Chili... 'nuff said

So I get this thing in my email for the Cooking Channel and its a recipe contest.  13 categories to enter but only the best of 3 of those categories will be picked.  For shiz and giggles I decide "I MUST ENTER!"  There were several options -- brownies, pie, blah blah... but if you know me personally - you know that I have been working on my chili recipe for quite some time.  With the help of my friend Ben, a chef in Dallas, and little vegetarian flavor... I think i might actually have perfected it.  Its saucy, and spicy, and warm and with a little mustard, shredded cheese, minced fresh onion on top of some Fritos....  Its like a first kiss with a soul mate, like glitter and unicorns, like platinum and diamonds... like sparkles.. ok I've gone too far.  I cant help it.  I love shiny things.

I digress.

BACK TO THE CHILI!

Flamin' Veggie Chili

Ingredients:

1 bag of Boca meatless crumbles
1 lg. Texas yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
6 T of Chili powder
2 T of smoked Hungarian paprika
2 tsp of ground cumin
1 Ghost chile rehydrated and finely chopped  (you can leave this out if its too much)
1 T red chile flakes
2 cans of dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans of Stewed tomatoes (with liquid)
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of Crushed or diced tomatoes
2 T of tomato paste
1 med can of chopped green chiles
1 T of Worcestershire sauce
1-2 T of Soy sauce
1 tsp of dark molasses
2 T of Vegan no beef base
Directions:

 

Sauté the onion over med-hi heat in a little olive oil till translucent.  Add crumbles and turn the heat up to Hi and brown.  Add garlic, and sauté till fragrant.  Add the chili powder, paprika, cumin, chile flakes and ghost chile and sauté for a minute or two.   And the beans, all the tomatoes and green chilies.  Stir to combine and then add the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, molasses and vegan beef base.  Stir to combine.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Knock the heat down to medium, medium-low and cook for 45 min with the lid off till it reduces and becomes thick and all the flavors marry together. Make sure to stir this occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn.  Turn the heat down if it’s too hot and make sure it simmers and bubbles with out burning for the entire 45 min.  As Alton Brown says, “Your patience will be rewarded.”

Also if you want to let this go all day in a crock put just brown the veggie beef and then throw everything in a large crock pot and turn that sucker on low and let it go all day.

Thanks for reading and happy eating (although there are no other options here).

Glazed over

Ok so I had a dinner party last week and I made Balsamic Glazed halibut on top of wilted spinach and creamed potatoes.  It was AMAZING.  And I had posted a recipe for the glaze a couple of weeks ago and figured I would post of pic of an awesome example of how to use it!  I let the halibut marinate for about an hour and then seared it in a pan.  Once the fish was done I put the rest of the marinade in the pan and reduced it for a few minutes and then plated!  TADA!

So GOOD! 

I put the Crack in Cracker Jacks

Ok so feast your eyes on this batch of deliciousness....

Oh yes!  What you see here is a fresh batch of Crack Jack... 

I know you have all waited patiently for the recipe so here it is.  I PROMISE you will not regret this!

CRACK JACK
Makes a crap ton of popcorn

For the Pecans:

Ingredients:
1 egg white
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cayenne
4 cups of pecans chopped in 1/2

Preheat oven at 275 degrees

Line a cookie sheet with sil pat or wax paper.  (if using wax paper spray with cooking spray)
Beat the egg white till stiff.  Add sugar, vanilla and cayenne and stir till its all smooth.  Mix in the pecans and pour onto baking sheet.  Bake until browned - about 10-15 min

Makes enough pecans for 2 batches of popcorn and some to eat while you wait.


For the Popcorn

Ingredients:
2 bags of lightly salted (NOT BUTTERED) popcorn
1/2 c of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of light corn syrup
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of baking soda
a sprinkle of sea salt if you want

Preheat the oven to 250.

Pop the popcorn and set aside -- dig out the seeds and any unwanted pieces.
Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray


In a heavy bottom saucepan heat brown sugar, corn syrup and butter over med heat.  Stir till it starts to boil and then leave it alone to boil over med heat for 5 min.
While the caramel is boiling spread the popcorn out over the cookie sheet and sprinkle with the candied pecans.
Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda.
Drizzle over the popcorn and make sure they are all coated - mix it around if you need to.

Bake for 1 hour.  Let it rest to cool the sugar down before you try to fuss with it.  Break it up - put it in a giant ziploc and be surprised if it lasts 24 hours.


I brought a bag to work and now I am the new favorite person.  Just sayin'.

Thanks for reading and happy eating!

Side Note: EFF YOU FOOD

I have contemplated changing the name of my blog to  "EFF YOU FOOD : Why are you so delicious when my body clearly hates us both." 

I have recently found out that my thyroid decided it didn't want to work anymore.  This troublesome news has now led me to decide to join the gym - yuck - and also to change what I eat, AGAIN!  So here it goes...  No more white foods.  Which I do a pretty damn good job at NOT eating now anyway but now its serious.  No white rice, no home fries at Cindi's, no baguettes, no biscuits, no more unbleached white flour.  GROSS.  Whatever.  Its what I have to do to fit into this dress...

The Micheline Dress

I know - nice right. 

That being said I also found out that my digestive system does like to absorb vitamins so now I have to take them under the tongue and go through a "diabetes projection" blood test to see if I MIGHT have it someday.  The answer is - DUH!  That why I have been TRYING to loose weight - to no avail.

So like i said - My thyroid apparently put in its notice and didnt give me 2 weeks... and my ovaries hate me too (i have PCOS) and therefore the big D must be avoided at ALL costs.

EFF YOU FOOD!  I love you so much!  Why do you do this to me... why cant you and my organs get along? 

I guess ill take my lo-glycemic diet to the next level.  But i will tell you here and now.... I REFUSE TO MAKE BORING FOOD! 


That's all.

Tuna, Kale and Popcorn tales...

Ok so I made the popcorn... FINALLY!  And I ate all of it.  No kidding - Jeremy and I made the mistake of sitting down with the bag in front of the television and watched the food network.   HUGE mistake.  We ate the entire thing.  So -- looks like I'll make some more so that I can take a picture and post it.  :)

In the meantime!  LETS TALK KALE!!!

Now I have never been a huge fan of dark greens.  However, as I get older and start cooking them myself I realize how much I really DO like them!  I have mentioned this before - Jeremy and I are trying to do a nutrient rich diet and that includes a LOT of greens.  I have a recipe for Kale that I made all the time. I love it so much that I even eat the left overs cold. 

Braised Kale

2 large bunches of Kale, stems off and ripped into bit sized pieces
1/2 cup of No-Chik'n stock
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2-1 T of red pepper flakes
Red wine vinegar

Rinse your kale and put it in a hug pot over med-hi heat.  Pour the stock over it and flip the kale around until it starts to shrink up and get yummy.  Then dump in the garlic and red pepper.  Braise this over med-high heat till its wilted but still has a bite to it.  Take it off the heat and add the vinegar.  I probably use a little less than 1/4c when I make it -- but I love the flavor so you can use as much as you like.  I dont put salt or pepper on this but you can if you want. 

I served this Kale up with a seared big eye tuna steak.  I coated the steaks in EVOO coated both sides with a mixture of lemon zest, dried thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Seared over med-hi heat for 2 min on each side and drizzle with a soy, garlic, lemon, ginger sauce.  SUPER GOOD!!

This was an AMAZING meal that was nutrient rich, full of flavor and VERY little fat!  Not to mention Jeremy didnt speak while he was eating.  All I heard were grumbles and moans and I got a big fat kiss at the end of it all.  So I guess I did a good job!  YAY ME!

Food Poisoning sucks

Don't eat taco bell...   I know this is usually an understood, but in a panic to shove food in my mouth yesterday I ordered a 7-layer burrito and a bean burrito...  usually contains no meat.  However -- something went terribly wrong.  Never again.

Ashley's Balsamic Vinegar Conundrum

My lovely friend, Ashley, sent me a message on Facebook asking me to help her out with idea for what to do with all the balsamic vinegar she has since she is "sick of using it for salad dressings."  What she didn't know was that I not only can give her one recipe - I can give her 4!!!

I LOOOOOOVE balsamic vinegar.  (Yes all the "O's" were totally necessary!) I would drink it out of the bottle if I didnt think it would dissolve my digestive system with in minutes.  So what do you do with that pesky bottle that you have just sitting there collecting dust?  Here's what I would do!


Recipe #1:  

Balsamic Glazing Sauce

This crack-like substance is good on anything.  My favorite way to do it is on the Delight Soy Nuggets.  I can find them in the frozen veggie meat section of WF.

Ingredients:

1/2 c balsamic vinegar
1-2 T of Dijon Mustard
2-3 T of honey or agave nectar
Salt
Pepper

Wisk to combine.  After you have browned the soy nuggets pour the sauce over it and let it bubble away till your eyes water and your whole house smells like heaven!  I like to all so add in some sauted mushrooms here... but do whatever you want - there are no rules.  Serve with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed asparagus and you will think that there is NO FREAKIN' WAY this is good for you.

Recipe #2:

Balsamic Glazed Veggie Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 small zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
5 cloves garlic, smashed to a paste with coarse salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
S & P
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 T finely chopped fresh thyme
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
1 bag of MorningStar Farms Crumbles and 1 roll of Gimme Lean Ground Beef
1 T of Worchestershire sauce or liquid smoke
Panko Breadcrumbs - 1/2-1c or enough to make it all come together and soak up some liquid with out sucking out ALL the liquid
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the zucchini, bell peppers, garlic paste and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables are almost soft, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the egg and fresh herbs in a large bowl. Add the veggie meats, panko, grated cheese, 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and the cooled vegetables; mix until just combined.

Gently press the mixture into a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a small bowl; brush the mixture over the entire loaf. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

YUMMO!

Recipe #3:

Balsamic Marinade 
(for just about anything.  I used this to marinate giant portobella mushrooms before grilling them and making burgers out of them!)

Ingredients:

3/4 c Balsamic Vinegar
3/4 c EVOO
2 T Brown sugar
1 shallot, minced
Sprinkle of Garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flake
S & P

Put this is a jar or a tupperware and shake the crap out of it.  Pour it over fish or mushrooms or WHATEVER and marinate for however long you want.... at least 20 min though.  I use it to baste whatever I marinated while its cooking.

And Finally!

Recipe #4:

Balsamic Berries 

Ingredients:


4 pints (8 cups total) sliced fresh strawberries plus raspberries and blueberries
5 T balsamic vinegar
2 T sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Toss all of the ingredients together and let sit at room temp for 30 min.  Serve this deliciousness over vanilla ice cream and just TRY not to let out a little moan.

Ok Ashley!  There you have it!  Now, of course, if you try one of these let me know how it turns out.  I think I might be making the meatloaf for dinner tomorrow.  We shall see....