Vegetarian Chili

OMG yum! Although the weather has been surprisingly mild for mid-November in Michigan, Husband has been asking for chili. He's still holding on to this 'vegan' plan but I am paranoid about eating too many processed Soy products due to stupid interwebz. So, I modified this recipe I found on allrecipes.com - link here. But mine is way better lol. Plus extra beans are cheaper than the faux beef crumbles so even if you love processed soy products it's a win.  You will be so busy enjoying the chili you won't realize there's no meat.

Now that it's all hyped up I suppose you want to see a picture. Nevermind the dirty plate.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
2 stalks celery chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 serrano pepper chopped
1 fresh poblano pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
2, 4 oz cans chopped green chilies drained
3, 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tbsp grnd black pepper
1, 15 oz can dark red kidney beans drained
1, 15 oz can black beans NOT drained
1, 15 oz can white beans drained
1, 15 oz can pinto beans drained
1, 15 oz can garbanzo beans drained
1, 15 oz can whole kernel corn drained


Recipe:
Heat olive oil in large stock pot over medium heat. Stir in onion, bay leaves, cumin, oregano and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender. Then mix in the celery, green/red peppers, serrano pepper, poblano pepper, garlic and green chilies. Cover pot and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, season with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally.

Stir in corn and cook for 5 minutes. Serve/Enjoy!

You can top it with your favorite chili things - like cheese, sour cream, green onions, etc. - or eat as is.  Let me know what you think.

Visit with Puppy

My Mom and StepDad got an adorable little puppy named Bella Bree. She's a 13 weeks old border collie. We took our dog with us to visit. They got along famously despite her being 1/4 of his size. It didn't stop her from attacking! It was all in good playful fun, Bingo (our dog) definitely recognized the size difference because he was surprisingly gentle.

They live on 8 acres of land so Bingo had a great time running around, and even chased some deer after dinner. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that, but I did take a bunch of pictures. Here are some highlights.

 Isn't she a cutie?!

 Puppy Kisses for EVERYONE!

 Rar - She wanted to get the camera.

 Touching noses - great alternative to shaking hands.

 You can really appreciate the size difference.

 Not that it mattered - she has no fear!

Ended the visit with a shared drink at the local watering hole.

Cool article/video then some randomness

OMG - I forgot how much I loved this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI


Which was the language from this article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column,0,4054576.column?page=1

 It's been, well, boring lately. Just work and stuff. This weekend I'll be going Trick-or-Treating with the family so I'm sure I'll have cute pictures.

Until then - we had a rainbow.

Bingo looks cute!

And I made Chili

I will post the recipe tomorrow.

People.

Sometimes your knight in shining armor is just an asshole in tin foil. The measure of a person is not based upon the words that they speak, but upon the choices that they make.
If they keep stabbing you in the back, then quit handing them the knife.

Book Review

Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs by Elissa Wall 

My friend gave me this book and it was definitely interesting. Her story is sad, funny, and memorable. It has a very conversational feel, while reading you could almost picture her sitting with you telling the story. There are some minor descriptions of rape/abuse but it's very brief and not at all graphic. But definitely has adult material and themes throughout. 

 

She begins as a very young child and tells the story of her life growing up in a fundamentalist sect of the Church of Latter Day Saints. It gives you an interesting peek into a world often veiled from outsiders and the story is not all negative. You really get a feel for the strong family ties she and her siblings forge despite being one of fourteen children. Without giving away too much, the book ends on a positive note which is refreshing. 

 

Overall I give the book a B+. It held my interest from the beginning and I read it quickly because I wanted to see the end.

Mmmmm Minestrone Soup

Now that fall is officially here I can start making tons of yummy soups which coincidentally blends in well with becoming my bizarre hybrid vegan/vegetarian. Basically I can't give up a few key staples - namely eggs, yogurt (but only yogurt all other dairy is out), and honey. Husband gave up all animal products. So I may occasionally lie and say there's not eggs in a few key recipes, like the pumpkin bread I'll be making/posting in a few days....it's important to have a few secrets in marriage. At least that's how I make myself feel better.


Onto the topic at hand - minestrone soup. I am so happy with how it turned out. After my last disaster of a dinner, I admit, I was worried this cookbook was going to be a bust. First a picture of the yumminess.

I should point out this recipe was adapted from one found in the book 1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes by Sue Spitler with Linda Yoakam R.D, M.S., fourth edition, page 96 Summer Minestrone. If you feel like looking it up to see what I changed.

Ingredients
4 medium sized red potatoes, cubed
4 carrots, sliced
1 medium sized zucchini, chopped
Apprx. 1 cup green beans, halved
Apprx. 1 cup sliced onion
1 stalk sliced celery
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 cups vegetable stock/broth
1 can 15oz rinsed, drained kidney beans
1 can 15 oz no-salt stewed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups uncooked pasta
1/2 tsp pepper

Recipe
Saute vegetables in lightly greased, stockpot about 10-15 mins.
Stir in italian seasoning and oregano; cook another minute or two
Add stock, beans, tomatoes and water. Heat to boiling
Reduce heat and cover, simmer about 10 mins
Add pasta, return to boiling
Reduce heat and simmer approx. 10 mins until pasta is tender
Stir in pepper and enjoy!

The original recipe calls for a sprinkle of Parmesan or Romano cheese on the servings which would be yummy for those non-vegans.

Next time I make it I plan to cut the potatoes smaller, more bite-sized, and add more beans and probably more zucchini because I love zucchini.

It's Official

I hate rosemary, well, at least on food, in soaps it's not so bad.

I made a huge dinner thinking I could save some for lunches, etc. Yea - it's disgusting. This post was supposed to be about that recipe. Not now. Sigh. I have tried time and again different recipes involving rosemary and I always hate the flavor so I am definitely NOT using it any more. Truly I don't know why I've tried it so many times.

There are people who hate cilantro, and I don't understand it.  I guess I'm one of those people that hate rosemary. Oh well. I rarely make food I hate because I can usually read a recipe and tell if I'll like it. Apparently I like to delude myself into thinking something that sounds ok could be great.

The worst part is I wasted a lot of food on this dinner that I can't eat. And now I don't have anything to eat for dinner. Guess I'll just eat a bowl of cereal and call it a night.

Pity party, your table for one is ready.

NEW FAVORITE WORD!!!

I love this word and NEED to use it in a sentence: Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective:
Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

All I can think of is a conversation like this:

"Look at that brobdingnagian thing!" exclaims person 1.
"That's what she said" replies person 2.
Person 3 laughs.

I love my word of the day emails from dictionary.com - these occasional gems make it worthwhile.

Just a dog

I got this in an email and wanted to share it.

So much for the fierce guard dog

So my dog - the fierceness of his bark is second to none - however he is timid. In our daily walks we've come across very scary things: like a bucket, a baby (seriously), sprinklers, and today's frightening encounter - a tiny decorative scarecrow. Now granted, the word scare is part of the name, but the one we saw today was far from scary. It was about 6" tall.

So as we walked along he started slowing down in fear, I could see nothing. Then he hid behind me. And as we passed the abhorrent item he sped up - you know - to get away as quickly as possible.

Lord help me if  I ever NEED his help.

We have to stop watching documentaries

Every time my husband watches a documentary on something food related he wants to change our diet - drastically. Last fall we went vegetarian after he watched Food, Inc.

Hopefully you see where this is going....but just in case, we are doing vegetarian again. And borderline vegan because he also wants to cut out dairy and we won't be enjoying fish like last time. So hopefully you'll be seeing a lot more vegetarian recipes.

So the next week will be spent eating meat/cheese to rid our fridge of the non-vegan stuff. Wish us luck on our journey!

Donovan

Donovan - aka third nephew of five niblings. BTW the word nibling I found on wikipedia, it's a portmanteau ((n)ephew or (n)iece + s(ibling)); a collective term for nephews and nieces. I like it.

He was born at 2:33 a.m. Sunday, August 29. Weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz and 22 in long.

Here he is- look at all that hair! He's such a cutie - only 12 hours old.

Uncle Dan

Little Monkey Feet

Mommy & Baby - so sweet.

Aunt Erin

New/Improved

Whether you followed my old blog or you're new WELCOME!

If you're interested, here's the link to my old blog - http://erinsfood.weebly.com/

It will be the same as before - random thoughts, recipes, etc. I am an Aunt (again) and we are going to visit my nephew in about an hour. I'll post again when I have pics of the cutey baby.