This chili is my go-to meal when I've gotten distracted and forgotten to make dinner, when I'm short on time, or when I really need to go to the grocery store and all I have available is canned and frozen goods.
It really does take only 10 minutes. That time even includes opening the cans. It's that easy. And Good too. I could easily eat this all the time. If I have extra time I'll make some corn muffins to go with it, but they aren't necessary.
Not only does this chili taste great, but it is full of protein. Everything in this chili is a pantry staple of mine. If I have extra fresh veggies on hand at the time I'll add those in too. I love adding diced red bell peppers especially. Plus, this chili works great as leftovers. It refrigerates really well.
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10 minute chili
by Liesl July-31-2014
My favorite speedy dinner.
Ingredients
two 15 oz cans pinto beans
two 15 oz cans black beans
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
4 oz can diced green chilis
14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
2 tsp garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
Instructions
1. Drain and rinse the pinto beans and one can of black beans. Add the rinsed beans and the last can of black beans into a large pot. Add the corn and the seasonings and cook on medium high until well heated all the way through. Enjoy!
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 4-6 servings
I know for a fact that I'm not the only person in the world who loves raw cookie dough. Imagine you could eat raw cookie dough and not worry about eating raw eggs or gain 20 pounds in one sitting. Sound good?
Imagine that your raw cookie dough is at least vaguely healthy and full of protein. Sweet.
Enter in the raw cookie dough!
Focus on the picture and not the ingredients. I'd seen a few similar recipes around, but when I tried them I thought the proportions tasted a bit off. This version makes the flavors blend together better and taste more like real cookie dough.
garbanzo beans
peanut butter
honey
chocolate chips
That's it! Only four ingredients. I know it sound like a really strange flavor combination, but it is indeed yummy. The garbanzo beans can't be tasted, and the peanut butter blends right in but adds creaminess. Jeff is only a fan of peanut butter in a sandwich, and even he gave this a thumbs up.
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raw cookie dough
by Liesl July-30-2014
raw eggless cookie dough makes a great snack
Ingredients
a15.5 oz can garbanzo beans
2/3 cups smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
1. Rinse and drain the garbanzo beans. Pulse the garbanzo beans, peanut butter, and honey in a food processor until smooth. Scrape into a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips. Eat with a spoon or scoop with graham cracker pieces.
Liam loooves smoothies. Jack thinks he's a big kid so he wants to eat everything Liam does. For most foods this is no big deal, but it became a problem for smoothies. I put milk in Liam's smoothies instead of juice (to thin it out), but Jack isn't old enough to drink cow's milk for another few months.
The solution? ALMOND MILK!
But... I didn't have any. So I decided to make some. As usual, I was too lazy to take both kids to the store (other parents should understand this!), but I checked my freezer and found a bag of almonds. Woohoo.
This actually turned out better than I was hoping, because in addition to the almond milk, which turned out great, I now also have several cups of almond meal to bake with. Score.
This was actually really easy, messy too, but clean up was really quick so no biggie. And I ended up with half a pitcher full of almond milk.
Start out by soaking two cups of almonds overnight in a bowl of water on the counter. Make sure to add enough water because the almonds will swell. Don't freak out when the water changed color. It will darken and maybe turn slightly cloudy.
Dump the water out and add the almonds plus four cups of fresh water to the blender and turn on high for 3-5 minutes. I know that sounds like a long time but think about it. You're pureeing nuts.
When the almond mixture looks smooth turn off the blender. Get out a pitcher, or other container for your milk. Over the top put a sieve and a square of cheesecloth.
Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth. Do this in multiple small batches so over don't overload your sieve or the cheesecloth.
Let the liquid drip down into the pitcher.
When all the liquid has come out on its own squeeze the cheesecloth and twist it to release all the available milk.
The solid almond meal left in the cheesecloth looks like this.
Get a lipped baking sheet covered in parchment paper to start offloading the almond meal.
When there is only a tiny bit of almond mixture left in the blender add half a cup of water and blend for a minute. Pour it into the cheesecloth.
The finished product. See what I mean though? Messy. All it took was two swipes of a sponge though and the counter was shiny clean again.
I ended up with about two cups of almond meal. Spread this out on the baking sheet and bake until it dries out. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Or toss it if you don't want to bother with it.
The whole product.
The almond meal fresh from the oven.
This is my super simple smoothie that both boys can enjoy.Just strawberries, blueberries,and almond milk.
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almond milk
by Liesl July-28-2014
Fresh almond milk with almond meal by-product
Ingredients
2 cups almonds
4-5 cups water
Instructions
1. The night before put 2 cups of almonds in a large bowl on the counter covered in plenty of water. The almonds will plump up and they need to be covered completely. The water will darken and possibly cloud the next morning.2. Dump out the water and put the almonds plus 4 cups of clean water into the blender and blend on high for 3-5 minutes until there are no noticeable pieces.3. Get out a large pitcher and cover it with a sieve with a large square of cheesecloth over top. Pour the almond mixture into the cheesecloth in small amounts and let it drip down into the pitcher. Once the liquid has drained on its own squeeze and twist the cheesecloth to get all the available liquid out. The leftover solids are almond meal. Dump them out onto a lipped baking pan with parchment paper. Continue to pour the mixture into the cheesecloth until there is only a tiny amount left in the blender. Add half a cup of water and blend for a minute. Pour into the cheesecloth. You now have almond milk! The almond meal on the baking pan should be spread out and baked at 350 for 20-30 minutes until it dries out. Then store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1/2 a large pitcher
I am aware of the total mind-numbing vagueness of the title of this recipe. Sorry about that. I really don't know what to call it because
I'm terrible at names
this was originally supposed to be coffee cake before I altered it almost completely and now I don't know what it is exactly
Let's just say it's closer to say, banana bread (but with no bananas) than it is to coffee cake. Okay?
I was going to make the coffee cake from Jessica Seinfield's cookbook Deceptively Delicious, but then I realized I was out of a bunch of the ingredients, and from then I ended up just adding bits of things, and changing times, and temperatures... and it ended up being breakfast bread instead of coffee cake.
A note about Jessica Seinfield's book: I am a fan of it for the sole reason that I figure I might as well get the most nutrients possible out of the food I eat, so why not add additional produce in the form of purees? You can't taste it. If I'm dead set on eating brownies, I might as well eat brownies with spinach and carrots in them. I know it sounds gross, but really, they are pretty darn good! I don't add the produce purees into food to trick my kids into eating veggies. They both love them anyway, and I want them to KNOW they are eating fruits and veggies from the get-go.
Tangent over. I swear.
I didn't include pre-baking photos because I forgot, and frankly all you do is dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them until just incorporated. Simple, no photo needed.
This photo and the next are utterly horrible (of me), but I had to include them because of the story. I had just taken the bread out of the oven when Liam grabbed my camera and volunteered to take "the photo of the food". Guess I take a lot of photos of food that he's picked up on that... These photos are also the first two Liam has ever taken.
Seriously, Liam put the camera right up to his eye even though my camera doesn't have a view finder. It was so cute!
Moist and flavorful. Yum. The butternut squash reminds me of pumpkin. Full of sweetness.
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breakfast bread
by Liesl July-26-2014
A sweet cake-y breakfast bread
Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar, packed
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/4 cups skim milk
1/2 cup non-fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup oats
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butternut squash puree
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together until just incorporated. 2. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Eat warm or cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
So I started making polenta fries, and realized I was out of ketchup. I was super bummed, because Jeff, Liam, and I are all ketchup obsessed. I know this probably sounds weird, but I was too lazy to walk to the liquor store two blocks away and buy ketchup...so I decided to make some from scratch instead. I was already busy in the kitchen making the rest of dinner, why not make one more little thing at the same time, right?
Bonus: Liam loooves ketchup. I have to remind him to eat the item on his fork covered in ketchup instead of licking all the ketchup off and double dipping. Making my own ketchup at least means I know what it contains.
No, I didn't put my ketshup in a super fancy pretty container. This was spur of the moment, remember? I happened to still have an empty ketchup container. This recipe filled the whole thing, plus about an extra cup and a half.
Start by chopping up a yellow onion and garlic and cooking it on medium heat with the olive oil and salt until it softens.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook down the liquid until it starts to thicken.
Use an immersion blender to make nice smooth shiny ketchup.
It was so weird tasting this to make sure the taste was the way I wanted it because, hot ketchup! So strange.
When you have gotten the flavor just right, bottle up your ketchup and store in the fridge.
I got almost a standard sized ketchup bottle and a half from this recipe. It tasted really fantastic with fresh polenta fries by the way. I think I'm sold on homemade ketchup for good. The boys loved it too, not just crazy me. :)
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ketchup
by Liesl July-25-2014
homemade ketchup
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
12 oz tomato paste
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
1. In a medium sized pot toss in a chopped yellow onion, chopped garlic, olive oil and salt. Stir occasionally on medium heat until the onion and garlic soften.2. Turn the tomato paste out into a large measuring cup. The paste plus added water should equal 28 liquid ounces. Add this to the pot in addition to the remaining ingredients.3. Bring the heat up to high until the liquid boils, then reduce the heat and simmer until the ketchup starts to thicken.Once the ketchup has thickened use an immersion blender to puree until smooth and shiny. Make sure to taste the ketchup before you bottle it up to make sure the seasonings are just as you want them!
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1 and 1/3 bottles
I love soup. All kinds of soup. Well, okay, most kinds. I'm not really a fan of the buttery, heavy cream-filled, gain 10 pounds from one bowl kind. My version of corn chowder is a little more waistline friendly.
Healthy soup justifies dipping some fresh bread in it, right?
Cook the onions with olive oil and salt until they soften before you add everything else.
Add everything else (except the milk).
I like to cut my potato chunks small enough to eat in a single bite, but big enough that they won't break down to nothing.
Take the soup off the heat and add the milk in. Enjoy! Especially if you have some best bread to dip into it!
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corn chowder
by Liesl July-24-2014
healthier chowder
Ingredients
1 yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups corn
4 yukon gold potatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup milk (I used skim)
Instructions
1. Cook the diced onion on medium heat with the olive oil and salt until softened. Then add the remaining ingredients, minus the milk. Stir occasionally, cook about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.2. Remove the pot from heat and pour in the milk. Serve immediately, or refrigerate in an airtight container for several days.
This chili is my go-to meal when I've gotten distracted and forgotten to make dinner, when I'm short on time, or when I really need to go to the grocery store and all I have available is canned and frozen goods.
