Chili, Cornbread & Roasted Okra

The weather dipped into a bit cooler temperatures, so what do Texans do? They make chili of course! This was just a quick throw together chili that only took 30 minutes or so to throw together, but that was because I had my beans pre-prepared. I'm limiting canned foods, so I made a huge batch of brown beans a couple of weeks ago and put them in freezer bags to pull out when needed. As for my side, that's ROASTED okra! Mostly the only ways I like okra are either fried or in gumbo. Then the thought occurred to me to try roasting it. Sure enough, tossed in a bit of olive oil with salt and pepper and these were delicious! Not slimey at all.
-Amanda

Easy Chili

1 small onion finely diced
2 tsp olive oil

1 lb hamburger meat
2 cups of brown beans, previously cooked and thawed or canned
1 can of tomato sauce, or about 1.5-2 cups home prepared tomato sauce

2 tsp oregano
3 tbsp of chili powder
1-2 chilies (jalapenos, for example)
3-4 cloves garlic


Dice onion and saute them in olive oil in a large pot. Add minced garlic and diced chilies. Add ground beef, and break it up with the edge of a spoon. Before the beef is cooked all the way add seasonings of oregano, salt, and chili powder. Add beans and tomato sauce. Stir and adjust seasonings as needed. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve with cornbread.


I've made cornbread before on this blog, and yet, I'm always looking for a better recipe. Last nights cornbread came out great! Too bad I didn't measure... here are the approximates..

Cornbread

2 cups of cornmeal
1/2 cup white-wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3-4 tbsp honey
2 eggs
1.5 cups milk

1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp coconut oil


Preheat oven to 400. In a large mixing bowl, mix the cornmeal, white-wheat flour and whole wheat flour. Add the baking powder and salt and whisk to incorporate. In a small bowl, beat eggs, milk and honey. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Place a cast iron skillet on the stove and pre-heat it, medium-high heat. Add the butter and coconut oil. When it is melted swirl it around to grease the sides of the skillet and the pour it into the batter. Turn off the stove. Mix the melted butter/coconut oil into the batter and immediately pour it back into the hot skillet. Put the skillet in the middle rack and bake at 400 for about 20minutes or until golden brown on top.

Taco Mini Mufins

I loved the response from my homemade chicken nuggets! Many of my friends told me they were going to try out the recipe. Please let me know how yours turn out if you do!

Today's recipe is another very toddler friendly meal idea. Although I'm going to serve this for dinner for the adults too, paired with a salad. These Taco Mini Muffins can also be made in bulk and frozen. Reheat in the toaster oven or microwave. This isn't an exact science, you can change the recipe to your preferences. Oh and I actually doubled the meat and veggies so I could have easy taco salads later this week.
-Amanda

Taco Mini Muffins

Cornbread Mix
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
approx 2 cups of milk, start with slightly less and add until you get a "pancake" batter consistency.

Taco Mix
1/2 lb lean ground beef
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 small onion
1/4 cup frozen or fresh corn
1/4 cup drained black beans
1/2 red bell pepper
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
3 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp tomato paste or ketchup (I used homemade)
salt & pepper to taste

Dice onion into small bits. Place oil in a skillet (I used cast iron.) When it gets hot, add onion. While the onion is cooking, dice red bell pepper. Add it to the onion, stir occasionally. When onion and bell pepper are soft, add corn and beans, heat until the corn is thawed. Remove vegetables from skillet (Or if pressed for time, cook them at the same time as the meat in a separate skillet.)

Once vegetables have been removed from the skillet, add the meat. Add the cumin, chili powder, oregano, tomato paste or ketchup, salt and pepper. Cook on medium-high heat until meat is cooked all the way through.

Add meat to the vegetables and stir.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the cornbread mix, except the milk. Add 1 1/2 cups of milk and stir. Add enough milk until you have a loose "pancake" like batter. Stir in the meat/vegetable mixture. Dish about 2 tbsp in mini muffin tins. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. If you do larger muffins, adjust your cooking time. A toothpick should come out clean and the tops of the muffins should start to brown.

Avocado Black Bean Veggie Wrap

Last night my mom and I went to a presentation put on by Dee McCaffrey at a Sprouts Market. I heard about the class from the Dallas Morning News Moms Blog. The topic was "How to eat Organic on a Budget." Dee is also a proponent of getting all processed foods out of your diet, including white flour and white sugar. She lost 100lbs this way and has kept it off for 17 years. And when she said that you should eat some avocado everyday, she had my attention! She did a demo of this recipe and it was really great! I did not buy her Plan-D Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas, but I did make my own from scratch using The Homesick Texan's recipe. Currently I am using 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white but in the future I want to play around with a "white" wheat that Dee McCaffrey told me about; she said it was good for baked goods.
-Amanda

Avocado Black Bean Veggie Wrap 

1 1/2 cups black beans (about 1 15oz can, drained and rinsed)
1 large, ripe avocado
1/2 cup shredded or crumbled cheese
2 tbsp minced red onion
1 cup shredded red cabbage (I used green, since it is what I had on hand)
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 cup cucumber, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup salsa
4  whole wheat tortillas*

Mash the beans adn avocado in a bowl with a potato masher or fork. Add in the cheese, minced onion and salsa. (I also added the juice of one lime.) Stir to mix.

Warm tortillas by placing on a hot griddle on high heat. Spread about 1/2 cup of the avocado-bean mixture onto one of the tortillas. Top with cucumber, carrot and cabbage. Roll up and serve. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and ingredients.

*Homemade Tortillas, courtesy of The Homesick Texan
(adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)
Ingredients:
Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil**
3/4 cups of warm milk

**UPDATE: I don't use processed vegetable oils any more. I now would make this with coconut oil**
Method:
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil.
Slowly add the warm milk.
Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft.
Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.
After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)
After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.
In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.
Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.
Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil.
While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.
Makes eight tortillas.

White Bean Chicken Chili

This recipe was posted on a message board I'm on by Amberly. She got it from Ame. I think everyone in my mom's group is trying out their variation of it! It is really good! I made the white beans from scratch a couple of weeks ago and froze them. So tonight I just pulled those out of the freezer and mixed them with the rest of the ingredients instead of using canned beans. (My beans had carrots, celery and a bit of bacon so it added a depth of flavor that is a bit different than canned.) But either would work fine. My twins ate this up and Izzie even asked for more!
-Amanda

White Bean Chicken Chili

about 32 oz chicken stock
3 cans white beans undrained (I use homemade dried beans that had been previously cooked)
5 cups cooked chicken
1 - 16oz jar salsa or homemade salsa
1 - 8oz block pepper jack (I used colby jack because it was what I had)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup tortilla chips (crushed), optional... makes chili thicker
 avacado to garnish

Place all ingredients in large pot over medium-high heat until cheese is melted. When chili is ready, add crushed chips, if using, and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken.

Kuru Fasülye and Cacik

This Turkish bean stew is a staple of casual home cooking.  Kuru Fasülye is usually served with rice pilaf and sometimes accompanied by cacik.  I LOVE cacik!  It is watered down salted yogurt with chopped up cucumbers.  I like to spoon it over my pilaf, then have a bite of Kuru Fasülye.  You can also just eat it with a spoon as a side.  Something about the warm beans, soft pilaf and cool yogurt is just fantastic.

-Jules

Kuru Fasülye

2 cups of cooked white beans --I use dried beans.  I think it tastes better that way.
Pour a good swirl of olive oil in the pan.  at least 4 or 5 tablespoons. 
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 chopped onions
2 chopped red peppers (bell or sweet)
3 chopped tomatoes
2-3 cups of water
1 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of salt

Treat your beans normally. If you used dried beans, soak beans them in water over night and then the next day, boil them until they are soft.
If you use canned beans, drain and rinse them.
In a pan, add the oil and the onions and peppers and sauté until onions are translucent and the peppers are soft. Add the tomato paste (about 10 minutes.)
Drain the beans whether they were dried or canned, pour into the pot with the onions and peppers.  Add the tomatoes and then the water.  Make sure the water covers the beans.
Add the peppers and salt.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until the stew has thicken.

Serve with rice pilaf

Cacik

1-2 cucumbers shredded
2 cups of yogurt
1 cup of water
salt to taste (about a teaspoon)

Combine ingredients and mix well.
Serve chilled