White Chicken Chili Stew

This stew is absolutely addicting. The broth is so flavorful and rich. This will definitely be a new staple.


1 sm. onion, grated
1 can fire roasted green chiles, drained
1 poblano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. spice blend (recipe follows)
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups diced chicken
2 ears corn cooked and cut off husk (save husks)
1 can hominy
1 can cannelloni beans
3 cups half and half
salt to taste


Cut the jalapeno and poblano pepper in half and seed them. Spray with nonstick cooking oil and roast in oven at 450 degrees until skin starts to blacken and bubble. Peel off skin and dice.


Meanwhile, heat oil in large stock pot. Add onion, garlic and green chiles. Cook on medium low heat for 5 minutes. Add spice blend to pot and stir into onion mixture. Slowly add in chicken broth while stirring.


Add the chicken, diced roasted peppers, corn kernels, corn husks beans and hominy. Bring to a boil.


Reduce heat and let stew simmer for at least a half hour.


Remove corn husks. Stir in half and half.


Spice blend
2 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tbsp. Cayenne
1 tbsp. Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp. Cumin
1 tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 tbsp. Black Pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Not My Grandma's Cheesy Noodles!

Spicy Radiatore and Cheese
2 servings Radiatore noodles
3/4 cup Mexican Velveeta Cheese (mild)
1 tbsp. 2% milk (may need more)
1 tsp. green chiles
1/2 tsp. adobo (from canned chipotles)
1/2 tsp juice from pickled jalapenos
1/2 tsp jalapeno mustard
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter
1 tbps vegetable oil
1/4 cup Parmesean cheese, grated


Preheat oven to 450 degrees.


Cook pasta to al dente according to package.


Add cheese, milk, green chiles, adobo, jalapeno juice and mustard to a small saucepan. Heat over low heat and stir until cheese melts. Stir in pasta.


While cheese is melting, mix bread crumbs, paprika, chili powder, cayenne and salt and pepper together. Heat butter and oil in a pan until hot. Add bread crumbs to butter and oil and toast.


Spray a small oven safe bowl with non-stick spray. Pour noodle and cheese mixture in bowl. Top with toasted bread crumbs. Grate Parmesan cheese over top.


Bake for 5 minutes.


I really enjoyed the noodles and cheese. I remember my great-grandma making me noodles and cheese for lunch growing up. As a grown up I still enjoy the flavors. I spiced up her basic recipe and added bread crumbs to the top. This recipe has spice but is not too spicy. It has nice depth of flavor. I will definitely make it again!

Crab Cioppino

This is the meal I made for my Grandma's birthday when they stopped on their way to Texas. It is probably the best crab I have ever had, and made wonderful crab cakes the next day.

This recipe comes straight from Bon Appetit January 2010.

Parmesan Toasts with Prosciutto and Fig Jam

12 1/4-inch-thick baguette slices
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
6 slices prosciutto, each slice cut crosswise into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons fig jam

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Divide Parmesan equally among slices. Bake until lightly toasted, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with additional olive oil.
Top each slice with 2 prosciutto pieces; top with dollop of fig jam. Sprinkle with pepper. Serve Parmesan toasts slightly warm or at room temperature.

Cioppino-Style Roasted Crab

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
6 large garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups bottled clam juice
2 15-ounce cans chopped tomatoes in juice
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup (packed) fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon (scant) dried crushed red pepper
Coarse kosher salt
2 pounds Alaska king crab legs

Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat oil in large deep ovenproof skillet or large metal roasting pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add wine; increase heat to high and boil 2 minutes. Add clam juice, tomatoes with juice, 1 cup water, bay leaves, parsley, and crushed red pepper and bring to boil. Season to taste with coarse salt and pepper.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 15 minutes. Add crab pieces; nestle into sauce. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until crab pieces are heated through, 15 to 20 minutes. Place crab with juices in large bowl.

Lemon-Parsley Linguine

1/2 pound linguine
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon (packed) finely grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Cook linguine in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, heat extra-virgin olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté until golden, about 1 minute. Add grated lemon peel to skillet and cook 20 seconds. Remove skillet from heat.
Add linguine to skillet with garlic and lemon peel. Return skillet to medium heat; mix in parsley. Add 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Toss until heated through, adding more cooking liquid to moisten if dry.

How to Use the Leftovers -- Crab Cake Sandwiches with Lemon-Parsley Aioli:

Preheat broiler. Squeeze 1 medium garlic clove through garlic press and mix with 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley to make a quick aioli. Remove leftover crabmeat from shells to yield about 8 ounces (1 1/2 cups). Mix crabmeat with 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs and 1/4 cup aioli. Form into 4 crab cakes. Place crab cakes on lightly oiled baking sheet. Broil cakes on center rack until golden and heated through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Split soft buns and spread additional aioli on bun halves; fill with crab cakes

Jalepeno Cream Cheese Burgers

1 pound 73% ground beef

2 tbsp. green chilies

Spicy Steak Seasoning

1/2 cup Cream Cheese

2 tbsp. diced jalapenos(pickled)

Crispy Jalapeno pieces

Hamburger buns

Preheat grill to medium high heat. Oil grill grates to prevent sticking. (I put oil on paper towel and rub the grill with the paper towel.)

Mix beef and green chilies together. Divide into four patties and season with steak seasoning.

Grill hamburgers for 7-8 minutes per side.

While hamburgers are grilling mix the cream cheese and diced jalapenos together.

When burgers are close to being done put buns on the grill for a minute.

Take burgers off the grill, top with cream cheese mixture and crispy jalapeno pieces.

Steak, Corn and Potato Salad

I made a spicy rubbed flat iron steak with a grilled corn on the cob and chipotle-lime butter with a chipotle potato salad.

Grilled Flat Iron Steak

I took a two pound flat iron steak and rubbed it with spicy steak seasoning, cumin, cayenne powder and chili powder. I let it sit in the fridgefor an hour. It was grilled for 5 minutes per side then it sat for five minutes and was thinly cut against the grain. Overall I thought it tasted really good. We used the rest of it for fajitas as leftovers and they were delicious.

Corn on the cob with Chipotle-Lime butter

Preheat grill to medium. Peel back the husks of the corn without removing them. Remove the silks and recover the corn with the husk. Soak in large bowl of cold water for 30 minutes. Remove corn from water and shake off excess. Place the corn on the grill, close the cover and grill for 15 to 20 minutes.
Unwrap corn and brush with the chipotle-lime butter.

Chipotle-lime butter

1 tbsp. chipotle w/adobo

1 stick butter

1 tsp lime juice

1 tsp lime zest

combine ingredients into food processor. let sit in fridge until ready to use.

Chipotle Potato Salad

1 pound yukon gold potatoes, diced

3 eggs (hard-boiled), diced

1 stalk celery, diced

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp. jalapeno mustard

2 tbsp. chipotle with adobo (puree in food processor)

1 tsp. diced jalapeno (canned)

1 tsp. jalapeno juice

salt and pepper to taste

Mix mayo, mustard, chipotle peppers, jalapeno, juice together. Fold into potatoes, eggs and celery. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Fried Green Beans

So tonight's supper was pretty quick and easy. Also really really tasty. I used a three ingredient recipe from my Real Simple magazine. The recipe is as follows.


Easy Grilled Pork Tenderloin

1 pound pork tenderloin
Paula Dean's House Blend (Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder)
1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar


Mix Worcestershire sauce with brown sugar.
Season tenderloin with spice blend.
Grill pork on Medium-High heat until it reaches 150 degrees. (about 20 minutes)
Last five minutes of grilling slather on the sauce mix.
Let stand at least five minutes.


This recipe was quick and simple, but not the most flavorful. Could have used another dimension to it, but overall not bad.

Fried Green Beans (serves 2)
1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup beer
Sunflower Oil (for frying)

Heat oil in pan. Mix flour, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper together in small bowl. Add beer and mix. In batches, dredge green beans in beer mixture. Fry battered Green beans for about 3 minutes a piece. Put on paper-towel lined baking sheet to drain.

Chili dipping sauce
2 Tbsp. mayo
1 Tbsp. sweet chili sauce
1 tsp. Siracha sauce

Mix three ingredients together. Salt to taste

These green beans are definitely addicting. Could have eaten a lot more. I think I will use the beer batter to fry more food (I'm thinking pickles!).

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Filling:
1 quart strawberries, stemmed and quartered
4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 orange, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Topping:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 sticks butter, cold, cut into pea-sized pieces
1 teaspoon vanila extract
Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir to be sure everything is well combined. Spoon the filling into 8 x 8 baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats and brown sugar using your hands. Add the butter, vanilla and salt and mix the ingredients until the mixture starts to come together and look crumbly. Crumble the topping over the filling. Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is hot and bubbly all the way through and the topping looks crispy and light brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream

Shrimp Avocado and Mango lettuce wrap

Bon Appetit (August 2010) was my inspiration for this meal. I changed it up a bit though. Here is what I came up with!


Shimp, Avocado and Mango Lettuce Wrap with a Sweet Chili-Ginger Vinaigrette
1/2 cup Asian Sweet Chili sauce
2 tablesppons seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Gourmet Garden Ginger puree (find it in the produce isle)
1/2 pound cooked shrimp with tails off - diced into 1/3 in. pieces.
1 large mango, peeled, pitted and diced into 1/3 in. pieces
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, diced into 1/3. pieces
1 large head lettuce, leaves seperated


Whisk first three ingredients in small bowl, season with salt. Place diced shrimp, mango and avocado in medium bowl, toss with two tablespoons vinaigrette. Refrigerate for 5 minutes to allow flavors to incorporate together. Place shrimp mixture in a piece of lettuce and top with vinaigrette.

Why I love food

Because this is a food blog I'll excuse you from my life story. Instead I'll simply tell you about how food has shaped my life.

My first memories of food come from my great grandmother. She is my inspiration in life. If I can be half the cook, baker and woman that she was, I know I will live a fulfilled life. I can remember spending the days with her baking bread. I will forever attribute the smell of bread dough to her. At lunch she would make me spaghetti and cheese. Many times I have tried to recreate that infamous meal, and it's never turned out the same. I know it's only spaghetti and Velveeta cheese, but it just doesn't taste right. I realize now it's probably the memories I love so much, and I can never recreate those.

Growing up I was surrounded by strong women who knew how to cook. I can remember making individual pumpkin pies with my mom and grandma, sitting on the counter with flour all over. Helping mom cook supper and taking the can of mushrooms that was supposed to go in the meal and eating them all.

I can remember my best friend and I experimenting with food constantly. Being bored during the summer we would see what food was in the house and just start combining. Some of the food turned out, most didn't but that didn't matter. It was the fun we had and learning what combinations worked and what didn't.

In high school and early college, I think I forgot about my passion for cooking. I still appreciated good food, but I wasn't the budding cook in the kitchen anymore. Don't get my wrong, Food Network was still my favorite thing to watch, but I wasn't recreating anything I watched Bobby Flay or Rachael Ray make. The cook in me didn't reappear until I was out of the dorms and was able to cook on my own again. I started small, with recipes my mom had taught me. I soon began printing off recipes from the Internet and teaching my boyfriend (now husband) how to cook.

Vance didn't appreciate food like I did. He grew up in a small town with small town eating habits. He was definitely a meat and potatoes type of guy. Once we began dating I wanted him to try foods he either said he didn't like or had never had. It took awhile but he did. I would try recipes out on him and he loved almost everything I put in front of him (well except onions, I'm still working on that one).

Now he's in the kitchen right next to me. Our kitchen might be small, but there's a lot of good food coming out of it. From Mexican (my favorite) to Italian to Burgers, we cook it all. I get so much satisfaction from putting a meal on the table that I have created, tasting it and falling in love once again.

Every once in a while I make a meal that I know my great grandma would really be proud of. Even though she's gone, I still try to make her proud. I just wish I could make bread the way she did!