A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Crockpot Chili: It's a Texture Thing

 

This was a learning experiment based on a 30-hour-awake day I'll share with you. 

One day last week I couldn't sleep even though I'd been up since before dawn the day before. I ended up going from 4am one day, up through all of that night, and then finally got sleepy about 11am the next day. I know. Weird. But by 10am I realized that if I was going to save us from eating icky fast food for dinner I needed a plan. I had all the ingredients for chili but by that time of morning my brain was so fried I was probably a danger with a stove.  Sort of like drinking and driving, insomnia and appliances with massive heat do not go together.

My answer:  It's a crockpot, isn't it?  The idea is to dump stuff in and forget it, right? That's what I did. I didn't brown the ground beef or saute the onions. It all went in together and cooked for the six hours I slept. I woke up to great chili.  Here's what I liked most about it:  the texture.  I've talked before about the fact that although I'm not a vegetarian I don't eat a lot of meat. I grew up in a meat-centric house so I like the taste of it but I hate the texture. One of the things I don't like about chili is having the softness of the beans and the relative hardness of the meat. I know. I know. It's strange but it is what it is.  In some dishes I want lots of texture but in foods like chili, I don't. I usually end up picking out the chunks of meat and throwing them back in the pot for Gene.  This method solved that problem.  The long slow cooking time broke down the fibers of the meat to the point that it was all a uniform texture and I liked it. So if you're like me and have a meat/texture or a sleeping/need for quick food problem, this is the chili recipe for you too.

By the way, I froze a container of this to use on coneys or for chili mac later on.  It's PERFECT for both of those dishes.

Honey Curry Roasted Chicken

Gene's always been game for my experiments and new recipes but once in a while he makes a request for comfort food:  meatloaf, oven fried chicken, chicken livers, etc.  This time he actually clipped a recipe out of the paper and laid it on my desk. Since he's never done that before, I really paid attention.  Honestly, when I first saw the recipe for honey mustard chicken drumsticks I was "ho-hum" but Gene loves honey mustard so of course I was going to make it for him. Then I saw the curry in the list of ingredients. I was intrigued.  I couldn't figure out if it was going to be a good idea or a bad idea and I also wondered if Gene had paid attention to the full list of ingredients, but no matter.

It's fabulous!

We'll be eating this a couple of times a month.  The recipe is written to roast the chicken in the oven but it would be great on the grill.  It would also work well for for chicken breasts even though it's written for legs, and would make for killer wings too.  I think it would even be fantastic as a glaze for whole roasted chicken or cornish game hens.  The curry spices tame the mustard in a way that lets the mustard flavor come out without the bite.  The combination of the honey, curry, and mustard is sweet and savory at the same time but without being overpowering in the savory or cloying in the sweet. 

GREAT recipe and very good for you.  It's  a wonderful change from boring old grilled chicken breasts.

By the way, Gene, feel free to clip any recipes you want to out of the paper! I'm game.

Kitchen of Light: Vodka-Marinated Pork Roast

 Last weekend I played around with a couple of new cookbooks. This pork roast recipe came from Kitchen of Light by Andreas Viestad of the PBS cooking show of the same name. The cookbook is just as fun to read as it is to cook from so far so I'll be making more dishes from it soon.

One of the things I liked about this recipe is that the vodka based marinade seemed to more effectively carry the herb flavors into the center of the meat than other oil/acid marinade combinations I've used in the past.  There was no taste of vodka or alcohol but the fresh herbs seemed brightened by the alcohol as a base.

There was a cute story attached to the recipe where Andreas said he made it for the show Scandinavian Cooking in Svalbard, an Arctic island north of Norway.  He said that out of all their supplies to prepare the dish, the only thing that didn't freeze was the vodka.  I'm thinking he's lucky he had any left for the recipe. I think in the Arctic I'd be downing the hooch to warm up.

Great Potluck Recipe: Cream Cheese Brownies

 

(For you, Barb!)

This is one of those great potluck recipes where you can keep the main ingredients in the pantry on hand for any time you need it.  It's basically Chocolate Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, a church basement recipe made from a cake mix and a few things from the fridge, quick and easy. I took it last night to work for our going away party for Tom and ended up not only sharing it with the dept but we had one mom in Peds who'd had a really looooooong week with her sick child so after he went to sleep I snuck her in a small plate with a large square of this and whispered "Better than valium" as I handed it to her.

 

Welcome Fall: Apple Pie in Finnish Cream Pastry

  

Welcome Fall!  I love fall with it's cooler days, smells of leaves and fireplaces and a bazillion scents of different apples in the produce section.  Yesterday, I decided to celebrate that apple smell in a big way. I also decided to take a new cookbook out for a walk around the block.

I've lately been thinking about my heritage, Swedish on both sides with lots of Norwegian, and a little Irish and Scottish mixed in.  I guess I can't regret something I didn't have a hand in, so instead let's say that I miss that my family has no Scandi recipes handed down from the Great-greats.  I wish I had some little "My great-great grandmother's sweet buns" or some such recipe in my repetoire but since there isn't I decided to explore on my own and find some new traditions based on other people's old ones.  One of the books I chose was The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas.  Finnish by birth, her parents immigrated to the northern states where she lived in a primarily Scandi community.  She's since traveled and lived in several Scandi countries, collecting favorite recipes along the way.

While I departed from her apple pie recipe when it came to filling, I absolutely loved, highly reccommend, and will use again the cream pie crust.  Rich but very flaky, the pastry was the perfect counterpoint to the crisp clean taste of the apples.

Knitting for the NICU Sept '09: Jordan's Hats

 

While I have been stuck on the same swaddling blanket for the NICU all month, and just ran out of yarn with 12 more rows to go, my girl Jordan has been on the ball with her hats.  Love these two in red with counterbalancing colors. 

I have to brag. Jordan is my 17-year-old niece who is passionate about our NICU and Africa hat projects.  At the same time she whipped out these two hats over the last couple of weeks, she's also started her senior year in high school and is working two afternoons a week at the local "Etc" store for the school district where the teachers go to pick up extra supplies that have been donated for projects.

That's my girl! I'm so proud of her!

Cucumber, Tomato, and Fresh Corn Salad with Boiled Dressing

 

Had a lovely dinner with cousin Ann and Aunti Miranda the other night.  We originally were supposed to meet at a restaurant but without remembering that fact, I started a pot of Anasazi beans in the crockpot AND THEN Gene said "Weren't you going out to dinner tonight?" Crap!  You know how it is. Memory's the second thing to go with age and who knows what the first thing is.  So that prompted a quick couple of emails... "Uh...wanna free meal?"

I really enjoy spending time with them and it was fun to have a little girls' dinner and hang out in the sunroom without a noisy restaurant of folks all around us. And yes, btw, we did let Gene eat but he had business in Marshfield and didn't get back until after we'd finished.