Brussel Sprouts are Making A Come Back!

Chicken Chili

A few weeks back I made a Chicken Chili, or at least that is what I would call it for one of our Sunday-Made Weekly Dinners. As you should know, I really, really don't like grocery shopping and up until  recently, hadn't liked cooking either.

I was at the grocery store with the Hubs, plum out of ideas for dinners and without a grocery list which never makes for a good combination. Did I mention I wasn't hungry either? As I was making my way through the produce section, Chad informs me there is Chicken on sale and I suggest a chicken chili for a dinner. The last time I made it I added zucchini which he doesn't really care for and also a no-go is bell peppers, big chunks of tomatoes, corn and squash. So as we are searching for some color veggies to add I find the brussel sprouts. I never had them and he wasn't too sure about them, so in the cart they went. I also picked up leeks and cilantro. I know, really weird combo.

So this is what went into the Crock of Pots:
Chicken Breast (cut into bite sized pieces)
Brussel Sprouts
Leeks
Chick Peas
Cilantro
Salt, Pepper

Strangely enough, this turned out pretty well and as far as the brussel sprouts go, they are like mini-cabbages. Winner, winner, chicken chili dinner! I think I may have a knack at weirdo dinners.

I'm Over Chicken

I use to watch the Food Network like it was going out of style. I was addicted to Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals and Good Eats. I never had an interest in cooking when I was growing up so I learned by watching EVOO Racheal, Good Ol' Alton, and calling my Dearest Mom for Substitutions. (Side note: there is no substitution for corn meal for pizza).

My Mom is an awesome cook. Me, not so much, or at least back in the old days. After many trials and errors  (turning on the wrong burner, burning most everything and setting fires in the stove) I learned to make some pretty tasty things including my Grammie's Homemade Perogies and Pineapple Cookies, Chicken and Dumplings, Mac and Cheese, and Ropa Vieja.

And then ... I hated cooking.

Maybe it was because I have too many cookbooks, or because I never follow the recipes all that well, or because Chad is a slightly picky eater, or because you can only cook chicken so many ways before you are over chicken.

Chef Husband has picked up the slack but after awhile he started to miss my cooking. Maybe me cooking was like me and the gym. We have a love hate relationship as well. So in an attempt to get back into the groove of cooking and do my civic duty as Wife, I went grocery shopping and starting cooking.

I was just suppose to make dinner that night but that turned out to making dinner for the whole week. In two hours I made homemade Mac and Cheese, Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and Sausage and Baked Ziti. Everything I made was for 6 to 8 servings so we had plenty of left overs. Strangely enough ... I liked this idea. Cook everything on Sunday!

Baked Zit, Mac and Cheese, and Spaghetti and Sausage

 The following week I made Pork Chops, Chicken Chili in the Crock-pot, Lasagna and Steak Salad.

Chicken Chili

Steak Salad

Hopefully this streak lasts.

Going Bananas!

Every week when I go to the grocery store I get bananas. They are one of my favorite foods. They are yummy, convenient, and are full of vitamins and potassium. Problem is I don't like really ripe bananas and they ripen so fast so I end up throwing some away which is such a waste of food and money. As I was about to throw this weekss too ripe bananas away I had a thought (a rare occurrence if you ask my Dad). I'll make banana bread!

If you recall, I'm not so talented when it comes to the baking aspect of cooking but the only way to get better is through practice. No mishaps this time and my Dad and Husband honestly looked a little surprised at how great it tasted. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup crushed walnuts
• Solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)

Directions:

Put flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside. In separate bowl whisk the eggs and vanilla together and set aside. Lightly Crisco the inside of your loaf pan (8x8x4) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a standing mixer, or with an electric hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter while mixing until incorporated then add the bananas.

With a rubber spatula, mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and transfer to loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool bread in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn the bread of out the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Would You Like Pickles In That?

I often make fun of others on my blog and it would only be fair of me to poke fun of myself as well. I've done some dumb stuff in my life but this takes the pie ... the key lime pie.


My mother is an amazing cook but I never took much of an interest in cooking while I was living at home. Needless to say when I moved away for college I was lucky that I knew how to boil water. I was notorious for burning everything or turning on the wrong burners and cooking nothing. Me and the stove were not friends. Overtime I learned how to cook, with much trial and error. I started with my Mom's Pisgetti Sauce and was eventually mastering my Grandma's handmade pierogies. It seemed that the more elaborate of a recipe, the easier I found it. The few things I haven't mastered are pancakes and desserts baked in the oven like pies.

Let me start off by saying, and in my defense, this recipe sucked and had horrible directions. I pull down my a cookbook my Mom gave me, and found a Key Lime Pie recipe on a fabric sheet stuffed in the book. I thought it was special and probably super yummy so I wrote down all the ingredients and off to the store I went. Graham cracker crust ... check, limes ... check, cream of tartar ... check?

My first mistake was getting key limes. The recipe called for lime juice. I thought to stay true to a key lime pie, you need key limes. I used the same amount of key lime juice the recipe called for as it did for lime juice so it was a little tart. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This was a recipe for Key Lime Pie with Meringue. So with the pie part out of the way I'm off start to work on the meringue.

Mix 1/4 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar with Egg Whites and beat until it peaks.

I had a difficult time finding this cream of tartar by the way. It wasn't with the milk, or cheese but I found something with tartar on it in the condiment section so at least I found it, right? Problem was is that everytime I tried to scoop a stinking quarter teaspoon I got pickles in it. I was pretty sure meringue didn't have pickles in in. I even asked Chad, "do they make a tartar sauce without pickles?" (Did you catch that?) He said no. I then asked what the crap was in tartar sauce and found out it was mayonnaise. Why the heck don't they just ask for mayonnaise then?

So I plopped a quarter teaspoon of my tartar in the egg whites, picked the pickles out and beat it with a fork until it was ... foamy. I knew that meringue was suppose to turn out poofy. The next step was to ...

Bake Until Brown

I wasn't sure exactly what was suppose to turn brown but my runny egg whites were bubbly so maybe it was suppose to poof up in the oven. On the pie it went and into the oven to bake until brown. I watched it through the oven window. The edges got toasty, and brown, then really brown, but my meringue did no poofing. I was dumbfounded.

After 15 minutes I pulled it out and let it cool in the freezer as directed for 30 minutes. The meringue was still runny and bubbly. Gag. I don't know what I did wrong. I scooped it off and my Husband, the boyfriend at the time, sampled my work. I don't think I've ever seen him so disgusted. Poor guy.

At first I didn't think too much of my attempt but my family, and most of my friends, find it to be the dumbest thing I've ever done and the funniest thing they have ever heard. I concur. I still find myself laughing at myself so hard I have tears streaming down my face. If you didn't catch my huge blunder, it was that I used Tartar Sauce instead of Cream of Tartar. My Dad especially loves the part about me "picking the pickles out." Also, if any of you reading this are unsure why my meringue didn't poof, you are suppose to beat it with a beater not a fork. Whoops.