Taco Chilli

For the first Ranger's game, that we unfortunately did not win, I made Taco chilli/soup for Cameron, Whit, Preston, and Courtney. This recipe is super easy and inexpensive. Most of the ingredients are canned and can easily be bought and stored for later use!

 

This can be either a soup or chilli. But it's great for cold nights (not like Dallas right now, 85 and the very end of October, what is that?!). Just make sure you have a nice couch to lay on and a good game or show to watch after, because you will want to take a long nap... Feeling very satisfied and full!

 

Taco Chilli

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean beef or turkey (even healthier)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 package hidden valley ranch dressing mix (1 oz)
• 1 package taco seasoning Mix (1 oz)
• 1 (16 oz.) can pinto beans (I bought one with jalapenos with it)
• 1 (16 oz) can chili beans, hot or regular
• 1 (16 oz) can whole kernel corn
• 1 (8 oz) can Mexican-style tomatoes (Rotel is delicious)
• 1 (8 oz) can diced tomatoes 

 Directions:

 

Saute beef and onion, drain fat and return to pan. Add both seasoning packages and mix into beef.

In a large pot, combine the beans, corn, and tomatoes (with all the sauces). Add beef and onions and simmer for an hour.

Garnish: Sour cream, chives, jalapenos, avacados, cheese, cornbread, tortilla chips (pretty much anything you would put on your taco!)

 

ENJOY!

GUMBO!

A couple of weekends ago,  I went home for my sister's volleyball regional tournament... Which they won! So I stayed the weekend and my parents and grandparents got together to watch the Baylor vs. KU game, Sic em bears, (not OU vs Texas) and I made gumbo with sausage and chicken. (I changed the ingredients and spiciness based on my families preferences).

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

I didn't add the shrimp because my grandmother is allergic, and I didn't add okra because I forgot to buy it (which my mother said was a sin against cajun food). So let me know how this recipe turns out with those added!

My family loved this gumbo and all went back for seconds! It's very hearty and is great during half time of a football game!

Tip: to save on time, I bought precooked sausage and chicken, I just didn't think it was worth all the extra work!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbl olive oil  (only is cooking chicken and sausage)
• 1 cup skinless, boneless chicken - chopped (I bought a de-boned a full rotisserie chicken (Sam's has the best))
• 1/2 pound pork sausage links, thinly sliced (I used a spicy sausage- precooked)
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbl minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 can or bottle beer (I used Miller Lite)
• 6 stalks celery, diced
• 4 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 sweet onion, sliced or diced
• 1 cup okra, sliced (you can use frozen and thaw, or fresh)
• 1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, with liquid (Rotel is great)
• 2 Tbl chopped fresh red chile peppers or any kind of pepper you prefer
• 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup Cajun seasoning (I used half Old Bay and half Tony Chachere's spicy seasonings, and it was still very spicy!)
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions:

If cooking raw chicken and sausage: Heat oil over medium heat in a med-large skillet, add chicken until no longer pink. Add sausage and cook together until evenly brown. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, add the oil and flour and make your roux. Stir continuously or the roux will burn. Stir until brown and bubbly. (A roux, is used to thicken soups, sauces, etc its equal parts flour and fat (butter, oil, etc)). You want to roux to get brown and dark. Add in garlic and cooking for an additional minute.

Gradually add in the chicken stock and beer into the roux. Stirring frequently, bring to a boil. Add in celery, okra, onion, tomatoes, rotel tomatoes with chiles, parsley, and your choice of cajun seasoning. Turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir frequently.

Mix in the chicken, sausage, and shrimp and stir frequently for about 20 minutes. You can turn the gumbo on low for a while to keep it warm before you serve it.

This will serve about 10-12 people. And the total time is about 2 hours. It helps a lot to chop all the ingredients before hand.

Serve with white rice and crusty bread or cornbread for dipping. Enjoy!

Tips: I would not make this cornbread with the gumbo, just a plain cornbread is better. There is so much going on in the gumbo and the cornbread, that the cornbread takes away. I think buying the pre-packaged cornbread (ex: Jiffy or Marie Callender's) are both delicious and time saving!

 Here's our yummy breads!

BBQ Chicken, Veggies, and Apple Crisp!

Tonight, Whit, Kyle, Cameron, and I all cooked out at our house! Cameron and I went to Central Market and found this delicious sweet barbecue sauce... and the rest followed!

Menu:
BBQ Chicken
Grilled Veggies
Whit's Potato Casserole
Apple Crisp for dessert

For the BBQ chicken all you need is a good barbecue sauce and chicken. Marinate the chicken in the BBQ sauce (season with salt and pepper, or a grilling seasoning) for about 2-4 hours (and as long as overnight). Then grill! Have more BBQ sauce on hand for serving!

I love grilled veggies! Tonight we grilled red pepper, jalapenos, squash, and red onions. All you need is a little evoo and salt and pepper. Make sure you try to cut the veggies to the same thickness so they cook the same!

Whit's potato casserole I'll need to cook again for the recipe. Its delicious and super easy though, stay posted!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

• 5 apples (about 5 cups), peels, cored, and sliced
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 11/2 tsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 cup water
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

After you peel, core, and slice the apples (use Granny or another cooking apple), layer them in a baking pan, add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and water. Mix well and evenly.

For the topping, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and butter, mix together and sprinkle evenly on top of the apple mixture, back for 45 minutes.

Serve with ice cream!

Vegetable Crepes

Tonight I made my parents these healthy vegetarian summer
crepes. This has to be one of my favorite recipes ever! Everything is so fresh.

For these crepes you can pretty much just add or take out whatever vegetable you want to the crepe. If you want it with a little kick I would recommend adding a diced jalapeno or red peppers. Mushrooms would be good as well as summer squash. If you are really against vegetarian plates, then add chicken! I got this recipe off of my new favorite website http://www.eatingwell.com/.

Vegetable Crepes

Ingredients:

•  1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives, divided, plus more for garnish
• 3 Tbl low-fat milk
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp salt, divided
• 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped zucchini
• 1 1/4 cups chopped green beans (or asparagus)
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels, (about 1 large ear)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2-1 garlic clove
• 1 red or green pepper
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 4 9-inch “ready-to-use” crepes

Directions:

Stir sour cream, 1/4 cup chives, milk, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl until combined. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini, green beans, onion, garlic, corn and any other vegetable you decide to use and cook, stirring, until beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to low; stir in ricotta, Monterey Jack, the remaining 1/4 cup chives, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook, stirring gently, until the cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

To remove the kernels from the corn, stand a cob in a bowl and slice them off with a sharp knife. All the kernels fall into the bowl!

Rolling crepes is a little more difficult then it seems. They are really thin and break easily, so hadle with care. To roll crepes, place one on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Spoon 1/4 of the vegetable-cheese mixture (about 3/4 cup) down the center of the crepe. Use the paper to help you gently roll the crepe around the filling. Place the crepe seam-side down on a dinner plate. Repeat with the remaining crepes and filling. Serve each crepe topped with 2 tablespoons of the reserved sauce and more chives. ENJOY!

Kung Pao Chicken

Last night I made Healthy Kung Pao Chicken for my dad and sister. I am a huge fan of Chinese food... and breakfast, and sushi, and Italian... Ok, I love pretty much every kind of food. But I do love Chinese food, and if you ask my roommates, I very frequently crave it.

In general, Chinese food is pretty unhealthy, so this version is really delicious, makes 4 servings, and is only 350 calories per serving! I served it as is, but you can serve it over rice!

 Ingredients:

• 3 Tbl soy sauce
• 1 Tbl  fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks, boneless, skinless
• 3 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, cut into thin strips
• 2 small green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
• 2/3 cup (unsalted) roasted peanuts, produce

Directions:

In a small bowl, with a fork, combine soy sauce, ginger, sugar, cornstarch, crushed red pepper, garlic and water. Transfer 2 Tbsp. of the sauce to a medium bowl; add chicken and toss to coat. Marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes.

In a nonstick skillet, warm 2 tsp. oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Add the chicken and cook until meat loses its pink color throughout, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove to a plate.

Add remaining 1 tsp. oil to the same skillet and heat until hot. Add onion and bell peppers, and stir-fry about 5 to 10 minutes, until peppers start to soften. (Add 1 to 2 Tbsp. water if skillet is dry.)

Pour remaining stir-fry sauce over vegetables and boil 1 minute. Return chicken to skillet along with peanuts and heat through. Serve over rice, if you like.

Butternut Squash and Apple-Almond Salad

Since I don't have a job this summer, I have become a personal chef for my family. And since I've been home, I am going to focus,  a majority, of my meals on being healthy.

Tonight's meal is vegetarian as well as extremely healthy for you.

For the salad, I used the same herb dressing I made on May 19th in the "Spaghetti and meatball" post.

Apple-Almond Salad

Toss the salad dressing with romaine lettuce, toasted almonds, crumbled blue cheese, and sliced Granny Smith apples.

Butternut Squash Soup with Onions and Apples

Soup Base:

• 1 rib of celery, chopped ("rib" is one piece/stick, and "stalk" for the entire thing/bunch)
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 cups butternut squash, peeled and seeded
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 quart vegetable stock or water, more may be needed
• salt and pepper to taste

 Garnish:

• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, large dice
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 2 tablespoons non-fat yogurt (or Greek yogurt)
• 6 sprigs fresh dill, washed

In a soup pot, sauté the onion, celery and carrot in the oil over medium heat until the onion is golden, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the squash and garlic cooking 5 minutes, stirring. Add the oregano and stock and simmer about 15 minutes or until the veggies are soft.

The easiest way to cut squash is to peel the skin off with a vegetable peeler. Then cut the squash in half. The bottom half is filled with seeds. Cut the two halves again and scoop out the seeds and discard (the seeds are similar to pumpkin seed and can be toasted). The chop into pieces.

While the soup base is cooking, sauté at medium-high heat 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and diced onions. Cut the apple into a large dice and when the onions are golden, add to the pan, sautéing 2 to 3 minutes. Add the curry powder and cook 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the dill and set aside.

Place all of the soup base -- cooked veggies (except the curried onions and apple mix) and liquid -- from your pot in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and silky. More chicken stock may be needed to adjust consistency to your liking. You may also use an immersion blender so that no transfer between pots is necessary. Be patient with the immersion blender, it takes a bit longer to blend together. (I used my new immersion blender that Josh gave me for graduation!)

Return the pureed soup base to the soup pot and add the curried onion and apple. Simmer for 2 minutes. Season to taste and adjust consistency. Serve hot or, on warm days, chilled. Garnish with a dollop of yogurt and a sprig of fresh dill, chives, or herbs of your choice.

This meal was extremely filling and healthy. The soup is only 95 calories! Serves 6!

Philly Cheese Steaks

My last unhealthy post... For now!

Cameron came in this weekend! After a week of storms and wind, it was beautiful this weekend, so we golfed and relaxed... and of course, cooked!

We made the best Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches. I don't think I will ever go out and order one again. This dish is a little bit time consuming, but it was so delicious, everyone ate every last bite.

I would make the ingredients in the following order. The cheese sauce will thicken as it cools, so make it first and it will be nice and thick by the time you pour it on top of your sandwich.

Ingredients:   

• 2 to 2 1/2 pound beef loin top sirloin steak boneless, trimmed
• Olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Soft hoagie rolls, split 3/4 open
• Provolone Sauce, recipe follows
• Sauteed Mushrooms, recipe follows
• Caramelized Onions, recipe follows
• Sauteed Peppers, recipe follows

Directions

Heat griddle or grill pan over high heat. Brush steak with oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook until medium rare. Let the steak rest for 5-10 minutes and slice thinly.

Place several slices of the meat on the bottom half of the roll, spoon some of the cheese sauce over the meat, and top with the mushrooms, onions, and peppers.

Provolone Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk, heated
• 1 cup grated aged provolone cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the warm milk, and cook, whisking constantly until thickened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk in the provolone and Parmesan until combined; season with the salt and pepper.

Sauteed Mushrooms:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 pounds mushrooms (examples: cremini and shiitake), coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Heat oil and butter in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are golden brown. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Caramelized Onions:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 large Spanish onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced (I used yellow and sweet onions)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook slowly until golden brown and caramelized, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

These onions were so delicious, we ate them as we cooked!

Sauteed Peppers:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 poblano peppers, thinly sliced
• 2 Cubano peppers, thinly sliced (Cubano pepper are sweet peppers, they can be substituted for red or yellow bell peppers)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

The easiest way to cut a pepper is to cut off the top and bottom, like shown below. This make taking out the center and cutting a lot simpler. 

Heat the oil in medium saute pan over high heat. Add the peppers and cook until soft. Season with salt and pepper.