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From The Kitchen: Chili

One of the first things Jason and I cook when the weather starts to turn cool is chili. We love chili. It’s the perfect thing for a cold winter’s day. Not only does it taste good, but it makes a huge batch so we are able to freeze some plus eat some during the week. It makes for one of the best leftovers too because the spices start to mingle the longer it sits. Chili is wonderful!

It’s an interesting thing that I love it so much now because growing up we didn’t eat much of it and so I always thought I didn’t like it. Then, after we got married, Jason introduced me to the recipe his Mom always made and I was hooked. It became my new favorite thing. I’m not sure where this recipe originally came from but, as we do with most recipes, we have tweaked it to our liking and now (we think) it’s perfect. Make it and see for yourself…

A glimpse into our recipe book. From my experience, the hand written recipes are the best!!

Chili

2 pounds ground beef (we have never tried ground turkey but I bet it would be good too!)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 quarts tomato juice
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
28 oz can pork & beans
28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 teaspoons chili powder
1 bay leaf
4 shakes Tabasco sauce
a dash or two of hickory smoke
a bit of cayenne pepper

Using a large kettle, brown the hamburger and onion. Drain off grease. Add all of the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 – 2 hours (do not cover). Remove bay leaf and serve. This recipe is better with age :)

Browning the beef.

Spices, Tabasco, and tomato juice, all ready to go.

The line up. Just to give you an idea of what brands we use.

The chili while it is simmering.

When your chili is ready you can doctor it up to your hearts content (try adding sour cream or cheddar). My favorite thing to do with it is pour some over a baked sweet potato! You may be a little bit skeptical about it but trust me, it is so good. Just bake your sweet potato by adding a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper and wrap it in foil for 1 hour at 450 degrees and it’s super good. And then do it again the next day because the chili is even better as leftovers. Bon appetit!!

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Tagged: From The Kitchen

From The Kitchen: Artisan Bread

I had a breakthrough this year. I actually started to enjoy cooking. It was never really one of my favorite things, it was more of a necessity, but this year I actually started to like it. Along with cooking I have also been baking more. And more baking and cooking creates more experimenting with new recipes. And that my friends, is why I have been enjoying it more!

A couple of years ago we started eating at home more often. Once we started eating at home, we realized we liked it better. Now, going out to eat doesn’t sound as appetizing as eating at home. Oh sure, there is still those times that going out for pizza or Mexican sounds like fun or the nights that I don’t feel like preparing something and so we will go out. But those nights are few and far between. Even so, I don’t cook every night. Since there are just the two of us, making one meal always leaves us with leftovers. But I definitely cook more than I used to. And I love trying to figure out how to make tasty, healthy meals.

So the reason for this new enjoyment? I figured out that I like to learn new things. That’s what makes it fun for me. With doing projects, I like the process of creating something new and trying to figure it out. Once I have it figured out, repetition gets boring for me. The same thing with cooking. The fun is trying something new. Now that I have that figured out, as long as I keep trying new things, I will continue to enjoy it, right?!!

One thing I have never made before is artisan bread. I have done yeast baking before but never bread with the crusty shell and I really wanted to try it. There are several recipes floating around out there for the no knead artisan bread and I finally gave it a shot last week. It turned out fantastic. I’m so glad I tried it. There were lots of new things to work in for me (starting a day ahead, water in the oven to create steam… etc.) and it was fun!!

I used a recipe I found on Pinterest. Here is my pin and here is the link to the recipe from The Italian Dish blog (which you should definitely check out because there are lots of recipes that look tasty!). I followed the recipe exactly and although it looks like there are lots of steps, it really is super easy. And even better, it’s really good!

The loaf turned out a little smaller than I thought but really, it’s perfect for the two of us.

I love that it is so pretty :)

If you have never baked artisan bread before, give it a try! It really is simple and yummy. We still have some left from last time but I’m already looking forward to how I can bake more and change it up a bit to try something new!

Have a great weekend and enjoy your New Year’s holiday!!

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Tagged: From The Kitchen

From The Kitchen: Frappe Hour

It is no secret that my husband spoils me rotten. He really does :) One of the ways he spoils me is he makes me an amazing espresso drink every day. You just can’t beat that, not in my book anyway! I eagerly wait for my drink and it is one of my favorite flavors in the whole world. And even though I love Starbucks, I usually would rather have what he makes me (that’s how amazing they are!).

Because we got a new blender for Christmas that crushes ice like nobody’s business, we have been trying to figure out how to make frappuccinos for the summer. It’s nice to change it up a bit every now and then. After a bit of trial and error we have each come away with our favorite frappes and I am going to share them with you.

As soon as 3:00 rolls around in our house it’s happy hour frappe hour. It’s the perfect little snack between lunch and dinner. Because these drinks can add up in calories really quickly (check out Starbucks nutrition info here), I set out to create a drink that wasn’t so bad so I wouldn’t feel guilty having one every day :) Priorities people, priorities. And while my drink isn’t as rich as a Starbucks Frappe, I’m really happy with it. In fact, I love it!

First, you have to make some classic syrup. For Starbucks Coffee Frappe they use their classic syrup as the sweetener (you can buy it here). But, of course, we had to make our own. Simply mix 1 cup of sugar with 3/4 cup of water and bring it to a boil until the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool and you are ready to add it to your frappe. This should make enough for quite a few frappes so don’t use all of it at once! Okay, so here is the rest of the recipe:

1 tablespoon classic syrup

1 tablespoon Starbucks vanilla syrup (purchase here)

1/2 shot of espresso (a whole shot if you like it stronger)

1/4 cup of 2% milk

1/4 cup of water

1 cup of ice

Blend it all together and you are done. The total calories for this yummy drink? Only 110. Not too bad huh? Makes me feel a lot less guilty for having one every day :)

A few things to note. If you add more milk, it will be creamier. The milk adds on the calories quickly but milk is good for you, right? Also, we have an espresso maker and brew actual espresso. If you try this with a regular coffee maker it’s not as good. Believe me, we tried. There was a noticeable difference and I didn’t like it. You definitely gotta have the espresso. As soon as we pull the shots we mix them right away with the water that is added to the frappes. That way the shot doesn’t get bitter.

If you aren’t worried about calories, try Jason’s drink, an equivalent to a java chip:

2 tablespoons classic syrup

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup (like Hershey’s)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 shot (or whole shot) espresso

1/4 cup water

handful of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of ice

Blend it all up and there you go, super yummy concoction! I haven’t figured out the calories on this one though :)

I also got super crazy with my blender and blended up the ice in my iced tea:

It was super yummy but the ice and the tea separated quickly. I guess you just have to drink it fast :)

Anyone going to try one of these for themselves? Feel free to experiment until you get it just right. It will be a treat, believe me. By the way… is it 3:00 yet?!

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Tagged: DIY, From The Kitchen

From The Kitchen: Orzo With Dill & Tuna

Now that I have my new table completed, food photography is so much more fun. Why? Because everything looks good with rustic wood as a background. I take most of the pictures that end up on the blog in our breakfast nook. Because of the large windows there is lots of light and with the white table, it makes for a nice setting. It’s the best spot in the house to get a good picture. But now, with my new table, I really want to mix it up and use it more for photos. Since Friday, I have been photography most things we eat. It’s crazy but it just looks so good sitting on that table top. I’m silly… I know :) For example, Jason and I made this apple pie on Saturday. Look how yummy it looks with a tiny bit of styling:

By the way, this was the first pie I have ever made. I have made mini pies before, but never a whole pie. Jason has made one before though and since we tag-teamed it, it made the process go smoothly. It was fun :)

This food photography all started with this orzo dish I made the other night. Do you ever just grab a bunch of stuff in your panty/refrigerator and mix it together until you get something yummy because you don’t want to go grocery shopping? I don’t do it very often, I usually follow recipes, but that was what I did on this night. And you know what, it turned out pretty good. It was very simple which gives it a better shot at tasting good so I snapped a picture of it and I thought I would share the recipe with you.

All you need for this recipe is orzo, dill, lemon juice, salt, pepper, tuna, and pesto. First, I cooked the orzo according to the directions on the box. I just made half a box because that is what I had on hand. When it was finished I added salt, pepper, and dill according to taste. Then I added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and mixed it all up. Next I opened up two cans of tuna and after draining them, I added it to the pasta. Lastly, I simply added some pesto straight from the jar. Again, I just added it to taste but I think I used about a tablespoon per serving. And you’re done! After I took the picture I thought it looked a little plain and needed some color so the next time I ate it, I added some tomatoes:

It looks prettier but I actually liked the flavor of it without the tomatoes better. I really wanted to add zucchini, wouldn’t that be tasty? I didn’t have any on hand this time but maybe next time I will throw some in. Pretty simple meal but it looks like a million bucks on my new table :)

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Tagged: From The Kitchen

From The Kitchen: Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I love banana bread, not banana nut bread, just banana bread. In fact I’m from the camp that says you shouldn’t put any nuts into any type of baked goods (the only exception I’ll make is macadamia nut cookies). Back to the subject at hand, I love banana bread. And of all of the banana bread recipes out there, my favorite one is the one my mother-in-law makes. She knows how much I love it and pretty much every time we see them she makes it for me, isn’t that sweet? She also gave me the recipe a long time ago and so I’m going to share it with you!

One of our wedding presents from Jason’s parents was a cookbook filled with our favorite recipes that they make for us. His mom also passed it to my mom and had her write our favorites in it too. I didn’t know it at the time but it has turned out to be one of our favorite gifts we received and it certainly has gotten a lot of use from us.

The very first recipe in the book is the banana bread recipe :) I told you she knows how much I like it!

I asked her where she got the recipe and she said it came from Cook Book of Breads by Sunset. I think it is now out of print but you can see it and find used copies at Amazon, check it out here. Okay, here we go…

First, gather your ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs slightly beaten

3 medium sized bananas (best when they are a bit brown so they are squishy) mashed

1 cup white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup hot water

Melt the butter and blend in sugar.

Mash your bananas and beat your eggs (separately).

Mix in the eggs and bananas into the sugar/butter mixture. Blend until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients together, white flour, wheat flour, soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the previous mixture, alternating with the hot water. Do not beat batter very long, just enough to thoroughly combine ingredients.

Grease your pans. We like to use one 6″ pan and two 3 3/4″ pans. If you put it all into just one large pan the outside gets done before the inside. Using smaller pans does the trick :)

Pour the batter into the pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. If you do decide to use a 9″x5″ loaf pan, bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

I let mine cool in the pans…

And then I eat it :) This super tasty bread sure doesn’t last long at our house. To make them last a little longer we wrap them in cling wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze the extra loaves. When they thaw out they are just as good. Smother a few slices with butter and it’s even yummier. Writing about this delicious bread makes me want to go have some right now, in fact, I think I might :)

Enjoy!!

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Tagged: From The Kitchen