Texas Chili Recipe

It is recipe share day here on this fab Wednesday! Lizzie only woke up once last night so I feel fantastic. I hope she keeps it up. I love waking up completely rested for a change. So anyway, back to the food! Chili. 

Number 1: Do not put beans in chili! Don't do it. Chili is a meat and tomato dish, no beans. A true, true 'Texas Red' doesn't even have tomato, so to put bean in it is totally sacrilegious. If you really want beans with your chili, I recommend baked beans as a side. 

Number 2: Spice! I like a good and spicy chili. Not to the point of tears but just enough to where you get the heat in the back of mouth. If you like a less spicy chili, start with half of the seasoning then after you're done cooking, spice the rest to what you like. A bland chili turns into a pasta sauce. Trust me, I've done it. It's weird. 

Number 3: Cornbread is the perfect side for chili. The sweetness of the bread is the best compliment to the spice of the chili. Jiffy corn muffin mix is my favorite. I combine two boxes in a 9" round and bake for the recommended time to get a cake sized bread. It is delicious. 

Number 4: Enjoy! Chili is fun meal. Load it up with cheese. Make a Frito pie. Do whatever your little heart desires. But no beans : )      

In honor of Texas Chili Day, Miss Lizzie decided today was the perfect day for her Texas onesie. 

Lord I could eat this child up. Those eyes! 

Let me know how your Chili turns out! Did you make it super spicy or the mildest of mild? Either way, I hope it's super delicious and takes the edge off of these last few weeks of winter! 

Recipe Day

For some reason, when I get over an illness, I want the wildest food combinations. Enchiladas and General Tso Chicken. Yum. French fries and Pancakes. Nothing like carbo-loading. This time it was Fish Tacos and Bruschetta. I know... I am weird. Don't worry I don't combine them or anything like that. I just like a wide range of flavors when I can finally taste again.

I love bruschetta. This recipe is as simple as it gets. No ovens to heat up an already toasty summer kitchen, and minimal stove use. This recipe makes about 4-6 large slices, enough for a very filling snack for 2 or lunch for 1. 

  

Yum. Fish. I wanted to fry this up so bad but I am attempting better eating habits so baking really is the best. The pico in the recipe is more of a lime pico. Definitely for lighter foods like fish and shrimp. If you want to add some kick to it, add in the jalapeno without the seeds. For even more of a bite, keep the seeds. Remember, you can add whatever want to jazz it up or take out anything that isn't to your taste. Just make it yours and make it delicious!

 Just look at these beauties:

Octopus Soup Recipe & Octopus Cooking Tips

Don't be frightened, cooking with octopus is definitely not as scary as people think it is. This recipe is one of the easiest to follow and really tasty. It is based on a recipe I found a while ago but I tweaked it a bit so it is more flavorful and hearty.

This recipe is about 6-8 servings, large servings. 

I like a hearty soup, more like a stew. So I added the entire box of orzo. But if you would like a more broth like soup, keep the orzo at 8oz.
Be sure you do not over cook the octopus in the beginning of the recipe. It will continue to cook when you put it back in the stock pot for the last 20 minutes.  

Some Octopus Cooking Tips:

• Don't do the cork thing, it doesn't work. Just an old wive's tale.

• Octopus is like shrimp in its cooking form. When it is done, the octopus curls up and is an opaque/dark pink in color. I use baby octopus because it is easier for me to cook then the larger variety,and it has a significantly shorter cook time. 1.5 pounds of baby octopus cooks in about 3 minutes in a rolling boil where a 1.5 pound single octopus takes anywhere from 15-25 minutes.

• If you cannot find cleaned octopus, it is pretty simple to remove the bits you don't need. Since I do not cook the heads I don't worry about removing the insides or the eyes. But if you would like to cook the heads; take a small, sharp knife and cut up into the heads from the bottom, removing the insides. You can remove the beaks by either spreading the tentacles and cutting them out or by squeezing the sides of the head by the beak from the underside and it will slide out. Simply cut it out from there if it will not ease out. You can remove the eyes using the exact same technique as the beak, but I prefer to simply cut them out using kitchen scissors. Be sure you rinse out the octopus really well to get out all of the insides, (possible) ink and bones that look like fish scales.    

• Octopus can get very tough the larger it is. Those are older octopus and therefor not as tender. I recommend brining the larger ones if you have time. 3 tbsp regular table salt in 1 qt. warm water, add the octopus and let it sit for a few hours before cooking. Brine makes everything tender and delicious.

I hope yall like the recipe and are a whole lot more comfortable giving octopus a cooking-try with the tips. You never know if ya like it until ya try it! Bon Appetit! 

Shrimp Enchiladas Recipe

I cook a lot of Italian food. Like, A Lot. You would swear I was Italian by all of the pastas, meatballs and sauces that come out of my kitchen. My love for it only increased when I came back from Italy last year. Every other meal was insalata caprese or at least something topped with buffalo mozzarella. Oh baby it was bad.

So now I am going back to my own ethnic roots (Latina baby!) and sharing my recipe for shrimp enchiladas. This is a recipe that I created one day when I was craving Mexican food. Living in southern Virginia doesn't really align itself with delicious Tex-Mex food, so I was left to my own devices to satisfy that craving. I tinkered with a recipe a bit and made this one that isn't too spicy. So everyone, even me, would love it.

Print it out. Put it in your box of delicious recipes and let me know how your enchiladas turn out. Salute! 

P.S. Always have a side of re-fried beans with your Tex Mex. Always :)

Results of the Turkey Trial

Sweet success! Rotisserie style turkey was on the table last night and it was delicious. Crispy skin, juicy meat. Yumm. It might look a little iffy, but I plan on carving that baby up and serving it on a platter all nice and pre-sliced. So it does not matter how ugly it looks, as long as it tastes good. If Martha Stewart does it that way, I can too.

Thanks for the inspiration Martha 

I don't want our little family to get too overloaded with Turkey before the big day so I'm thinking about keeping some for lunches and freezing the rest. Cooked turkey can last for up to 6 months in the freezer! I have found a decent amount of after T-Day turkey recipes that use the leftover meat for things other then sandwiches. My guess is we will be eating turkey until Christmas and possibly even into the new year!  

With last night's trail run going so great, I moving on down the test kitchen list to some lovely veggies. Green Beans to be exact. Now...this one will be a bit tricky. Hubby does not like green beans. He barely likes any vegetables that aren't lettuce. He can eat a mean salad but broccoli and carrots, forget about it. So my goal with this recipe is for him to eat them all without my constant encouragement to eat them. :)

 I found this Rachel Ray recipe and I am dying to try it. It has bacon in it! What is more manly then Meat Candy aka Bacon? Hopefully it is as big of a success as the turkey was. I would love to cross another thing off of my T-Day worry list. Yes I would. The results will be up tomorrow!

The Prep Begins

My inspiration

Tonight begins the Thanksgiving Prep Test Kitchen Madness! Yes, it has an official title. And the first victim shall be the piece de resistance, The Turkey. I found this gorgeous turkey and recipe in Southern Living magazine over the long weekend. If you are still looking for thanksgiving dinner recipes, go pick up a copy or head to the website today! They have amazing recipes for everything from turkeys to chutney and tarts. Yumm.     

I started the prep last night by brining the turkey overnight. I have never made a turkey before but I do make a killer roasted chicken and I always brine that little baby too. All you have to do is make a salty water solution based on how much your turkey weighs. I like a more "traditional" brine without all the crazy add-ons since my turkey will be a salt and pepper turkey. This was my go to brine for this turkey. 

Just look at that baby go!

You only have to brine meat that hasn't already been injected or pre-brined by the packager. Fresh birds are almost always injection free, so they need to be brined. While frozen ones are mostly pre-treated. But it can be a toss up either way, so read the packaging carefully as to not get a super salty turkey on the table. I bought an organic, non injected bird so that baby was begging to be soaked in salt water.

I'm starting the cooking late today since Hubby isn't getting home till after 9 and I want an out of the oven opinion from him. A full review will be up tomorrow on the end product. Wish me luck that it comes out delicious and even bigger luck that I can do it again on the day.  :)