Two Happy Bellies

Veg Head Chili Night

Day three of our snow . . . we made chili for dinner. I have two favorite chili recipes, one is a chunky meat chili and the other is a vegetarian bean chili. Tonight we made the vegetarian style. I have no clue where I got this recipe, however the note at the top does say it is adapted from a Rachael Ray recipe, not by me.

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• or 2+ C. frozen chopped medley of onions and peppers
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 12 oz. pale beer
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes w/green chiles
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 oz) can kidney beans (un-drained)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans (un-drained)
• 1 T. ground cumin
• 2 T. chili powder
• 1 T. hot pepper sauce
• 1 t. kosher salt
• 1 (16 oz) can fat free refried beans

Over moderate heat, add oil to deep pot and combine onion, peppers, and garlic. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes to soften vegetables. Deglaze pan with beer, add tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, and kidney beans. Stir to combine. Season chili with cumin, chili powder, hot sauce, and salt. Thicken chili by stirring in refried beans. Simmer over low heat about 5 to 10 minutes longer, then serve. Top with sour cream, shredded cheese, scallions, tomatoes, chips, whatever.

 

I love this recipe as is. However Aaron thought it a bit too soupy so next time we are going to A. drain the beans and B. make sure the veggies don't sweat a lot of extra liquid into the pot (as they can do when using a frozen blend). He would also like to up the bean count so we'll probably try that as well. I should tell everyone that our chili powder was the Chili 3000 from Penzey's and it smelt wonderful! Tasted great too . . .

Donut time!

So yes, there were homemade donuts at breakfast this morning. Why? Because it snowed all night long! Check out the photos over at NLV to see what our yard looked like this morning. Anyway, I had found a a recipe for applesauce donuts over at the Farm Chicks and wanted to give them a try. We mixed up the dough and let it chill. After we pulled it back out, we laid it on our floured surface.

Next we cut them out using tools we had at hand, due to the fact that most of my baking supplies are in our storage unit. Don't ask . . . I really miss them! However, we made it work and put our donuts (and holes) into the hot oil to fry.

Next, they drained briefly and then took a tumble into some cinnamon sugar.

And last they were ready for the eating . . .

We had friend Tommy over for breakfast . . . coffee, donuts, eggs, and toast. A yummy time was had by all! Two caveats -- this made A LOT of donuts, we have to send some home with Tommy and the dough was REALLY sticky so we need to figure out how to make it not so sticky in our house.

Lunar New Year Part 3

Our side vegetable was again from a WW cookbook, but this time from Five Star Recipes. It was Sesame Sugar Snap Peas and is as follows:

• Cooking Spray
• 1 t. dark sesame oil
• 2 (8 ounce) packages frozen sugar snap peas
• 1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1/4 C. low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 T. brown sugar
• 1 T. minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 t. cornstarch

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil. Place over medium high heat until hot. Add peas and water chestnuts; saute 4 minutes or until peas are crisp tender. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and cornstarch, stirring until smooth. Add to vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil, and cook 2 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly.

6 (3/4 C.) servings at 1 WW point per serving.

Then, of course, there was dessert. However what I did for dessert was broil up some pineapple rings and put them on the table with vanilla ice cream, vanilla yogurt, honey, and cinnamon. We made little sundaes for ourselves. Yes, I do love my broiled pineapple . . . and felt that it fits just as well with an Asian theme as it does with a Greek theme. If I'm wrong, don't tell me. I enjoy eating it too much to care.

Lunar New Year Part 2

This one comes from BH&G's Slow Cooker Favorites Made Healthy. I actually got this cookbook for free when it was rung up incorrectly at the register. Store policy meant they had to give it away . . . and I took it. I've enjoyed this cookbook quite a bit. Recipe is as follows:

• 1 10 3/4 ouce can condensed golden mushroom soup
• 2 T. reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 t. ground ginger
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenderloins
• 1 C. sliced fresh mushrooms or one 4 ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 C. sliced celery (roughly 2 stalks)
• 1 C. shredded carrots (roughly 2 medium)
• 1 8 ouce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1/2 C. cashews (yeah, I went generous on this one)
• 3 C. hot cooked rice

In a 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker combine soup, soy sauce, and ginger. Stir in chicken, mushrooms, celery, carrots, and drained water chestnuts. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high heat setting for 3 to 4 hours. Stir cashews into chicken mixture and serve over hot cooked rice.

Six servings at 8.5 WW points per serving.

Don't you love the steam in the picture? Anyway, tomorrow night is time to tell you about our side dish -- Sesame Sugar Snap Peas.

Lunar New Year Part 1

Back at New Years we had an Asian themed menu. It was very tasty and we decided we wanted to celebrate the Lunar New Year as well with additional recipes. We invited three friends over, whom Aaron calls "the girls", and had an extremely enjoyable evening. He did a lot of the prep work Monday night and got the crockpot going for me Tuesday at lunch because after the party was planned he found out he had a business meeting Tuesday night. Anyway, we girls had a great time eating and hanging out until he got home and then he joined the festivities . . .

First up on our menu was a Teriyaki-Ginger Pork Tenderloin. This came from one of the many Five Ingredient Fifteen Cookbooks out there by Weight Watchers. The recipe is as follows:

• 1 (1 pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2 T. roasted garlic or regular teriyaki sauce
• 1 1/2 t. cornstarch
• 1/4 t. ground ginger
• 1 (6 ounce) can pineapple juice

Cut tenderloin into 1/2 inch thick slices; flatten slices with palm of hand. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium high heat until hot. Add pork, and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned.

Combine teriyaki sauce and remaining 3 ingredients, stirring well. add to pork in skillet. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes. Remove pork from skillet, and spoon sauce over pork.

Four servings at 3 WW points per serving.

Tomorrow . . . the cashew chicken crockpot recipe!

Chocolate Potluck Cake

I needed to bring a dessert to a potluck yesterday at church and we wanted to make the Spiced Cranberry Bundt Cake we blogged about here. However, we couldn't find the fresh cranberries we needed for it and I did not have the freezer space to have kept any from the holiday season. So, at the last minute I had to change my plans. The Chocolate Potluck Cake is one that never fails, is always moist and delicious, and has people ask for the recipe. So, take a look and definitely give this one a try. (My guess is I got this from one of the Cake Mix Doctor books, she is fabulous, but I can't promise that is the original source of this recipe.)

Chocolate Potluck Cake

Cake:

• 1 box devil’s food cake mix
• 1 C. vanilla low-fat or nonfat yogurt
• ½ C. water
• ½ C. vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs

Topping:

• 1/3 C. finely chopped pecans
• 1/3 C. packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 C. miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 13 by 9 inch pan. Place the cake mix, yogurt, water, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes longer, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should be stiff but smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Set the pan aside. Stir together the pecans, brown sugar, and chocolate chips in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the top of the cake batter. Place the pan in the oven. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Serve slightly warm.

***Can use various flavors of yogurt for other flavor combinations***

What didn't get devoured at church yesterday got gobbled up at work today!

Thursdays are crockpot night

We are usually out on Thursday nights so we try to "slow cook" our dinner and have it waiting when we get home. I read the blog A Year of Slow Cooking regularly and we decided to try her Sweet Mustard Roast from January 13th this week. We had a 2# beef roast in the freezer, yay for the CSA, and followed her sauce recipe using the apple cider vinegar. Coming home Thursday night the entire house smelled fabulous! We ate it with leftover green beans and potatoes that night, along with some rolls. Then Friday night (after taking some leftovers to work where everyone raved about them) we ate the rest with couscous cooked up in the leftover green been seasoned juice and roasted brussel sprouts. We love brussel sprouts and both meals were tasty enough we look forward to cooking this one again. I have to say, this was one of the easiest meals we put together in quite some time.

Rojo Pork Chops

We have received lots of pork recently from the CSA. I heard this weekend that is probably because pigs are butchered in the winter. Fine with me, we like pork. I will admit to a hot/cold relationship with pork chops though. Apparently as a child I loved them. Then in college I hated them. But once again I love them. Especially as they are so easy to cook. Frequently we do our pork chops in a balsamic vinegar sauce. However, as we restocked our supply of Rojo Taco Seasoning from Penzey's this weekend (a liquid rub that is fabulous!), tonight we pan fried them up in some Rojo. Tasty goodness for us, too spicy for the four legged fur babies. Made my stomach happy!

 

We ate this with green beans, sweet potatoes, and rolls to sop up all the lovely sauce.

I Heart Penzey's

In both of our love for cooking, spices are very important.  I have been on the Penzey's mailing list for about 10 years now and not long after T and I started dating I got her on the mailing list also.  Here is the important part - http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html In full disclosure, my mom got me hooked on them so long ago.

Two Happy Bellies did some road tripping to Memphis this past weekend and the Memphis retail location was a high priority on our list of things to do.  We were the first customers through the door right when they opened.  We were that serious about this adventure.  Once in the store Tracy went one way and I went the other.  A few minutes later we bumped into each other and she said "Go smell X spice over there" and I said "I found X back that way".

We both managed to grab several 4 oz bags of spice blends for future adventures.  Below is a pic of some of the goodies we purchased.  Our plan is to test out some of these spices and let the Dear Readers in on the results.  More details to follow......

Tuna casserole for Mom

My mother loves tuna casserole. My father, not so much. So, she doesn't get to eat it very often. Mom, we like what we made up . . . we'll make it for you the next time we visit. I started with a sauce I made from some chopped onion (about 1/2 cup) sauteed in olive oil, a can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. After the sauce reached a nice simmer, I combined my leftover pasta noodles, 2 cans of tuna, and a bag of frozen peas. I stirred them all together and poured into a 9 by 13 pan. We meant to top it with bread crumbs and I accidentally grabbed the panko instead. It worked! We baked it at 425 degrees F. for about 20 minutes, topping it with some shredded Italian cheese shortly before it was done.

Dad, you'll have to just give it a try. Aaron and I both liked it . . .