Versatile Chili Recipe

One of the things that I love most about cooking is how versatile and creative you can be. If you don't have a certain ingredient, you can just leave it out and usually your recipe will turn out OK. In this post, you can take any of the ingredients from each of the categories and combine them to make any time of chili you please. I would say that a given would be to always use crushed tomatoes or tomato paste, but you can do meatless chili, or carbless chili (no filler), or vegetable-less chili. I have included some sample recipes at the bottom, and two different cooking methods (stovetop or crock pot). I love making chili because it can be relatively healthy, it's super easy to make, and it freezes really nicely. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Tomatoes
- canned crushed tomatoes or tomato paste
- canned or fresh diced tomatoes

Meat
- ground beef
- ground turkey or chicken
- none

Filler
- beans (black, kidney, red, lima)
- chick peas
- tempeh (fermented soy patty similar to tofu)
- quinoa (pre-cooked)
- rice (pre-cooked)

Vegetables
- mushrooms
- peppers (green, red, yellow, hot)
- onions (cooking)
- carrots
- celery
- eggplant
- zucchini

Spices
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- basil
- cumin
- bay leaf (don't eat it)
- oregano
- onion salt
- celery salt
- garlic powder
- hot sauce

How to Cook:

Stovetop Method:

1. Brown the meat with a little bit of oil in a large pot until it is fully cooked over medium heat.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir.
3. Simmer over medium heat until the veggies are tender (approx. 20-30 minutes).

Crock Pot Method:

1. Brown the meat with a little bit of oil in a frying pan until it is fully cooked over medium heat.
2. Add all the ingredients, including the meat, into a crock pot and stir.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Sample Recipes:

Jenna's Favourite Chili
- 2 packages ground turkey or chicken
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can black beans
- 1 package sliced mushrooms
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- salt
- pepper
- chili powder
- basil
- cumin
- bay leaf
- oregano
- garlic powder

Classic Chili
- crushed tomatoes
- ground beef
- beans
- mushrooms
- onions
- chili powder

Vegetarian Chili
- crushed tomatoes
- diced tomatoes
- beans
- quinoa
- tons of veggies
- spices

Healthy Carb-Free Chili
- crushed tomatoes
- diced tomatoes
- ground turkey or chicken
- tempeh
- tons of veggies
- spices

OMB Grilled Cheese (Onions, Mushrooms, Bacon)

This recipe is again inspired by soemthing I saw on Pinterest (this link). I didn't look too closely at the recipe (which is for BBQ and onion grilled cheese) when I looked at it, and I thought that the onions looked like bacon when I went grocery shopping, so I added bacon (best wife ever)! I also had some mushrooms on hand, so I added them as well. I call this recipe "OMB" Grilled Cheese because there are onions, mushrooms and bacon on it.

Jordan likes to tell everyone about the "most amazing grilled cheese he has ever had- dude you gotta try this". He no longer makes fun of Pinterest, but says that he enjoys the outcome of it. Anyways here is the recipe, hope you enjoy!

OMB Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:
-Bread
-Bacon
-Onions (cooking or red onions)
-Mushrooms
-Cheese
-Margarine or butter
-BBQ sauce
* I didn't provide quantities because it depends on how many you are making, and it doesn't really matter how much you use (sorry OCD people!)

Fry bacon on a frying pan over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and sliced onions and fry until cooked, flipping occasionally.

While you are waiting for it to cook, grate some mozzarella cheese. Spread margarine or butter on one side of each bread, and BBQ sauce on the other sides.

Preheat a panini press or separate frying pan on medium heat. Once the bacon and veggies are done cooking, put one piece of bread butter side down on the frying pan. Add some cheese, then the bacon/veggies, then more cheese, then another piece if bread butter side up. Fry it for a while until the cheese starts to melt. Flip it and fry the other side. Voila!

Oatmeal M&M Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

The hubby got home from work early and wanted to do something fun together, so we baked cookies! He looked in the cupboard of baking supplies and chose the m&ms and peanut butter chips and so I modified an oatmeal cookie recipe from my Company's Coming cook book. They turned out great! The recipe yields 5 dozen, and we ended up with 4 1/2 dozen, which means that I only ate the equivalent of 6 cookies in dough, or I made them a bit bigger... Let's go with the second option :)

Ingredients

1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup m&ms
1 cup peanut butter chips

Mix butter and brown sugar together. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients and mix. Add the m&ms and peanut butter chips and mix. Form into small 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes and let cool on a cookie rack. Makes approximately 5 dozen cookies.

Dessert Pizza

Our wonderful neighbors invited us over for pizza the other night and I was on for dessert, so I decided to make pizza for dessert as well! I combined a couple recipes I saw on Pinterest to make my own version. It was pretty good, quick and easy, and quite sweet, but that's the point right? When I made it the icing became a little runny after a while and the colour from the m&ms started to run, so I would recommend serving it immediately or maybe putting it in the fridge would help.

Ingredients
1 can Pilsbury pizza dough
1 package strawberries, washed and sliced
1 cup icing sugar
1/2 package cream cheese
1 tbsp milk
1/4 cup m&ms
Chocolate sauce

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pan and bake according to instructions (400F for 10-15 minutes) or until the crust is fully cooked. Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and milk to make the icing. Spread it onto the cooled crust. Put the strawberries and m&ms on the pizza, and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Serve immediately.

Candy Cane Brownie Cheesecake

I was on for dessert with my family for Christmas dinner, so I wanted to make something festive, delicious, and less work than pies! I saw a few recipes for candy cane cheesecake on Pinterest, but they either didn't have a link or required crushed cookies, sour cream or heavy cream, which I didn't have. So I combined a few recipes to make this one my own!

The cheesecake part isn't very thick, so if you wanted to make it a bit bigger you could change the portions to 3 packages cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and 3 eggs. It is quite sweet and rich, so you really only need a small piece.

Ingredients

Crust:
-1 package brownie mix

-1 egg

-2 tbsp water

Filling:

-2 packages (8oz/250g each) cream cheese

-½ cup white sugar

-1 tsp peppermint extract

-2 eggs

-1 cup crushed candy canes

-Chocolate sauce or whipped cream to top

Mix together brownie mix, egg, and water. Spread into a greased 9” springform pan and bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add in the sugar and peppermint extract and beat. Add the eggs one at a time and beat. Stir in ½ cup of the candy cane pieces. Pour over the brownie crust and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F. Top with chocolate sauce or whipped cream, and candy cane pieces. Enjoy!

Christmas Cookies 2012

I have been quite the busy beaver this past week! With classes finished done, no exams, and just assignments and marking to work on, I have had lots of time to do some Christmas baking! I did 3 rounds of baking and made 7 different kinds of cookies, which I will share with you here! I tested them all, and they are delicious, so don't worry!

1) Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and the link for it can be found here.

Makes about 4 dozen
For the cookies:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

For the cream cheese frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment. Whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl. In a large bowl beat the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the food coloring and mix until the color is even and no streaks remain. Working in batches add the flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Roll dough into 1-inch round balls and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Make an indent into each ball using the end of a wooden spoon. Bake for 12 minutes and let cool on a rack.

To make the filling, beat all the ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth and spreadable. Transfer to a pastry bag filled with a small round tip. Pipe the filling into the center of each cooled cookie. Feed to Santa immediately and store the rest in an airtight container.


2) Shortbread

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 cup butter (don't substitute margarine)

¼ cup sugar

Sprinkles (optional)

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pat into a 9x9" (approx.) cake pan, top with sprinkles, and bake at 325ºC for 30 minutes until edges just start to change colour. 

3) Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies (AKA Grinch Cookies)

I made these ones last year following the recipe that is listed on my blog here. It calls for sugar cookie mix, but I didn't feel like spending 3 dollars on it so I just added peppermint extract, green food colouring, and mint chocolate chips to the sugar cookie dough that I was making anyways. I think they were better the original way because they held their round shape, but maybe I should have just pressed them down with a fork? Still delicious though, I think these are the favourite of me and the hubby this year! 

4) Mini Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

I got this recipe from the package of mini kisses I had (found by the chocolate chips), which you can also find here. I didn't quite make them as mini as they were supposed to be, but that's OK! They still taste great :) You could also use the same recipe and make the balls a bit bigger and use full-size kisses.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
-3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
-1/3 cup granulated sugar
-1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
-1 egg
-3 tbsp milk
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 package Chipits mini kisses

Cream together butter, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually blend dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Shape dough into small (2cm) balls, and roll in extra granulated sugar. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-6 minutes at 350F. Remove from oven and immediately press one mini kiss into the middle. Makes about 9 dozen cookies (if you make them small enough haha).

5) Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

 

This is another repeat recipe from last year- they were so yummy and festive I just had to make them again! You can find the recipe in a previous post here.

6) Sugar Cookies

 

The classic Christmas cookie! I was so impressed by all the beautiful sugar cookies I am seeing on Pinterest that I had to make some of my own! I used the recipe in my binder, but I think that it is different from the one that is on my blog, which is much better! So use this one! I made the icing way too runny so the decorating part didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped. Thanks to my friend Felicia for coming over to make and decorate these cookies with me! 

7) Cake Batter Cookies

OK, this has to be one of the easiest recipes ever.... seen on Pinterest here. There are only 3 ingredients and you can use whatever kind of cake mix you want. I used the sprinkle/funfetti kind and they are super yummy!

Ingredients
-1 box cake mix
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup oil

Mix ingredients together, form into balls, and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 6-8 minutes. 

Here is the final product(s)! I didn't count how many cookies I made in total, but it was quite a lot! We will see how many survive the Williams and Jones Christmases :) Enjoy!

Hamburger Macaroni Soup

Here is a recipe I semi-made up loosely based on a soup that my Grandma made for us once, but I lost the recipe! I have no idea whether this is close or not, but my husband and I both enjoyed it! Feel free to substitute any vegetables that you like and to adjust the recipe as you desire. 

Ingredients

Ground beef

1 ½ cups elbow macaroni

1 can tomatoes

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 package or can mushrooms

1 cup chopped carrots

2 cups water

Spices (optional)
Grated cheese to top (optional)

Brown the ground beef in a large pot with a bit of oil. Add the chopped onions and other vegetables. Add the can of tomatoes, water, and macaroni. Simmer for about 20 minutes on medium-high heat or until the macaroni is cooked to your liking. Add salt, pepper, and spices if desired. Top with grated cheese and enjoy!

Pumpkin Crumble

Here is a nice yummy fall recipe, perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving. This is a case where it doesn't look too good, but it tastes delicious! It didn't turn out too crumbly this time, but that's OK! I find that this recipe tastes as good as pumpkin pie but is way less work. I have to give credit to Julie for passing along this recipe, thanks Julie!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

28 oz (796 ml) canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp salt

3 cups skim milk

1 white cake mix

½ cup melted margarine

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9x13” baking dish with non-stick cooking oil. Combine the eggs, sugar, salt, pumpkin, and spices in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the milk and stir until smooth. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. 

Combine the cake mix with the melted margarine. Mix well to form a crumble. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top of the pumpkin mixture. 

Bake for 1 – 1 ¼ hours. Serve hot or cold with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Grilled Balsamic Vegetable Wraps (With Goat Cheese!)

Although I love both cooking and baking, one thing I really enjoy about cooking is that you can be creative and leave out (or add in) ingredients as you please for the most part. This recipe is inspired by grilled vegetable wraps I have had at various restaurants (notably August restaurant in Beamsville... if you are ever in Niagara definitely check it out!). I loosely based the recipe off of the one found at this link. I surprised myself at how delicious and easy this was! I also used our new Cuisinart Griddler to grill the wraps at the end, it's definitely a wedding gift that I am enjoying! If you don't have one or a similar item, then don't worry about it, they still taste good even if they aren't grilled at the end. Like I said, cooking is flexible! You could even add in some asparagus, red peppers, or anything else that you think you might like. Enjoy!

Grilled Balsamic Vegetable Wraps

Ingredients
1 zucchini
1 onion
1 package mushrooms
1 green or red pepper
1 package baby spinach
1 package Goat cheese
6 Tortilla wraps
Vegetable Oil
Balsamic Vinegar (or balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing)

Directions
1. Cut up the vegetables (aside from the baby spinach), and brush them with vegetable oil and balsamic vinegar.

2. Put the vegetables on a grilling tray or cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes. Flip the vegetables and broil for another 5 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, spread some goat cheese on the wraps, and put some baby spinach in them.

4. Put the grilled vegetables inside the tortillas, wrap them up, and put them on your Griddler/Panini Press on high for approximately 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Puppy Chow!

Before you read any further, I must warn you that puppy chow is incredibly addictive, and really unhealthy. But it is super delicious. Consider yourself warned :) 

Ingredients

¼ cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

¼ cup butter

6 cups Crispix cereal

2 cups powdered sugar

Large paper bag

Directions

Melt the peanut butter, chocolate chips and butter together in a pot over medium heat.

Pour over the cereal in a large bowl and mix together. 

Pour the powdered sugar and cereal mixture into a large paper bag and shake. Enjoy!

Philly Cheese Steak

This is a favourite meal of Jordan and mine, and it's not even that hard! I think that I just came up with the recipe for this one based off of philly cheese steak sandwiches that I had at different restaurants, so I apologize if the quantities are a bit off. The nice thing about cooking is that it doesn't really matter :) Enjoy!

Ingredients:
- buns
- beef (I buy stir fry strips or stewing beef)
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 package mushrooms
- oil
- mozzarella cheese
- mayonnaise

Directions:

Cut the vegetables into slices/chunks. Fry in a large pan with a bit of oil over medium heat. The mushrooms don't take as long as the other vegetables, so let them cook for a while before you add them in. Stir occasionally. Cook until tender, approximately 10 minutes.

If the beef is raw, fry it in a pan with a bit of oil over medium-high heat until all of the pink is out of it. Approximately 10 minutes

While you're waiting for that to cook, grate some mozzarella cheese (this is Jordan's job :P ), and cut the buns in half.

Put the buns on a cookie sheet, and put the cooked meat, vegetables, and cheese on it. Broil at 500F for 3-5 minutes to get the bun toasty and the cheese melty. Add mayonnaise and enjoy! Serve with sweet potato fries, vegetable sticks, salad, or anything else you would like.

The BEST Sugar Cookies Ever!

A few weeks ago I babysat for a family from church for the weekend. The daughter in the family and I decided that we should make some sugar cookies to decorate for something fun to do. I used my googling skills and came across this simple recipe from allrecipes.com, and trust me, it is a keeper!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Plus icing sugar, milk, and butter for the icing

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. Top with icing.

Note: I couldn't find any cookie cutters, so we just used a glass cup flipped upside-down so they were all circles

Don't forget the icing!

I don't have specific measurements for the icing, but I mixed a large amount of icing sugar with a small amount of milk, and about a tablespoon of butter to thicken it. You hardly need any milk, so don't add too much! I just kept adding icing sugar until it was the consistency that I wanted. I added food colouring to some of the icing and put it in a ziploc baggie with the corner snipped so that we could put designs on the cookies. The ones in the pictures are just white icing with sprinkles.