Sweet Bet

Husband's: be careful about what your wife bets you on.  She might win.  If you are sneaky like my husband, however, you might win either way!

My husband lost a bet and found this in front of him as proof...hmm, not sure I actually won this one!

A bit after dinner he said "gee, desert would be nice."
My reply was "well, we do have brownie mix in the cabinet..."
My husband: "yeah, but it won't be ready in 20 minutes."
My mistak...er, um, reply: "ya wanna bet?!"

I Even raised the stakes mid way by suggesting frosting! what was I thinking!?!

I made brownie deal-ies in the Babycake cupcake maker (seen above) and realized brownie cookies would be faster and easier.

I added a bit of extra flour per the directions on the box, but it did not actually make any improvement...unless you are a cake-y brownie fan.

I actually had a container of chocolate frosting in the cabinet also, so to make it "gourmet" or just a little more exciting, I added a few drops of orange extract (thank you Emily).

The result:

Pretty yummy with or with out frosting!

Wives: this is a perfectly acceptable bet to make with your husband.  You also win either way, are you really going to argue with chocolate ;~)

Cabbage and the New Year

It is a new year.  Don't worry, I won't get all philosophical and sentimental, well, maybe a tiny bit sentimental.  I like traditions and honoring the past.  It frustrates me how commercial the holidays have become.  It seems like much of the history and tradition have been lost in time.  New Year's Eve has an interesting history.  You can read a brief explanation here.  I actually went on an internet search to find out about traditional New Year's day food and found that corned beef and cabbage is more of a St. Patrick's day meal.

In one of my families, corned beef and cabbage (with carrots and potatoes) was the New Year's day meal.  In my other (vegetarian) family, black eyed peas and cabbage (and sometimes cornbread) was our New Year's day meal.  Black eyed peas are a Southern tradition to symbolize a hand full of coins, or financial prosperity.

I did not plan ahead this time, oops.  So I asked my husband to bring home a small cabbage to go with last night's dinner.  Growing up, I was told that we ate the cabbage to promote good fortune and financial prosperity in the new year, I guess because it is green.  Who couldn't use some of that right now?

I sliced half of it and sauteed it up in butter with salt and pepper, and 4 coriander seeds.

I got the seeds specifically so I could enjoy the mortar and pastel.  It is a great kitchen tool.  Unimproved for centuries!

Mashed potatoes are just tasty.  I don't need gravy, and neither does my husband, so mashed potatoes are a pretty easy addition to dinner.  I wonder why I don't make them more often?  Maybe I should start.  

I changed things up a bit this time.  I boiled the potatoes in beef bullion.  

I like Yukon Golds because they have a smoother texture and an almost buttery flavor.  My normal mashed potatoes include crushed garlic, salt and pepper, milk, and sometimes chives or green onion if I have any (but that is rare).  This time, I just boiled in bullion, drained most of the liquid off, added butter, salt, pepper and only a splash of milk.  In the end, these mashed potatoes were loaded with flavor and had a nice gold color...not from butter.  

I threw some baby spinach on the plate and topped it with raspberry dressing and walnuts for a rounded meal.  

Ok, fine, there was no meat to be seen.  You can tease me about not making a main dish, but honestly Americans actually eat way more meat than our bodies are really capable of processing efficiently.  Besides, the walnuts on the salad have plenty of protein.  What you see on this plate is approximately 1/3 of a man's daily protein recamendation and nearly 1/2 for women.  Hard to believe isn't it?  Nuts are good for ya.  (find out more here or at www.choosemyplate.gov)

I hope you had a restful New Year's day and ate something really yummy.  If not, that's ok, just make sure you do on your next day off!

Happy New Year!

Venison Chili

It is snowing for the second time this winter so it seemed like a good time to talk about one of the great cold weather meals

Chili & Cornbread

Not just any chili, venison chili.  Pretty similar to beef chili, but a little bit more flavor.  There is a gaminess to the deer meat, but is more mild than the gaminess of lamb.

A glass of wine always helps the spices get measured perfectly.  Since I used all venison, there was no fat to worry about draining off, so I basically cooked the meat with the spices allowing slightly more flavor saturation of the meat.  Spicy, lightly gamy meat.  A nice compliment to the acidic tomatoes.

I had to pick some green tomatoes at the end of the summer and did not fry them all before they ripened in the bowl in the kitchen.  They made a perfect addition to the chili as diced tomatoes.

Since I was using fresh rather than canned I cooked them down a bit with some salt, garlic. and chili powder.  Yep, chili is yummy.  I like to make chili pretty warm, but not over the top.  It's nice to be able to add a bit of extra spice to the bowl to make it "just right."

Yes, you so see cinnamon in the line up.  There is also curry.  oops, I just gave away my secret seasonings!  Oh well, it's better to share anyway.  Plus, I cannot remember, but I may have gotten the idea of one of them from a co-worker.  I got the idea of the other when I accidentally used it, good thing it tasted good.  Add some onion and beans with a side of cornbread, for good measure, and we are left with good food.

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JiMele's Chili
*I rarely measure when I make chili.  I make it more to be a certain texture.

About 1 lb ground venison
6-7 medium tomatoes diced, or 1 28oz can
1 can crushed tomatoes (small can tor thinner chili, larger can for thicker)
1 large onion
2-4 cloves garlic crushed then chopped
2-3 cans beans (red/kidney, pinto, black, a combination, your choice)
Lots of chili powder
ancho chili powder
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Red chili flakes
a dash of cinnamon and curry
a few dashes of what ever hot pepper sauce you like

Gingerbread

 Because it is Christmas time, and it occurred to me that I might have the necessary ingredients on hand, I decided to put on some Christmas music and bake some Gingerbread. 

I started with this recipe from All Recipies: Favorite Old Fashioned Gingerbread. Most people probably say you should follow the recipe at least once before you start making changes, those wise people. But they miss out on the excitement of plunging head first into the unknown. Although I had never made this, or any other gingerbread before, I made a lot of changes:

I used Whole Wheat Flour + a tiny bit of white Cake Flour instead of All Purpose Flour. I wondered if there was something i should do to compensate for the heavier flour. ore liquid? Less Liquid? Cornstarch?

I tripped the Ginger, doubled the Cinnamon and Cloves and added 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon of Nutmeg. 

Instead of 1 Cup Molasses I used 1/2 Cup Molasses (Black Strap) and 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar.

I added a diced Apple. I would have also liked to add, had I had any, Candied Ginger and Lemon Zest.

I used 4 mini loaf pans instead of the called for nine inch square pan and so I set my oven time for 45 min instead of an hour. But I ended up baking for over a full hour. Maybe because of the Whole Wheat? Or maybe the mini loaf pans made thicker loaves so they needed more cooking time instead of less as I had anticipated?

By the time the bread had been on the oven for twenty minutes, I was thinking, even if it doesn't taste good, I should make this bread every Christmas just to make my house smell like this again. Delicious!

Forty-Five minutes in I was torn between the fear of under baking the bread and the fear that is was secretly burning ( It is hard to tell when baking dark brown loaves). I opted to keep baking and worrying  for a while longer. Every time I inserted a knife into the center it did not come out clean. I finally resorted to removing one loaf from it's pan so I could thump on it, the way my mom used to check her bread,  to see if it sounded done.

It turned out great, not too sweet and with the emphasis on the ginger without the ginger flavor being overpowering. A perfect partner for vanilla ice cream.  It was really fun and easy (other than the worrying about when to bring it out of the oven).  I will add more apples as they all but disappeared  into the batter and I will probably add more ginger. I like things spicy!

- Ash

Red Cabbage Salad

This is a super simple, crunchy, clear (no mayo) and bright coleslaw that I made for dinner a couple of nights ago. Especially in the winter, but really all the time, I think it is important to keep my meals colorful. Side dishes like this really do the trick.

You can just throw it together, without measuring and with any additions or substitutions you like.

Red Cabbage - Grated with a box grater

Carrot - grated with a box grater

Green Onions - chopped

Salt and Sugar - a pinch of each or to taste

Oil and Vinegar - I used Olive Oil and Apple Cider Vinegar, starting with a spoonful of each, mixing and tasting the salad and then adding a bit more of each until I got the flavor balance I wanted (In the end I had about twice as much vinegar as oil).

~ Ash