Will's Chili

I love eating chili in the winter. It brings back memories of ski vacations, when I would ski a full morning, eat a bowl of chili for lunch, and power through the afternoon. Appropriately, my friend Will made this chili when he was visiting last winter. He passed the recipe on to me, and now I get to share it with you.

Will does not specify quantities for some ingredients; you can adjust the quantities to your taste. It is hard to go wrong with a recipe like this!

This makes a LOT of chili. Today I made 1/3 a recipe, about 6 servings.

Ingredients: 

6 Cans of diced tomatoes

3 cans of kidney beans (strain)

3 cans of black beans (include water from the cans)

2 cans of corn (strain)

1.5 chopped onions

2 chopped green peppers

Jalapeño peppers, diced (add more if you like it spicy)

Specialty ingredients:

Chopped cilantro

1 bottle of medium or dark beer

1 lime's worth of juice

honey

cocoa powder (FUNFACT: The Aztecs used to combine cocoa with chili all the time)

1 diced habeñero pepper (if you're really into spiciness)

Herbs & Spices (added to taste):

garlic powder

onion powder

chili powder

thyme

cinnamon/sugar

paprika

salt

black pepper

tabasco sauce

curry powder
cumin

If you like beef use it! If you don't like it, use extra paprika to get a more savory/fatty/smoky taste

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Heat to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with cheese and tortilla chips or over rice.

Cole Slaw

There are many ways to make cole slaw. Some people like it with mayo, others prefer vinegar. I personally like it with spices, vinegar, and a little mayo--the way my mom makes it.

Ingredients:
1/2 Red cabbage
1/2 Savoy or green cabbage
1 large carrot
1 bell pepper
1/4 fennel bulb, or 1 T anise seed
1 T toasted sesame seeds
2 t caraway seeds
1 1/2 t sugar
2 T red wine or rice vinegar
2 heaping T mayo
salt and pepper, to taste

In a food processor, shred the vegetables. Dump into a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir until thoroughly mixed and refrigerate.

Although I can't help but enjoy a large bowl immediately after mixing everything together, cole slaw tastes best after sitting in the fridge for a few hours.

Bran Muffins

I've never been a huge fan of bran muffins, but this recipe is versatile and very tasty. It was shared in a lesson with my favorite yoga teacher, Sadie Nardini. What a pleasant surprise! The original recipe called for 2/3 c brown sugar, but after making it once this way, I immediately cut that amount in half. Now they are perfect :)

This is a great recipe to substitute ingredients if you so desire. In the past I've used 1 c applesauce (no egg), 2 eggs (no applesauce), chopped apple (instead of blueberries), almond extract (instead of vanilla), oatmeal (instead of flax), and added cinnamon. You can also omit blueberries, or add 1/2 c nuts.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c wheat or oat bran
1/4 c ground flaxseed
1 c nonfat milk--I used almond milk, see previous post
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c blueberries

This makes 12 muffins.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease muffin tins or use liners. The first few times I made this I simply mixed together the wet ingredients, then added the dry ingredients and mixed until combined (do not overmix). Here are the directions provided by Sadie, which I followed today:

Mix bran with milk and let sit 10 mins. While sitting, combine applesauce, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add this to the bran mixture. Sift together remaining dry ingredients and stir into the mix. Fold in blueberries or other fruit/nuts if using. Scoop into muffin tin and bake 15-20 mins until a toothpick comes out clean. Today they took 15.

I do think letting the bran sit with the milk is an important step. In the past the muffins had come out a bit more grainy, which I did not mind. Today they came out with a much more consistent texture.

Almond Milk + Ice Cream

I decided to go back to eating vegetarian. I'm also considering going vegan, but I'm going to work my way there, slowly substituting out animal products in my diet. One of the easiest ingredients to substitute is milk. In the past I used soy milk for vegan baking, but I never tried almond milk. Talking to a friend about this, he said, "Almond milk? How do you even make that?!"A quick Google search took me this page: I was so impressed with the simplicity of the process, that I decided at once to try it myself.

Almond Milk Ingredients:

1 c almonds (I used raw, unsalted)

4 c water

cheesecloth

Let the almonds soak in water for 6 hours. Drain the water. Put the almonds and 4 c clean water in a blender. (Depending on the consistency milk you like, use between 3-6 c water.) At this point I realized not all the water would fit into my blender, so I first put only 2 c in and blended.

Next strain the mixture through cheesecloth into a bowl. While doing this you will notice a paste of chopped nuts left in the bottom of the blender. Before pouring this through the cloth, I addd the remaining 2 c water, and blended again. When pouring the new mixture out, the paste was almost gone.

Press the liquid through the cheesecloth. You will have some nut remains left. These you can either toss or toast in the oven, using them in other recipes as you see fit. (Breadcrumbs, perhaps?)

After straining once, pour the mixture through cheesecloth again, without pressing all the liquid through. You have just made almond milk!

This almond milk will keep for about 4-5 days in the fridge, longer if in a sterilized jar.

It's time to start cooking with almond milk!

First, I wanted to make ice cream. I found 3 recipes online in this blog. I decided to make the "Rich Chocolate and Banana Almond Milk Ice Cream". I made it a bit differently than described in the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c almond milk

2 ripe bananas

2 T sugar

2 heaping T cocoa powder

**1/2 t almond extract ---an addition I made

*This requires an ice cream maker*

The recipe suggested using the microwave to heat the milk, sugar, and cocoa together, then blend with the bananas. I thought these steps were a bit unnecessary, and mixed it the way I usually make ice cream: put everything in a bowl and mix. I mashed the banana first, then whisked everything together.

I also used this nice bitter hot chocolate cocoa we have. It comes in a crumb consistency. I added this later during the mixing process. The result was a almond banana ice cream with chocolate chips. I'm not sure if blending everything together would change the texture, but this came out like a sorbet. The result was good. I think next time I will try the blender to see if the taste is even better.