Apple White Bean Chili

Adapted from Rachel Ray's Apple Chicken Chili. Per usual I didn't have everything the recipe asked for and figured I could make due without ;) It came out fabulous. I will definitely have to make this again for when the husband is home. The marvelously picky daughter ate it right up too!

Apple White Bean Chili
2 15oz cans of chili ready tomatoes
1 15oz can of white beans (next time I'll probably use two; well rinsed)
2 large apples diced (I didn't bother peeling them)
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp hot chili powder
1 teas roasted cumin 
2 tbsp olive oil
2 fist fulls of mozzarella
3 slices pepperjack cheese
good amount of fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 swanson chicken broth little pouches
1 cup water

Directions:
I made a roux from the flour and oil then added the tomatoes, beans, garlic, onion, cumin, chili powder, pepper.
Then I cut up the apples added them w/the water and chicken broth concentrate
I let it all simmer until the apples where tender then mixed in the cheese and served it with lime tortillas.
It was very yummy, and really hit the spot on this very rainy cold October day :)

Pumpkin Pie Bar

It's October, so I am craving pumpkin....anything pumpkin. I had some puree so thought I could make some pumpkin cookies. Found a bunch of recipes that just didn't seem to do it for me. Mainly because I didn't want to use a cup of crisco and I didn't have chocolate chips. So instead I came up with what I am going to call pumpkin pie bars. They have the flavor and the center has the texture of a pumpkin pie, but doesn't have the crust and can be cut into neat little squares.


Pumpkin Pie Bar
1 can pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch cloves/nutmeg
1/8 cup molasses

Combine all ingredients well. Bake in 5x9 pyrex dish in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

***note: I'm guessing on the size of the dish because it's my vintage pyrex dish that I got from my grandmother....

Mom's Frosting

2 egg whites till peaks
1/2 cups crisco
2 cups confectionery sugar
teaspoon vanilla
dash of salt

Shipyard Beef Stew

2lbs stew beef
medium bag frozen sliced carrots
medium bag frozen peas
2 small onions
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
good amount of freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoon of olive oil
1 bottle of Shipyard's Pumpkinhead beer
6 cups water
2 tablespoons of better than boulin beef base

Preheat cast iron dutch oven with oil
Combine flour and spices into a bowl or plastic bag and dredge beef.
Add beef to dutch oven when en hot and brown the beef approximately 10-15 minutes
Roughly chop onion and add to the pot and cook until translucent
Deglaze bottom of pot with full bottle of Pumpkinhead for a minute or two
Add the rest of the ingredients including the remaining flour mixture
Cover and simmer for an hour or so, then uncover and continue to cook for another hour until the liquid reduces and makes more of a gravy.

Serve with biscuits

Chicken Mole, Refried Beans, and Mexican Rice

So the husband requested Mexican tonight for dinner. I just made an enchilada bake last week and made chili and cornbread two nights ago. So I did some searching and found some recipes to try on allrecipes.com

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mexican-rice-ii/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-mole-2/detail.aspx

The first two are Mexican Rice II and Chicken Mole 2 and they are made exactly as the directions are called and I did use homemade chicken stock.

The refried beans I got from this:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/refried-beans-without-the-refry/detail.aspx

But I did not follow the directions on this at all. This is what I did instead:

2 15oz cans pinto beans
1 small onion
2-3 tablespoons of diced green chilis
2 tablespoons garlic
1 teas salt
1/2 teas fresh ground pepper
1/4 teas roasted cumin
oliveoil
wee bit of chicken stock.

So I cut the onion up very fine and sauteed in the oliveoil until translucent and soft. Drained and rinsed the beans then added them to the pot. Then I added all the seasonings, green pepper, and garlic. I cooked it at low heat for about 15 minutes or so until everything was soft. Then I smashed it all up with a little bit of chicken stock to get the right consistency and wellah :).
This was SOOO much better than any re-fried beans that I have ever had. It's definitely a recipe I will make again and again. The rice was fabulous as well. The chicken mole had an interesting flavor but I really enjoyed it. Time will tell if the hubby likes it too!

Simple Coleslaw

I like my coleslaw simple so I usually grab one of the bags of cabbage mix that has been pre-chopped.

1 bag coleslaw mix
1/2 cup mayonaise
2 tbls sugar
2 tbls apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teas dijon mustard
A good amount of freshly ground pepper

Mix it all together and let it sit covered, in the fridge for all the ingredients to blend. Re-mix and serve.

Sweet and Smokey BBQ Sauce and ribs

The husband asked for ribs tonight, so I came up with a recipe after looking at a few different ones to come up with the flavors I like. Here goes:

1/2 cup ketchup
tiny can of tomato paste
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
4 tbls molasses
1 teas hickory liquid smoke
1 teas Worcestershire sauce
2 tblsp melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/4 chili powder
1/4 smoked paprika
1/4 celery seed
1/4 cinnamon
cayenne pepper for heat
a decent amount of freshly ground black pepper

I mix it all up with an immersion blender and it is good to go.

For the ribs I boiled them in water with some soy sauce and garlic powder for 45 minutes. Then I put them in the oven at 325 with 1/2 the sauce for an hour covered in tinfoil. After the hour I take the tinfoil off and add 1/2 of the remaining sauce and cook for a half hour. When done I let them sit for a few minutes to settle then you have extra sauce left over for dipping.
I usually get a full rack of ribs cut in half (so ~12 per half) so they fit in the pot and in the oven better. You can grill these on a low heat after the parboil as well.