Thanksgiving Chili Revisited

 This is a brief post today for two reasons.

1 - school/report cards

2 - this recipe was really really good

Last week I posted that my daughter and I were going to make a Harvest Chili for Thanksgiving.

I'm happy to report that we had fun doing it simultaneously even though we were 4 states apart.

The recipe was really easy and fast.

And did I say it was delicious?

I'll post the link again, but to summarize, you chop onions and sautee with a sweet potato that has been cut into chunks. Then you add in cauliflower, a can or red beans, a can of black beans, a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of pumpkin, and a whole bunch of spices. At the end , you're supposed to add in cooked quinoa and cook for another ten minutes, but I saved that part and added it in when I was ready to serve it.

I had enough leftovers for 6 meals!  And I'll say that I breached vegan protocol to add cheese to the leftovers, and it was the perfect addition. 

I thought I took a bunch of photos, but I can't find them. I have this one that my daughter took of hers.

 

My daughter made a vegan rosemary cornbread to go with hers. I can just imagine how aromatic that must have been!

Recipe links:

Vegan Harvest Chili

For the cornbread, she used this recipe for vegan/gluten-free cornbread and then added rosemary.

Not your traditional Thanksgiving, but it worked for us!

Vegan Harvest Chili for Thanksgiving

 Over the years, my vegan daughter and I have made a variety of non-turkey Thanksgiving dinners. One year we made a lentil loaf. Another we did a vegan shepherd's pie.

This year we won't be together thanks to the pandemic, but we decided to try and cook the same meal before we sit down to share it over zoom.

My daughter came up with a Harvest Chili recipe. We decided having harvest in the name made it qualify as a Thanksgiving treat.

I thought I would share the recipe website with you today, because it seems easy and fun.

I also wanted to share it because I love the website. There are so many interesting recipes.

Vegan Harvest Chili

So what's on the menu for you? Are you doing all the traditional dishes? 

Autumn in Maine

 My baby girl bought her first home this week, so I thought I'd share some of the lovely photos she has been sending me.

Here's a short video.

This one is a woodpecker. They really got a good closeup.

Honestly, they make me want to quit my job, pack my bags, and go join her.

Making My Way Through the Pandemic, One Coffeecake at a Time

 We all have our guilty pleasures. 

Right?

Mindy shared her "No Guilt Cheesecake Mousse" 3:00 snacks yesterday.

My guilty pleasure is coffee cake.

But since I was housebound for 6 months, and had no working stove, I learned to love mail order.

My Grandma's of New England Coffee Cake, to be specific. Perfect for the Yanks in Yankee Belle. (Or anyone for that matter.)

Over the last 6 months, I have tried many of their flavors, but I have 2 definite favorites.

Walnut Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake tastes fabulous for breakfast with coffee, or now, as a late afternoon snack after a long day of school.

The Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chocolate Chip tastes like a decadent brownie when it is warmed.

This beauty is the original Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake.

I don't have a photo of the Banana Walnut that I tried back in May. That was my consolation while everyone was pandemic baking Banana Bread.

I had the Red White and Blue Patriot Cake in July. It's more of a pound cake taste filled with cranberries and blueberries.

I have a Lemon Poppy waiting for me in the freezer. Doesn't it sound perfect for a late afternoon tea?

Okay, we've fessed up. What are some of your guilty eating/snacking pleasures?

Honey Mustard Salmon with Dill

 Jan's post on Monday included Pam's recipe for tuna with apples and cheese (among other things). The unusual combination of flavors made me a bit more daring the other night.

I had zero feelings of inspiration about what to cook for dinner. You know that blah feeling when just nothing is shouting out to you? In pre-pandemic times, I would probably have picked up a pizza, but oh,well.

I had salmon - the little packets, but what to do with it?

I wanted pasta, but I didn't really have anything in the panty for sauce (yes, time to go shopping again).

So I innovated. I like dill with salmon and I like honey mustard with salmon, but I was a bit wary of the combination.

Turns out there was no need to be. The flavors blended quite well.

It tasted even better cold the next day.

A Patriotic Salad

I've been doing a lot of writing this summer. The tradeoff (not surprisingly) is that I haven't been doing much cooking.

About the most ambitious kitchen adventure I've had this week was freezing milk cubes. A few weeks I blogged about my discovery of powdered coconut milk. I love that in my coffee, but sometimes you need milk - like for cereal. Stores here seem to still be having some problems with the milk supply. When I finally went to the supermarket last week (only the 2nd time since March) the milk was all very close to expiring. So I bought half a gallon and froze it into cubes. It worked really well!

Anyway, it's July and that requires something better than milk cubes. I came across this recipe that I posted years ago. It seemed beautifully festive, so I decided to share it again.

A few years ago we ordered salads at work and I got one that had blueberry vinaigrette with red onions and feta cheese. It sounds like an odd combination, but it was very tasty. (Although way too many red onions made their way into my serving. It looked like an onion party at the bottom of the bowl when I was done!)

So fast forward to this Sunday. I had some luscious looking strawberries from the farmer's market.
Emphasis on looking. They didn't taste quite as sweet as they looked, but they were good and were the first of the season, so all is forgiven. Plus they made an amazing vinaigrette!

 I had lettuce - romaine and red leaf. To that I added slices of avocado and diced red onion. I sliced some strawberries on top. Because I was making this a meal, I also added in some pieces of my salmon burger.

It sure looked pretty.

But the best part was yet to come.  I finally found a use for those Talenti jars that have been mysteriously accumulating. :)

First I mashed some blueberries and strawberries. I added them to the jar with some red wine vinegar and olive oil to taste. I mashed some more, then put the lid on and shook.

I drizzled it over the salad. (Doesn't that sound like a fancy chef word? I drizzled it. Better than I dumped it on top.)

 The salad was so delicious and so refreshing that I made it again on Monday. This time I added sliced almonds and they gave it a fabulously satisfying crunch.

Oh - the red onion added just the bite the salad needed. I accidentally left them out on the second night and their absence was noted. :(

We've talked before about my tendency to add fruit to salad. Where do you stand on that?

May on Repeat

It's almost the end of May and it's been overcast and somewhat dreary.

Quarantine continues.

It will be two years tomorrow since my husband passed away.

I have nothing new going on in the cooking world - same old, same old coming out of my cupboard - which means mainly lentils, quinoa, beans, rice, etc.

So I was curious about what I usually post about in May.

There is one recurrent theme - I'm usually looking for something to inspire me while I wait on nicer spring weather.

I thought it would be fun to repost something from this time a few years ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

With any luck, this week marks the end of the worst of my school year. Fun stuff ahead and only a couple more days of state testing.

But that means, until I get through this week, not much cooking is happening. My daughter took me out for barb-e-que for Mother's Day and I had leftovers. My husband ordered takeout (well, he had me order it actually) for dinner, so I had meatball parm leftovers for days.

Hear that cafe folk? I had lots of meat this week. I should be running marathons.

Not.  The school day takes enough energy.

I went looking for a post to share and found this one that I posted almost exactly a year ago and that was copied from a guest blog that was also from May.

I guess it's a theme, so here we go again.

What to cook?

What to eat??

What to post about???

It's that time of year (here at least) when we're in between seasons - too early for summery stuff, too tired of all the wintery stuff.

Just blah.

Apparently this is an annual affliction for me.

I was looking through the old food blog I used to do at Healthy Writer and found this from May 13, 2013.

Blizzards in April, snow storms in May.
We have a freeze warning tonight!
All of which is just an excuse for why it’s taking me so long to get into my spring/summer healthy mentality.
The allure of soups has worn thin as winter dragged on
and on
and on.
Roasted vegetables, so delicious back in November, are getting boring.
Still, it’s hard to drum up enthusiasm for those summer salads when you’re still wrapped in sweaters and winter coats!

Sound familiar?

I know some of you in other parts of the country are well into the warm weather, and we've had a few days, but they don't seem to hang around.

So I settled on this summery dish to pick up my spirits. I may have actually posted an in-progress rendition of it a few years back, but it seems just what I need right now.


A health food restaurant in my neighborhood sells an amazing Black Bean and Corn Quinoa Salad with Avocado Dressing that my daughter and I love. I wanted to try to duplicate it at home. Most of the duplication was easy; only the dressing gave me fits.


So here’s the easy part:

Quinoa – Do you cook with quinoa? It’s easy to make, so healthy, and has a nice nutty bite.

Black beans – I used Goya canned beans.

Corn –Have you ever tried cooking corn on the cob in the microwave with husks still on?  Missy Tippens taught me about that right here at Yankee Belle Cafe. For this recipe I nuked it, then cut it off the cob and chilled it.

In my opinion the corn was the best part!

Greens – I used a package of mesclun greens because they’re my favorite salad greens. I love the variety.

Red onion thinly sliced – This gives the salad a nice zing.

Tomatoes – I used little red grape tomatoes.

Avocado slices for the salad – yum

Toasted tortilla strips – for these, I decided to make my own. Sort of. I bought corn tortillas. My daughter chopped them into thin strips and then we toasted them in the oven. (Note: for this part, it’s better to toast longer on a low temperature. I did it on a higher temp and they got mostly chewy. I lowered it so they could just sort of dry out.)

Onwards to the salad –

That first part is all pretty basic.  Just cook the quinoa and chill, prepare the beans however you like (I always cook them because it seems to make them easier to digest) and then chill.

Wash the greens.

When everything is chilled you’re ready for the dressing. This is where my copycatting fell apart.  What I made tasted good, but it wasn’t exactly right.

I took another avocado and juice from a lime and blended with some cilantro. I wasn’t totally thrilled with that version so I did some after the fact googling and found this recipe from  Trader Joe’s. I think it would have been better so I may try it tonight.

So mix the dressing in with the cold quinoa and arrange on the bed of greens, add the beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, avocado, and top with the toasted tortilla strips.

Voila!

Isn’t that pretty?

Delicious too! Which is why I’ve been craving it.
Do you ever try to duplicate meals you’ve had in restaurants? How does it work for you?



2020 Again.

So some things change, and some remain the same. But life goes on - quarantine or no.

How is this May for you compared to past Mays?

Which meal would you choose?

I'm guessing, without even really knowing us well, that you're going to be able to figure out which of these meals was cooked by my daughter and which was my creation.

Beef stew in the slow cooker

Scrambled eggs and homemade corned beef hash.

Corned beef with twice-baked potato

Irish brown bread to go with the stew

I considered asking you to vote for your favorite, but I was pretty sure there would be no loyalty among the Yankee Belle crew, and she would win hands down!

I cooked tricolor quinoa and mixed in some kale and dark red kidney beans.

Black beans with leftover chickpea/kale/spinach bowl with garam masala

I thought I took a photo of the chickpea, quinoa and kale bowl, but I can't find it.

This one is tuna simmered in honey mustard over spaghetti nests. It tasted absolutely delicious!

But we could consider who had the healthier options *cough cough* 

I think my black bean quinoa dish wins that round - a tasty, meat-free, high protein (very cheap) meal.

But if I was choosing by taste, I'd have to go with her scrambled eggs and corned beef hash.

What would you choose?

Pineapple Chicken for the Win

Last weekend the wind was howling, the snow was blowing, and I didn't feel like eating soup.

I had leftover chicken, and in the process of FINALLY unpacking my kitchen after the renovation, I discovered a can of crushed pineapple.

I know you guys make fun of me for the things I mix together, but this one was a HIT!

First up - Jasmati rice. I love this one.

Next - The chicken was already cooked, so I shredded it.

I emptied the can of pineapple into a pan, added some freeze-dried garlic and simmered. After a few minutes, I added the shredded chicken and simmered some more.

And just like that, it was ready!

So easy!

So delicious!

So - almost tropical on a snowy day.

What do you think? If pizza can have ham and pineapple, why can't my rice get chicken and pineapple?


I decided the leftover chicken and pineapple would make a great slider on these rolls.

And to show more about our weird weather. It was freezing when I took this picture, but the blue sky looked like summer with its fluffy clouds.

Kale Salad for Staying Healthy?

On Monday, Jan posted about healthier eating. That's been on my mind as well. 1/3 of my students were out sick today, so I definitely am looking for healthier foods to hopefully ward off illness.

I've also been eating a lot of comfort and convenient food. The problem is, though it's convenient to make, and comforting to eat, it leads to a not so comfortable feeling when the clothes get tight and the stairs get harder to climb.

When your body starts balking at cookies and actually is craving green stuff - you know it's serious!

So tonight I decided to try something health(ier). I've actually been looking forward to it all day.

I started out with my go-to salad base - Glory kale that I blanched and chilled.

Next up - some leftover (takeout) beef brisket. I need the protein after a day with over 90 middle schoolers!



I saw frozen beets at the supermarket and decided to give them a try because beets seemed to go with steak in my salad!

Mandarin oranges - because all the sick kids means I need Vitamin C in megadoses.

Pomegranate arils - because I love any excuse to add them in. Love me some poms.

Some people think these are a lot of work, but honestly, it took me 5 minutes to turn this

into this

Sunflower seeds - I just love the crunch these give and they have a whole boatload of nutritional goodness. (How's that for being specific?) Also because my local store stopped carrying my favorite brand, so I ordered through Amazon. I guess I didn't read carefully enough because I got a huge bag with lots of smaller bags inside!

Confession time -  I added croutons because - well I love croutons and (mostly) everything else is healthy.

And - VOILÁ

And just in case that's not enough to ward off the assorted germs, I picked up this at the drugstore. Seemed worth a try!