Tag Archives: cooking and baking

SPICY Chili.

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So I made some chili last night.

I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t really like chili. But I thought, “Let’s try a new recipe.” So I did.

This was the recipe:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 poblano or bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels (from 1 ear, or frozen and thawed)
  • 1/2 cup grated Cheddar (2 ounces)
  • 2 scallions, sliced

This is what I ended up using:

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 5 skinny carrots, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 poblano or bell pepper, chopped
  • 1.35 lb ground beef
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste 5 tablespoons leftover sauce from the other night
  • 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder (TOO MUCH TOO MUCH TOO MUCH!)
  • kosher salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels (from 1 ear, or frozen and thawed) 1/2 bag frozen corn
  • 1/2 cup grated Cheddar (2 ounces)
  • 2 scallions, sliced

I tried to eyeball the veg, and see what I needed. Carrots are yum in chili (but not in salad, grated. I hate stringy carrots, they are sneaky) and the pepper was good. The onion was delicious, and sauce works great as a replacement for paste.

All I can tell you is even though I kind of doubled some things and didn’t double others, one thing is for sure: I used too much chili powder. I thought since I was doubling the meat, some of the veg, and adding a little extra water, it would not be as spicy.

Man, I was wrong. Jeff ate a bowl, but told me he might not be able to do it again. Which means I am stuck with a pot of chili I’m not in love with in the first place + it is too spicy.

I must say, though, it is pretty tasty as far as chili goes. Maybe I do like chili, after all. I just have to have a bottle of water next to me… (picture to come.)

Soldier, your friend, or your lover.

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I love listening to Pandora. I am listening to a station called “New Year, New Me” and so far, so good. I haven’t updated in a bit, and I spent the last 2 days of my life reorganizing my closet, bookshelves, drawers, coffee table, and kitchen. It was a massive undertaking, and I missed my cousin’s facebook post of her engagement (which my parents BOTH mentioned, and said, “So you haven’t check facebook, then, huh?) but I’d like to think that I am in a better place for it.

Things I did:

1. Watched all the season 7 episodes of Gilmore Girls I hadn’t had a chance to see yet
2.Uuploaded to my computer AND facebook all the pictures of the past 4 or so social events that needed a camera
3. Threw away old receipts, pieces of paper with shopping lists on them, and some scribbled attempts of professing my love and asking Jeff for a favor in one breath sharpied on the back of an expired CVS coupon.
4. I also reorganized my shoes and thew 2 pairs out (including the red/purple/pink rubber clogs, SS would be happy to know.)
5. Cleaned all my sterling silver jewelry with some baking soda and tin foil and boiling water
6. Read the latest REAL SIMPLE magazine
7. Spent time cutting hearts out of red and purple paint samples for my East Coast ladies’ scrapbook.
8. Baked Jeff cookies for Valentine’s day
9. Cleaned out my bedside table’s drawer
10. Cleaned out every purse I own
11. Cleaned the bathroom.

Needless to say, I did a lot. And I am feeling better already.

Meanwhile, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while. That was uncalled for. I’m working on it!!

Happy New Year. Happy Updated Blog.

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I know, I know. It’s been almost a month. It’s Admissions season, which means it’s the season where I have more work than I know how to handle. But we’re back with pictures of my vacation, and now that I have the Internet at my apt, I should be updating more frequently.

I was in the cold for Christmas and New Year’s, and now I’m back with some New Year’s resoluions. Among them? Simplify food. I am sick of planning a meal for every night of the week, and Jeff is sick of helping. So we’ve come up with an agreement–we’ll have themed nights, and work within that theme to cook something up.

So here’s what we decided:

Mix it up Mondays

American Tuesdays

Asian Wednesdays

Mexican Thursdays

Italian Fridays

We basically took the foods we eat the most, and slid them into days. This will work for me, because I will finally start remembering to take things out to defrost, and should work for Jeff since he’ll be able to grocery shop with me  without my brain splattering on the wall from confusion.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures from my journey home for you to enjoy:

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Something I should have never admitted: powdered potatoes.

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I did it. It was me. I promised myself I never would. I scoffed at the idea. But then, standing in my kitchen after cleaning the counter of rotted potato juice, damning boxed Pasta Roni to hell since we’ve been eating it once or twice a week lately, and wondering what on EARTH would fill my ever-hungry stomach, I realized it was time.

To make the bag-o-potato that Jeff had purchased once upon the time he claimed was delicious. I reasoned with myself–it was here, I shouldn’t waste, there ARE children starving in Africa, Asia, South America, and probably down the block from me. They are edible, and they have potatoes in them. Plus, as we are moving in a few weeks, I shouldn’t allow them into our new home. Right? We should just use them up…now. RIGHT?

bag_potatoes

This is the bag. The bag full of offensive powdered-potato. But I had exhausted my other options for sides. I had no choice. So I opened the bag, to investigate.
insidebag

The inside seemed OK. It was powdered, but smelled like potato. I wasn’t sure how large the potatoes would get, so I had to guesstimate which bowl size I would use. This one seemed to be the right size. I wasn’t sure how large powdered potatoes got. But I have seen those amazing meals they give to people in the army, when you add water and it becomes so hot you can’t even hold it. So I knew there was magical things that could happen when it says “Just add water.” Like sea monkeys. Just add water, and soon you have a family.

inbowl_potatoes

Anyways, I waited for the water to boil. I made a list of reasons I was justified in my head, and I when the water boiled I poured it into the bowl. The bowl, of course, DID burn my hand, because I wasn’t thinking that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to hold said bowl as I poured the water. But that’s another story. Then I poured the potato powder in and Voila!–

Potatoes.alldone_potatoes

I must say, they were not as bad as I thought they were going to be. I guess I have to take them off the “Absolutely not” list and put them onto the “Only in an Emergency” list.

Dually noted.

Adventures of Phyllo Dough 2: Going Greek

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This week, after I made the phyllo dough pie, I had so many leftover sheets of dough I decided I needed to tackle another recipe. I remembered my friend K using her extra dough to make baklava, so I asked her which recipe she used. Turns out, she used the “Simple Baklava” recipe from Giada. It’s a good one, but I’m not all for using too many ingredients. So here is the original alongside my final recipe.

Giada’s recipe

*1/2 cup almonds
*1/2 cup walnuts
*1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
*1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
*2 tablespoons sugar
*1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
*1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
*Pinch of salt
*1 stick butter, melted, divided
*3 tablespoons honey
*12 sheets phyllo dough

My take on it…

*1 cup almonds
*1/4 cup raisins
*2 tablespoons sugar
*1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
*Pinch of salt
*3/4 stick butter, melted, divided
*3 tablespoons honey
*6 sheets phyllo dough

Turn your over to 350. Then, all you have to do is stick the almonds in the blender with the cinnamon, blend, add the salt, blend and dump in a bowl. Then add your honey and sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and mix. It works itself into a nice little paste. Then you have to take your sheets of dough, layer 6 of them sheet, butter, sheet, butter, etc.

(I had WAY too much butter left over, so I would suggest starting with 3 tablespoons and melting more if you need it. Seriously. I made Jeff make popcorn so we could use the rest of the butter, and the popcorn tasted like movie popcorn–THAT is how much I had left over. And I can’t waste, so we ate baklava and popcorn.)

Then you cut it into squares (I did in half then made each half into three) and stick the sheets into a muffin tin. Giada says to use mini-muffin tins, but as I don’t have such things, I used a muffin tin, and they came out fine. Scoop your honey/almond mixture into each phyllo/butter-lined-muffin-hole and then fold the top of the phyllo dough over the top. Bake for about 25 minutes (or until they turn brown and smell delicious.)

Let them cool for 5 minutes. And devour! Voila!

baklava

They may not be beautiful, but they sure tasted good, and they were a hit in my office when I brought them to staff meeting!