Quinoa Chili

Lately I have been a little obsessed with Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah). It is what you might call a superfood. It's packed with protein, supplies all nine essential amino acids, and is filled with all sorts of minerals and other good stuff that nutritionists want us to eat. It is perfect for vegetarians and vegans or anyone else who is trying to eat meat a little more sparingly, but it also make an excellent side dish (like rice) and is good for salads (maybe a tabboulehesque sort of thing).
We had just loaded up on some from the bulk food section at WinCo (how can they sell food so cheap?!)when Anne received an e-mail from her cousin with a recipe starring Quinoa. How did she know it was my favorite food of the month?
When I got home from work tonight (the reason my blog has been seriously neglected lately--see link on the side) I walked into a fragrant house with a set table--ice water and everything, and a meatless, low-fat, protein-filled gesture of my wife's love--I'm a lucky man.
I recommend this dish whole-heartedly. I loved it loved it loved. The cinnamon adds a subtle depth that I think you will enjoy. If this is your first time with Quinoa, do not be afraid. It's easy to cook and quite neutral, like a brown rice maybe, but lots smaller.

2 cans kidney beans, rinsed & drained (or whatever beans you like)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoon salt
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed in warm water &
cup frozen corn
1 can tomato sauce, low salt (about 2 cups)
1 cup water
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onions, and sauté until tender. Add salt, garlic, pepper and spices; sauté for 5-10 minutes. Add rinsed quinoa and stir in. Add corn, tomato sauce, and water to onion/quinoa mixture. Simmer together 20 minutes. Add beans to the pot and simmer another 15 minutes. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, sliced avocadoes or whatever else you like to put on chili. Makes 6-8 (1 Cup) Servings.

French Onion Soup

Everyone loves french onion soup and it's very easy to make. Of course, you're supposed serve it in these fancy little bowls with the lion faces on them, but I don't have any of those.
So here's what you need to do:
Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat and add 3 lbs of sliced onions. Cook the onions, stirring periodically, until they turn a deep, rich brown. The importance of reaching this state cannot be over-emphasized. Browning the onions coaxes out the sweet, caramely flavor from the onions' natural sugars. As they cook, they will decrease in volume considerably as all the water evaporates. Once they start changing color, you'll need to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pot when you stir. This is about what they should like--it will take about an hour.

Once the onions are browned, add 1 cup of dry sherry (I know, back to the liquor store-if you leave it out, it will turn out fine, but adding it gives it depth and richness) and 2 quarts of beef broth (always buy low sodium broth if you can--it just tastes better). Bring it all up to a boil and let it simmer for 10 or 20 minutes.

At this point, you have delicious soup, but if you really want to make it wonderful, then toast some slices of baguette, place a toast on top of each bowl of soup, and cover it with some grated cheese (gruyere, emmentaler, or any swiss) and pop them under the broiler until the cheese is melted and starting to brown. Before doing this make sure your bowls are oven-safe. Alternatively, you can use a torch to do the job. Of course, in most people's kitchens, oven-safe bowls are probably easier to come by than blow torches.

Potato Spinach Soup with Parmesan Toasts

This one's another Old Mother Hubbard meal. The only vegetables in the house were a box of frozen spinach, half an onion, and a potato. I chopped the onion and sauteed it in a pot with a couple tbsp. of butter until it was soft. Then I peeled and chopped the potato and put it, the spinach, and 3 cups of chicken or vegetable broth in the pot with the onions. I let it boil until the potato was soft, then added a cup of milk and put it in the blender. I pureed it and put it back in the pot over medium-low heat and added 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1 tsp. of black pepper, and about 1/2 tsp. salt.
To make the parmesan toasts, I toasted some chewy bread, buttered it, sprinkled on some parmesan, and broiled them. Then I cut them up into strips.
Easy, huh?
Oh, to make the white squiggles, I mixed some milk into a little bit of sour cream and swirled it on top.
You can use the same method to make soup out of just about anything depending on what you have.

Chicken Soup

Home made chicken soup is divine and can be easy if you take some shortcuts. Of course it's very gratifying and supremely tasty to make your own chicken broth from scratch, but you can also buy some good pre-made stocks at the grocery store.

To make the broth from scratch, start with a roasted chicken (buy one at Costco, or do it yourself). Pull all the meat off and put it in the fridge until the stock is ready. Put the carcass (I know that sounds gross, but let's call a spade a spade people) in a pot with a chopped onion, a chopped carrot, and a chopped stalk of celery. Cover the bones and veggies with water and let it sit at a light boil for 1-2 hours. Strain it, saving the broth and pitching the rest of it, and put the broth into the fridge. Once it cools, scrape the fat off the top.

To make the soup, put 1 quart of broth in a pot with one stalk of celery and one carrot, both chopped. Boil the veggies until they're as soft as you like them, then add some chopped, cooked chicken (probably somewhere between 1/2 and 1 cup) and about 1/2 a pound of fresh fettucine cut into little strips (the stuff you can buy in the refrigerator section near the cheese is tasty).
Cook the pasta according to the direction on the package, and add the juice of 1/2 of a fresh lemon (I love adding lemon to chicken soup. Even if you use Campbell's, you should try the lemon). If you made your own broth, you'll have to add some salt to taste.

Chili Cook-Off

Last week, our church put on a chili cook-off, something I had never before participated in. I decided it would be a fun opportunity for the 16, 17, and 18-year-old boys I teach at church to learn a thing or two about cooking. So together we created an entry, and wonder of wonders--we won! Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture until the pot had been entirely drained by hungry Mormons--the picture does, however, illustrate that my worst nightmare (bringing food home from a potluck) did not come to fruition. Phewph!

We cooked this two days before our event and I think it made it even better.

For about 6 quarts:

Toast 8 dried New Mexico Chiles (look in the mexican section of the grocery store) in a dry pan until they're fragrant, but not at all blackened, then remove the stems and seeds (kitchen shears work nicely for the task) and throw them, and

2 tbsp. chili powder

2 tbsp. ground coriander

1 tbsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. sweet paprika

1 tbsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. sugar

into a food processor and run it until you have a powder.

Put 6 lbs. Beef (chuck roast or something like it) cut into 1/2-1 inch cubes seasoned with salt and pepper, and 4 onions (chopped) into a large pot (at least 10 quarts) and cover with enough water to submerge the meat by about an inch. then add:

10 cloves of garlic, minced

6 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced (scrape the seeds out to keep the heat under control)

1 28 oz. can of tomatoes, squished by hand

1 small can of tomato paste

and the chile powder you just made.

Bring it up to simmer (just barely bubbling--not a boil) and let it cook for 2-3 hours (until the meat is very tender and falls apart with any pressure). You may need to add more water during that time.

add 2 can pinto beans and simmer for another hour. Taste it and add some salt if it needs it (it probably will).

Serve it with saltines, chees, sour cream, cilantro, and/or breen onions.

Fresh Zucchini Soup

Now's the time when everyone who planted zucchini is drowning in the abundance of those tender little squashes. I've heard that in Rexburg, the only time of year that you have to lock your doors is during zucchini season so that people don't overload you with their excess while you're away. The worst is when you are negligent with your harvesting and return to discover 10 lb. behemoths that could make enough zucchini bread to feed your entire city.

So here's an idea to help you use up some of your oversized zukes. This soup is super fast and easy, but it is definitely a side dish. We ate it along with BLTs (our friends Jared and Rachel gave us some beautiful, fresh tomatoes). This recipe will make enough for about six servings.

In a soup pot,

saute 1 chopped yellow onion in some butter

add 8-10 cups of quartered and sliced zucchini and saute until tender

Add 28 oz (2 cans) of chicken broth (or vegetable if you want to make it vegetarian)

Add 1 cup of milk, half n half, or cream (depending on how rich you want it) and bring to a light boil

Use an immersion blender (aka stick blender, hand blender, etc.) to puree the veggies (alternatively, use a regular blender, but let the soup cool first--NEVER START A BLENDER WITH HOT LIQUID INSIDE!--it will explode!) Bring back to a simmer and add 1 cup of grated asiago, romano, or parmesan cheese

Season with salt and black pepper.

You could use the same method with lots of veggies, including broccoli, spinach, asparagus, potatoes, etc.