Chilin with our Favorite Chili

Roasted Red Pepper, Butternut Squash Chicken Chili

Okay, I fess up – I have become addicted to our Roasted Red Pepper, Butternut Squash Chicken Chili and I am not alone!  I am sharing this recipe with you all, and confessing – right up front, that what starts as a delicious, relatively easy preparation is habit forming.  The beauty of this dish is that you can make a great pot of it, and it is just as wonderful reheated as it is the first day you make it for your Dinner!  It works well with a Crock Pot, and dresses up showy like for dinner… with a dollop of sour cream and lime wedge.

It is also a dish that showcases the depth of our Spice Line!  Some of these things just happen naturally, what came first the Chicken (the recipe) or the Egg (spice line).  It was the recipe but at this point I simply use the Amazing Trio of Rub, Heat and Herbes.  Honestly friends – the depth and delicacy of the heat blend elevates this dish to Amazing!  So make this for your family and enjoy all the taste (and then enjoy again the next day)!  For myself…I am getting ready to heat this up for lunch again!
The truth, there is no salad on the side involved; I am just going to savor each delicious bite of chili!

Loving creating and the sharing:

Roasted Red Pepper and Butternut Squash
 White Chicken Chili – Yahooooooo!

1 Onion
1 cup Carrot, 1 Cup Celery
1 Red Pepper
1 Butternut Squash
1 Whole Broasted Chicken deboned
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 C.Cream
Parsley
Cilantro
Limes
*1 teaspoon of chili powder
Cornstarch
Roasted Rosemary spears
Roasted Whole Garlic Head
1 Large jar White Northern Beans
1 Lg Jar *Salsa Verde*we rec. Guy Fieri’s

Or *Kick it up with the Amazing Version adding
1 Tsp Amazing Rub to Veggies prior to roasting
1 Tbsp. *Amazing Heat to replace Chili powder
1 Tbsp of the *Amazing Herbes to replace herbs

Prepare by: Coarsely chop onion, carrot and celery.  Sauté in olive oil on high heat (wilt/ not caramelize).
Add one cup of white wine, let this wine reduce and bring up anything left from pan bottom, add
2 cups chicken stock and simmer.
Meanwhile coarse chop red pepper, butternut squash and roast in hot oven (400) with a bit of olive oil and sea salt pepper (Amazing Rub) until gently browned and roasted.  At the same time roast whole garlic head (top cut off with a little olive oil – wrapped in foil) in same oven, with Rosemary spears.  Rosemary will brown relatively quickly (10mins) but the garlic should roast for a full hour until soft and browned, set this aside for addition to chili later.  Take a broasted chicken, remove meat and do a coarse chop, reserve bones for a great start to stock, another day.  Add roasted Rosemary and garlic, chili powder, parsley, cilantro, northern beans and entire jar of green salsa Verde.  Let simmer gently for 30 minutes or so (however, this can stay simmering very gently for an hour or more) The Amazing Heat and Herbes are dynamite add to kick this recipe way up, Tbsp each!For a finish, add cream, check seasoning for salt and pepper. 
To serve, garnish with a fine chopped mixture of parsley/cilantro, a spoon of Crème Fraiche or sour cream.

Expect the Unexpected! Mediterranean Crepe with Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

The Unexpected… Happily and Healthily!

Don’t you love things that just happen unexpectedly???  Well let me share my recent adventure in the Kitchen with you.  I was busily (and happily) flipping a stack of crepes to be used in a demonstration for a Savory Luncheon  … In the middle of this process, I was interrupted by a team member, who asked me, ”Do we have any great recipes that use Hummus in a dish, that is not a dip or sauce?”   A fitness magazine that we all admire had put out a call to all “Cooks and Foodies” for just such a recipe, and the deadline was immediate….My instant response was “NO”, I just drew a blank.  I think Hummus – I think Pita Chips!   But,  as I continued to flip (the crepes that is!), I thought about how much I love Hummus, how simple it is to make, how quick it is, how delicious it is, how economical it is …as you see,  I was going on a rant!  But guess what, the rant had an end result that we all loved. 

Together with my Kitchen Posse, we stopped the current crepe process, threw some Garbanzo Beans in a blender, and created a “healthful, delicious Hummus Entrée”.  Honestly, this was just straight up fun and the bonus…so delicious.  Now I am a realist, I know that I am not known as the “Healthful Fitness Cook”…we play with some serious butter and cream in these kitchens!  But they way I look at it is like this, if it is a natural product, one that contains all ingredients that you know and can pronounce, paired with fresh fruits, vegetables, fish or meats  – and you prepare them with love, joy and gratitude, well that is some Healthy Food!

This particular recipe just fits the bill a little more than the average bear!!! (Which we do not eat)
Sharing this with you today my friends, Enjoy!

Mediterranean Crepe with Sun Dried Tomato Hummus,
Spinach Crème and *fresh Avocado garnish.

Garnishes – are the pleasure of this dish!  We recommend, fresh avocado slices, thinly sliced red onion, goat cheese crumbles…parsley.  Whatever is in your fridge or garden could be a great garnish.  Make the crepes ahead and this is a delicious and easy dish to assemble and enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Humus
1 Can Garbanzo beans
3 Tbsp Sun dried Tomato in Oil
2 tsp minced green onion
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Garlic cloves minced
¼ tsp Red Chili flakes
In blender puree Beans, Dried Tomato w/Oil,

Green Onion, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Garlic
and Chili flakes – add 2 Tbsp water or more
to desired consistency.

Whole Wheat *Crepes
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Pinch salt
3 eggs
1 Tbsp Honey
1 ½ cups milk
1/2 cup light oil / olive oil (or butter)

Whisk flour and salt in bowl. Whisk eggs/ honey in a large bowl lightened. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups of milk, and flour until combined. Cover and refrigerate batter for 30 minutes. Heat an 8-inch skillet over medium heat for about 1 minute. Cover the surface of the pan with oil until it gets sizzling hot. Ladle some batter onto the middle of the crepe pan and immediately start swirling the pan to distribute the batter over the surface. Cook for 45 to 60 seconds or until lightly golden brown. Flip over and cook the other side for 20 seconds. Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining batter. This recipe makes 12 crepes, use what you need now and the extras freeze great, individually wrapped in waxed paper. 

Spinach Crème Sauce
2 cups desired stock or water
4 handfuls of fresh spinach
4 green onions
½ milk – 2 Tbsp Corn Starch

Bring stock to boil and add fresh spinach and green onion, soften completely and put in blender, return to pan – add ½ cup milk and cornstarch, whisk to boil.  May season further with pepper.

Assemble crepes by spreading 3 Tbsp Hummus on crepe, garnish with fresh spinach leaves, fold crepe  and  add Spinach crème sauce, add avocado slices, red onion slices, a little crumbled goat cheese – and we went wild with a little sliced olive and  balsamic splash.

The French Wedding Cake...recipe 1880!

To my friend Mark...Happy 50th Birthday and this cake was worth every minute it took!

 

French Wedding Cake…don’t change perfection!

Here is the scoop, I collect cookbooks like some women collect shoes, but honestly, I would have to be described as the Imelda Marcos of Cookbooks…they number many, many and many.  So when I stumbled on a recipe decades ago, described as one of the original wedding cakes from Alsace, dated 1880…I was so very intrigued.  I had used a recipe called”gateau au kirsch du marriage d’alwine” or Alwine’s Kirsch Wedding Cake! ”, this from the wonderful cookbook by Madeleine Kamman called “When French Women Cook”.  Tonight I went on a mad search for this very special book and recipe.  I had made this dessert in the past, one that I simply called “Old French Wedding Cake”…my footnote was “breathtaking for your mouth and eyes”.  Wow, kind of hard to top that isn’t it?  After an hour search both on my computer and bookshelves I found it…and I just have to share a little of the magic and past photos with you!

 I prepared this cake the first time for some very special guests who were celebrating their 45^th Wedding Anniversary.  The evening of this dinner was so very enchanting, two people who had not lost that “lovin feeling”….and I had the responsibility of orchestrating  that “magical evening”!  What was I thinking experimenting with a recipe from the 1800’s?  All I can say is, “I am glad I did”!   Honestly the execution of the recipe is described by Madeleine Kamman as “seems long but not difficult”…and she was correct.
 

 My modern description of this cake would be that it starts with a dream base of Jelly roll cake slices, lining a cheese cake pan (all made from scratch naturally) and then molded to form a cake base and sides, then layered with a rich, but delicate fresh tasting Strawberry Chiffon….The cake is set and when unmolded it is covered with a rich piped Chantilly Crème and fresh raspberries.  The look is wonderful, as our picture testifies…and the taste.  How can I describe this…it is so wonderful I can close my eyes and remember the cool feel in my mouth, with a rich creaminess but lightness.  I really wanted to doctor this recipe…add a little modern punch, but alas, some things are just not meant to play with.
This is the “Channel” of Cakes, and I bow to the perfection of it all.

Making this delight today again and committing the original recipe to my files.  I cannot take the chance that I might misplace this again!  I truly believe this cake belongs to special days, special occasions…and as I plan a most special celebration for this weekend, I thank the cooks that went before me – celebrating food as love and happy to share the secrets!  Thank you Eugenie for your 1800’s French Kitchen and Medeleine Kamman for your stellar legacy!  …Now, time for this French woman to cook…