T's White Chicken Chili

Back in October, Steve and I went to a ward chili cook-off and someone made an awesome white chicken chili. We've been meaning to make our own ever since, but never got around to it until last night. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and then made quite a few modifications. you can find the original recipe here. We had our neighbors over last night, and served it to them for dinner. It was a big hit.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of chicken
1 cup sour cream
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the cream of chicken and sour cream. Add the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in cheese until melted. Serve warm.

NOTE: Even with the modifications I made to the original recipe, it's a bit spicy. Try using less cayenne pepper or replacing the green chiles with some green peppers if you're not big on spicy foods.

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
3 eggs
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk

For glaze:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon each: melted butter, vanilla and almond extract

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in large bowl. In medium bowl combine eggs, oil, butter and flavorings and beat two minutes. Add wet mixture to dry mixture alternating with milk until all is smooth. Pour into well greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on racks. Glaze with ingredients above for glaze. Makes two loaves 9"x5"x3" or at least 6 mini loaves (mini loaves bake only for about 35 minutes or less).

Pumpkin Garlic Knots

Since there really isn't much of an Autumn here in the islands, a few friends and I went through a pumpkin phase to make things taste a little more Fall-ish.  We pulled this one up from tastespotting.com and it proved to be DELICIOUS and super easy.

Pumpkin Garlic Knots

Yield: 2 batches

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey)
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 3-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1. For the dough: Pour the warm water into a medium bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the agave nectar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and pumpkin puree.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients then pour in your wet ingredients.
3. Using a rubber spatula, pull all the ingredients together. When you can no longer mix, use your hands to start kneading the dough. Knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth and elastic ball, adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

4. Lightly oil another large bowl and put your dough ball inside it -- flipping over once to coat both sides lightly with oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise for about 2 hours; or until nearly doubled in size
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, put in a pizza stone (you may use a pan, too, but it works best with a stone), and divide the dough into two equal pieces. If you're planning to use the other half the next day, just put it in a large zip-lock bag and store in the fridge. You may also freeze the dough for up to three weeks.

6. To create the garlic knots: tear off sections of dough (2 tablespoons at a time) and roll them into a long snake shape. Tie that snake in a knot. Set aside and continue with the rest of the dough.
7. Once you've made all your knots, put them on your stone (or on your pan) and let bake until golden brown on the tops, about 10-15 minutes depending on size of knots.

8. While the knots are baking, in a bowl mix together the 1/3 cup olive oil with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. When the knots are done, toss in the olive oil mixture to coat. (We just brushed the oil mixture on, and also tried baking them with the oil mixture so it was a little less messy to eat. Both worked out fine)

Juli's "This is what I've had for breakfast every day for the last month" Smoothie

Like smoothies?

Want to stop drinking Starbucks' three pump white mocha chais for breakfast three stinkin' times a week? (That one might just be me...and did you know that it's a $4.51-apiece beverage?)

Trying to tone up and look hot?

Try this.

Place blender on counter, and add the following ingredients:

1/2 medium banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen watermelon
1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup frozen spinach (must be frozen. Buy a bag of it and throw it in the freezer.)
1/2 cup orange juice

BLEND BLEND BLEND and then add:

1 scoop whey protein powder (vanilla, if you please), if you're into that sort of thing. Don't put protein powder in your smoothie unless you intend to exert yourself at some point during the day, or if you are upping protein for some other unknown reason.

BLEND BLEND BLEND!!

WICKED GOOD. Makes about 25 ounces o' beverage, which can be split up, I suppose, though I do not. The whole thing (including protein powder) is roughly 400 calories. Take out the powder and it's closer to 270.

You can substitute frozen blueberries or frozen peaches for the watermelon, but I find that the watermelon freezes kinda like ice cubes since it's so...watery...and so forth, and that helps the whole thing stay cold.

I promise you will neither smell nor taste the spinach, it will only turn your beverage a little greenish brown.

And that is all!

Here are two different vinaigrettes that I have tried and absolutely love. I've made the Balsamic-mustard vinaigrette for D&J, M&B, as well as B&D (Boyd and Janie) and it seemed to be a hit with all of them, so I will go ahead and recommend that you all try it. I'm also including one that I more recently tried and really enjoyed that's a lemon vinaigrette. I'll also include some salad fixings that went really well with these particular dressings.

Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons very finely minced shallot
1/2 teaspoon regular or light mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Combine vinegar, shallot, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper to taste in small nonreactive bowl. Whisk until misture is milky in appearance and no lumps of mayonnaise remain.
2. Place oil in small measuring cup so that it is easy to pour. Whisking constantly, very slowly drizzle oil into vinegar mixture. Vinaigrette should be glossy and lightly thickened, with no pools of oil on its surface.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon regular or light mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Ground black pepper
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Follow directions for Balsamic-Mustard vinaigrette adding the sugar and lemon zest with the salt and pepper.


*For the Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette I used more assertive greens (I generally prefer spinach and the like) with Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and toasted pine nuts. I have also added penne to the mix to make a delicious pasta salad.
For the Lemon Vinaigrette its recommended to use milder greens, and I added white mushrooms, craisins, red onions, and toasted slivered almonds.

Chewy Congo Bars

For Father's Day I was to provide a dessert. After eating some congo bars at Annie's I was cravin some congos, but I haven't been able to find my moomy munker's recipe book for ages. I went ahead and checked out allrecipes for something that sounded good and this one came up. It's always a scary thing to try a recipe for the first time. I didn't know how they would turn out, but I must say...these were delicious. If you prefer a cakey congo bar over a chewy one I would stick to the classic moom recipe. If not try this.

Ingredients

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
2-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips (you can use dark or semisweet if you prefer)
1 cup chopped pecans (or nut of your choice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Melt butter, stir in Brown sugar. Let cool.
3. Beat in all 3 eggs
4. Add dry ingredients
5. Add chocolate chips, nuts, and vanilla
6. Pour into 10"x15" pan and bake for 30 min.

These were very good. The original recipe called for 2 cups of chocolate chips. If you are a little intense in your love for chocolate you can try it out, but we all agreed that 1-1/2 cups was more than plenty.

Creamy Tomato Pasta

Alright, I thought I'd better finally get on here and add something. I found this recipe in one of my Cook's Illustrated Annuals, so I initially attempted it for D & J and it turned out well, but there were a few things that I thought might be nice to adjust to my personal taste. So, I tried it again for Brett and Meesh and I must say, those few minor tweaks made this great recipe into a spectacular one. This one can be easily made at least vegetarian by leaving out the prosciutto.

This sauce is best served with short pasta, such as ziti, penne, or fusilli.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ounce proscuitto, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 small onion, diced fine (about 3/4 cup)
1 bay leaf
Pinch red pepper flakes
Table salt
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons tomato paste (I added an extra tablespoon to make the sauce a little more tomato-y)
2 ounces oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained, rinsed, patted dry, and chopped course (about 3 tablespoons- I made these pretty generous tablespoons since I'm a huge fan of sun-dried tomatoes)
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons crushed tomatoes
1 pound pasta (I ended up using only about 3/4 of the box of pasta since I like it pretty saucy)
1/4 cup heavy cream
Ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add prosciutto, onion, bay leaf, pepper flakes, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is very soft and beginning to turn light gold, 8 to 12 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato paste and sun-dried tomatoes and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly darkened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup wine and cook, stirring frequently, until liquid has evaporated, 1 to 2 miutes.
2. Add 2 cups crushed tomatoes and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened (spoon should leave trail when dragged through sauce), 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil. Add pasta and 1 tablesoon salt and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water; drain pasta and transfer back to cooking pot.
   
4. Remove bay leaf from sauce and discard. Stir cream, and remaining 2 tablespoons crushed tomatoes; season to taste with salt and pepper. Add sauce to cooked pasta, adjusting consistency with up to 1/2 cup pasta cooking water. Stir in basil and serve immediately, passing Parmesan separately.