Chili!

I’m always on the search for a new and exciting chili… don’t get me wrong, Virginia makes a very good, traditional chili. But every once in a while, it’s fun to try something new.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP Vegetable Oil
• 1LB Extra Lean ground beef (93/7 or better)
• 1LB Beef Sirloin, cut into cubes
• 2 Sweet Onions, Chopped
• 5-6 Cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 – 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes, not drained
• 12oz of dark beer
• 1 Cup strong brewed coffee
• 12oz tomato paste
• 14oz Beef Broth
• 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
• 3-1/2 TBSP Chili Power
• 1 TBSP Cumin
• 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 TSP Oregano
• 1 TSP Cayenne Pepper
• 1 TSP ground coriander
• 1 TSP Salt
• 3 x 15 oz cans kidney beans (dark and light red)
• 4 hot peppers…. some may be seeded to cut down on heat

 

That looks like a lot of stuff… but… it’s not too horrible. I had most of it on hand, except I never seem to keep beef broth on hand…. and I didn’t have any dark beer…

Here are all of your canned goods.

Your “vegetables” …

Step 1: Prep stuff.  Cut onions and garlic, cut up sirloin into small pieces.

Put your ground beef, cubed sirloin, onions and garlic with your oil into a big ol stock pot. Cook on medium heat until your onions are translucent, and your beef is browned.

In the meantime, you can get everything else ready….

Here’s what all of the spices look like in one place:

I used 4 Jalapenos for the peppers… I pulled the seeds out of 3 of them in an effort to keep the spiciness reasonable for Virginia.

I got my beer ready… and brewed some fresh coffee….

Then I got my cans ready… now, once your meat is browned, you’re going to add 2 cans of beans, the can of tomatoes, and your can(s) of tomato paste. (and peppers and spices)

I like to drain and then rinse my beans to get rid of that weird syrupy stuff that they get packaged in.

BAM! Now, just stir everything together… then drop the heat to let it simmer for 1-1/2 hours.

 

So after an hour and a half, a lot of the liquid will have cooked off and it’ll be nice and thick. Now, add your last can of beans, and let it simmer for another half hour.

 

Let’s talk beans for a minute. I typically don’t like a ton of beans in my chili. this recipe actually called for 4 cans.. but I can’t bring myself to do that. At no point should the amount of beans exceed the amount of meat. Other people working from the same recipe were commenting about using multiple kinds of beans.. black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans… shit. Whatever. They’re beans. They’re all about the same. Slightly stiff skin, mushy grey stuff inside. So, if you want to be all high and mighty about your beans…. go ahead. Use whatever kind of beans you want. Hell, you could use lima beans for all I care. I used 2 cans of light red kidney beans, and 1 can of dark red.

After your latest addition of beans has cooked for a half hour, it’s time to polish up your best eatin’ spoon and get down one of your special clean bowls.

Not knowing exactly what to expect, I went with just a little bit of cheese in my first bowl.

Now… let me just say. …. This is some awesome chili. But, don’t expect it to be your regular, traditional, run of the mill chili. This is a good bit on the sweeter side, and it has a certain bit of flowery properties from the coriander, and a pretty amazing depth from the brown sugar, coffee, and beer.

My second bowl, I didn’t put anything on it, and it was, I think, better than the first bowl.

Now, as always, there are a few things that I would change in retrospect….

• Virginia actually said she’s like more meat in it… I think Chorizo would be a good addition to what it’s already got going on… but, Chorizo is remarkably greasy… so, you’ll have to take a bit of extra time to cook it separately and then allow it to drain for a while on a paper towel to get rid of the grease… even then, you still might get a little extra grease on the top of your bowl.
• I’d have liked to have it a little spicier. I gutted 3 Jalapenos when I was making this, in an effort to keep it mild for VA… but, it was a little too mild. Given the choice of too mild, or too hot, too mild is always safer, because I could always add some more fresh peppers, or hot sauce, or whatever.
• I felt like it needed a little crunch. Maybe some fresh onions… or a bed of Fritos… either way.

 

In any case, this is a recipe that you all should try. If you’re afraid of the sweetness from the brown sugar, you can cut it down to 1/4 cup, and you should be just fine.

Other reviews online were saying that this chili is really better on day 2… so, I can’t wait until tomorrow.

Thumb Print Cookies!

This is a pretty easy one… but it’s been a while since anything has hit the blog… so, here we go….

 

Step 1: 3/4 Cup Butter softened. (That’s 1-1/2 sticks)

Step 2: Sugars….

1/4 Cup White sugar,

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar.

Now, here’s where I messed up… the recipe I was following said to cream your 2 sugars with your 2 eggs and butter…. Now, considering that I’ve cooked things before, I should have known that this wasn’t the best idea. So, cream your butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together before adding your eggs.

Like above…

 

Instead… I added the 2 eggs to the (un)mix at this point….

So… This is what you get when you add the eggs before mixing… instead of the creamy sugar and butter mixture…. you get this:

Lumpy goop that’s not all properly incorporated and whatnot… but… we’re gonna roll with it.

Next up, assuming that you’ve mixed everything better than I have, add 1/2 TSP of each: Vanilla, Cinnamon, Salt…. or, if you’re me, you double the amount of the cinnamon and vanilla… cause that’s how I do it.

 

Then flour… 1-3/4 Cups…. add it slowly, with the mixer on low… otherwise, you get a big poof of flour.

At this point, it should start to look like cookie dough.

Finish Mixing things up until you have a smooth dough…..

Now… be prepared, this isn’t like chocolate chip cookie dough or oatmeal cookie dough… it’s kinda thin… and with nothing else in it, it’s SUPER sticky. It stuck to the sides of the bowl.. the spatula couldn’t really even get it to break loose from the edges of the bowl… I suppose that’s how it’s supposed to be…I don’t know, I never made these things before.

Next up, spray down a cookie sheet with some baking spray and drop th dough 1 TBSP at a time down onto the sheet.

Now, dip your thumb in some flour, and give each blob a little push in the center.

BAM. Amazingly, when you press your floured thumb into a ball of dough… it leaves a thumbprint behind… or.. a crater… or depression….

Toss a bit of jam/jelly into each one, then toss the tray into the oven @ 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. or, until the edges are brown. Let them chill out for a while on a wire rack to allow the boiled jam to get good and sticky as it cools.

We made raspberry, strawberry, and apricot.

 

 

Now… these were ok… I dunno… the cookie part is kind of shortbread-ish… The centers were nice and sticky as they should be… but overall, the cookies were just “Meh”. Not bad, but I’m not rushing out to restock the pantry so I can make them again tomorrow.

In the future, if I decide to make something along these lines again, I think I’d go with a peanut-butter cookie. It just makes more sense. PB&J cookies. These are part sugar cookie, part shortbread… Kinda dry…. a lot more flour taste than anything else… Like I said.. not horrible… but there’s room for improvement.

Shrimp Egg rolls!

A few weeks ago Aaron and I decided to make egg rolls. Technically, we have done egg rolls on the blog before, but those were chicken and pepper egg rolls.

This time we made more traditional shrimp egg rolls with cabbage and carrots. I was actually more of a fan of these.

Egg rolls require lots of chopping.

We had cabbage leftover from when I made coleslaw. An Asian variety might have been more authentic, but plain cabbage had a nice crunch. I added carrots and onion. I kind of just eye-balled the measurements.

Next Aaron whipped up a sauce for the filling:

We added shallots and ginger for some extra flava! Watch them cook!

Yum! Now add your other chopped veggies.

And of course your shrimp. We buy the pre-shelled frozen kind when they are on sale. BOGO!

Some purple cabbage or water chestnuts would probably be good too.

Finally, you get to wrap them up like tiny Chinese burritos.

Ha! It kind of looks like my cat apron has a mustache.

Aren’t they cute?!?

Then they go into the frying pan. You could do them in the oven if you wanted to be more healthy. We were going for more delicious.

And there you have it. Shrimp classic egg rolls. Serve with duck sauce and enjoy!

Holy Guacamole!

Here we go.. a long awaited update… by… all 3 of our regular blog readers….

So, what wonderful thing did we make in our kitchen to put on the blog? What delicacy that can’t be found in stores and restaurants did we come up with?

Guacamole!

What? You can buy that in the store? and … uh huh… yeah.. you say that in certain restaurants they serve it by the bucket…. greeeeeaaaat.

In any case… we made guacamole. Guac for short. Or mole. Either way is fine. Just don’t call it green goop.

Step 1. Set up your studio strobes and umbrellas…. then grab your lovely assistant….

You then want to grab 4 Avocados. Cut them in half, get rid of the pit… seed….center thingie.

Then, grab a spoon and scoop out all of the innards of the avocados.

That’s a nice clean avocado skin.

After you’ve freed all of your avocados from their oppressive skins, crush them with a fork. After all… they deserve it.

Now… chop up some other stuff.

About half an onion….

Then some tomatoes…

about 2 medium tomatoes worth… or a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Then add some spices…

You’re looking to give it 1/8 tsp of cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper… and maybe a pinch of sugar. just for fun… After all of that dry stuff is in… add a clove of chopped up garlic… Yell “BAM!” and scare the cats as you throw the garlic in.

Cut open a lime and squeeze the juice into everything else.

Then mix it all up.

and just like that… you have awesome, home-made guacamole.

Good on chips…

Or on fish tacos!