Chili 5- Way and a slightly less psychotic Mel Gibson

So it's absolutely freezing in Bloomington tonight and instead of my original plan of going to the Vid to have a couple of PBRs and watching the weekly Bloomington 40 year old creeper feature attempt to troll the bars for fresh meat, I decided to stay in and make chili and watch a movie instead with David. On the screen tonight, Braveheart...and it makes me a little sad to see what Mel Gibson has become. Maybe it might just be me, but I just don't think that people suddenly wake up insane. He was just a little more popular in the day so he was able to keep the batshit crazy under wraps a little better, and as we all know, people get crazier in their old age...


Before--(pre anti-semitic, drunken, woman bashing stage):

Now--(following a Google image search of "Crazy Mel Gibson"):

I don't feel like words are needed to explain the second picture...so just take it for what is it...Ol' Crazy Mel with his hand up a beaver puppet's butt. You fill in the blanks. =/


As for the chili, it was absolutely delicious! Albeit a tad spicy, but I tend to like things super spicy because I am always congested in one form or another. Here's the recipe that I came up with:

-1 lb lean ground beef (96%)
-Salt and black pepper
-2 teaspoons olive oil
-1/2 cup diced celery
-1/2 cup diced green peppers
-1/2 cup diced red peppers 
-1 cup diced onions
-2 tablespoons chili powder
-2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
-1 1/2 tablespoon cumin
-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
-One 15-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes
-One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
-One 15-ounce can chili beans
-One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes with chili
-2 tbsp tomato paste
-2 cups water
-One 15-ounce can red chili beans

First, Start off by browning your meat in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. I like to add salt,pepper, a pinch or two of chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin just to give the meat a little flavor. After browning, drain the meat and set aside. Next, add 2 tbsp olive oil to the same pot that you browned the meat in, add the onions and celery, and sautée for 5 minutes. Next, add the red and green peppers and sautée for another 4 minutes. 


Okay, now for the good stuff! Add the rest of ingredients(browned meat, spices, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, water and chili beans). Feel free to adjust the level of heat from the chili powders, because I know that I have a pretty insane tolerance for spicy food since I always seem to have a stuffy nose. Bring everything to a boil for about 3 minutes while covered, then lower the heat to medium low and allow to simmer for 1-2 hours while still covered. 
To make it a chili 5-Way:


Boil some spaghetti according to box directions, chop a medium onion into a medium dice, sprinkle with some chopped cilantro and break out the medium shredded cheddar cheese. Delicious! <3

Et Voilà! My chili 5-way!

Roasted Tomato-Basil Soup (with a side of debilitating allergies & inappropriate music videos featuring the 9 year-old children of movie stars...)

So I just watched 9 year-old Willow Smith's video for "Whip My Hair " and I have officially decided that my future children are doomed. Here's a taste of this:


I'ma get more shine than a little bit 
Soon as i hit the stage applause I'm hearing it 
whether its black stars black cars I'm feeling it 
but can't none of them whip it like i do 
I, i gets it in mmmm yea i go hard 
when they see me pull up i whip it real hard 
i whip it real hard,real hard,i whip it real hard 

Well maybe I've been a little too influenced by Jersey Shore, but the phrase "gettin' it in" has been permanently associated with the sexual wrongdoings of the  two creatures known as "a Situation" and "the elusive Snooki"(as seen above getting arrested for "being annoying"...seriously, that was the charge the judge placed against her..look it up)! Snooki also turns into this when water hits her/someone is brave enough to spawn with her...

When my child comes home from school with a $3000+ manicure and weave and tells me that she infiltrated a children's mental institution and brought joy to them by dipping her hair in paint and flinging her hair back and forth I will know that I may have inhaled the scents of too much cooking wine during my pregnancy...and it might be time to lay off the sauce. No In all fairness I'm just kidding...but I am hearing a rumor that chastity belts are coming back in style..just saying kids, everyone cool is wearing one! Okay enough ranting about the future Ke$has of the world. 


In other news, Bloomington may be beautiful  in the fall, but God does it reek havoc on my allergies. Walking around campus, it seems like this is becoming less of a college campus and more of a Leper/TB colony, it's pretty downright disgusting. Since it was kind of cold today and I was so stuffy and lethargic from a first time allergy to sushi last night, I decided that a soup would be the best option. I went with roasted tomato-basil soup with roasted garlic. It was a nice vegetarian soup full of vitamin C and other nice nutrients so hopefully I will manage to ward off the plague for a few more days. It also is technically my first "college friendly budget" recipe.


You're going to need the following:


-2 1/2 lbs nice meaty tomatoes like plum or beefsteak, cut into fourths (I used big hydroponic tomatoes because they were on sale this week) 
-2-3 Stalks of celery, medium chop
-1 Large red onion, cut into sixths
-1 Head of garlic with the top sliced off exposing the cloves
-2 Carrots, peeled and small to medium chopped
-1 Cup Half & half
-15 to 20 Basil Leaves (Fresh)
-3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese(or less depending on preferences)
-2 1/4 cups Water
-3 to 4 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- kosher salt
-pepper
-olive oil
-aluminum foil


First, Preheat your oven to to around 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place chopped vegetables including garlic, onto the tray. Drizzle with Olive Oil liberally and make sure every vegetable is coated so they don't burn up too quickly. Next, liberally apply salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder if you are feeling adventurous. Stick it into the oven for 25-35 minutes, checking periodically, and when they are done it should look like this:

The next step calls for an immersion blender, but since I don't have one I got some use out of my brand new food processor! Spoon half of the roasted veggies along with half the bulb of roasted garlic into the food processor with 1 cup of water. Blend REALLY well ( I stress this because I accidentally chopped my carrots too big and they were not as soft as the rest of the vegetables, so it kind of ended up very carrot based), then pour into a stock pot. Spoon the rest of the vegetables into food processor among with all of the half and half, remaining water, basil, and Parmesan cheese. Blend well and pour in with the previous batch of soup. Bring to a boil then lower heat to low and allow the flavors to mend a bit for 8-10 minutes and you should have a soup that looks like this:

Serve with grilled cheese/toast/etc. and your cold should be running for the door in no time. =)

Baked Salmon

First off, I have literally brushed my teeth around 5 times tonight and my breath still reeks of garlic. Is there anything such as  garlic poisoning? Because I feel like if I were to be pulled over by the cops they would take me in for public intox of garlic.( ::insert dry pity laugh at that awful joke here::)So it's 4:23 am and I am still awake and pretty exhausted. I just got some money so I ordered some AT&T U-Verse Cable because I can't take the "free" internet that our apartment complex provides. I think when they say "free" they mean "awful internet that only works when you want to procrastinate and be a creep on Facebook but God help you if you want to actually do something that makes a difference in this world because it will NOT work under any circumstances until around 4am", which is why I am posting this so late. But enough about me, this is all about the food right?


Tonight was a pretty weird night when it came to food. Fox insists on putting Glee on at 8pm est and although  I'm not a theater kid, I do have a pretty serious addiction to that show. Also, it was Britney Spears night and I know at least 2 people that would probably come to my house and cut me if I didn't watch it/sing along/ dance my ass off (i.e. Rachel Goldberg and Wynne Strugatch), although I don't even think they watch Glee, but I'm pretty sure Wynne would sacrifice her first born to meet Britney.


I decided to walk to the grocery and pick up some fresh seafood although I spent literally $300 at the grocery store yesterday( yeah..ridiculous I know..but I've eaten nothing but bologna, ramen, and eggs all summer and I've recently come into some money and figured this would be one of my only chances). Well tonight I bought some fresh wild caught Alaskan Salmon because I had a random abundance of dill but David absolutely DESPISES salmon(he can't even be in the same room with the smell), therefore I needed to come up with some kind of dinner product for him and he was quite adamant about making my famous homemade chicken noodle soup.


The salmon was absolutely fabulous! This was my first time trying it with anything other than a marinade that pretty much obliterates the natural taste of the salmon like orange juice, brown sugar, soy sauce etc. . Here's the recipe I used, although I'm going to use to the term "recipe" loosely because it's definitely a recipe that is all about personal preference and taste pallettes.


Baked Lemon Salmon with Dill Whipped Cream 


Before Baking:

1 Large Fresh Caught Salmon Filet ( about 1 in.- 1 3/4 in thick)
1 Lemon, sliced into thin slices
1/4 cup of white wine
1/2 medium to large onion sliced lengthwise
fresh dill to taste, chopped
fresh mint to taste, chiffonade
1/4 cup ultra-pasteurized whipping cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp butter
kosher salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
lemon pepper, to taste
1 lemon, sliced


Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small oven-proof container like pictured, line the bottom of container with sliced onions and minced garlic. Next, place a small pat of butter on top of the onions just to ensure that they do not burn. Next place your salmon filet on top of the bed of onions(because I didn't have oblong mini casserole dishes, I have to cut my filet in half) and a few slices of lemon. Sprinkle to your liking with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper along with fresh dill and place 2-3 lemon slices on top.


Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork.


In a medium sized bowl, pour your whipping cream along with  an ample amount of hand torn herbs and whisk quickly (30 seconds ) until a thin, frothy sauce is formed. Pour on top of the salmon and enjoy!

Sorry about the super messy picture--I was starving and in a huge hurry to eat versus taking pictures for 10 minutes while my fish got cold...

Finally...

So this is my first post. I'm pretty damn proud of myself for even getting this far due to the fact that I believe I have a chronic case of the life-threatening disease...Procrastination. I have been talking about starting a food blog for nearly a year and half, and I've finally done it. I guess I shouldn't start celebrating too quickly because the real test will be posting my kitchen concoctions on here somewhat regularly. 


In other news, David and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary this week and instead of going out and spending $100+ on a noisy Friday night restaurant experience, we have decided to stay home and cook (by we..I of course mean myself because I have now accepted that I am a control freak when it comes to anyone messing around with my kitchen including my lovely boyfriend). After hours and hours of scouring the internet for recipes, I decided on making a small plates menu with the following:


-Strawberry Spinach Salad w/poppy seed vinaigrette

-Spicy mini crab cakes w/lemon aioli

-Bison burger sliders w/Wisconsin cheddar cheese & caramelized onions

-Champinones al ajillo( Garlic Mushrooms)

-Gambas al Ajillo ( Garlic Shrimp)

-Meat and cheese plate with local Scholars Inn Bakehouse farm bread

-Baklava

-Mojitos!

I know this is a quite the hodgepodge of stuff, but David and I basically just wanted to eat a bunch of appetizers without worrying about what foods went with what...kind of like a fun food experiment. I was originally going to make some braised oxtails and chili garlic mussels, but I realized that my school workload is going to be really heavy this weekend so I wasn't down with all that manual labor(i.e. cleaning and de-bearding the mussels) and the fact that oxtails have gotten to be pretty expensive these days. I know this isn't the cheapest menu I could make, but it is a special occasion! I think the thing I'm the most worried about is the bison, because I've never made bison before and I honestly am a little afraid of drying the sliders out. If this were to happen I think I could end up boyfriendless by the end of the night..(because you don't come between David and his burgers...). I'm also pretty stoked about the Baklava, but am deathly afraid of tearing my phyllo dough because baking is definitely my weakness, given the fact that I don't really have a sweet tooth too much these days. 

Well alas, I must return to my school work, but there will be pictures of my anniversary dinner experimentation around Friday morning. Hopefully everything turns out great and maybe I will even be able to get David to overcome his fear of shrimp (he says they remind him of bugs..honestly I don't really blame him, they are pretty creepy looking when you get them fresh..).