Magpie's Kitchen Sink Chili

I like a good chili. One with the right mix of beans, spice, flavor, meat, tomatoes, etc. And I'm always looking for a good recipe.

Last week I found the following recipe and knew I had to try it. So with Kevin's help, I set about to get it together. I also set out to make cornbread to go with it, but alas, I had no cornmeal. Bah!

However, turns out it's a fantastic recipe. Just the right spice, chili flavor, veggies - yum! I did not even miss the cornbread.


Magpie’s Kitchen Sink Chili, adapted from Country Living, City Style

one can of kidney beans, drained
one can of black beans, drained (I threw in about 3 cups home cooked mixed beans)
one can of crushed tomatoes (I used stewed, mexican style)
1/2 red pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1/2 orange pepper
1/2 green pepper (I did a combo of red & green)
1-2 cups of mushrooms
1/2 white onion diced (ended up adding a whole one accidentally)
2 carrots
2 celery (skipped this, I wasn't interested in celery)
3 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar (I added this, next time I would add less, or maybe omit)
1/3 cup of ketchup

ground beef or turkey, pre-cooked (skipped it, I didn't feel like it)

Chop everything, throw it together, cook in the oven at 300 for 2-3 hours or for 5-6 hours in the crock pot on high. (I did about 4 hrs in the crockpot)

Once everything has cooked together for a bit, and is soft, take about 1 1/2 cups of the chili, and puree it. Add it back in, and continue to cook it for another 30 minutes or so. This gives it a thicker, tastier base.



Serve with shredded cheese, guacamole, sour cream or nothing on top.

Yogurt & Banana pancakes

As I've mentioned before, I do love pancakes, but they need to be light & fluffy. I sometimes slice bananas into my pancakes, or I will put raisins & chocolate chips into them. Kevin's not that into sweet pancakes, so most of the time they're plain. I eat them with plain yogurt & fruit, peanut butter & applesauce, or a fried egg.

I found this recipe the other day, and hadn't ever thought to put mashed banana into my pancakes. These sounded so great, I needed to try them. I made a few changes, as I didn't want fatty sour cream, I like applesauce in my pancakes, and the pancakes I made last week with my homemade yogurt were fantastic.

Yogurt & banana pancakes
Adapted from Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes from Sugar & Spice by Celeste
I doubled this recipe, and got about 13 5" pancakes

Ingredients:
7 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt, thinned w/ 1 tsp water or milk
1 banana, mashed
3 TBSP applesauce
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional:
Butter
Maple syrup
Peanut butter

Directions:
Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium-low heat.

Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Mix yogurt, banana, applesauce, eggs & vanilla in a separate bowl. Pour over dry ingredients, gently mix, lumps are ok. Be careful not to overmix.

If desired, spread melted butter or oil over base of skillet or griddle. Pour 1/3 cup at a time. Cook until bubbles begin to appear over the surface, flipping them carefully and cooking for about a minute on the other side. Repeat.

Serve topped with butter & maple syrup, or peanut butter & maple syrup.

Voilà - fantastic pancakes!

Summer smoothie

I bought a few too many cantaloupe lately, and needed to use them up. I started putting them in my morning smoothies. Made one today that was really yummy.

About 3 peaches, sliced, peeled if you like
About 3 cups diced cantaloupe
About 1 cup plain yogurt*
2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP sugar or honey, optional

Throw into blender and blend until smooth.



*I found Silk plain flavor soy yogurt, 32 oz, for $0.99 at the grocery store on the clearance aisle. Never had soy yogurt before. Maybe it's just because it's plain flavor, or maybe it's because it's close to it's sell by date, but it's pretty gross eaten by the spoonful! I bought it with smoothies in mind, so no big deal, and it doesn't affect the smoothie negatively. Anyone else have experience w/ soy yogurt?

Olive Cheese Bread

Definitely not healthy, but yummy on occasion. Found this recipe for Olive Cheese Bread on the Pioneer Woman website.


We've enjoyed it with soups, pastas, on it's own... Pretty much can't go wrong with it.

Veggie burgers

I had collected way too many magazines, and had not read through them all. As I was sorting them the other day, I came upon a Martha Stewart Living from last July. I can't just sort the magazines, but have to browse them too (make sure I'm not missing something good!). I came upon a recipe for Veggie Burgers. These don't actually have a lot of veggies in them, and they don't have fake meat products either. Both were impressive to me, as I'm not really into chopping up a zillion veggies to make a burger, and I get tired of the fake meat recipes. I'm a cheapo, so don't buy the fake meat, plus, I don't really believe it's any better for me than real meat.

So, got the ingredients, and yum! They turned out fabulous. They take a little extra time, but definitely a keeper. Recipe says it makes six burgers, but I got 10 or so out of it. Depends on how thick you want them, and how large your buns are. Also, I would cut down on the salt next time. Seemed a little strong. And it says to fry them in oil. I just fried them on my electric griddle, and they didn't stick.



Veggie burgers
Serves 6

Ingredients

* 2 portobello mushrooms (8 ounces), stems removed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 1 small zucchini
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
* 1/4 cup minced shallot (1 large shallot)
* 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
* 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
* 3/4 cup quinoa, cooked according to package directions (2 cups cooked)
* 2 teaspoons coarse salt
* Freshly ground pepper
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 1 1/2 cups fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs
* 6 whole-wheat buns, split

Directions

1. Pulse mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped, and transfer to a bowl. Shred zucchini, place on paper towels, and squeeze to remove excess moisture. Add to mushrooms.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add shallot and red-pepper flakes, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and zucchini, and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and add Parmesan, quinoa, and salt. Season with pepper. Let cool completely, then stir in egg and breadcrumbs. Cover, and refrigerate until cold and firm, about 1 hour.

3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Shape mixture into six 1/2-inch-thick patties, pressing firmly. Cook in batches until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.

Original recipe found here

Combine chocolate & peanut butter - I'm there!

So, even if it's 90 degrees out, it is TOTALLY worth it to turn on your oven and make these cookies.


oh, and you'll need a glass of cold milk too! (and you may want to have a few people over, so you don't end up eating them all yourself!)

lemons

A few weeks back I wanted to make lemon meringue pie. Since I didn't know how many lemons I needed, and the price seemed right, I decided to just buy a big bag of (13) lemons at Costco. Then for sure I'd have enough lemons. Turns out the pie only needed 2 lemons...

So, I started searching for recipes using lemons to help use the lemons before they went bad. I found quite a few that sounded good, so I weeded out those that sounded best and started making them.

The first was Meyer Lemon Gnocchi. I'd wanted to try making gnocchi for awhile, and had actually found a recipe recently, but then lost it. I'm not sure it would have been better than this. I didn't have Meyer lemons, just your plain old lemons, but man, this was so good!



The other recipe I made was Lemon Blueberry Bread. Unfortunately, it was so good that we ate it all before I got a picture of it!

I made another recipe, Lemon Ginger muffins. They looked good, and sounded good, but something isn't right with them. They ended up kinda mealy, and just not good texture. The taste is great though.

I used a few lemons this week for hot lemon honey water to try to kick this stupid cold I have.

I'm thinking the rest of the lemons will go into more lemon blueberry bread and lemon pound cake. Yum yum!

Our super yummy supper this evening consisted of Buffalo Chicken tacos, Cornmeal Crunch, and Chile Lime Tequila popcorn.

Cornmeal Crunch and Chile Lime Tequila popcorn recipes came from 101cookbooks.com. The Cornmeal Crunch is fantastic, though I'd next time choose a smaller pan, or not cook it quite so long. Still delicious though! The Chile Lime Tequila popcorn is addictive! The two of us ate almost the full 4 quarts last night. Had to make more today it was so great...

Buffalo Chicken Tacos came from a little weekly paper we get. I don't know where they got it. I tweaked it a bit, since they seem to have not quite completed the recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Tacos
serves 3-6

11 oz packet taco seasoning
2 TBSP cooking oil
1/2 c water
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 avocado
1/2 c ranch dressing, prepared
2 oz blue cheese, crumbled
3/4 c carrots, shredded
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
6 flour tortillas, warmed
hot sauce, to taste

Combine taco seasoning, oil & water. Place chicken in resealable bag and add marinade. Marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes or longer.

Mash avocado into small chunks and mix with ranch dressing until smooth.

Remove chicken from marinade and discard used marinade.

Grill chicken over medium-high heat about 8 minutes per side or until thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from grill & place on cutting board. (alternately, you can bake the chicken in the marinade in the oven, 25 minutes, 400F)

Slice chicken into thin strips and serve hot in warmed tortillas, with blue cheese, carrots, cilantro, and avocado ranch dressing.

NOTES: I'd go easy on the ranch dressing, adding more as I went. I got a little too much. I'd probably make my own taco seasoning also, as the taco seasoning I had was super salty. Next time I may add a cabbage mix and some lime juice also.

Chocolate Cherry Cake

When I was little, my best friend´s mom made this cake. As I got older, I really loved it. She would make it for me whenever we´d see her. It´s a really easy cake to make. A bit rich, but goes down well with a cold glass of milk. Time for a piece right now...

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Cake ingredients

1 devil´s food cake mix
2 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling
1 tsp almond extract

Mix well. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Icing ingredients

1/3 c milk
1 c sugar (can use a bit less (2/3- 3/4) if you don´t want it quite as sweet)
1 c chocolate chips
5 TBSP margarine

Heat to boiling. Boil one minute. Spread onto cake.

Springtime Vegetable Quiche

Again, going through all my recipes, and found my quiche recipe that we´ve enjoyed before. It´s from Taste for Life, but I can´t seem to find the recipe on their site.

Lately eggs have been on sale here, so I´ve quite a few to use, and quiche is a great breakfast food that keeps us going through the morning.

Springtime Vegetable Quiche
Serves 4

Pastry for a 9¨ pie crust
1 to 1 1/2 c fresh peas or broccoli florets or asparagus or spinach
1 c grated Swiss or Jarlsberg cheese
4 eggs
1 c milk or half-and-half
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 TBSP chopped fresh chives
1 small tomato, seeded and diced



Preheat the oven to 425. Prepare the pie crust. Bake for 5-10 minutes until light golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool and reduce the oven temp to 375.

Place peas, broccoli, asparagus or spinach into the crust. Then sprinkle the cheese on top of the vegetable.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour mixture evenly over the dish. Sprinkle chopped chives and diced tomato on top.

Bake 40-45 minutes, or until the eggs have set (knife inserted comes out clean) and it´s lightly browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

NOTES: I´ve used mushrooms, onions and broccoli as a filler, and it´s yummy. Also used green onions or dried chives in place of fresh chives. Used cheddar, or other cheeses instead of swiss or jarlsberg. It´s kind of a throw whatever in, and it generally turns out really good.

Curried Rice Salad

I found this recipe who knows when in a Country Living magazine. I was going through my plethora of recipes recently, and decided it sounded good enough to try... So I made it for potluck today, and it was well worth it.

Curried Rice Salad
8 servings

1 can (20oz) pineapple tidbits
2 c cooked rice, cooled
2 c cubed cooked chicken
1/2 c chopped celery
1/3 c slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 c raisins
1/4 c chopped green onions
2/3 c mayonnaise
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp salt
Lettuce leaves, optional

Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set aside 1 cup pineapple and 3 tablespoons juice (refrigerate remaining pineapple and juice for another use). In a large bowl, combine the rice, chicken, celery, almonds, raisins, green onions and reserved pineapple.

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, mustard, curry powder, salt and reserved juice. Gently stir into rice mixture.



Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serve in a lettuce-lined bowl if desired.

NOTES: I used Fri-Chik, two of the small cans. That was more than 2 c chicken, but whatever. I added a bit more mayo, curry powder and pineapple juice. It covered it well. I think one could easily substitute fresh grapes for raisins too.

Cranberry relish

This is the best cranberry relish. My grandma & my mom made it every year for the holidays. This year I made it. I had some leftovers, and made just a plain cupcake recipe and added in some of the relish. It made a great apple-cranberry-orange muffin.

one 12oz package cranberries, fresh or frozen
4-6 oranges, washed & cut into slices (leave peel on)
4-6 apples, washed & cut into slices, core removed
sugar to taste

side note: More oranges and apples make it less cranberry flavor. Kind of test it out, taste as you go, see how you like it.

Combine all fruits using a grinder. My KitchenAid came with a grinder attachment (yay!). I suppose you could use a food processor, but you don´t want mush, you want it kind of finely diced like.

Add about 1/2-1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you like it. Let it sit overnight. You can always add more sugar if it´s not sweet enough for you.

This will make around 10-12 cups. Usually my family makes a half recipe and if it doesn't seem like enough make the other half, or add a bit more of each until it´s seems sufficient.

Yummy orange cranberry muffins

I made Sunshine Cake for potluck, and I was hungry for some yummy muffins. I remembered my recipe for Copycat Costco muffins and found a yellow cake mix then added in a can of mandarin oranges (drained) and about 3/4 cup frozen whole cranberries.

These muffins were so good, I only got one and a half of them!

Classic Pimiento Cheese

Found this recipe in Relish Magazine. I´ve made it at least 3 times now, and we love it. Usually eat it on bread, but it would be great as a dip for tortilla chips or crackers. I never get it quite as creamy as they suggest, and I don´t have extra sharp cheddar, but definitely still worth eating.

Ingredients

2 cups finely shredded extra-sharp Cheddar
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1/3 cup mayonnaise, divided
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon grated shallot or yellow onion
1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimientos, drained but liquid reserved
Ground cayenne pepper
English-style dry mustard

Instructions
1. Combine half the Cheddar and half the Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Mix together lightly. Knead in 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise until mixture is creamy and very smooth.

2. Work in remaining cheese, garlic, shallot, pimientos, 1 tablespoon of reserved pimiento liquid, a dash of cayenne and a small pinch of dry mustard. Knead just enough to mix well: it should still have plenty of texture. Add remaining mayonnaise, if necessary—just enough to make it spreadable.

3. Let stand 30 minutes. Serve cool or at room temperature.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

Coleslaw with Caraway and Raisins

Found this recipe in a Real Simple magazine. Just looking at the recipe, I thought it sounded good. Made it the other day, and it´s the best coleslaw. Very very tasty. I used a combo of plain yogurt & sour cream. It´s not too creamy/oily, like mayo ones.

Coleslaw with Caraway and Raisins

3/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Kosher salt and pepper
1 small head green cabbage, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
6 scallions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, grated
1 cup golden raisins

In a large bowl, whisk the sour cream, vinegar, caraway seeds, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Add the cabbage, scallions, carrots, and raisins. Toss well and serve.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

from Real Simple recipes

Caramel-Apple Walnut Cake

It´s unfortunate that it´s getting to be fall. I´m not sure I´m ready for another cold, long, dark winter. One thing I do love about fall though is the apples - applesauce, apple cakes, apples & caramel, apple butter, apples in baked goods, warm apple cider. Throw some cinnamon, cloves, ginger, & nutmeg in with it, and mmm, yum. The smell of fall.

It´s too bad we´re both getting colds, otherwise I´d totally be out tomorrow to one of my favorite farms around getting some apples to make this recipe.

Peach Blueberry cake

We recently bought a bunch of peaches. I was going to can some, which I did, but we mainly ate them for breakfast, dinner, and then made a couple of these Peach Blueberry cakes, which we love. We first found this recipe two summers ago, made it then, then somehow forgot about it last year. I remembered it again this year. It has a wonderful fresh taste, just sweet enough, and I find it hard not to eat more than my share.

The recipe is fairly simple. Original recipe calls for quick cooking tapioca, but since I never have that on hand, I experimented with using cornstarch instead, and it works well.

Peach Blueberry cake recipe
Serves 8

Ingredients

Pastry Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Peach blueberry filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 TBSP cornstarch
2 lb firm-ripe large peaches (about 4), peeled, halved lengthwise, pitted, and each half cut lengthwise into fourths
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (bottled lemon juice works ok too)

1 Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until combined. Add butter and cut it in just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add egg and vanilla and stir just until dough clumps and begins to form a ball.

2 Butter and dust with flour the inside of a 9 or 9.5 inch springform pan. Press dough (about 1/4 inch thick) onto bottom and evenly about two inches up side of springform pan. Chill pastry in pan until firm, about 10 minutes.

3 Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.

4 While the pastry chills, combine sugar, flour and cornstarch. Add peaches, blueberries, and lemon juice and gently toss to coat.

5 Spoon filling into pastry and bake, loosely covered with a sheet of foil, until filling is bubbling in center and crust is golden, about 1 3/4 hours.

6 Transfer cake in pan to a rack and cool, uncovered, about 20 minutes, then carefully loosen or remove side of pan.

Cake may come out of the oven looking kind of liquidy still. The liquid will gel as the cake cools.

Itś great with a (generous) dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Recipe originally found here.

Make Ahead Brownie Delight

I was going through some old work papers, and found this recipe. I saw it and knew that it was one I had to keep and make soon. I made it recently for a work function - it was a hit. We considered having a party this week, just to eat this again! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, and mine didn't look quite this nice, but I'm sure it tasted just as good.



Before we begin, my notes: I used some random Pillsbury brownie mix, because I didn't find Rich & Moist. I also didn't find vanilla chips, so just used vanilla extract w/ the cream cheese instead. I think the vanilla chips would make it a bit thicker and creamy, but it didn't seem to be a problem without them. I used frozen raspberries on top instead of fresh, and raspberry jam slightly thinned and whisked til smooth instead of making a sauce from the frozen, sugar, and cornstarch. I also didn't make the fancy piped side, I just slapped it all on the top. I don't think it was worse for any of those substitutions. I think it tasted a bit better the second day in (more moist).

Make Ahead Brownie Delight

1 pkg (1lb 3.5oz) Pillsbury Rich & Moist Fudge Brownie Mix
1/2 c oil
1/4 c water
2 eggs
3/4 c large chocolate chips or chunks
2 c whipping cream
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c white vanilla chips, melted
1 10oz pkg frozen raspberries, thawed
3 TBSP sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 c fresh raspberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 9 inch springform pan. In large bowl, combine brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs. Beat 50 strokes with spoon. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter in greased pan.

Bake 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.

In a large bowl, beat cream until stiff peaks form. In large bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Stir in melted vanilla chips. Fold in 1/3 of the whipped cream. Reserve 1 cup mixture for piped edge; spread remaining mixture over brownie. Using decorator bag fitted with star tip (1/4 to 3/8 inch opening), pipe decorative edge around brownie, making sure border doesn´t touch side of pan. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile in food processor bowl with metal blade or blender container, process raspberries with syrup until smooth. Strain to remove seeds. In small saucepan, combine 3 TBSP sugar and cornstarch; stir in raspberry puree. Cook stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Cool to room temperature.

About 1 hour before serving, arrange fresh raspberries over filling. Refrigerate until serving time. With sharp knife, loosen dessert from sides of pan; remove sides of pan. Cut into wedges. Serve with raspberry sauce. Store in refrigerator.

Serves 16.

Granola bars

Our new favorite granola bars, homemade none-the-less.

I used almonds instead of pecans, and toasted my oats a little too long. But theyŕe still delicious. We think better than store bought.

Chai Ice Cream

Back in February or something, when it was still freezing here, my husband found this awesome recipe for Chai Ice Cream. I love Chai tea, and knew this ice cream would be delicious. But it was February, and freezing, so the idea of making ice cream didn't appeal to me.

On Friday while out shopping, I remembered the recipe, and got ingredients for it. Made it yesterday for some friends and now we want more! Itś our new favorite flavor... A bit time intensive to make, but so worth it.