Pumpkin Chili? Deeeeeeliiiisssshhhh

After trying chili for the first time a few weeks ago, I knew I had to make another batch sometime soon.  Who knew that someday would be the following day.  Yes, I still had a ton of chili left from my first batch, but I was craving pumpkin and after coming across a chili recipe that included canned pumpkin I knew I must make it.  I mean, I did still have some pumpkin leftover from the errr, failed pumpkin chocolate cupcakes (that I eventually started liking), I thought that this would be a good way to use the remaining pumpkin.

Between both of the batches of chili I'm not sure which I liked more.  As my friend however said, I am taking the "chili" away from chili.  I don't agree, however she says no chili has sweet potato, and there certainly isn't a chili that contains pumpkin, she then continued to say how it was called... something with a g, however I cannot remember it right now.  I mean, the chili I made may not be your grandmother's chili, but why can't we change recipes to suit our tastes'?  Yes, there are your standard, traditional chili's, but let's be real here, the majority of the recipes that are on this blog are far from traditional or standard, when would grandma ever stick spinach in her smoothies?  She might of tried to trick us by processing vegetables in a tomato sauce, or coating onions in deep-fried batter, but as for hiding leafy greens in deliciously sweet fruit smoothies, I don't think so.  I also don't think she would use silken tofu instead of whipped cream or cream cheese, no, no she wouldn't. 

I often get looks from my friends and family at some of the foods I eat.  The same friend as above and I are planning on going to see Harry Potter this coming Saturday, when she was talking about the popcorn she will be eating the movies with extra-extra-extra butter, I said with a smile to her, "guess what snack I'm going to be having?!", not giving her any hint or anything her response was, "kale chips?".  Ding, nail on the head!  She finds my "kale chips" to be the most disgusting things ever (but I give her credit she did try them).

Today at work I got a call asking me for my "help".  My response was a simple "with what?".  So, so, so sad, but yesterday one of my co-workers got a call yesterday from his wifes' work and that she had to be brought to the hospital.  I'm not sure the details exactly, but it turns out she started hemerraging from the brain and needed to go in for surgery.   Thankfully the surgery went well, but there is no response... I can't even imagine the pain, stress, worry, etc, etc that this family is going through, I trutfully can't even imagine even nearly what this family is going through.  Wonderfully healthy one day, the next, well, you just never know... the reason why I told you guys this story is because, I was asked to "help".  Well, this man's family they are vegetarian, so I was asked to make a "grocery list" of foods that vegetarians eat, as well as some "sweets" that vegetarians eat.

At first I was more than willing to help, but then as I thought of it I was very confused.  Does one "meat eater" eat the same food as another "meat eater"?  Do they all eat cheese, mustard, pickles and tomato on their burgers?  Do they all eat white buns instead of whole grain buns?  Do they all eat McDonald's burgers with a Pepsi instead of Harvey's burger with a strawberry milkshake?  I just said after a few seconds, I really can't help, you need to call the family.  I know, it's not technically people's faults of their ignorance towards a veg diet, but sometimes I forget just how little some people's knowledge on the subject actually is.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is.  Sweet potato, corn, pumpkin, avocado, etc, etc, one person may not think one's food choice is deemed "normal", but who's food is normal?  What makes food normal?  No human being is technically considered "normal", we all have our absurdities, and I think that pertains to our food as well.  The food I eat is "normal" to me, however, I look over to another coworkers plate beside me and I know it's different than my plate, but I know that it's not abnormal as it's normal to them.  I like the food I make, and I like the way I like it.  We are all different, and we have tastes, flavours and textures that we enjoy, hey food needs to evolve too doesn't it?

I loved this pumpkin chili.  It was certainly different from the initial chili I made, but it was fantastic.  Truthfully I couldn't say one was better than the other.  The first chili I made was definitely closer to a traditional chili, as the second was more-so what I imagine a Mexican chili would be like, with the addition of corn, avocado, salsa, etc... The avocado and salsa added such a zing to the chili it was wonderful!  The avocado was super creamy and because I chose a hot chili it sort of toned down the zing of the dish.  It truthfully was magnificent and not like anything else I'd ever made or tried before.  I would certainly make this again, as well, what was fantastic about it was the fact that it didn't even take 1/4 of the time to cook as the first, it was almost as if I was making an egg it took so little time.  I love simple and quick dishes like this that still blow your mind away with how wonderful they taste!

Mexican Pumpkin Chili Scramble

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion - chopped coarsely
• 1/4 cup corn
• 1/4 cup edamame
• Handful of frozen yellow/green beans - chopped coarsely
• Couple of mini carrots - chopped coarsely
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin pure
• 1/2 cup black beans
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp chili pepper
• Dash of cayenne
• EVOO (for pan)
• Minced garlic - to taste
• Sea salt and pepper - to taste

Topping:

• Salsa
• 1/2 an avocado - sliced

Directions: 

In a medium skillet, add a little bit of coconut oil.  Once your skillet is warm, add desired amount of garlic and your chopped onion.  Allow to cook until the onion becomes transluscent.  Once the onions have become translucent saute your vegetables for 2-3 minutes.  Add pumpkin puree, beans and spices, mixing until fulling combined, cover and let cook for about 5 minutes.

When slightly cooled, transfer to a bowl, top with a dollop of salsa, the sliced avocado, and enjoy!

Do you deviate in your recipes, 

or do you tend to stick with tradition?

New Blog feature + African Stew = delicious.

Hey everyone,

  So today I fly back home... goodbye British Columbia.  Unfortunately one week in a beautiful province such as this is far, far too short.  I mean, I didn't get to see nearly as much as I would have liked, but what I did see I am incredibly gracious that I was even able to see it in the first place.  I had an amazing time.  I saw things I never get to see in Ontario, I met family that I'd never even heard of before, and I spent time with family that I love and made memories that I will truly treasure forever.  This was definitely something I needed.  I got away from stuff that I had on my mind, and had the best time that I've had in a long time.  This place, and the people will truly be missed that's for sure.  But, coming home, also means moving to a new area, it is going to bring new adventures, new challenges, and new friends, in which I truly do look forward to.

To start, I've recently come across a new widget to add to my blog.  You can now receive my blog posts by RSS feed (email), woohoo!  I'm pretty excited about this :)

Yesterday my blog post was for the Mexican celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I figured I would post another recipe for a dish that is not of my culture or even something that I'd tasted before.  This is a dish for an African stew.  When I first laid eyes upon this before even looking at the ingredient list I was immediately smitten.  Corn, black beans (which I've lately been obsessed with), sweet potato, spinach, etc... yummy!  Then when I looked at the ingredient list I was even more enamored, I knew I was going to be making this. 

I had made this for my mom, her boyfriend, Jenna and I.  I really did enjoy this.  Unfortunately however, the sweet potatoes (it was not directed to parboil or anything, so I figured with all the cooking time it would soften, but it took much, much longer).  Nevertheless, the finished product was so incredibly, creamy, spicy, hearty, corny (haha), warm and delicious.  I liked this dish a lot, it was definitely neat to try food from a culture that I had never tried before.  I'm not sure if I would make it again, but it was definitely something worth trying and certainly scrumptious.  The next day my mom actually ate this more so as a dip, using corn chips, I would eat it with rice if I were to make it again, but when I made it the night of I didn't use rice, oops, that certainly would of helped mellow out the heat!

African Stew

Recipe taken from here

Do you like to try out food from cultures you've never tried before?  If so, what have been some of your favourites up-to now?

Reminder: subscribe me via email or follow me with Blogger :)!

An Italian Comfort Food Enjoyed By All

Risotto Milanese

Recipe taken from here

"Forget the stove risotto". What is that hogwash? The fun thing about making risotto is having to constantly watch over it to see if the stock and wine have reduced, to see your hard work get turned into a masterpiece. Often I see comments like the above for in the stove risotto. I have to admit the first time I made risotto I did it in the stove, the only reason was because I wanted it to actually turn out since it was for a holiday meal where I was actually having people over... however, that didn't turn out so great (the meal did), but I ended up burning an oven mitt, err...

Nonetheless, I love making stove-top risotto, it reminds me of my grandmother and makes me nostalgic. I think the results are better too because it has one special ingredient that in the stove risotto doesn't have; love.

Now, I never mentioned, but last year my mom took a European cruise. One of the places that she went to visit was Turkey. With that she brought both my brother and I (my brother is going to school to become a chef, funny how food runs in our family) tonnnnns of spices home, including saffron. Now, this is incredibly good saffron and it tastes' wonderful too. When she brought that home, I kind of went on a saffron binge and bookmarked tons of recipes containing saffron, one of my favourite being the Saffron Ice Cream and a recipe I later made Spaghetti Squash with Spicy Marinara and Saffron. However, one recipe that I had saved over the summer was for Risotto Milanese. It wasn't until this week that I finally made it, feels like I had the recipe forever, but seeing as I started scheduling my meals again I had to make room for this dish and am I ever glad I did.

In the summer my brother had made it, and both him and my dad went on about how it tasted sooooo good. Well, they were certainly right. When I first looked at the bowl, I felt odd since it was just a big bowl of starch and carbohydrates. No protein, no vegetables, dairy if you want to include the Parmesan and butter, but y'know what I'm saying. However, once I took my first bite all those thoughts disappeared. I didn't care how much fat was in this dish, or how many calories were in each bite, or the fact that my plate was simply yellow with no green or red, no, this was a masterpiece. It was so delicious. I didn't even want to stop to inhale each bite because it was so good, (obviously I did because I needed to savour it as well), but it was incredibly delicious.

I love when using saffron, and you infuse it with your liquid and it turns your dish a beautiful bright yellow, it just makes the dish so much warmer, and this was no different this time. I loved it, and will certainly be making it again!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 tsp saffron threads
• 3 1/2 cups chicken stock, hot
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for sprinkling

Directions:
In a large dutch oven or another deep pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile add the saffron to the stock, stirring to infuse. Once the onions are translucent add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until toasted and opaque, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the wine to the toasting rice, and then add a 4 to 6-ounce ladle of the saffron-infused stock and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. Continue adding the stock a ladle at a time, waiting until the liquid is absorbed before adding more. Cook until the rice is tender and creamy and yet still a little al dente, about 15 minutes. Stir in the butter and cheese until well mixed.

Quick Fish Stew

Recipe from me

Over the Christmas break my dad, brother and I went to my aunt and uncle's place for lunch. One of the items I ate since they were eating pizza with meat on it was this beautiful fish stew. The sauce had the flavour of a beautiful Italian tomato sauce you'd put on your spaghetti but the consistency was more of a broth. The flavour was so rich and was further enhanced by the fish. Unfortunately I never got the recipe from her, hopefully next time I see her however I will be able to pick her brain for it.

With that being said, I tried to come up with a simple fish stew. It did not replicate the one my aunt made, however, this one was just as tasty. I quite thoroughly enjoyed it, as did my mom and her boyfriend. It was indeed very scrumptious. I had one bowl, then went up for seconds. Not only did it taste fantastic it was incredibly simple, everything went into the Dutch oven and simply let it simmer for a little while, and the results, incredible.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbsp EVOO
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, mined
• 2 large carrots, cut into chunks
• 1 celery stalk, cut into chunks
  
• Small can of Unico diced tomatoes (the can with the herbs in it)
• 4 cups of vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
• 2 cups of fresh spinach
  
• A large pinch of saffron threads
• 1 medium sized Ziploc bag of shrimp
• 10-14 medium scallops
• 2 tilapia fillets, cut into chunks
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat; add onions, carrots and celery and cook until translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one more minute. Add diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, parsley, white wine and saffron and bring to a light boil. Cover, reduce to simmer, and cook for 5 minutes to allow flavors to come together. Salt and pepper the fish liberally, then remove cover and add scallops, tilapia, shrimp and spinach. Make sure to mix the fish into the sauce. Cover and simmer until fish is cooked through, about 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

I had made this by itself more as a soup/stew, however, rice would be a nice touch to it as well!

Get your stretchy pants on!