White Bean and Chicken Chili

I found this recipe in a recent issue of Bon Appétit—it’s one the magazine reprinted from JW’s Food & Spirits in Grand Haven, Michigan. Although I planned to make it Sunday night, I forgot to defrost the chicken so it had to wait until Monday. After throwing the first few ingredients in with the olive oil, I realized the chicken needed to be cooked (duh). Luckily that was no big deal since chopped chicken is pretty easy to whip up in a pan on the stovetop.

I will warn you that if you’re not a fan of spicy food, this really is not the chili for you. The jalapeños add a lot of flavor—you definitely don’t want to leave them out.

OK, away we go!

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tbsp chopped pickled jalapeño peppers, from a jar
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 (15-oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained
1 lb cooked chicken breast, chopped
1/2 cup half and half

Directions

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium high heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño and sauté until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, chili powder, and cumin and sauté 1 minute.

Add broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.

Add beans, chicken and half and half. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and enjoy. (I left out this part—it is plenty seasoned without salt and pepper.)

Chocolate Chip Macaroons

This recipe is tricky because it’s so simple. You ever have one of those cooking/baking moments? You know, when you look at a recipe and it looks so easy to make? And then you’re in the middle of making whatever it is and something you never even thought of happens that complicates the entire dish? Yeah, that happened to me with this recipe from Favorite Brand Name Cookies (Publications International, Ltd.).

The recipe is only four ingredients—flaked coconut, mini semisweet chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. You mix everything, slap little dough balls on a cookie sheet and bake them. Easy enough, right? Well, almost. I had two problems. The first was that these cookies break apart easily when they’re not cooked. Getting them out of the spoon and on the cookie sheet was a bit more difficult than I would have liked. Then you have to flatten them with the back of a spoon which sometimes causes them to separate. But even though both issues were nuisances, the major issue I had was with greasing the cookie pans. Or, in my case, not greasing them. I usually ignore greasing pans because most types of cookies I make don’t really need to be baked that way. It turns out macaroons really need to be made on greased cookie pans (or greased aluminum foil—that’s what I usually line my pans with). You could also use parchment paper as my friend and co-worker Ashley suggested. If you don’t use any of these techniques, you will spend quite a bit of time peeling macaroons off your cookie sheets or aluminum foil and breaking some of them in the process. Which you don’t want to do because they taste like Mounds bars and that rules.

Consider yourselves warned. Now, on to the recipe!

2 ½ cups flaked coconut (I used generic sweetened coconut)
2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Combine ingredients and mix until well blended. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonful 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Press dough gently with back of spoon to flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets 1 minute. Remove cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

Chili Chicken Tacos

Hmm. I'm beginning to think I need to branch out. This is yet another Martha Stewart recipe that I tried. But you know what? There's a reason she's got so much dough (am I funny or what?). If even your jacked up recipes taste good, you've got skills. Lucky for me, this recipe wasn't at all jacked up and the result was spicy, tasty, yummy grub.

One of the best things about cool/cold weather is that the slow cooker makes a comeback. There are so many different things you can make in the slow cooker and the three reasons this quintessential kitchen item rules are (1) it's about the easiest way to make a meal, ever, (2) any kind of meat you cook in it comes out moist, tender and falling apart and (3) the smell from the slow cooker makes your house smell awesome. Well, unless you cook a lot of broccoli in there. Which I never have.

This particular recipe is from Everyday Food and gets two large thumbs up from my husband. Enjoy!

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup prepared tomato salsa, plus more for serving (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1 tablespoon chili powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 hard corn taco shells
Cilantro, shredded cheese, lime wedges, and sour cream, for serving (optional)

In slow cooker, combine chicken, garlic, salsa, chiles, chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper. Cover; cook on high, 4 hours (or on low, 8 hours).

Transfer chicken to a serving bowl, and shred, using two forks; moisten with cooking juices. Serve in taco shells, with toppings, if desired.

A couple of notes:

*I left out the salt. You don't even miss it.
*I used corn tortillas instead of hard taco shells. That’s how I like my regular tacos so it tasted great to me. I always heat up the tortillas in the microwave or fry them in a little oil on the stovetop—I like them better when they’re a little warm.
*I decided against the cilantro, cheese and lime and instead went with avocado and sour cream. My husband decided to use just avocado. The chicken gets so spicy that you don’t really need many toppings to add flavor.

Extraordinary Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thank my friend Erin for this recipe she got off the back of a Gold Medal flour bag! I halved the recipe and still ended up with 36 delicious cookies.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag (24 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350.

In large bowl, beat butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in chocolate chips.

On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by tablespoonfuls or #40 cookie/ice cream scoop 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

A few notes from Erin:

*I used two sticks of salted and one of unsalted for the butter.
*I used dark brown sugar.
*I used Trader Joe's milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet.

A few notes from me:

*As I mentioned, I halved the recipe. A great idea if you don't have ravenous neighbors like Erin does. :)
*I used unsalted butter and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

As always, ovens vary. The oven in my new house seems to need about one to two extra minutes to cook things (possibly because it's larger than my old apartment oven, but who knows). Fifteen minutes seemed about right for a perfectly baked cookie.

Spinach and Prosciutto Lasagna

On Thursday night I decided to make a nice hot dinner since my husband has been sick with a cold. I found a recipe a little while ago in Everyday Food (Martha Stewart) for spinach and prosciutto lasagna—it sounded good and looked very easy to make, so I gave it a shot.

Here’s the thing. As I mentioned in my other blog, I love Martha and her recipes, but every once in a while I try one of her recipes and it’s all jacked up. This was one of those recipes. The measurements were really off. By that I mean I precisely followed the recipe, but realized a little less than halfway through that I had way more filling and sauce/prosciutto mix than I needed to fill the lasagna. I ended up adding an extra layer to the lasagna, plus I added more filling and sauce/prosciutto mix to each layer. Even so, I still ended up with leftover ingredients. Annoying and, more importantly (particularly given the country’s economic woes), not terribly cost effective. I didn’t have enough left over to make another lasagna, so I ended up having to trash the remainder. I hate being a food waster.

Anyway, the recipe is below. Despite all my griping, the dish itself tasted really good, plus it didn’t take longer to cook even with the extra layer and additional filling. I would recommend trying it out if you don’t mind having to fudge things a little. I think after a couple tries you can find a way to make sure all ingredients are used.

2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta
1 garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 1/2 cups jarred tomato sauce (I like Bertolli Organic Olive Oil, Basil & Garlic)
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, finely chopped
6 no-boil lasagna noodles (I used Barilla)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella (4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make filling: In a medium bowl, stir together spinach, ricotta, garlic, teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside. In another medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce and prosciutto.

In an 8-inch square baking dish, spread cup tomato sauce. Layer 2 noodles, 1/3 filling, and 1/3 remaining tomato sauce; repeat twice. Top with mozzarella. Bake until browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

BTW, my husband loved it so much he ate three pieces.

Blackberry Crumb Bars

I made this last night for a small dinner party. It was my first try and the dessert was a hit. Once again, all praise for the lovely Ms. Martha Stewart.

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, and 1/2 cup (1 stick), room temperature, plus more for pan
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 containers (5 oz each) blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter and flour paper, tapping out excess.

Make topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and teaspoon salt; add 1 cup flour, and mix with a fork until large moist crumbs form. Refrigerate topping until ready to use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and remaining teaspoon salt; set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture. Spread batter evenly in pan; sprinkle with blackberries, then chilled topping.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares.

Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Martha Stewart makes my mouth water.

Ahem. I mean, her recipe makes my mouth water. Hee.

I received this recipe in the mail as a housewarming gift when I notified several of her magazines I was moving. I managed to pawn off two dozen on the neighbors or I would have eaten all of them myself. I think next time I'll add a little more banana--it's very subtle in the recipe and I'd like to be able to taste it a bit more.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)
1 cup old-fashioned oats
8 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely cut into 1/4-inch chunks
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (the recipe calls for them to be toasted, but they taste just fine untoasted)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flours, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put butter and sugars into bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate chunks and walnuts.

Using 1-1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes and transfer to wire rack to complete cooling.

Can be stored in airtight containers up to 2 days if not all eaten immediately.