Recipe of the Week: Chili

Cooling outdoor temperatures prompt thoughts of foods that are warming. Chili is one of my favorites. There are many good chili seasoning kits on the market; the Wick Fowler’s 2 Alarm is my favorite. Of course - I make my own modifications:

• Add 1 can of pinto beans or the equivalent of home cooked pinto beans
• Only half the salt packet
• Entire red pepper packet
• No Masa flour 

I like to serve chili over multi-grain rice or egg noodles rather than with crackers. My husband eats his in carb balance tortillas - again without crackers.

Chili also can be dipped with wedges of pepper or celery.

And what about toppings: cheese or chives or diced tomato/onion (salsa!) or guacamole.

Chili is a hearty meal in a bowl (or tortilla) that warms a cool or cold day!

Recipe of the Week: Winter Foods

What are your favorite cold weather foods? For many of us, it is ‘anything hot’ because we want to feel warmed from the inside out. Another criteria could be foods that preserve well into the winter or are seasonal in the winter. Here is the list I’ve created on a cold January day in Maryland:

• Soup. I did a blog post about homemade soup in early December…still is good in January. Today I enjoyed soup made by stir-frying mushrooms and celery with seasonings, adding some homemade spaghetti sauce with some water to make the broth, pouring it over freshly chopped cilantro, and topping it off with a few croutons. It was a great cold weather meal-in-a-bowl.

• Squash. The winter squashes (butternut or acorn) add a wonderful flavor as a side dish, a dessert, or pureed for a soup. I like their flavor and their color. The outdoors in winter time often seems less colorful than any other time of year so having food that has more color is very welcome. I tend to cook these squash whole in the oven so that they are soft by the time I cut them to scoop out the seeds. I like them with a dab of butter or sour cream as a side dish; with maple syrup and chopped pecans for dessert; with tomatoes and green chilies for a soup.  

Tea/Mulled Cider/Hot chocolate. I usually do not drink hot beverages in warm weather…but switch to them when the weather is cold outside. Teas and tisanes come in such a wide variety of flavors and scents; there is one to fit just about any mood. Sweetener may be required but I’ve found that drinking them without any additions allows me to appreciate the subtle flavor of the tea itself. Adding milk or cream brings back memories of childhood when my tea was as much milk as tea; it’s a pleasant trigger on a cold day indoors. Mulled cider or wassail (with citrus and cranberry) is very sweet; I love the smell too; it is very enjoyable in small amounts so I only make if for groups so that others will help drink it. I’ve tried the powdered versions and didn’t like it enough to buy the packets again. Hot chocolate comes in so many formulations; I enjoy the darker chocolate with less (or no) milk.

• Chili. Everyone should develop a favorite chili recipe. Mine is a Texas style with beef, beans, tomato sauce…and spices sometimes a little toward the hot side. We eat it like soup, in tortillas, as a casserole topped with cornbread, and over Fritos (how 60ish!). It is easy to make a lot at one time and then freeze half before we get tired of it; it will be a quick meal in a couple of weeks.

 What are your favorite foods this January?