Super Bowl skins and chili

I must admit that although I am not a big fan of the sport, I love the commercials, and nothin' says Super Bowl in my book more than a big ol' pot of chili and some potato skins.

Here's my recipe for both vegetarian and regular chili and some super tasty mini potato skins!

Enjoy.

Mini potato skins.

3-4 Tbs. Olive oil
8-10 baby yukon gold and/or red new potatoes
Smoked sea salt or Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
scallions

Preheat oven to 425. Drizzle olive oil on an aluminum foil lined or Silpat lined cookie sheet. Wash potatoes and slice in half lengthwise. Using a melon baller, gently scoop the inside out of each potato, leaving a good portion of each side and the bottom in tact. Save the little potato balls to roast as well. Toss the potatoes (and balls) in olive oil, smoked salt and pepper. being sure to coat both the inside and outside of each potato.

Place the potatoes skin side down on the cookie sheet so they are not touching and add balls in remaining areas.

Roast for 15-20 minutes until skins are crisp and golden brown.

Before removing from oven, sprinkle potatoes with shredded cheese and broil for 30 seconds.

Remove and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and a pinch of chopped scallions.

Vegetarian Chili:
1 large diced onion
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced button mushrooms
1 can black beans
2 cans pinto/red beans
3 cans diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
2 C. frozen roasted corn (from Trader Joe's, if you can't find it, regular frozen is fine)
4 Tbs. chili powder (or 1 packet chili seasoning)
1 diced zucchini
1 large peeled and diced sweet potato
kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs. cornmeal

Saute onion for 2-3 minutes in olive oil in a large pot. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for another minute. Add drained beans and tomatoes. Stir to combine and add frozen corn and chili powder. Finally, add zucchini and sweet potato, and a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Cover and let simmer on medium low for 25 minutes. Season to taste, add cornmeal and continue cooking until ready to serve.

I served this with a side of jalapeno corn bread and homemade guacamole. If you like it spicy, add a little Tabasco sauce before serving.


Beef or Turkey Chili:


1 tbs. olive oil
1 diced onion
1 lb. 90% lean ground beef or turkey
1 C. frozen roasted corn
1 small can pink beans rinsed
1 small can kidney beans rinsed
1 large can diced tomatoes -I found fire roasted ones, and they were yummy.
3 tbs. chili powder
1 tbs. cumin
a good pinch of 2 of kosher salt
optional- red hot sauce

Heat olive oil on medium high in a deep pot. When it begins to sizzle, add onions and saute for 3 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden brown. Add beef and break up in pot with a wooden spoon so you don't have big chunks. Saute for 5-6 minutes until beef is almost cooked through. Add corn, 2 cans of beans and tomatoes, stir to combine. Add chili powder, cumin and salt. Stir to combine, lower heat to medium, cover and cook for at least 25 minutes to let flavors combine.

Vegetarian chili

I made this vegetarian chili for a client earlier this week and it was possibly the best one I've ever made.

Here's the recipe:

It makes a lot, about 10 C.

1 large diced onion
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced button mushrooms
1 can black beans
2 cans pinto/red beans
3 cans diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
2 C. frozen roasted corn (from Trader Joe's, if you can't find it, regular frozen is fine)
4 Tbs. chili powder (or 1 packet chili seasoning)
1 diced zucchini
1 large peeled and diced sweet potato
kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbs. cornmeal

Saute onion for 2-3 minutes in olive oil in a large pot. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for another minute. Add drained beans and tomatoes. Stir to combine and add frozen corn and chili powder. Finally, add zucchini and sweet potato, and a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Cover and let simmer on medium low for 25 minutes. Season to taste, add cornmeal and continue cooking until ready to serve.

I served this with a side of jalapeno corn bread and homemade guacamole. If you like it spicy, add a little Tobasco sauce before serving.

Turkey Chili with corn bread

The weather is perfect for a nice warm bowl of chili.

Here's how I make my chili:

Heat 1 tbs. oil in a deep nonstick pot. Add in 1 finely diced onion and saute for 3-4 minutes or until onions begin to color. Add in 2 cubes frozen cilantro and stir until thawed and incorporated. Add in 1 C. diced mushrooms ( I like to dice everything so it's harder for the kids pick out what they don't like!) Stir to incorporate and saute for another minute. Add in 1 lb. of ground lean turkey meat. 1 tbs. cumin, 1 tbs. chili powder, a good pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

Saute turkey until cooked through, about 7-8 minutes. While the turkey cooks, rinse 3 cans of kidney beans. Once the turkey is cooked through, add the kidney beans and a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes. Bring to a medium boil, then lower to a simmer. Let cook for at least 30 minutes. Add in 1 c. of frozen corn kernels.

You can serve chili in a bowl over some pasta, brown rice or with a little corn bread.

I use a boxed corn bread, and add 1 C. or frozen roasted corn, a handful of shredded cheese and 1 diced jalapeno. Another great trick to spruce up corn bread is to sprinkle the top with chili powder and demerra sugar (this is larger crystals of sugar). It gives it a great color and a nice crunch.

Our kids LOVE chili and so do we. I add lots of hot sauce to mine and a handful of cilantro leaves to the top.

Chili on the ritz!

Ok, so it's a reach. I reheated the chili to have for dinner tonight and the kids put up a fuss, it must be something in the air. Abby ate all of the beans out of hers and a little meat, and Emma ate a couple bites, then got herself some grapefruit sections, shredded cheese and turkey pepperoni slices. Again, not a bad choice. The 2 times she hasn't liked dinner, she has made pretty good, healthy alternative choices.

Abby pulled out a sleeve of Ritz crackers and proceeded to make little "chili sandwiches" as she aptly named them. This got almost all of the chili eaten and she was quite proud of her new recipe.

Emma is having a friend over for dinner tomorrow night, so I will make hamburgers and baked fries with sliced veggies. No recipes to add for tomorrow. I'll look for another recipe to post.

Hoping to get out of this food rut with the kids.

(Almost) 15 Minute Chili

Here is a new photo that is going to the website www.timetoeat,info

The "big" snow never happened last night and we were lucky if we got an inch!

I happily sent 2 unhappy kids off to school today and had a lovely day.

I made chili tonight in what seemed like record time.

Heated a high sided pan with a lid on high heat. Added a tbs. of olive oil and 1 thinly sliced onion. Sauteed for 3 minutes, added a handful of pre-sliced mushrooms and cooked an additional 2 minutes. While those were cooking I opened- BUT DID NOT ADD- 2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed them, and 2 cans of diced tomatoes with Italian herbs.

I added to the pan about 1 lb, of 90% lean ground beef and broke it up with a wooden spoon until there were no big chunks. I cooked the beef for about 6 minutes or until there was no visible pink. Then I added in the rinsed beans and diced tomatoes with their juice.

I added in a 1/2 packet of leftover taco seasoning, a pinch of salt and a good shake of cumin. I let all of this come for a boil, then reduced the heat to medium low, covered and let cook for another 20 minutes.

The girls ate their dinner without incidence tonight, and I had the leftover hoisin beef stir fry from last night.

I am working on the new series of cooking classes set to begin in Mid- March. There will be a new food and wine series which should be a great one!

If you are not on my email list, please email me via the website or leave me a note here and I will send you an email when the schedule is finalized.

Chili love

It was freeeezing here today! I had recently made chili and the girls loved it! They asked for it again so I wanted to share my easy and healthy recipe with you. Emma came home from school this afternoon and asked for a bowl for her snack, then proceeded to eat it 2 hours later for dinner with a matzoh cracker!!

Here's the recipe:
1 tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced onion, fresh or frozen
1 lb. 90% lean ground beef
1 can cannellini (white) beans rinsed
1 can kidney beans rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes -I found fire roasted ones today and they were yummy.
3 tbs. chili powder
1 tbs. cumin
a good pinch of 2 of kosher salt
optional- red hot sauce

Heat olive oil on medium high in a deep pot. When it begins to sizzle, add onions and saute for 3 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden brown. Add beef and break up in pot with a wooden spoon so you don't have big chunks. Saute for 5-6 minutes until beef is almost cooked through. Add 2 cans of beans and tomatoes, stir to combine. Add chili powder, cumin and salt. Stir to combine, lower heat to medium, cover and cook for at least 25 minutes to let flavors combine.

You can add a handful of frozen roasted corn, you can serve the chili over rice or pasta, or just eat it in a bowl with a little shredded cheese and a handful of chopped scallions on top. It's perfect for cold winter afternoons.

Turkey chili

What a lousy day outside!!! What a perfect day for chili. I spent most of the day shuttling back and forth between the girls school-lunch duty, parent-teacher conferences. In the middle of the first conference, I get a txt message from Kirk saying, can't wait to hear the news! As if we're waiting to hear about early enrollment to Harvard!! I had to show the teacher, we both got a good laugh!

I bought a few art supplies for the girls, Model Magic, a package of new markers and landyard. They were sooooo happy!

Here's the recipe for turkey chili: It makes a lot!

Add a little olive oil to a large soup pot. When it shimmers, add a cup of frozen or fresh diced onion. I added frozen (they're great!) I also added about 1 C. of Miraupoix from Trader Joes. Basically, it's fresh diced celery, onion and carrot. It's the basis for most soups. I stirred that around for a minute or two, then added in a package of ground lean turkey meat. I stirred that around for about 5 minutes until it began to cook. I added in some chicken sausage that I removed from the casings. The easiest way to do that is to just run the sauasge between your fingers and squeeze the sausage out. Stir the sausage around and break it up with a wooden spoon. Let the meat mixture cook for about 5-7 more minutes. Add in 2 cans of rinsed beans, I used a can of red kidney and a can of pinto beans. I then added in about 1 tbs. of cumin, 1 tbs. of chili powder, a large pinch of kosher salt and pepper, and a few shakes of Adobo.

Next, I added in 2 large 32 oz. cans of diced tomatoes. Stir the whole mess around until it is combined, reduce the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Taste before serving, as it might need more salt. It won't be spicy, so you will want to add spice to your own bowl.

The chili is delicious and my kids love to eat the beans and ground turkey.