Southwestern Beef Chili with Corn

This recipe is from Real Simple magazine, September 2008. I really enjoyed this meal and it makes fantastic leftovers. Also, you can make it in advance and freeze it or freeze the leftovers.

Southwestern Beef Chili with Corn
1 tbsp olive oil

2 carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 lb ground beef
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 15-oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup grated cheddar
2 scallions, sliced

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and bell pepper and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until it is no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until it is slightly darkened, 1 minute. Add the beans, chili powder, 3 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Simmer over medium heat until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the corn. Divide among the bowls and top with teh cheddar and scallions.

I really liked this recipe. It came together really easily and it was nice that the main substance in the dish wasn't meat. I used ground chuck instead of ground beef but I don't think that would make any difference. I also used green onions instead of scallions. The store didn't have scallions. I think that the dish would be the same without them and they seemed superfluous.

The leftovers were delicious. I think they get better with age. I have frozen some so that I can see how it tastes after it has been frozen.

I have been trying to use the food that I have before buying more because I am running out of space in my kitchen. I have a lot of free time today so for lunch I decided to make a breakfast casserole. I have several recipes for breakfast casseroles but they all required ingredients that I didn't have. Instead I just made up the recipe as I went. It turned out great and I used a good amount of food from the fridge and freezer.

Easy Breakfast Casserole

1 tortilla (I used Stacey's Big Organic Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas)
10 breakfast sausage links (I used little sizzler's pork sausage links)
10 ounces shredded potatoes (I used southwest flavored Simply Potatoes hash browns)
4 eggs (I used free range chicken eggs from the farmer's market)
shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese (I just used whatever was in my freezer)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F.
Cook the sausage according to package directions. Remove sausage from pan but do not drain pan.
Cook the shredded potatoes in the leftover sausage grease until golden brown, turning once.
Meanwhile, cut the cook sausage into slices or chunks.
Grease an 8x8 baking dish, then place one tortilla in the bottom of the dish. Cover tortilla with sausage. When shredded potatoes are done, cover the sausage with the shredded potatoes.
Beat the eggs in a bowl. Pour over shredded potatoes. Spread shredded cheese over the egg.
Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until eggs are set and cheese is melted.


The tortilla acts like a crust for the casserole. I forgot to grease the baking dish. This is an important step because if you don't the tortilla will stick to the bottom of the pan and will be very hard scrap off. See the picture.

Home Preserving

This weekend at the farmer's market I bought several pounds of green beans and wax beans. Probably around 15 to 20 pounds. Then I spent all morning and part of the afternoon driving around Topeka looking for canning supplies. Several stores later I am the proud owner of a water bath canner and rack, a pressure steam canner, canning tools, 36 mason jars, lids, and bands of various sizes, canning labels, and two books on canning (Balls Blue Book Guide to Preserving and Balls Complete Book of Home Preserving).

The steam pressure canner took the longest to find. I also wanted a particular type of gauge. In case you don't know, there are two types of gauges available for pressure cookers or canners. The more recent are the weight gauges (these have a little dial on them that shows the pressure). The older style is the toggle gauge (this has a small piece that rocks back and forth based on the pressure). I really wanted the toggle gauge because there is less of a chance of an accident from the gauge flying off and I didn't have to watch it all the time. The weight gauge must be watched for the entire time it is being used and cannot be left for a second. The toggle gauge can be left as long as you can hear the rocking motion.

The steam pressure canner was necessary for this weekend's canning because I was canning low acid vegetables. Perhaps next weekend I can try using the water bath canner; which is for high-acid fruits, vegetables, pickles, and relishes.
Anyway, I spent several hours (in the middle of the night) canning the green beans and a few hours (during the day) canning the wax beans. Both use the same method because they are the same type of beans. I used a raw pack method instead of a heat pack method because I don't own a blancher and I was being lazy (having already spent 2 hours preparing the beans for canning).

Other things I want to can before the season is over includes:
Applesauce
cherry pie filling (if I can find cherries)
apple pie filling
salsa
diced tomatoes
jellies/jams
corn
vegetable soup

(sorry about the poor quality of the pictures. They are from my phone, maybe I will post some pictures from my camera later)

Love Feast

For the past few weeks, I have been attending a discussion group at the Fellowship called Simple, Sustainable Gifts. The group explores ways to make simple choices about food while sustaining our bodies, our spirits, and our planets. We had several books on the subject that we were encouraged to read, including:
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
What to Eat by Marion Nestle


Tonight was the last meeting and each person was asked to bring a finger food that represented something that we learned in the class. Then we had a Love Feast. I had never participated in a love feast but it was interesting. In a Love Feast you are not allowed to talk but you can gesture. Also, you are not allowed to feed yourself; any food that reaches your mouth must be put there by someone else. It was a great way to just focus on the foods and how they made you feel without being influenced by others.

Also, one of the participants brought produce from her organic garden for us to take home. It was fantastic and so gorgeous.

Chicken and Bok Choy Stir-fry

Today I made a recipe from Real Simple magazine. I did make some alterations to the recipe as I didn't have all the exact ingredients and I made it for two people instead of four. The unaltered Real Simple recipe is available here.

Chicken and Bok Choy Stir-Fry

1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 bunches baby bok choy, cut into 2 to 3 inch sections
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup homemade barbecue sauce
2 green onions, thinly sliced

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned and cooked through, about 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add the bok choy and water to skillet. Cover and cook until bok choy is just tender, about 3 to 4 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine homemade barbecue sauce, soy sauce, and scallions. Add to skillet and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the skillet and cook, while tossing, until heated through, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Serves 2This recipe was interesting. It has a sweet, yet tangy taste. I enjoyed it right after I made it but when I took the leftovers for lunch the next day it was not very good. It was like it had too much tangy flavor. I love soy sauce but it seemed overpowering when it had the chance to sit on the chicken overnight. I would recommend this recipe if you plan on eating all of it when first served.

As for the recipe itself, it was really easy to make. The steps are easy and it just takes a little attention. It cooks up fast, from start to finish in less than 20 minutes. Prep time time was about 7 to 8 minutes of that time. The parts that took the longest were cutting the the chicken and bok choy. It didn't take long to make the barbecue sauce, turns out that is really easy too. I had to use homemade barbecue sauce because I don't really eat barbecue sauce and I don't keep it in the house. But with a little ketchup, some brown sugar, nutmeg, and Dijon mustard you are in luck. If you are like me and you don't really eat Dijon mustard and thus don't keep it in your house you can use this tip. When I get fast food or food is delivered, I get extra packets of condiments that I don't normally use. In this case, when lunch was served at school from a sub sandwich place I took home all the extra Dijon mustard packets and whenever a recipe calls for some Dijon mustard I just use one of the packets. I also do this for mayonnaise and sometimes sour cream.

If you make this recipe let me know how it works out for you.

Zucchini Bread and Dog Treats

Today I have two recipes. Neither actually came from my recipe box but only because the recipes have not been transfered to recipe cards. The first is from the AllRecipes website. I don't have all the ingredients necessary to make my other zucchini recipes; so I went to my old fall back, Zucchini Bread. I choose to make the bread in my new bread machine. The recipe is available here.

I also like to cook and bake for my dogs. They are like my babies and I also like to share my goodies with my friends' dogs. Today I went with two simple recipes from the Three Dog Bakery Cookbook. Three Dog Bakery is a gourmet dog bakery that was founded in Kansas City. The cookbook provides recipes for treats, meals, and dog parties. I have yet to find a recipe in this book that I didn't like. Some recipes take a very long time to make but I think the results are worth it in the end.



The first recipe was Simple Simon's Birthday Bones. These use just a little whole wheat flour, baking powder, peanut butter, and skim milk. I don't know any dog that doesn't like peanut butter and every dog seems to love these treats. They are simple and easy to make and only take 20 minutes to bake.



The second recipe was Party Hearty Mix-It-Up Mix. This includes vegetable oil, honey, vanilla, egg, skim milk, whole wheat flour, baking powder and ground ginger. The preparation of these treats is the same as Simple Simon's Birthday Bones. However, these treats only take 15 minutes to bake. Even without the peanut butter, dogs seem to really love these treats too.

Zucchini Bake

Today at the farmer's market zucchini were 5 for $1. I got some very large zucchini, larger than I had seen before. Usually I would jump right to zucchini bread but I found a recipe in my box that was a perfect use for the zucchini.

Zucchini Bake (From AmericanProfile)

4 small zucchini, diced (about 3 cups total)
2 cups (about 5 1/2 ounces) club cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
1 small onion, grated
1/2 cup 2% reduced fat milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan or 9-inch-square baking dish
2. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add zucchini; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well in a colander.
3. Press cracker crumbs on bottom of prepared pan to form a crust. Dot with butter. Spoon zucchini on top.
4. Whisk eggs in a medium bowl until fluffy. Stir in onion, milk, 2/3 cups Cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Pour over zucchini and sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup Cheddar and Parmesan.
5. Bake, uncovered, 35 minutes, or until golden on edges.

Serves 6 to 8.

The zucchini bake turned out exactly like the picture that was with the recipe. The recipe was very easy to follow but a bit time consuming. Most of my time was spent cutting the zucchini, grating the onion, and crushing the crackers. However, none of those tasks were very hard. I did make some changes to the recipe. Instead of using four small zucchini I used 2/3 of one of the large ones. Also, I forgot to grease the pan but I didn't seem to have a problem with sticking. The recipe came together very well and took exactly 35 minutes to bake. The taste is fantastic. I feel like this will be a great casserole that will be filling as a main dish or a side dish.

If you try making this dish, let me know how it turned out for you and how you liked it.