Vegetarian Chili with Corn Bread Muffins

Chili is most definitely not a meal I’ve ever been used to having growing up in my household… Once again, it’s one of those dishes that my mom doesn’t really enjoy thus never bothered making it for us. I guess I’m looking to rebel because I try to make dishes like these just to prove her wrong about what qualifies as a good meal and what doesn’t. I have to say: this chili was actually pretty good and even my brother ate his entire bowl. He didn’t realize there were any vegetables in it I guess… The response I got from my mom for this recipe was very positive so I encourage you to all try this one! She says, and I quote: “This was really good. I would never order it in a restaurant and so long as you never make it again, I enjoyed it.” I have NO IDEA what that means, but in her words, that’s very positive!

Ingredients for the Chili:

1 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil

1 Cup of Chopped Celery

1 Pepper (yellow is always my go-to colour)

1 Yellow Onion (chopped)

2-3 Cloves of Garlic (minced)

1 Can Diced Tomatoes

1 Can of Vegetarian Spicy Chili (I used an organic tofu can from Whole Foods, nobody noticed)

1 Can of Kidney Beans

1 Can of Black Beans

1 Tbsp of Cumin

1 Tbsp of Chili Powder

1 Tsp of Red Pepper Flakes

Green Onion

In a Dutch oven, or beautiful Le Creuset pot, heat the oil on medium high heat. Cook the celery, onion, pepper and garlic for 3 minutes.

Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat. Simmer for an hour. Sprinkle with grated cheese, sliced green onion and sour cream (we didn’t have any!) and enjoy.

Ingredients for the Cornbread:

1 Cup of Flour

1 ½ Cup of Cornmeal

2 Tsp of Baking Powder

½ Tsp of Baking soda

½ Tsp of Salt

1/4 Tsp of Pepper

1 ¼ Cup of Milk

1 Egg

4 Tbsp of Butter (melted)

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a larger bowl, whisk the egg, butter and milk. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until combined, and dough-like. Fill a greased muffin pan (12 regular sized muffins, 24 minis) ¾ full and bake in a 400-degree oven for 15 minutes. The muffins should be golden on the top. Serve warm (always with butter) as a side for the vegetarian chili.

Bon Appétit!

Brie and Apple Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is a good example of what happens when I crave Brie-en-croute but have no puff pastry. I absolutely wanted to used up the brie we had in the freezer and I didn't really care how I ate it, it just couldn't be with bread either because we didn't have any at the time. This dish was so simple and easy to make and I'm confident it could be turned into some-kind of amazing sandwich as well!

Ingredients:

4 skinless chicken breasts

125g of Brie (it's best to have it slightly frozen so it doesn't completely fall apart when you cut it into tiny pieces

2 apples, peeled and in chunks

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp of Oil, Butter, whatever you like best

1. Slice the chicken in half horizontally but not all the way as to separate the two halves. Use the meat pounder to tenderize (and thin out the chicken until it is relatively thin (around half an inch)

2. In a pan, melt the oil, fry the garlic and onions for 2-3 minutes, stir in the apple chunks and cook until they apples are very soft.

3. Cut the brie into small pieces.

4. Once the apples are cooked, place the mixture evenly on top of each chicken breast, top with evenly divided brie as well.

5. Roll the chicken breast as tightly as possible and place seam down in a baking dish. Repeat for all breasts.

6. Cover dish tightly with foil and place in a 350-degree oven for an hour.

7. Serve immediately so the cheese is still melted.

Bon Appetit!

Cheesy Garlicky Bread (FAIL)

This recipe is a perfect example of how amateur I really am at this "cooking" thing. I had this incredible, super simple idea for a delicious tear-apart bread (did you see this amazing cinnamon tear-apart bread I made?) with garlic butter and cheese in between the slices instead of sweet cinnamon goodness. However, life got in the way of the making the bread, and the dough was NOT happy I left it rising in the oven with a bowl of hot water and the bread proof setting on. NOT HAPPY AT ALL. This is what I came home to:

I thought all hope was lost, so I pulled the edges off to bake what was only left in the pan. The bread immediately deflated completely, so I piled all the dough back into the loaf pan and decided to bake it, regardless of how badly I had messed it up.

I don't have a specific recipe to post for this post. I used "Simple Machine Bread dough", let the bread machine do all the kneading, let it rise one hour, took it out, rolled it out flat. smeared garlic butter and cheddar all over it like a pizza, sliced long vertical slices, which i piled ontop of each other. I then cut 3 inch squared and layered those vertically in a loaf pan in a warm oven.

I was supposed to let it rise another hour before baking it in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes, but I ended up letting it rise for 4 extra hours before baking.

The results were surprisingly delicious (you can't really go wrong with garlic butter and cheese!)

It's one to try, and watch, and it a sure winner with soup on the side!

Bon Appetit!

Martha Stewart Inspired Muffin-Pan Potato Gratin

I was looking for a new way to make potatoes because roasted and mashed do get boring when baked potatoes aren’t your thing… (I welcome all suggestions by the way) and I found these Bad Boys on the Martha Stewart website. They are the easiest recipe I’ve ever made and they were so beyond delicious as a side for an even more delicious roast beef (Prime rib!) So please do yourself a favour and make these next time you feel like having potatoes. Another favour you’d have to do yourself is to buy a food processor if you don’t already have one because they are SO USEFUL.

Ingredients:

6 Medium sized russet potatoes (actually quite small is ideal), peeled

12 Tbsp of Heavy Cream (yumm)

Salt and pepper

Non-stick spray

A regular sized muffin pan (with 12 muffins)

Grated cheese to top

1. Slice the already peeled potatoes in the food processor.

2. Spray the muffin-pan with the non-stick spray

3. Layer two potato slices in each muffin mold.

4. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the muffin molds are full (don’t go too overboard)

6. Slowly pour 1 Tbsp of heavy cream onto each “muffin” trying to keep the cream from spilling onto the edges.

7. Top with grated cheese

8. Place in a 400-degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until crispy golden on the outside, and tender when pierced with a knife.

Bon Appétit!

Lasagna Spinach Rolls

I made this for dinner earlier this week and it was so good. What made it good was not only the abundance of cheese (mmm) but the tomato sauce was excellent too. It was Mediterranean and was flavored with all kinds of olives, which everybody loved! It’s a quick meal and I feel like it’s a lot easier to make than a full lasagna would be. Try it out!

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups of spinach, cooked and drained, and very finely chopped

A small yellow onion, chopped

2 Tbsp of Garlic butter (having garlic butter permanently stocked in the fridge is a great idea)

1 cup of Ricotta

Salt and Pepper

6-8 Lasagna sheets (depending on how big your baking dish is)

1 Can or jar of seasoned tomato sauce

1 cup of shredded mozzarella as well as some shredded Parmesan

Boil the lasagna sheets in a large pot until they are tender, but not overcooked… around 6-7 minutes. Once they are cooked, rinse with cold water and pat them dry.

While the pasta is cooking, fry the onions in melted garlic butter. Once cooked, stir in the spinach until well combined. Remove from heat. Stir in the ricotta, salt and pepper.

Lay the pasta sheets flat on the counter. Evenly place spinach mixture on sheets except for an inch or so at the end of each sheet. Roll them up gently starting by the end where the spinach is touching the edge.

Place a bit of tomato sauce at the bottom of the dish, place the rolls down side by side in the dish, coat with the rest of the tomato sauce. Finally, add the cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes in a 425-degree oven. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes in a 425-degree oven, or until the cheese is nice and golden.

Remove from heat and let sit a few minutes before serving. Slice the cheese in a way to separate each roll, and serve with a Cesar salad.

Bon Appétit!

Zucchini Soup “Verdurette”

I grew up with this French soup, except I’ve revamped it a little bit as my mother does NOT like to add broth, salt or any flavour to her cooking. It’s creamy, healthy and pretty darn good for a soup with only three ingredients!

Ingredients:

6 medium sized zucchinis (cut into large chunks with peels)

3 cups of vegetable broth

6 Vache-qui-rit Cheese triangles (one per zucchini)

1. Bring broth and zucchini to boil in a large pot.

2. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

3. Use immersion blender until creamy.

4. Add cheese, let it melt and stir until combined.

Bon Appetit!