Sweet and Spicy Chili

I saw a recipe for the Lion House (in Salt Lake City, UT) chili on a friends blog and thought I'd try it... As usual I made a few changes. I haven't tasted the original recipe, but I can say that my recipe has quickly become our favourite chili recipe as it's the perfect combination of spicy and sweet. I'm not the biggest fan of really spicy food, so if you like things on the spicier side you can add more chili powder, cheyenne powder, or red pepper flakes. I would recommend trying it first before you go spicier. And I'd recommend trying this even if you're not the biggest fan of chili as I took this to a potluck tonight and had someone tell they don't usually like chili that much, but liked this and wanted the recipe!

Sweet and Spicy Chili
1/2 lb ground chicken (if you like more meat in your chili you can use 1 lb)
 OR to make it vegetarian omit the chicken and add an extra can of black or kidney beans (depending on your preference) AND 1 small sliced zucchini
1 yellow / orange bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
3/4 - 1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
1 can (4 ounces) diced green chilies
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans

1 can (15 oz) black beans
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups of water
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups or so of frozen corn (can also use 1 can of corn)

Sour cream
Cheese, grated

Brown ground chicken, peppers, onion and spices together in a frying pan (using the canola oil if necessary). When cooked through add to crock pot, along with the remaining ingredients and cook on low for 4-6 hours, stirring occassionally. You can also cook this in a large pot and simmer for 45 minutes or so. I make it in a 6 quart crock pot and it's the perfect size.

Serve with sour cream and grated cheese on top and with Simple but Savory Cornbread (see recipe below).

Serves approximately 8-10.

Enjoy!

Simple but Savory Cornbread

This recipe is a combination of a very basic cornbread recipe and a more savory recipe from my sister, Rachel. I'm sure you'll agree the addition of the cheese, corn and onion make this cornbread better than any regular cornbread you've had. And the great thing is it's still very simple and uses basic ingredients you already have!

Simple but Savory Cornbread

1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup veg/canola oil
1 beaten egg (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 onion chopped
frozen or canned corn (approximately 3/4 - 1 cup - I never measure it)
cheese (approximately 1/2 - 3/4 cup, again I never measure it)

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease/PAM an 8x8 pan or muffin tins.

1) Fry onion in 1 tbsp oil, add some salt and pepper while frying.
2) Mix dry ingredients together (first 5)
3) Mix wet ingredients (next 3)
4) Add wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients, stirring until combined.

5) Add the cheese, corn, and onion.
5) Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. (Note: If making muffins, cook for approximately 22 minutes.)

Serve warm with butter and honey drizzled on top.

Enjoy!

Challah (Egg Bread)

This recipe is from one of my mum's best friends, Anne. Growing up my family LOVED her bread and couldn't understand why her kids didn't love it as much as we did. As I've always been slightly intimidated at the thought of making homemade bread until recently I'd never tried making it myself until last week. I actually made it twice in a 24 hour period as the first time I made it the dough was way too sticky so I had to add a lot more flour, then the second time I added less water so I wouldn't have to add any extra flour. I couldn't really taste a difference, but Chris said he liked the first batch better as it tasted less "yeast-y" so that's the recipe I'm sticking with. I've also added a couple things (gluten and lecithin to the original recipe because I've been using them in the breads I've been making lately and I really like the end result).

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...because this is seriously the yummiest bread ever! It's delicious to eat by itself (or with butter and strawberry freezer jam). I've also used it to make grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken panini sandwiches and think it'd be great to use for french toast as well.

Challah (Egg Bread)

8 - 9 cups flour (note: this is an estimate, exact amount of flour will vary. For more info and other basic bread making tips see here.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp yeast (I use SAF Instant Yeast)
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten (optional - will effect amount of flour used. See here.)
5 heaping tbsp lecithin granules (optional)
2 1/4 cups hot water
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil

Mix 5 cups of flour with the rest of the dry ingredients in a large bowl or Kitchen Aid bowl. In a separate small bowl mix together the eggs and oil. Add the hot water to the large bowl and put the KitchenAid on the stir setting, then add the eggs / oil. Turn the setting up to level 2 and continue to mix adding additional flour as necessary to get the right consistency. The dough will become smooth and elastic and pull away from the sides of the bowl. I let it knead in the bowl for a few minutes and then knead it by hand and form into a ball. (You can also knead the dough by hand, for approximately 10 mins instead of using a KitchenAid).

Lightly grease or spray PAM in the bowl and place dough back in the bowl with the seams down. Cover with saran wrap and a tea towel/dish towel and let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, approximately 40 mins - 1 hour. (I always turn my oven on to 200 or 225 degrees and once it warms up I turn it off and then place the dough in the warm oven to let it rise. Depending on the temperature in your house you can of course just let it rise on the counter).

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide the dough in half. Divide each half into three equal pieces and roll each piece into a long rope (I do this by putting both my hands on the middle of the piece of dough and then rolling my hands out to lengthen the dough into a rope). (Note: While working with one half, put the other half back in the bowl and cover it again so it doesn't dry out.) Place the three pieces of dough side by side and pinch the ends together and tuck the seam under. Then braid the dough (as you would braid your hair) and again pinch the ends together and tuck the end under. Place the braided loaf on stoneware or cookie sheet (if it's not no-stick be sure to spray the cookie sheet with PAM first) and brush the top with a beaten egg using a pastry brush (you can also sprinkle the top with sesame or poppy seeds after the egg wash).

Let the dough rise again until it doubles in size. Again, I cover it in saran wrap (that I've sprayed with PAM) and then a tea towel. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes.

*Note this will make two very large loaves, like a large French loaf, (see picture above). You can also cut each of the three strands in half making two smaller/shorter loaves out of each half, yielding a total of 4 loaves instead of 2. These shorter loaves will then fit in a regular loaf pan. Bake the smaller loaves for 30 minutes.

*Note this bread freezes very nicely. Either freeze an entire loaf by placing in a freezer proof ziploc, or cut some of the loaf and place the slices in a freezer proof bag.

Enjoy!

Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Vanilla Icing

Use "The Best Banana Bread" Recipe for the cupcakes and top with the cinnamon vanilla icing.

Yields 36 cupcakes.

Cinnamon Vanilla Icing
4 ounces (half a package) softened Neufchatel or Cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar

Using a hand mixer or KitchenAid, mix the softened Neufchatel cheese, melted butter and vanilla until smooth. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix until creamy. Add the milk, cinnamon and the remaining powdered sugar and beat until creamy and smooth. Top cupcakes!

Enjoy!

The Best Banana Bread Ever

This is seriously the yummiest banana bread I've ever had...and I've had my fair share of banana bread over the years. In fact, growing up banana bread was a staple at our house.

Chris got the recipe from someone in his ward back home and I can promise you that once you taste it you'll be hooked. The secret is the crushed pineapple, but not to worry if you don't like pineapple you'd never even know it was there.

The Best Banana Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bundt pan with Pam and then sprinkle with sugar.

1) Cream together:
1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
3 cups sugar
5 or 6 mashed bananas
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups milk

(Note: cream the margarine and sugar together first and then add in the rest one ingredient at a time, mixing between. make sure the margarine is soft.)

2) Mix together:
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon

3) Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until smooth.

4) Add:
2 cups nuts
1 cup crushed pineapple

(Note:I don't usually add the nuts.)

5) Pour batter into prepared pans.

(Note: I fill the bundt pan a little over half full and then make the rest into muffins or loaves.)

The bundt pan usually cooks for about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. The more batter you put in the bundt pan the longer it will take to cook. In my oven the muffins take approximately 27-28 minutes to cook, however I'd suggest starting at 20 minutes and then check them after 2-5 minute increments until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The loaf pans take approximately, so I'd suggest starting with 40 minutes and then check every 5 minutes or so. Let bread cool and then invert it onto a plate and dust powdered / icing sugar on top and serve!

(Note: This recipe is easily halved if you don't want to have quite as much batter. 1/2 recipe makes 1 loaf pan and 12 muffins. To make 1/2 recipe use 3 bananas and 2 small/medium eggs or 1 extra large egg...I know you could have figured that out yourself, but just thought I'd put it here for good measure;) )

Enjoy!