My Chili Brings All the Moms to the Yard

If you read this blog, you know that I am not much of a star when it comes to cooking. Don’t get me wrong, from time to time I’ll have a success or two in the kitchen and share it here on my blog, but for the most part cooking’s just not my strong point.

I share this because imagine my surprise when I received this Tweet:

Mommybits Twitter

Curious, I clicked through the link and to my surprise…. my recipe for White Chicken Chili had made the “BEST OF” Once a Month Mom menu! That’s right. Once A Month Mom readers voted it as one of the best recipes from the year! I almost fell over.

Now… I cannot lie to you. I must admit something here….. the recipe is really my husband’s. It’s true. It is his creation. BUT — I do make this recipe all the time and make it well.

I am just speechless (as is my husband). Thank you so much to Tricia and to her loyal Once A Month Mom readers. I cannot even tell you how thrilled we are that you enjoyed the White Chicken Chili so much!


Recipe for Homemade Cranberry Sauce

One of my favorite things to make during the holidays is fresh cranberry sauce.  As a child I only knew cranberry sauce to come in a can, served in slices. It wasn’t until I was older and creating my own Thanksgiving meals that I learned how to make it from scratch. In honor of Thanksgiving I thought I’d share my recipe with you. I hope you all enjoy it, it’s one of the few dishes I make that is always requested by my family!

INGREDIENTS
1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 small can of pineapple (small chunks)
1/2 cup broken walnuts

TOOLS
Medium sauce pan
Medium bowl
Collander
Saran wrap

DIRECTIONS
Begin by placing the cranberries in the collander and running them under cold water. While you are rinsing them you will want to watch for/remove any stems that may still be attached to the cranberries. After rinsing, place the cranberries in the sauce pan and immediately add the water, sugar and juice from the pineapple can.  Allow mixture to simmer over medium heat until the cranberries begin to burst. Once a majority of the cranberries have burst, remove from the stove and add your pineapple chunks and walnuts to the pan, saving a few for garnish.  Allow cranberry sauce to sit for 5 minutes before placing in a medium size serving bowl. Place the remaining chunks of pineapple and walnuts on top as garnish. Cover in saran wrap and allow to cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving . While it is cooling the cranberry sauce will thicken to the desired consistency.

Here are some photos to help you along:

Rinse your cranberries and remove any remaining stems
Rinse your cranberries and remove any remaining stems

Add water and sugar to the pan
Add water and sugar to the pan

Cranberries will begin to "pop"
Cranberries will begin to “pop”

Once a majority of the cranberries have burst, remove from heat
Once a majority of the cranberries have burst, remove from heat

Your finished cranberry sauce should look like this
Your finished cranberry sauce should look like this


Homemade Strawberry Banana Waffles

This week’s Mouthwatering Monday post is brought to you by my husband, Marty (aka Mr. Mommy Bits).

As a parent, sometimes you get caught between that moment of pride and jealousy when your little one bests you at something. The recipe that follows captures that exact moment.

This morning I got up with the boys and allowed Mommybits here to sleep in, generally it’s the other way around, so this seemed fair. I asked our oldest what he would like for breakfast. I had in my mind waffles already, but he suggested the same. We were in agreement. We were having waffles for breakfast.

A couple days before, I had cooked at Bridge Worldwide for my team’s breakfast. I generally never eat when I’m cooking, so I wanted to try the recipe here at home. My son differed, he said he wanted banana waffles. While I like the flavor of bananas, I seldom cook with them because their taste is so overpowering. It’s hard to use banana judiciously. It’s all or nothing. So here I am wondering how to tell him that I’d rather not use it, without telling him no. I like that he uses his imagination when thinking about food. Then he suggested something that floored me. “Hey dad, let’s use strawberry yogurt in the waffles.” It was at that moment I was stuck between pride and jealousy. He upped me on the recipe.

The recipe that follows is his recipe, his concept. I just did the mixing.

INGREDIENTS

- One package of Hungry Jack Wheat Blends pancake mix
- 1 banana
- 4-6 ounces of yogurt to taste
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 egg
- 1-1.5 cups of buttermilk
- 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda

Noted here I did not really measure anything, but rather eyeballed it until the batter looked appropriate.

Grab the Kitchen-aid or stand mixer in this case, it’ll make the job easier.

DIRECTIONS:

First, this is really important, you want to mix the banana, yogurt, oil, egg, 1 cup of buttermilk, baking powder and soda together until it is smoothed out, but it’s a bit lumpy in texture. You have to do this step first, otherwise you’ll over mix the batter and the waffles will be tougher. After the mixture has been tossed around for a minute or so and the banana has thinned out throughout this wet mixture, add in the package of Hungry Jack wheat blend pancake mix. I recommend the mixer being on the slow +1 setting. You don’t want to over beat the mixture. I used the paddle mixer on the Kitchen-Aid for this purpose.

Then allow the mixture to mix to the desired consistency. This makes a pretty light/fluffy waffle. If you like a doughy-waffle, you could remove or lessen the baking soda/powder and use a bit less buttermilk.

Heat up your waffle iron, probably a good idea while you’re making the batter, allow it to heat on the lowest setting. Right before you are about to make the waffles, turn it up to the setting you most often use. I like to use a thin coat of Crisco cooking spray on it while the waffle iron is heating and wipe it off with a paper towel before I put my first waffle on, this seasons it so to speak. It’s really important to use a spray based with lecithin, thanks Alton Brown for that tip. It does make a huge difference in getting the waffles out of the iron.

Next, I add the waffle batter and cook to desired doneness. The boys put just a little maple syrup on them as we discussed the proper pronuciation of syrup. Is it seerup or surup? We still did not decide, but that’s for your family to debate.

Enjoy.
Marty


Easy Salsa Chicken

A few months ago I discovered a great resource for making quick meals – McCormick Seasoning packets. With my first experience with McCormick Seasonings having gone so well, I was eager to give them another try.

This time around I picked up a packet of McCormick’s Salsa Chicken & Rice One Dish Casserole Seasoning Mix. While each seasoning packet comes with a recipe, I modified it slightly for my family.  If you are a Mom on the go like me, I think you’ll like McCormick Seasoning packets. When you are pressed for time, they really make it easy to get your act dinner together.

INGREDIENTS:

1 packet of McCormick Salsa Chicken Seasoning Mix
1 ½ cups uncooked white rice
1 can of  diced tomatoes
1 can of corn, drained
3-4 chicken breast halves
2 ½ cups water
1 can of seasoned black beans, drained
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup shredded Mexican cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

In a 9×13 inch pan, combine uncooked rice, diced tomatoes, corn, black beans and chopped onion. Mix thoroughly. In a large bowl combine 2 1/2 cups warm water with seasoning  mix.  Stir until blended. Place chicken breasts (I recommend pounding them if they are thick) on top of rice mixture in 9 x 13 pan. Pour seasoning mixture over dish, placing some of the thicker seasonings on top of the chicken breasts. Cover with foil. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour – 1:20. McCormick’s recipe advised 45 or until chicken was done, my chicken took about 1:20, but two of my chicken breasts were thick. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove tinfoil and sprinkle the Mexican cheddar cheese across the dish. Return to the oven for 5-7 minutes or until melted.  Serve with refried beans and chips and salsa!

This recipe is part of Mouthwatering Monday. For more tasty recipes, click on the badge below!