Chili and Cornbread

I love when the weather changes from hot to cold. That’s probably one of the reasons I miss Washington so much, the rainy weather inspires me to cook something warm. Now we live in Oklahoma and today it was 82° outside…not exactly chili weather but sometimes I can’t help myself. Winter to me means staying indoors, doing something crafty and eating warm food. Chili and Cornbread fit the bill. This is a quick and easy recipe, you can make it ahead and let it simmer for 2 hours but sometimes I don’t start making dinner early enough. Tonight was one of those nights. I let it simmer for at least an hour. Still really tasty. I also freeze the leftovers for another day. Just put leftovers in a plastic freezer bag and lay it flat in your freezer. Once it’s frozen it doesn’t take up much space at all.

Chili with Meat and Beans

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 lbs ground beef

1 can pinto beans, *I don’t drain or rinse mine but you can if you’d like

1 can kidney beans *I don’t drain or rinse

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 can tomato paste

1 small white onion, diced

2 TBS chili powder (*homemade or store-bought)

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tsp or 2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp or a few dashes hot pepper sauce, like Tabasco

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp white sugar

shredded cheese and more diced onions for garnish

Directions:

In a large pot brown ground beef and diced onions. Once meat is cooked all the way through, drain off excess fat and place back into the pot. Then add all the other ingredients except cheese and onion garnish. Allow to simmer at least 1-2 hours stirring occasionally. Top with shredded cheese and raw white onion. Serve hot with cornbread.

*Homemade chili powder*

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp garlic powder

Sweet Yellow Cornbread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 cup-1 cup white sugar (* We like our cornbread sweet, I use 1 cup)

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup oil

2/3 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 400°.

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Mix oil, eggs, and milk together and add to the dry ingredients. Mix with a few stiff strokes only until just combined. Bake in a  9 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

 

 

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Chicken and Dumplings

Well a couple of weeks ago I made Chicken and Dumplings for dinner and had plenty of leftovers for another meal. I froze the rest in a Ziplock Freezer bag and defrosted it today for dinner tonight. I love when I don’t have to make dinner when I’ve been out all day and when the boys have a basketball game at night. It’s a no brainer. This recipe was really good and you can leave out the dumplings if you want and you will have a great chicken soup. I modified the recipe a little I didn’t have dry sherry on hand so  I just substituted chicken broth. There are a lot of ingredients but nothing crazy and there are a lot of steps but I think it’s worth it especially when you can get 2 meals out of it.

Lighter Chicken and Dumplings adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, September 2009 serves 6

• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat (about 2 1/2 lbs)
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 small onions, chopped fine (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces (2 cups)
• 1 celery rib, chopped fine (1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup dried sherry or dry white wine
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 teaspoon fresh)
• 1 pound chicken wings
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

For the dumplings

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
• 4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes
• 1 large egg white

1. Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels and season with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook until skin is crisp and well browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken and brown on second side, 5 to 7 minutes longer; transfer to large plate. Discard all but 1 teaspoon fat from pot.
2. Add onions, carrots, and celery to pot; cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, 7 to 9 minutes. Stir in sherry or wine, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in broth and thyme. Return chicken thighs, with any accumulated juices, to pot and add chicken wings. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook until thigh meat offers no resistance when poked with tip of paring knife but still clings to bones, 45 to 55 minutes (as a side note, when I halved this recipe it only took 35-40 minutes to reach this point).
3. Remove pot from heat and transfer chicken to cutting board. Allow broth to settle 5 minutes, then skim fat from surface using wide spoon.  When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin. Using fingers or fork, pull meat from chicken thighs (and wings, if using) and cut into 1-inch pieces. Return meat to pot
4.  Whisk flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps; whisk in egg white. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.
5. Return stew to simmer; stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Using greased tablespoon measure (or #60 portion scoop), scoop level amount of batter and drop over top of stew, spacing about ¼ inch apart (you should have about 24 dumplings). Wrap lid of Dutch oven with clean kitchen towel (keeping towel away from heat source) and cover pot. Simmer gently until dumplings have doubled in size and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 13 to 16 minutes. Serve immediately.

A couple of weeks ago I made Chicken and Dumplings for dinner. The recipe makes a big batch and we had plenty of leftovers for another meal. I froze the remaining in a Ziplock Freezer bag and defrosted it today for dinner tonight. I love when I don’t have to make a dinner on days when I’ve been out and when I know that the boys have a basketball game. Here is the recipe, I used chicken broth instead of the sherry because I didn’t have any in the house when I made this. Really good recipe there are a lot of ingredients and quite a few steps but I think that it is worth it for a good bowl of dumplings, plus you can leave out the dumplings and you have a really good chicken soup with a lot of flavor.

Source:

Pink Parsley