Of course, leave it to me to choose one of the warmest days of the year thus far in Chicago to make chili in the slow cooker, poor timing but still yummy :) I knew that I would be busy last night and thought that it would be nice to just fix-it and forget-it for a change! I looked up some recipes for chili and slow cooker chili (on allrecipes of course) and kinda made my own mishmosh creation, here it is:
about 1 - 1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes (you can use crushed but I like my chili chunky!)
1 can of dark red kidney beans
1 can of chili beans
1 small can of diced green chilies
1 cup of water
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp of the following: oregano, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper
First I browned the ground turkey with the onion and bell pepper, then I added the turkey with the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker and set it on low for 4 hours. Towards the end I added some cornstarch to thicken it up a little because I felt it was a little soupy, in the future I may add less water or leave it out all together so it's a matter of taste as to how thick you like your chili. Also, if you don't like it too spicy you can leave out the green chilies. Feel free to also play around with spices or other veggies that you might want to add, customize it!
I have to say that this little concoction made the apartment smell SO good!! I served it topped with some shredded cheese and (I know this sounds gross) some plain yogurt. We sometimes use plain yogurt instead of sour cream as a healthier alternative, it is a bit of an acquired taste and we have convinced ourselves that we have acquired it ;) I also made a small batch of cornbread to dip in the chili...yum!! Needless to say both my fiance and I were sweating as we ate this hot goodness but I think that it was worth it and I know he thought so too :)
There was some leftover chili (after a few batches of nacho snacks by my fiance), so tonight we will cook up some penne pasta, mix it with the leftover chili, add a little cheese and bake in the oven at 350 for a few minutes so it all heats up together...voila...chili mac!!! Or at least my version! We now finally have the A/C turned on so it should be a cooler endeavor!
This might be one that you save for Fall or Winter or sometime when it's not 90 degrees outside ;) Enjoy everyone and I hope to be back soon with some other culinary creations!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Finger lickin' chickin'
Last night I went with one of my tried and true recipes from my amazing mom, her chicken in honey mustard sauce. So easy and so delicious!! Here is the recipe (the way I make it):
4 chicken thighs (I pull the skin off, trying to be healthier)
1 cup honey (sometimes I do 3/4 cup depending on how much chicken I have)
3/4 cup of yellow mustard (again, I may do 1/2 cup depending on amount of chicken)
1 tablespoon curry powder (I base my amount on taste, how curry-y do you like it?)
Set your oven to 350 degrees, grease a square pyrex or baking dish (I use my olive oil mister), mix ingredients together to make the sauce, place chicken in dish and season with salt and pepper, pour sauce over chicken, place in oven and bake until chicken is cooked through.
I served it with some leftover brown rice (you know my favorite recipe!) and some corn on the cob. My fiance actually added some of the honey mustard sauce to the butter on his corn and it added a nice sweet flavor to it :)
So, thank you so much to my mami for sharing one of my favorite recipes from childhood and allowing me to continue to create such deliciousness that I can enjoy whenever I want! You gotta love the feeling of finally making a recipe from your childhood on your own :) My mom serves this with mashed potatoes which works out beautifully as well because the sauce goes SO well over the potatoes. I just didn't have any on hand. You can also add other veggies on the side like broccoli or maybe even carrots. A nice green salad is another good addition (didn't have that either). With my trusty glass of Novellum chardonnay and some George Strait playing in the background (courtesy of my fiance), it was a relaxing experience with a tasty ending! Thank you mami!!!!
Have a great day everyone!
4 chicken thighs (I pull the skin off, trying to be healthier)
1 cup honey (sometimes I do 3/4 cup depending on how much chicken I have)
3/4 cup of yellow mustard (again, I may do 1/2 cup depending on amount of chicken)
1 tablespoon curry powder (I base my amount on taste, how curry-y do you like it?)
Set your oven to 350 degrees, grease a square pyrex or baking dish (I use my olive oil mister), mix ingredients together to make the sauce, place chicken in dish and season with salt and pepper, pour sauce over chicken, place in oven and bake until chicken is cooked through.
I served it with some leftover brown rice (you know my favorite recipe!) and some corn on the cob. My fiance actually added some of the honey mustard sauce to the butter on his corn and it added a nice sweet flavor to it :)
So, thank you so much to my mami for sharing one of my favorite recipes from childhood and allowing me to continue to create such deliciousness that I can enjoy whenever I want! You gotta love the feeling of finally making a recipe from your childhood on your own :) My mom serves this with mashed potatoes which works out beautifully as well because the sauce goes SO well over the potatoes. I just didn't have any on hand. You can also add other veggies on the side like broccoli or maybe even carrots. A nice green salad is another good addition (didn't have that either). With my trusty glass of Novellum chardonnay and some George Strait playing in the background (courtesy of my fiance), it was a relaxing experience with a tasty ending! Thank you mami!!!!
Have a great day everyone!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Update
Wow, it has been a long time!! My sincerest apologies...so much has happened and my life has gotten tremendously busy! Well, to summarize in the past 1 - 2 months, I got engaged, my fiance and I bought a new place, we have been on vacation and hosted guests. Phew! In the midst of all of this I have had the opportunity to have some adventures in the kitchen, just hadn't had the opportunity to post them so I will let you know about a few and if you want any of the recipes, please let me know and I can post those as well!!
We had some friends over for a puppy playdate and I enticed my guests with some boursin cheese stuffed mushrooms, chorizo and manchego stuffed pastry shells, and french onion macaroni and cheese (recipe from Rachael Ray). Very yummy!! My mouth waters just thinking about it! We had a delicious Spanish red wine to go with it. There were also some pistachio's on the side because I'm finding that a lot of people really like pistachio's, is it the fun of eating them or the taste, I think both!
That's probably the fanciest that I have gotten lately. Otherwise I have tried some new recipes from AllRecipes which is usually my go-to website for meals. Among them:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Italian-Chicken-Skillet/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mozzarella-Chicken/Detail.aspx (I cut a slit in my chicken breasts and stuffed them and then kept them together with toothpicks)
Both were pretty decent and I may make them again.
Last night I wanted to try something other than chicken so I found a recipe for a tuna pasta:
http://www.food.com/recipe/tuna-pasta-119289, I ended up adding a little extra water because it was very chunky but the flavor was really good and it all went really well together topped with some parmesan cheese, yum! Accompanying the pasta, I had a glass of Novellum chardonnay 2009. I discovered this wine at the Walnut Room and really liked it, very smooth and buttery. On the TV there was a DVR recording of Ghost Adventures...ooohhh...spooky! There was a suggestion made to puree the tomatoes to make it more sauce-like and I may try this next time.
I'm really hoping that this week I will have more time to make some tantalizing dishes and tell you all about them!! Till then, have a wonderful day!!
We had some friends over for a puppy playdate and I enticed my guests with some boursin cheese stuffed mushrooms, chorizo and manchego stuffed pastry shells, and french onion macaroni and cheese (recipe from Rachael Ray). Very yummy!! My mouth waters just thinking about it! We had a delicious Spanish red wine to go with it. There were also some pistachio's on the side because I'm finding that a lot of people really like pistachio's, is it the fun of eating them or the taste, I think both!
That's probably the fanciest that I have gotten lately. Otherwise I have tried some new recipes from AllRecipes which is usually my go-to website for meals. Among them:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Italian-Chicken-Skillet/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mozzarella-Chicken/Detail.aspx (I cut a slit in my chicken breasts and stuffed them and then kept them together with toothpicks)
Both were pretty decent and I may make them again.
Last night I wanted to try something other than chicken so I found a recipe for a tuna pasta:
http://www.food.com/recipe/tuna-pasta-119289, I ended up adding a little extra water because it was very chunky but the flavor was really good and it all went really well together topped with some parmesan cheese, yum! Accompanying the pasta, I had a glass of Novellum chardonnay 2009. I discovered this wine at the Walnut Room and really liked it, very smooth and buttery. On the TV there was a DVR recording of Ghost Adventures...ooohhh...spooky! There was a suggestion made to puree the tomatoes to make it more sauce-like and I may try this next time.
I'm really hoping that this week I will have more time to make some tantalizing dishes and tell you all about them!! Till then, have a wonderful day!!
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