Chili

Inspired by this award winning recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb. sweet Italian sausage

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon cumin

3 tablespoons chile powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinammon

1 packet taco seasoning

1 jar of medium salsa

1 tablespoon Chipotle Tabasco

1 tablespoon Sriracha

3 tablespoons Asian sweet chili sauce 

2 cans kidney beans, drained

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 can diced tomato

salt & pepper

1. Brown sausage and ground beef in a big pot. Drain fat when almost done cooking.
2. Add onion, peppers, and garlic to the meat. Salt & pepper. Cook until veggies are tender.
3. Mix in all of the dry spices with the meat mixture. Stir until fragrant.
4. Mix in sauces, beans, and tomatoes. Salt & pepper.
5. Let the chili simmer on low for three hours. For toppings I used sharp cheddar, green onions, diced radishes, and crushed tortilla chips.

Photo: Jangjorim Hash

It's been a while since I made this but I wanted to post the picture so I remember that I had made it. It was one of those "clean out the fridge" meals and turned out really good. There was leftover jangjorim from my mother in law in the fridge so I added it to my hash. Jangjorim is a popular Korean side dish and so good with white rice. It's basically beef braised in a soy sauce concoction and served cold. I used to get really excited as a kid when my mom would make this at home.

Maangchi's recipe

I think these are the ingredients I used or at least most of them:

• diced potato
• onion
• garlic
• spinach? some kind of greens
• eggs
• cheddar cheese
• jangjorim
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Shrimp Pesto Panini

Makes 2 small sandwiches

Ingredients
5-7 tablespoons pesto
about 15 medium shrimp
garlic
shredded mozzarella
mayo
2 Kaiser rolls
olive oil
salt & pepper

1. Cook shrimp with olive oil and garlic in a pan. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix the shrimp with pesto and reserve 2 tablespoons for the bread.
3. Spread pesto on one side of the bread and mayo on the other. Sprinkle cheese on the bottom half of the bread, arrange shrimp on top, sprinkle more cheese, and close the top half.
4. Brush olive oil on top of the bread. Toast in a panini press or toaster until the cheese is melted.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients:

2 portobello mushroom caps
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup toasted panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
cilantro
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt & pepper

1. Cook zucchini with the garlic until tender.
2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix in a few dashes of the vinegar.
3. Rub a little olive oil on the mushrooms. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
4. Fill each mushroom cap with the filling and drizzle olive oil on top. Leftover filling can be arranged around the mushrooms.
5. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. 

Salmon Israeli Couscous Salad

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
1 cup cooked salmon, flaked
1 green onion, sliced
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

1. Toast the couscous in a little olive oil until golden. Add the chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer until all liquid is absorbed.
2. Halve tomatoes and mix with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes.
3. Mix the couscous, tomatoes, olives, salmon, and green onion. Gently toss with a few dashes of the vinegar and add salt & pepper as needed.

Steak Sandwich

This is based on Ina Garten's steak sandwich recipe. My friend Xuan made it for me once and I loved it which is why this is one of those recipes I make again and again. I made a few changes to the recipe but for the most part stays true to the original. 

4 servings

Ingredients:

2 one inch New York Strip steaks

1 onion, sliced

1 focaccia bread

Arugula dressed with lemon juice, salt, pepper

Mustard-mayo spread

1. Caramelize onions. 

2. Make the spread. Mix 3 tablespoons mayo, 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard, and 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard. 

3. Season the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook to desired doneness. Let steaks rest for 10-15 minutes and slice. 

4. Drizzle olive oil on halved focaccia and toast. 

5. Spread mustard-mayo mixture on both sides of the bread. 

6. Assemble ingredients and eat!

Macaroni and Cheese with Sun Dried Tomato

I based this recipe very loosely on Ina Garten's recipe which I would love to try sometime.  I basically used her recipe as a guide for making the cheese sauce and tweaked the ingredients a bit depending on what I had on hand at home.

Melt a stick of butter, minus 2 tablespoons.  Add 1/2 cup flour and whisk.

Pour in a quart of warm milk.

Whisk.

Put in six cups of grated cheese.  I used half fontina and half sharp cheddar.

Season with garlic salt and pepper.

Take a cup of sun dried tomatos packed in oil and chop after draining.  You can skip this part or substitute with something else like bacon or shrimp.

I used a pound of gemelli, boiled 2 minutes under the suggested time.  I also used Xuan to transfer the pasta from the colander to the baking dish. 

Mix the pasta and cheese sauce.

Top with breadcrumbs.  I made whole wheat breadcrumbs using leftover bread I had.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  

I had it with baked scallops and roasted veggies for dinner.  Even after serving four people I had more than half of the baking dish left over.  If you're not planning on eating a whole pound of pasta (although there's no shame in that) I would cut the recipe in half to avoid having too much left over.  

Spicy Korean Braised Chicken

This is one of my all-time favorite Korean dishes that my mom makes.  There are many names for this dish including dakdoritang, dakbokeumtang, and dakgamjatang - whatever you want to call it, it's bomb!  The meat is super tender, the potatoes absorb the spicy garlicky sauce, and the sauce is really good over white rice.

I found this recipe on Maangchi's blog and quadrupled it because I had friends over for dinner.

serves 8-10

7-8 lbs of chicken drumsticks (approximately 20 pieces)
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup minced garlic
1 cup gochujang (Korean pepper paste)
4 tablespoons sugar
3 medium onions, chopped in large pieces
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into large 2 inch chunks
8 Korean green chili peppers
8 stalks green onions, sliced

1. Mix soy sauce, garlic, gochujang, and sugar in a bowl.  The mixture should be very thick.
2. Place chicken, sauce, and onions in a large pot.  Add about 4 cups of water and mix.
3. Cover the pot and turn on the stove to high.  Once sauce starts boiling set the timer to 20 minutes.  Turn down the heat to medium high.
4. Add in potatoes and peppers.  Stir everything with a wooden spoon.  Cover and cook for another 20 minutes.
5. Continue to cook with the pot uncovered to reduce the sauce for about 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle green onions over chicken and devour with rice.

Arugula and Avocado Salad

This salad is also very good with watercress.  Any bitter salad greens would work well here. 

2 handfuls of arugula

1/2 avocado, sliced

2-3 slices of bacon, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

a pinch of salt

fresh cracked pepper

1. Arrange first three ingredients on plate.

2. Drizzle olive oil and squeeze lemon over salad.

3.  Finish with salt and pepper.

Photo: Shrimp and Wheat Berry "Fried Rice"

"fried rice" made with wheat berries, yellow squash, orange bell pepper, onion, edamame, corn 

+ shrimp cooked in sweet and spicy sauce 

= lunch for work

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe for very addicting cookies uses boxed strawberry cake mix which makes baking really easy and fast.  All you need are:

• 1 boxed strawberry cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

The only changes I made to the original recipe were adding less chocolate chips and scooping smaller amounts of dough.  I recommend letting the cookies cool completely before eating them, as they get a lot chewier cooled.  Try them! They are so simple to make and taste so good that you're going to think there's crack in them.  Plus, I can't wait to try tweaking this recipe using Funfetti cake mix. Mmmmm....     

Photo: Caprese Salad on a Stick

grape tomato + fresh mozzarella ball + fresh basil

I'll be having mine with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are ridiculously easy to make and are so delicious that I literally had five cookies in a row.  Eek.  These are also flourless with only a few ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now.  I slightly modified Claire Robinson's recipe by using half Sun Butter and half peanut butter, and adding a sprinkle of cinnamon.  Next time I'll try adding in dark chocolate! Yup, I will definitely be making these again. 

Add peanut butter/Sun butter, an egg, vanilla extract, sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.

Mix it up.

Make (or try) to make a crosshatch pattern using a fork.  My patterns were looking a little sad.  Apparently though, dipping the fork in water prevents it from sticking to the dough.  Good to know!

Pop them in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.  I think I probably left them in for 12.

So crunchy and nutty and sweet...mmmm

I was wishing I had milk to wash down the boatload of cookies I inhaled in one sitting!

Slow Cooker Pasta Meat Sauce

This is a good easy dinner for the week when you're too tired to prepare a meal when you get home from work.  I don't know about you but I literally want to nap for hours right as I get home.  I prep everything the night before, put it in the slow cooker,  and keep it in the fridge.  Then in the morning I set it on low before going to work. By the time I'm home around five or five thirty, the slow cooker is done doing its magic and I have a delicious dinner ready with just the pasta left to cook.

The ingredients are a pound of ground beef, a large can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs, a small onion, and four small cloves of garlic.

First I dice the onion

and finely chop the garlic.

Then I throw the baby into a hot pan,

and break it up,

season it,

until there's no more pink.

The cooked meat goes into an empty slow cooker.

The onion and garlic get their turn in the same pan...

until the onions are translucent.

I just dump the onion and garlic on top of the ground beef,

along with the diced tomato, 

and the tomato paste.

I carefully mix it all up and season with a little more salt and pepper.

I cover the pot and keep it in the fridge overnight.

After 10 hours set on low...you get a pot of chili! Not really, but it does resemble chili a little.  It's usually too watery so I set it on high with the lid off until it reduces.  Or, when I feel like cheating (and impatient) I stir in a little cornstarch and water mixture to help it thicken.

 I love tomato sauces.

And regular tomatos.

Oh, and all tomato based products.

 

Have it with a pasta of your choice.  I had mine with whole wheat spaghetti.