for St Pats!

Stuffed Peppers

Every Tuesday I get the Tuesdays With Tori recipe and I usually think they look good, but I almost never make any of the recipes.

Recently she presented something that looked quick, easy, and delicious, so I tried it. I used Pasilla peppers since they were all I could find. I had never heard of Pasilla before so I quickly checked them out on my phone while I was at the store. They had a one out of five heat rating so I figured they would be mild. I found them to be pretty spicy and was sure they would be too spicy for S. However in the end he declared dinner delicious.

Here is the link to the recipe.

Soba Noodle Salad with Salmon and Asparagus

This Soba salad is super simple, and not too heavy on any one flavor. I didn't end up adding in the salmon or the asparagus as I just wanted to make the sauce, but I can see it being much better with salmon.

Miso-Glazed Salmon Steaks

This salmon recipe is easy and exquisite! Seems like I'm using a lot of Bon App recipes lately.

I didn't use steaks, I used a filet, and marinated in the fridge for about an hour. (pic below is from Bon App) Yes this is a bit salty, so don't add the salt at the end. This was my first time using miso, and now I want it on everything!

Mixed Greens with Mustard Dressing

"Blasphemy!!" you'll say, when I tell you I didn't take a pic of the two recipes I made last Sunday. Luckily I'm good with screen shots :)  What's worse is how amazing they both were.

For this mustard dressing salad I used a spring mix and added in two endives, this was well liked. I think tarragon makes everything better

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

These cookies from Cooking Light don't taste light, but they don't taste super buttery / fatty (in a good way) either. My friend called them "hearty", and I agree.

I used chocolate chips, and they turned out ok! Oatmeal is my favorite type of cookie :)

spicy grilled shrimp over shaved fennel slaw

I hate black licorice, so I often am weary of fennel and anise. I am in love with mustard dressings though, and grilled shrimp, so this one caught my eye (I've been carrying around this recipe from cooking light since 2008).

I would probably double the recipe as it's great, and I would up the amount of mint, it really adds something unexpected. Also, I would eat the slaw on it's own it's so good.

Zucchini Muffins

I'm weirdly getting into Zucchini lately, not sure why. We grew them on Leyden street growing up, and they were huge and produced quickly, like weeds. But I think it was later in the summer? I hadn't seen many of them at farmer's markets when I made these, sadly.

I made this Smitten Kitchen recipe and was pleased with it. I told a friend I was going to add chocolate chips to half the batch and she balked at me. However, at the office the next day, they were the first to go!

Ina's Pesto Tomatoes

I made these roasted tomatoes with pesto after seeing them on Ina's show. They were rewarmed before dinner and tasted great, but it was hard to get enough salt into each bite.

Strawberry Oat Squares

I made this recipe from a blog that keeps popping up on Taste Spotting, Oh She Glows. Taste Spotting is probably my favorite food blog (as of today).

(before they were baked)
Oh She Glows focuses on vegan food. I made these bars, but skipped the vegan parts, and used a real egg, and a combination of butter and brown rice syrup, instead of the vegan 'butter' in the recipe. Also, I bought jam instead of making it. As an aside, I bought the jam at Safeway and it was a true effort to find jam that had only fruit, pectin and sugar in the ingredients list. No wonder our country is full of fatties...even something as simple as jam has a ton of ingredients, most of which include high fructose corn syrup. I hope the farm bill is changed next year.

Anyhow, these are a super treat. A great flavor, I love the jam, and they do remind me of Nutri Grain bars, but about 1000x better. This is breakfast for the next week.

Healthy Chili Relleno

Rachel Ray drives me nuts and I therefore never watch her show. However, last week I was finishing a workout and her show was on at the gym, and it caught my eye because she was making a healthy chili relleno. Rachel has no idea how to pronounce relleno.

One of the things that appealed to me was the green rice she made as a side dish. It seemed flavorful and really healthy. I am always looking for more ways to eat spinach.

I am lazy so I didn't actually make rellenos. Instead, I turned this into a rice salad. I thought I would make it a little less spicy by using two serrano chiles instead of one jalapeno. I was wrong because this was pretty spicy. I ate this four days in a row and was not sick of it, which is a major statement. I found this to be very tasty and healthy. I added black beans for some protein.

X and O Meringues

I made meringues for the bridal shower and they tasted wonderful, yet they formed into one large mass, due to three days of rain, I think. Rain is not meringue weather. This is the recipe.

Lemon Tarts

I made mini lemon tarts from this Epicurious recipe. I used 4" tartlet pans with removable bottoms, tripled the recipe, and ended up with 24 tarts. Leigh gave me meyer lemons from her tree, so I used the juice from them, instead of the lime the recipe calls for.

The tarts turned out really well. Everyone raved and even though I'm not a huge tart fan, I also found them to be a perfect sweet to end a delicious meal.

Happy Birthday to Gillian

Gillian requested vanilla cake with vanilla frosting so I made the buttermilk cake from The Joy of Cooking and found a butter and powdered sugar frosting from Martha Stewart. Even though I prefer chocolate cake, this was pretty tasty, and didn't last long.

Spiced Pumpkin & Walnut Bread

I got this recipe from Goop, when I was looking to incorporate more agave syrup in to my life instead of sugar. I made this around Christmas time in Colorado, and everyone enjoyed.

Cookie Dough Dip

This is delicious. It looks just like real cookie dough, but it's not quite the real thing. It is smoother than real cookie dough and super fast to make. I found the recipe here. It appealed to me because there are no raw eggs in the dip. One batch can feed about six to eight people. The second time I made it, I halved the recipe and it was good for four people. We dipped apples, graham crackers, and pretzels into the dip. My favorite is the pretzels, although the apples are very good as well.

Molasses and Ginger Granola Bars

I have made these molasses and ginger granola bars a few times. I love ginger snaps and ginger bread men cookies, and tend to only eat them during the holidays, which is too bad. I love the ginger and molasses combination all year round, especially for breakfast.

I easily found dates at Trader Joe's, but am about to make a new batch with peanut butter. The posted recipe provides good advice for substitutes that can be used. I have used a variety of nuts and dried fruits and they are all delicious. These keep well in the refrigerator, but I have not tried them in the freezer. 

Bread

I finally bought a loaf pan. I don't know what took me so long. I made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It is delicious. It's more dense then the no knead bread, and perfect for sandwiches. It's also very easy to make as long as you have some time around the house.

Quinoa 'Mac and Cheese'

I'm not sure if I have ever thought of mixing cheese into quinoa, and I don't know why. I guess I must have eaten feta with quinoa, but I have never melted cheese into quinoa. I really liked this dish and it was super easy. It was better hot than as leftovers, and it was so much better with a few squeezes of sriracha sauce. Here is the recipe.

Update: January Tortillas

I made the tortillas from this Rick Bayless recipe. For the fat I used olive oil. Making these really was easy, although you can see that I didn't get perfect circles each time. I ate a few and they were good, and different from store bought. However, I may still buy tortillas from the store. If I didn't live in CA I may not feel this way, but I have endless amounts of tortillas at my finger tips at all times.