What's Been Happening

It's been quiet around here lately... I thought I would pop in to say that I haven't given up on the blog, I've just been really busy with other endeavors. Jason and I decided a few months ago to replace the carpet on our first floor with wood laminate, and we've been taking baby steps towards that goal ever since!

What began as a lofty project has become even more so because along the way we decided to re-purpose a few of the rooms, and figured that while we have carpet ripped up and baseboards pulled off we might as well repaint the walls while we're at it. So far we've actually accomplished a decent number of tasks: moved the workout equipment out of the small room in the basement and into the larger part of the basement, moved our guest room furniture into that small basement room and started to transform it into our new guest room, ripped up carpet and prepped the subfloor in our old guest room (which will be our new office), painted the old guest room (just finished that today!), ripped out the carpet and prepped the subfloor in the hallway, painted the hallway, and painted the living room and installed new blinds, curtain rods, and curtains. It feels like we've done so much, but we've yet to even start on the floor itself! We have a three-day weekend coming up so hopefully we can finally start on that.

So anyway, I've still been cooking occassionally, but just haven't taken the time to post about it. Maybe in the near future I can post some before/after pictures of what else I've been busy with.

Happy New Year!

Hot Pretzels

Nice picture, huh? My sister Gretchen came over on Sunday and we spent hours making recipes so she could photograph the food. We thought this was a great plan because 1) she gets a new genre of photograph to add to her portfolio, 2) I get better photos to use on my blog and eventually in a family cookbook I am creating through blurb.com, and 3) we got to eat some of our favorite yummy foods, like these hot pretzels. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it actually tastes a lot like the kind of hot pretzels you get at the mall. It was easier to make than you might think, and the result is so delicious. (The secret is to brush them with unsalted butter.) We dipped them in nacho cheese and honey mustard.

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/8 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup bread flour

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

2 tablespoons baking soda

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.

2. Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8-inch square pan.

3. After dough has rise, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3-foot rope, pencil thin or thinner. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt, or cinnamon sugar.

Election Night Chili

It's 8:15 pm on election night, and Jason and I just finished dinner and are glued to the TV for the results. I decided that tonight would be a good night to have some comfort food so I tried a new chili recipe. I love chili because there are so many different things you can do with it. I think the past three times I've made it I've used a different recipe each time. This recipe was from a library book, "What's for Dinner?" by Maryana Vollstedt.

I was really apprehensive after I added all of those spices... it smelled rather sweet and I was worried I would end up with something along the lines of Cincinnati-style chili, which I don't really like. But in the end, I LOVED this chili. The sweetness mellowed out as the chili simmered, and it tasted a lot like the chili that is served at the cafe at work, which I have always enjoyed.

I'm going to type out the recipe as it is printed in the book, but I want to note something that I think is key: after browning the beef and onion, I combined all of the ingredients (except for 1 can of kidney beans) in the crock pot and let it simmer on low for about six hours. I added the second can of beans (drained--the first can that I added with the rest of the ingredients was not drained) about 45 minutes before I wanted to serve the chili. I believe there is NO WAY you can get the wonderful flavor with only 30 total minutes of simmering, as the recipe indicates.

Another deviation from the recipe is that I could not find a 14.5 ounce can of whole tomatoes, so instead I used a can of petite diced tomatoes and then I didn't have to worry about chopping them. As you can see in the picture, I served the chili with cornbread. I used a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix.

The dinner was great. Let's hope the election results come out just as wonderfully.

1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 can (14.5 ounces) whole tomatoes including juices, chopped
1 can (16 ounces) tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder, plus more to taste if desired
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cans (16 ounces each) dark red kidney beans, partially drained

Toppings
Grated cheddar cheese
Plain nonfat yogurt or sour cream
Chopped green onions including some tender green tops

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook meat with onion until meat is browned and onion is soft, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasonings and mix well. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes.

Stir in beans and simmer, uncovered, until flavors are blended, about 20 minutes longer. Ladle into bowls and pass the toppings.

Bow Ties with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cream

This is a recipe I printed from allrecipes.com a few years ago, and I often come back to it. In fact I was kind of shocked I haven't blogged about it yet (...or maybe I have, but I just didn't find the post!!!). It's really easy to make but especially delicious. It's slightly spicy, slightly sweet, with a creamy pink tomato sauce.

I make a few slight alterations to the recipe below: instead of Italian-style plum tomatoes I like to use a can of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (this time I used Hunt's), and instead of diced onion I like to use 2 tablespoons of minced dried onion, the kind you buy in the spice section. I also leave out the parsley at the end. I like to serve it with some garlic breadsticks and a tossed salad with Italian dressing.

• 1 (12 ounce) package bow tie pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28 ounce) can Italian-style plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
• Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook sausage and pepper flakes until sausage is evenly brown. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, cream, and salt. Simmer until mixture thickens, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Stir cooked pasta into sauce, and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley.

Ramen!

Ramen noodles are one of those stereotypical "college" foods, because a package of the noodles and seasonings usually sells for something ridiculous like 5 for $1. While I didn't live on them in college like some people I knew, I had definitely tried my share of them, so I was intrigued when I came across a cookbook called "101 Things To Do with Ramen Noodles" while perusing the shelves at my local library.

So far I've tried one of the recipes, called "Spicy Chicken." It wasn't really spicy, and it wasn't that pretty (as shown in the above photo), but it did taste surprisingly good! The recipe is below. I plan on trying a few more recipes before I have to return the book. There are even dessert recipes that involve using uncooked noodles!

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
2 cups water
2 packages chicken ramen noodles, with seasoning packets

In a frying pan, brown chicken until done. Add garlic powder, tomatoes, peppers, water, and seasoning packets. Simmer 10 minutes. Add noodles and cook 3-5 minutes more. Makes 2-4 servings.

Steaks

Jason participated in a golf outing last week and won a box of steaks. We are now the proud owners of ten Michael's 10-ounce New York Strip steaks, which currently reside in our freezer. I have never cooked a strip steak, and haven't cooked any other kind of steak for a very long time since it's one of the foods on Jason's do-not-eat list. Seriously. But now he thinks he might actually like steak, because he ate one at said golf outing and, "whatever it was they did to prepare it made it taste really good."

Does anyone have any suggestions for preparing a NY strip steak? I know how to cook one but I guess I'm looking for tips on seasonings. Please leave a comment if you do!

Salsa

I came across a recipe for "Spicy Bean Salsa" on allrecipes.com awhile back. It averages a 5-star rating (out of 5) with over 600 reviews so I figured it must be good. I made it to take to bible study one night and it was a hit. I served it with Tostitos Scoops which worked great for holding everything (and no I didn't actually scoop out individual servings... I just did that for the picture because it was more attractive than showing the salsa in the bowl).

Here is the recipe as it is listed on allrecipes.com. The only things I did differently were to drain the black-eyed peas (since it doesn't indicate to do that), used diced green chiles since I couldn't find jalapenos, and I used "fire-roasted" diced tomatoes instead of regular. It really didn't seem very spicy to me. Next time I might try to add some tabasco, cumin or chili powder to kick it up a little.

• 1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

In a medium bowl, combine black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Season with Italian-style salad dressing and garlic salt; mix well. Cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.