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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Oscar night chili

February 24, 2013 by Mary Frances 12 Comments

Spicy chicken chili in a Le Creuset pot for a terrific Oscar night dinner party.
I made this chili yesterday because I was making chicken broth at the same time, (from a roast chicken carcass that I had cooked on Wednesday) and I thought, well this would be easy because the chili calls for two and half cups of broth. It is a fairly quick recipe, so you still have time to make it today. (And your broth does not have to be homemade, although it is better.) Served in warm wide soup bowls with some hot cornbread and topped with some fresh onions, cheddar cheese or sour cream, you have a perfect dinner to watch the Academy Awards with tonight!

So I was all excited to share this with you today. (Last night I was busy with the gallery show opening that my painting was in – a terrific turnout with support from our friends!) And then I said, wait a minute, didn’t I already do that last year? And a quick search said yes I did, for a football Sunday. But wait, I changed the recipe again! So here is my version from yesterday. Although I am serving it tonight, trust me, I tasted it yesterday and it is darn good.

Now, who do you want to win best picture? I’m betting on Lincoln. And I’m rooting for Sally Field for Best Supporting Actress. I thought she was terrific! (Yes, we like you, we really like you!) And if Alan Arkin doesn’t win Best Supporting Actor for Argo, I’ll be very upset. Let me know what you think.

SPICY CHICKEN CHILI- VERSION 2.0
– serves 4 – 5

2 tbs. canola oil
1 medium large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of a large red pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut into 1/2″ squares
1 lb. skinless chicken thighs (about 4), trimmed of all fat and cut into thin strips
1 tbs. plus 1 tsp. chili powder
1 tbs. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano (preferable Greek oregano)
1 tsp. salt
2 jalapeño peppers, ribs removed, chopped, with some seeds
1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes with their juice
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1  15 oz. can drained and rinsed pinto beans
1  15 oz. can drained and rinsed black beans
1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper

Suggested garnishes:
Chopped cilantro
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Minced onion
Sour cream or unflavored low fat Greek yogurt

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over low heat. Add the onion, garlic and red pepper; cover, stir and cook until they soften, about 12 minutes. This makes the onion lovely and sweet.Onions, garlic and red pepper sauteeing in a Le Crueset Dutch oven.

Increase the heat to moderate and stir in the chicken strips. Cook until they are no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Add the jalapeños, the tomatoes with their juice, and the broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Uncover the saucepan and stir in the beans and black pepper. Simmer until the chili is thickened, about 15 minutes longer. Serve topped with your favorite garnishes.

Wedges of warm cornbread are always great with chili. Or serve the chili over rice.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: Academy Awards, Cheddar cheese, chicken chili, chili, homemade chicken stock, jalapeños, Oscar night, sour cream, spicy chicken chili

Overheard at Fairway

April 13, 2012 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

So I’m shopping at the local grocery store here and I overhear this conversation of this seriously overweight young woman with her young son about three years old in her cart in the vegetable aisle. She’s explaining to him (and he’s overweight already – are you surprised?) that she’s buying some cabbage. I’m thinking, okay, good, a vegetable. Then she says to him that she’s going to “Cook it in some butter, then combine it with some noodles and sour cream and, you’ll really like it!”

Really? Excuse me? Can you ruin a good head of cabbage more for your already way overweight bodies?

I was aghast. A vegetable is great but loaded with all the fat and carbs she’s talking about – this kid already has a problem and she is feeding it even more. Help her!!

Cabbage.

Filed Under: Dinner Tagged With: cabbage, Dinner, Fairway, noodles, obesity, overweight popoulation, sour cream, vegetables

Happy Sunday!

January 29, 2012 by Mary Frances 2 Comments

Waffles and blueberries on a white plate.

Okay, so I made these waffles this morning (my husband was pining for them) and they look pretty good – but didn’t taste great. So I won’t share the recipe with you. I don’t know what was wrong but let me work on this recipe before I give it to you. One thing they suggested was to do this sweetened sour cream – with brown sugar and ginger with sweetened strawberries AND the maple syrup. Well I think that would have put me in a sugar coma …. and I didn’t have strawberries. But I did have blueberries and I did have the buttermilk for the batter and I did have the sour cream. I always feel so cool when I find a new recipe I want to make and I actually have most of the ingredients!

Back to the sugar – so for this, I just put a dollop of plain sour cream with some slightly sweetened blueberries and it was really really good as a topping. Now I just need to work on that base waffle!

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: blueberries, buttermilk, maple syrup, sour cream, Sunday morning, waffles

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

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