Cincinnati Chili

Got this recipe from a friend who loves chili and easy crock pot recipes.  This is really good if you like Skyline and goes into the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp whole allspice
1/2 tsp whole cloves
--
2lbs ground beef or turkey
2 cups onions, chopped
--
15oz kidney beans
15oz crushed or diced tomatoes
1.5C water or stock
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
0.5oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
--
Spaghetti, shredded cheese, onions for serving

Process:

1. Place bay leaf, allspice, and cloves in a square of doubled up cheese cloth.  Tie with kitchen twine.
2. Brown the meat with the onions in a large skillet
3. Place the meat, onions, spice sachet and rest of the ingredients (through cayenne) into a crock pot.  Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 8-10 hours.
4. Stir in chocolate in last 30 minutes of cooking.

Serve over cooked spaghetti, sprinkle with cheese and onions.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Just made the filling for this pie for tomorrow's Mother's Day dinner.  It's very good, and sets up nicely.  Not to mention it has a ton of short cuts- no tempering eggs because of the corn starch and you don't really need to melt the chocolate.

A few notes:

• Made mine with a normal pie crust, so I can't speak to the deliciousness of the cookie crust, but it looks good!
• The filling takes on the flavors of whatever chocolate you put in because there is so much milk, so pick chocolate you would eat on its own.  Chips work fine as do baking bars.  I didn't love the unsweetened chocolate I used, and it totally came through.  Boo.
• I was drinking some coffee while I made it, so I added in a splash and it improved the taste.
• I didn't melt the chocolate- too much trouble over a double boiler and more dishes.  So, I chopped it with a serrated knife and whisked it into the creme pat with the butter and vanilla and coffee off the heat.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings

Active Time: 45 min

Total Time: 8 hr (includes cooling and chilling)

GOURMET | FEBRUARY 2004

Ingredients

For crust

• 1 1/3 cups chocolate wafer crumbs (from about 26 cookies such as Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar

For filling

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For topping

• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Preparation

Make crust:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together crumbs, butter, and sugar and press on bottom and up side of a 9-inch pie plate (1-quart capacity). Bake until crisp, about 15 minutes, and cool on a rack.

Make filling:

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and yolks in a 3-quart heavy saucepan until combined well, then add milk in a stream, whisking. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 1 minute (filling will be thick).

Force filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter, and vanilla. Cover surface of filling with a buttered round of wax paper and cool completely, about 2 hours.

Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.

Make topping:

Just before serving, beat cream with sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks, then spoon on top of pie.

Cooks' note: Pie (without topping) can be chilled up to 1 day.

Chicken Marbella

Chicken Marbella

This is an incredible dish.  The flavors of the olives and prunes are bright yet subtle.  Don't let the prunes scare you- I thought they were dates because they were so sweet and caramelized.

Ingredients:

2 chickens, 2 1/2 lbs each, quartered, bone-in, skin-on

Cloves from 1/2 head of garlic, peeled and finely puréed

2 Tbsp dried oregano

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pitted prunes

8 large pitted Spanish green olives, cut in half

1/4 cup capers with a bit of juice

3 bay leaves

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white wine

2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

Instructions:

1 In a large bowl combine garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers with caper juice, and bay leaves. Add the chicken pieces and coat completely with the marinade. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, several hours or overnight.

2 Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle brown sugar over the chicken pieces and pour white wine around them.

3 Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with the pan juices. Chicken is done when a sharp knife inserted into the thigh pieces, at their thickest point, run with clear yellow juices (not pink).

4 With a slotted spoon, move the chicken, prunes, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Pour some of the pan juices over the chicken and sprinkle generously with parsley. Serve remaining juices in a gravy boat.

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_marbella/#ixzz3YhjtNhs7

Stovetop Mac and Cheese

We have had many chats about our children's lack of appreciation for "real" mac and cheese...I recently tried several versions of Panera copycat mac and cheese from pinterest. This is how my kiddos like it best...but they still don't love it like the old blue box stand by! Oh well. At least I think it's delicious!

Ingredients:
-1 lb pasta
-4 Tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3+ cups whole milk
- 8 oz shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
-5 slices white american cheese (from deli)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Instructions:
-Cook pasta all dente according to package directions. Strain. Put aside.
-Melt butter, then stir in flour. Continue to stir for about a minute.
-Add 2 1/2 cups whole milk. Whisk until there aren't any clumps. Heat on medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble.
-Turn off the heat.
-Slowly add the cheeses, a little at a time. Stir until they melt into mixture.
-Add pasta and stir to coat in cheese sauce.
-If needed, add more milk to make the sauce thinner. (I usually add about a half cup.)

Serve immediately! It does not need to bake in oven. I am curious about seeing if it will keep creamy in a crock pot on low or warm setting.

Lentil Ragu with Zucchini "Noodles"

Here is a tasty little Lenten meal!  My brother sent me this free recipe ebook:

http://thestonesoupshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/StonesoupFREEeCookbook1.pdf

All of the recipes use 5 ingredients or less, but of course you can add more spices, veggies, etc. to many of the dishes.  I have only tried this one so far, and it was surprisingly good!  [Notes: To shave the zucchini you can use a vegetable peeler.  Also, I just cooked a cup of dry lentils according to the package instead of using canned lentils.] 

Now, some of those 5-ingredient desserts are calling my name...(be sure to read those via the link!)

Photo courtesy of Jules Clancy from thestonesoupshop.com

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Here is the recipe for the blueberry baked oatmeal that I brought to Annie's today.  Look, I even took a picture!  It's a forgiving recipe, so you can sub things that you don't have pretty easily.  The flax seed for instance, I mainly add for extra nutrition and it would be fine without it.  

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (or butter)
• 1/3 cup plain whole milk yogurt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 Tb. cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 3 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick-cook)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/4 cups blueberries

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Use coconut oil or butter to grease a 8" x 11" glass pan.
2. With a mixer, blend egg, applesauce, and brown sugar. 
3. Add in vanilla, coconut oil or butter (should be very soft), and yogurt and mix.
4. In a small bowl, mix the baking powder, salt, and spices.  Add this mixture to larger bowl until incorporated evenly through the batter.
5. Next, add flax seed and oats and stir.  (I do this stirring by hand.)
6. Add milk and stir.
7. Finally, add blueberries and stir to mix.  I use frozen blueberries often times.  I stir as little as possible so the whole thing doesn't turn purple!
8. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  It should set and look golden on top.

Some of our family members like to eat this with milk poured over it, or with yogurt on top.  Others like maple syrup or brown sugar sprinkled on top.