Spicy Chicken and Tiny Beans

Last summer, when we were in Rapid City I ordered the best white chicken chili at the Firehouse Restaurant. Spicy, creamy, and delicious, I needed to recreate it's tasty goodness once I arrived home. The thing is, re-creating a dish is a bit tricky and it doesn't always capture the tasty goodness that we had in the restaurant. This chili isn't very spicy, as we didn't want to scare the non-spicy eaters of the house. It's a very mild dish, but feel free to bump up the flavors however you need to. I suggest adding some chopped pickled jalapeno peppers, which I'm sure will add some amazing flavor!  For this recipe you can use any white beans, but I used Great Northern ones.

3 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 fresh  jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cans (they are small-maybe a 4 oz size?) of chopped green chiles
2 cans (19 oz each)  of white beans, or 4 cups of cooked white beans.
4-5 cups of unsalted chicken broth
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tbsp cumin
salt and pepper
lime
1 cup whole milk
2 tbsp cornmeal
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
Chopped fresh cilantro

In a large saucepan, saute the onion, garlic, celery, red pepper, and fresh jalapeno in a little bit of oil until soft and translucent.  Remove the veggies from the pan and set aside on a plate, briefly.  Make sure you have a little oil in the pan and toss in your cubed chicken thighs. Over medium heat, stir them around until they are browned.  Add the vegetables back into the pan along with the cumin, paprika, a little cayenne if you wish, salt, and pepper, stirring and cooking about a minute or so more to bring out the flavor of the spices.

Pour in about 4 cups of chicken broth, beans, and canned chiles. Give it a good stir and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and cornmeal.  Stir into the chili along with the thawed corn,  and continue to heat until warmed through.  If you need more liquid, add the remaining cup of chicken broth. Zest the lime right into the pot, then cut it in half and squeeze the juice in.  Taste and correct for seasonings, adding more salt and pepper if you feel you need it.

Serve topped with fresh cilantro, crushed tortilla chips, and shredded Pepper Jack cheese.

Makes about 6 servings

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Cranberry Crumble Bars

Christmas often goes by, and I am left with a bag or two of fresh cranberries that I have stashed away in the freezer. Truthfully, I'm not a huge fan of cranberries in baking-maybe it's the tartness, but either way I never have that many recipes to use them. Recently I discovered this recipe, and fell in love with it. These bars are like a crumble, with some orange cutting the tartness of the cranberries and the almond topping giving it a healthy feel. These bars are not hugely sweet and make a great lunchbox snack. I made them a little more adult oriented by adding some Grand Marnier to the cranberry filling, but you can easily skip that.

Adapted from Whitewater Cooks With Friends 

Base
¾ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup ground almonds

Filling
½ cup water
½ cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
2 tsp orange zest
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
2 tbsp Grand Marnier

Topping
¼ cup flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped
2 tbsp cold butter

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.

To make the base, stir the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, flour, and almonds together in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or your hands until everything is combined. Press the base into a greased 9x13 inch cake pan. Bake the base for about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool slightly.

In a saucepan, heat the water, orange juice, sugar, and orange juice over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Let the mixture boil for about five minutes stirring in the cranberries. Continue to cook and stir for five minutes more while the cranberries pop. Cool somewhat and stir in the Grand Marnier before spreading over the base.

Stir together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and almonds together in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Sprinkle over the filling and place the pan in the oven. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Watch them carefully, as mine had a tendency to cook a little too much around the edges.

Cool and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days, or freeze in a single layer for a few weeks.

Makes about 16.

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Whole Wheat Sunflower Baguettes

Warm bread, straight from the oven, is a favorite in our house. Specialty breads are available at the store, but often they are about $4-5 a loaf and are never as good as homemade. This recipe is something that I used to make long ago, but then forgot about until recently. These are really difficult not to just slather with butter and devour seconds after you take them from the oven, but the bonus is that you get not one, but two baguettes with this recipe.

Today as the wind howled and the rain pounded the windows outside, and I lay in bed sick with a cold, I dreamed of these baguettes. Too sick to actually make them, I thought all was lost until I remembered the thick slice I had tucked into my lunch in anticipation of going to work.

All was not lost - I finally had my warm bread slathered with butter for lunch, and you can too!

Adapted from Canadian Living

2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp flax seeds
2 tsp quick rise instant dry yeast
1 1/4 cup warm milk
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten

Toast 1/2 cup of the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden.  Watch them carefully! Seeds go from perfect to burned in seconds.  Set them aside to cool.

In a bowl, whisk together 1 cup of flour, the whole wheat flour, flax, and yeast.  Set aside.

Using a small saucepan, warm the milk, brown sugar, oil,  and salt until the milk is steaming. Set it aside to cool, but you want it to be around 110 F, or as warm as a baby bottle.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring.  I have a stand mixer so I just let it go using the dough hook.  Sometimes I have to stop it and with a wooden spoon, scrape down the sides to get the flour incorporated into the dough.  Add the 1/2 cup of remaining flour if you need it, but the dough should be somewhat sticky. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough into a greased bowl, turning to coat,  and cover with a clean tea towel.  Let rise for about an hour and 15 minutes.

Punch down the dough, cut in half, and roll out out each piece  to about a 16x4 inch rectangle.  They make fairly skinny baguettes, so I usually make mine about 12x 5 inches.  Starting at the side closest to you, roll up until you have a long roll, pinching the seams when you get to the end.  Set each onto a baking sheet and cover with a clean tea towel.  Set aside in a warm place to rise, about 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.

Brush the risen baguettes with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with the remaining raw sunflower seeds. You have to press them onto the dough a little, as they will tend to fall off.  When the oven is good and hot, put the baguettes in on the middle rack, and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and sound hollow when tapped.  Keep an eye on them, the original recipe said to bake for 25 minutes but I didn't go near that long and they were definitely done early.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

These are best served the same day, or you can wrap one up in plastic film and then foil, and put in the freezer for another day.  Being home made, they do go stale a little quicker than bread that you buy from the store.

Makes two baguettes

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Salted Kraft Caramels

Caramels are one of my favorite treats, and when dipped in chocolate and topped with sea salt, they are even better! While I've made caramel from scratch before (and have the scars to prove it), this makes the process really easy and kid friendly.  Whip up a batch of these to share with teachers and friends for Valentine's Day!  That is, if you can eat from either eating the bag of caramels (which I'm likely to do) or eat the chocolate dipped ones first. 

Adapted from Kraft Canada

1 package of Kraft Caramels
5 squares of 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate, melted
1 Tbsp sea salt

Unwrap all the caramels and dip them gently into the chocolate, setting to dry on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.  Kraft recommends that you use a toothpick to handle the caramels, but I used two forks.  Sprinkle the caramels with salt while the chocolate is still wet.

Allow the caramels to set, putting them in the fridge to speed it up.

Makes about 32

Disclosure:  Kraft sent me a bunch of products to write about 3 desserts with.  These weren't one of the original desserts, but it turned out well and I added them to the mix.  I highly recommend them!

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Oreo Cookie Bark

A few years ago I made this addictive snack for Christmas, never dreaming how utterly amazing it is.  My guys are not into chocolate bar, and yet as I sat the pan to cool on top of the deep freeze in the garage, they couldn't help but break off bits as they walked by.  One evening, I found my husband, lips covered in chocolate.

Yes. He'd been into the Oreo bark.  It's addictive and downright scrumptious.  Also really easy, as there's only 3 ingredients and you can easily get the kids to help you.  Break up bits and divide into bags, then give to friends and family for Valentine's Day or Easter.

Adapted from Kraft Canada

15 Oreo cookies, cut into quarters
12 oz semi sweet chocolate
6 oz white chocolate

Melt the semi sweet chocolate in a microwave or on low heat in a saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the Oreo cookies and stir very gently. Turn out onto a foil lined cookie sheet and spread out with a knife-try to spread out the cookies so they aren't in a clump but instead a single layer. Make sure to keep it thin so it's easy to break when cooled.

Melt the white chocolate and drizzle on top, filling in the thin spots.

Allow to cool and harden.

Try not to eat the entire pan.

Variation.....broken pieces of candy cane would be delectable in this, or you could add Easter colored M&Ms, or for Valentine's day even some cinnamon hearts.

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Oreo Truffles with Kraft Canada

Back in December, I had signed up with Kraft to help out with Dessert1st, a really cool promotion with full intention to take it on and be fabulous!  Life happened and somehow, my dessert1st posts didn't make it up.  Better late than never, I made these truffles on the weekend and we have had a really hard time staying away from them!  They are amazing!  I think they would make a great Valentine's Day or even Easter treat as well. All you need to make them is cream cheese, Oreos, and some chocolate and some extra hands to help roll them into balls.  The kids would find this a really fun activity, although you may want to have extra Oreos on hand to keep them from eating the truffle filling! These would make fantastic little Valentine or Easter treats for teachers, family, and friends.

Makes 42

Adapted from Kraft Canada

1 package (350 g) Oreos
one 8 oz package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
2 packages of Baker's Semi Sweet Chocolate

Crush up the Oreos.  You could do this is a food processor, or put the cookies in a zip lock bag and let the kids crunch them up with a rolling pin.  Set aside 1 tbsp of the crumbs.  Stir in teh cream cheese until well blended.  Again, I used a food processor so it was really easy.  You could also use an electric mixer, if you wish. Cover the mixture and chill.

Roll the cream cheese mixture into 1 inch balls and chill for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot, not boiling water.  Line a baking sheet with waxed paper and gently dip each ball in the chocolate.  Sprinkle some of the crumbs over top.

Let the truffles set for about an hour.

Variation: 

For Valentine's day, try topping with pink/red sprinkles to make them festive, or heart shaped sprinkles.  You could even press a cinnamon heart into the chocolate while they are wet.

For Easter: Top with pastel colored sprinkles while the chocolate is wet.

Disclosure:  Kraft Canada sent me a box of products to make their Dessert1st recipes, a pretty plate, and a $25 Visa card to buy the remaining supplies I would need.

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You can WIN a $1450 All Clad Cookware Set From Yummy Mummy!

Being the Food Editor over at Yummy Mummy Club means that I get the scoop on some really awesome things that are happening over there, and right now a contest is going on that will knock your socks off.

Seriously.  Totally off!

Three people are going to have the chance to win an All Clad Cookware set, worth $1450 from VH sauces.  Goodness, if I wasn't the Food Editor I'd totally be entering to win one myself, that is one AMAZING prize!  What do you have to do?

Oh baby.  Aren't they pretty?

1. Spice up a recipe using one of VH's sauces.  It's not hard, and you have a lot to choose from, with everything from Chinese to Indian and Thai. Go wild! Take a regular recipe and see if you can spice it up.  Need ideas? Here's a few to get you started.  (oh YUM, honey garlic ribs!) Think you can't be creative in the kitchen?  No worries, I wrote a how-to article with some great ideas over here. Check out the Hub where you can find all sorts of ideas for how to spice up your comfort food.

2. Take a photo of the food.  I know, it's hard right now with the light being low but don't worry, it doesn't have to be magazine worthy.   Snap a picture!

3. Submit the picture and the recipe to Yummy Mummy Club.

You have until January 31, 2012, which isn't a long time so GET COOKING! (check out the rules here)

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