From the Kitchen

When I have time, which has been sparse due to working full time, or maybe I should say that when I make time, I enjoy being in the kitchen and cooking yummy foods for Hubby and me. Today is Colts game day... and I try to make game days special for my Honey. He jerseys-up for the game, stretches out, and then plays like a pro - from the couch. Go Colts!!

First, I want to explain that our cupboards are a bit sparse. Yes, I have money to get groceries, so no pity. I mean, if you feel the need to send money, by all means, I am NOT going to stop you! Who am I to quench the spirit of giving! ha! When the cupboards begin to get sparse, I take it as an Iron Chef Challenge to get creative .... Sometimes some of my most yummy creations have come out of creative necessity.

Today I am creating a new chili. I like cooking with ground turkey; however, ground turkey can have a weird, well, ground turkey or manufactured taste to me. So, the key is to really really really flavor-up and spice the heck out of it. I put a bit of oil in the skillet, heated it... then added roasted garlic and onions. My Hubby is "allergic" to onions. Strongly dislikes them, that is. So I caramelize them, then remove them... or I could puree them, and then add them back. It's the texture that he does not like... so, I get creative. Then I added the ground turkey, and added chili powder and ground red pepper, salt and black pepper. I have a chili spice pack, and added some of that too, sorta like when I do tacos and spice up the meat. I added a bit of water and let it simmer. We had some 15 beans in a soup pack, dry beans. I boiled them good for an hour, having added a bit of salt, black pepper and ground garlic... to soften them quickly. I added the beans, meat, the rest of the chili flavor pack, and some tomato sauce to a ready crock pot and will let that simmer all day, until the evening game at 6:00. Later I will fix corn bread. And, Viola! Dinner! And we will have left overs for the week.

I may fix a dessert too, later. But, for now we have the main course!

Yesterday my mom and I drove to Liberty, KY where there is a Mennonite community. I found a bulk foods store! I was soooo excited to find this store! They have unique bulk flours, sugars, cheeses, spices and much more. It was an hour and a half drive away, but well worth it. A gorgeous drive through rolling countryside. I plan to take Brandon there next week, and take the camera to get pics for the blog. Mother and I ate at the Bread Of Life Cafe. Deeeee-lish! I will take pictures and post next week on our day retreat!