Chili con Carne with Tomatoes p. 429

We had some very cold weather not too long ago and every time it gets really cold I crave chili. My mom makes the best chili, but I had never tried making it myself before.

This recipe calls for using dried beans, which is not how Mom makes it, but I was up for the challenge. Put the beans in a pot and cover with water. Let it boil then turn the heat down and let it simmer until the beans are soft. Drain the water once the beans are tender. Add in chile (if you want), cumin, oregano, and garlic. I opted to add tomatoes, so I added 1 can of chopped tomatoes. I also opted for ground beef. Throw your browned meet in at this point as well. Let it come to a boil and then cover and turn to low. Let it cook for another 15 minutes before serving.

Mark Bittman suggests serving with cilantro, which was nice, but I can't have a bowl of chili without a huge sprinkling of cheddar cheese.

Basic Bean Soup p. 136

Happy New Year! I have many goals regarding this project for this new year, one of which is to try more things that I don't like. The first of which is beans.

I actually made this dish several weeks ago, but being the bad blogger I've been the past month or so, I'm just now getting around to it.

As far as difficulty goes, this is a very easy dish to prepare. Bryan was coming home late, so I had time to "soak" my beans the day off. Soaking involves covering the beans in water and letting it come to a simmer over the stove, then covering and turning it off. Let it "soak" for as long as you have. I had about an hour to an hour and a half before cooking.

Once you are ready to cook add the following to your pot/pan: stock, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, thyme, salt and pepper. Let it simmer for about an hour, until your beans are tender.

I had a bite and it was delicious, but I let Bryan eat the majority of this soup. But overall it was a hearty and delicious soup for very little effort.

Edamame with Stock p. 424

I'm back! Although, if our busy holiday schedule doesn't settle down soon, I'm going to be out of posts... again. Yikes.

Ingredients:ginger, stock, carrot, snow peas, shelled edamame.

I just love edamame. Not only is it yummy, but it also just feels healthy as you eat it. Sometimes I just eat edamame for lunch.

For this recipe however, you sautee your ginger and scallion (I didn't use either because a) my grocery was out of ginger! and b) we don't like scallions). Then add your stock, carrots (I finely chopped it), snow peas, and edamame. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until everything is tender, mine took around 10 minutes.



I served it over rice. It was delicious. However, since we didn't have the ginger we tossed ours with some Hoisin sauce, its my new love. I would like to thank Mark Bittman for introducing us. After opening the bottle last week we're halfway through the bottle... and we only ate at home two nights last week.