Chili for a Cold, Icy Day

There is absolutely nothing like a hot bowl of chili on a cold, cold winter day.

I have to say that while we had sub-zero temperatures a couple of weeks ago with little snow, what is happening right now is the epitome of a frigid winter day. Six inches of snow with an inch of ice on top of that and then more snow....well, it makes the idea of a bowl of chili quite heartwarming.

I don't have a particular chili recipe that I follow. Other than one recipe that the kids really like that calls for tomato juice as the base, I really kinda wing it and today was no different. What I do is take a basic recipe (beef, tomatoes, beans, chili seasoning) and start adding a dash of this and a dash of that from various other recipes that I look up in my cookbooks and the 'net both until I get a taste that is pretty good. I am almost always tasting it and deeming that it needs just a little of "something else", and then searching recipes for an ingredient that I haven't used yet.

We also really, really try to follow a fairly healthy recipe. With D's high blood pressure, I buy a lot of "no salt added" canned goods, no sodium broths and use natural flavors of fresh foods and spices to make up for the salt that I do not use.

My recipes are not always sodium free, and may even have more than may be ideal, but they definitely have less than dumping cans of this, cans of that, bouillon cubes and gobs of salt into the pot.

Now, D likes his chili HOT and SPICY. But I like a low-medium hotness, and the kids....well.....they don't desire fire breath, and neither do I. So, hot recipes I modify and figure he can add his own hot sauce to his bowl. I mean, he really has a thing for super hot peppers!

Anyway, this is one of my concoctions, and so far seems to taste pretty good. I was able to modify it with ingredients to offset some of the more hot spices so that the blend of flavors was very unique and blended well.

So, dinner on this cold, snowy day is CHILI!

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• 1- lb lean beef (I used 96/4)
• 1 - yellow onion
• 2 cans of "no salt added" kidney beans
• 3 cans of "no salt added" diced tomatoes (fresh is even better)
• 1- can of water
• 1/4 cup of chili powder
• 1- 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 2-beef bouillon cubes, lower sodium
• 1-chicken bouillon cube, lower sodium
• 1/2 cup of beer (yes, it really brings out the flavor - the alcohol evaporates so safe for kids)
• 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic (or use a bit of garlic powder, about a teaspoon)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon Splenda for baking
• 1/4 cup of pureed pineapple, with juice (YES - believe me, I was skeptical but it offsets the spiciness)

Cook the beef and onion in a large pot over high heat, chopping and stirring until the beef is cooked thoroughly

Lower heat to medium-high and add beans, tomatoes and water.

When hot, add chili powder, tomato paste, bouillon cubes. If too thick, add a bit more water.

Add the beer, Worcestershire and stir, letting it simmer for about a minute or two.

Add the rest of the spices and stir, simmering again for a few minutes.

Add the baking-splenda and add pineapple.

Stir and simmer for 2 hours hour on low. Serve.

(I added elbow macaroni for the kids too, which required more water to soak it in)

Serve with shredded cheese, and Fritos to dip are awesome too!

It also seems to get better as a leftover. YUM!

Enjoy! And stay warm!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Honestly, nothing says "fall/winter" like a nice pot of hot soup. It doesn't matter what kind of soup. Perhaps bean soup, chili, or chicken noodle soup. There's nothing more comforting than a bowl of hot soup on a chilly day.

I've already made a few soup dishes this season but have just not had time to post the dinners on the blog. I will in time, not to worry. I will be making some of the recipes again, I am certain. This is my prime soup-making season.

Tonight we are having chicken noodle soup from the crock pot. Chunks of carrots and celery, seasoned with garlic and onion and large egg noodles.....mmmmm.....even the kids eat this!!

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Ingredients

• 3-4 chicken breasts, cut up in small pieces
• 1 lb bag of baby carrots, diced
• 6-7 stalks of celery, cut up
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 32 oz of low sodium chicken broth
• 8 oz bag of whole wheat egg noodles
• water as needed

Place all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours. Add the egg noodles during the last hour of cooking. Add spices as needed. (I sprinkle in a bit of thyme, garlic powder and parsley).

Serve with crackers and sandwiches.

Easy, no fuss dinner!

Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ooooh, this was a fantastic meal!

This past weekend, D and I had some house guests. I wanted to make a nice dinner for them, and set out browsing some of my Cooking Light magazines for a dish that was suitable for their dietary needs due to dieting, cultural and religious reasons.

I found this recipe in the March 2008 issue and decided to give it a go. The recipe called for chicken thighs, but I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts. The magazine offered up nutritional information for the entree itself, but I am not sure how using chicken breasts vs chicken thighs might have altered that content.

In any case, here is the nutritional information for the casserole entree itself:

498 calories
19 grams of fat
38 grams of protein
43 grams of carbs
3 mg of iron
765 mg of sodium (mine had less because I omitted the salt)

With this entree, we had broiled tomatoes and Green Beans with warm bacon dressing.

The recipe called for regular pork bacon, but I used turkey bacon to accommodate our guests restrictions. It was pretty good and I didn't miss the additional fat the pork bacon would have added to the meal.

The dinner was wonderful.

Dinner Tonight was:
Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserole
Green Beans with warm Bacon dressing
Broiled Tomatoes
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Ingredients for Parmesan Chicken and Rice Casserole

• 1 cup of chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (3.5 ounces) boil-in-a-bag brown rice (I actually cooked brown rice instead of using this)
• 2 lbs chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of thyme
• 2 cups of fat free, lower sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons of whipping cream
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Coat with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; saute 2 minutes. Add garlic; saute 30 seconds. Add cooked rice to pan; saute 30 seconds. Spoon rice mixture from skillet into a large casserole dish coated with cooking spray in an even layer.
3. Arrange chicken breasts in a single layer over rice mixture. Combine broth and cream in bowl; whisk. Pour over chicken and rice mixture. Sprinkle thyme over chicken evenly.
4. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until chicken is done.

Makes 4 servings

Green Beans in Warm Bacon Dressing Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh, trimmed green beans
• 4 strips of bacon
• 1/4 cup shallots
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1. Cook green beans in boiling water for 3 minutes.
2. Drain.
3. Cook 4 strips of bacon in skillet over medium heat until crisp.
4. Remove bacon from pan and crumble
5. Add shallots to pan drippings; cook for 3 minutes
6. Add 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar; cook 1 minute (I didn't do this)
7. Add green beans. Toss to coat
8. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

Broiled Tomatoes

• 4 tomatoes
• basil
• parmesan cheese

1. Halve the tomatoes
2. sprinkle with basil and Parmesan
3. Broil for 2-3 minutes

Chicken, Potato and Lemon Green Beans

Another meal as a family! I absolutely love sitting down to the dinner table as a family with the kids, and I love even more that we are eating more and more healthy foods and teaching the kids that not only is eating as a family important, but eating healthy is too.

We've also started a new "family" activity, and that is taking a walk (1 mile) directly after dinner down our country road. The kids love this, and during times when they may not be here it becomes a nice, quiet and undistracted time for D and I to catch up with one another. The walk is beautiful, and being taken at dusk only enhances the beauty.

However, this is about healthy meals and what we had for dinner tonight was healthy. I am on a new low glycemic index diet, I believe I have mentioned in previous posts. So our dinners here lately will reflect that.

Tonight we had:

Salad with Vegetables and oil/vinegar dressing
Grilled Chicken with herbs
Baked Potato
Lemon Green Beans
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Grilled/Broiled Chicken Ingredients
(servings: 1)

• 1/3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 oz boneless chicken breast

Pre-heat broiler or grill. Rinse and pat chicken dry. Whisk olive oil and spices together in a pie plate; add chicken and coat. If possible, cover and marinate in fridge for 30 minutes. Grill or broil chicken for 5-7 minutes, then turn and cook an additional 5-6 minutes or until inside is no longer pink. Serve.
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Baked Potato

• 1 small potato

Scrub potato and prick with fork. Bake in 375 degrees for 50 minutes.

Serve.


Lemon Green Beans

• 1 cup frozen green beans
• 1/3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Microwave or steam green beans according to package directions.

Drain thoroughly.

Toss with lemon juice and oil; sprinkle with oregano.

Serve.

Steak Dinner

Mmmmm.....last night we had steak. It was a small portion, and the loin cut and broiled so it was a nice treat. We don't cook steak all that often.

This was indeed a night where I cooked something different for the kids. Easy and likable kid food, like corn dogs. Steak, broccoli and rice just wasn't something they would eat.

So, on the menu last night was:

Broiled Steak
Brown Rice
Steamed Broccoli
Fresh Strawberries

All ingredient measurements are for 1 serving, so multiply that as you need for however many you are feeding.
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Steak Ingredients

4 oz beef steak, loin cut

Grill or broil steak for about 4-6 minutes on each side for medium or cook to desired doneness.

(Boy that was easy!)

Brown Rice

2/3 cup of brown rice
1 1/3 cup of water

Cook rice according to package directions. Usually, this means you place the rice and water in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, lower the heat, then cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Steamed Broccoli
(I used fresh broccoli and steamed it in my steamer)

1 cup of frozen broccoli
1 teaspoon Parmesan Cheese

Place broccoli in microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave for about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

Bon appetit!

Chicken, Sweet Potato and Spinach Salad

You got it! Another family dinner around the table for four of us here at my house. And Mom is following a Low Glycemic Index Diet, which means that for the most part, that affects everyone at dinner!

We were already trying to eat healthier, so that's not a big issue. It's just that with this diet, I have only select options for dinner, so trying to find one that we ALL will eat is a challenge.

Nonetheless, we're doing it. It is also introducing the kiddos to some foods that I don't normally cook, like tonight with the sweet potatoes. The kids didn't eat them although they were included on their plate. Both did try it. So, that's all I ask is that they attempt it. I don't push my kids to eat something if they don't want it. I won't, except in certain circumstances (usually planned), fix them something else, though. So - they eat what they have or don't. I do try to make sure, as I have said before, that I include something on the menu that they will eat and tonight I did a bit extra for them so they'd eat the chicken. While D and I had the recipe as I will share it, I brushed BBQ sauce on the kids' pieces to make it more appealing to them. Small compromise to get them to eat it.

Dinner Tonight was low fat and low sodium. The serving size that I will be listing in the recipe is for one, so if you are cooking for multiple people, multiply it by whatever you need to.

Baked Chicken Baked Sweet Potato Spinach-Strawberry Salad
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Chicken Ingredients

• 3 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and pat dry the chicken; rub with garlic and black pepper and any other spices of your choice. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Baked Sweet Potato Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Scrub potato and pierce with a fork. Put in oven before the Chicken and bake for 45-60 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes. Split, sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

Spinach Strawberry Salad Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup fresh sliced strawberries
• 3 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Rinse and dry spinach. Toss spinach with strawberries and balsamic vinegar in a bowl. Top with walnuts and serve.



See. A Super Easy and Healthy dinner.

Healthy Tacos

D and I have started a low glycemic index diet. (How long will that last? Stay tuned!)

In this, I am following a certain diet that provides me with the recipes to follow this kind of diet for each meal. And last night's dinner just happened to be Beef Tacos with a cup of red grapes.

The serving size is 2 taco shells plus 3 oz of beef (1/1/2 oz for each shell) plus lettuce, a bit of cheese, salsa and avacado.

It's relatively simple, really. I have another blog - an actual diet blog - which I may actually post out the actual food I am eating during the day, breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner all - and I will include the link here at some point in the near future for anyone interested.

In any case, this was an easy dinner. The kids, as usual, had their bean and cheese burritos, so the theme of the food was not lost on them.

Tacos

3 oz of lean ground beef (I use the 96/4 lean)
1/4 cup of diced onion
dash of paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons of salsa
1 ounce of shredded low fat cheddar
lettuce
chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped avocado

2 corn taco shells

Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the onion.

Add the paprika, chili powder and garlic powder while cooking.

Add the salsa.

Spoon into taco shells, top with cheddar, lettuce, tomato and avocado.

Our recipe called for a cup of grapes to be eaten with this dinner too. So, that's optional for you.