Best Vegetarian Chili in the World

We’ve been eating a lot of the Best Vegetarian Chili in the World. A lot of it.

But I want to point out that we have never used a quarter of a cup of chili powder in there. A heaping tablespoon maybe. We also use half the burger crumbles and a third of the tomatoes. I don’t really care for a tomatoey-soupy chili.

It freezes great. Have at it!

Dusting off this old blog...

I'll not make excuses for not posting, but shall strive to do better in the future. To that end...

I cooked up a STORM on Sunday afternoon! Tuna noodle casserole (so gross, so good), African chicken & peanut soup, rigatoni and chicken sausage casserole, and filling for empanadas. Everything was in large batches, so we're stocking our freezer to save time and meal planning stress.

Yesterday I made the dough for the empanadas and cooked 'em up for dinner. I thought the dough was going to be a disaster -- it was a crumbly, sticky mess while I was kneading it. However, it turned out very well. The empanadas were pretty and crazy tasty:
Big, too! I'll try to remember to take a photo of the soup when we eat it tonight.

Mostly I want to brag about Graham's recent interest in cooking. He adores it, and he's such a great little helper. He and I have been having fun browsing through The Toddler Cafe and trying some of the recipes in there. He hasn't liked everything, but he's been willing to try things I don't think he would have touched if he hadn't helped make them. That's progress.

So far, our biggest favorites from that book have been the grilled cheese sandwiches made on the waffle iron (the cover of the book has a picture) and the mint chocolate chip ice cream made with cream cheese and peas. I find the end result a little too tangy, but Graham digs it in small portions and Dean is addicted to it. Some photos from that session:

From Food

From Food

From Food

Don't you love his little apron? Next on our list from that book are treasure triangles and pumpkin pockets. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Yesterday afternoon both boys "helped" with making Halloween cookies. It was one of those projects that sounds really fun but was truly exhausting. However, the end result was delicious and super cute:

From Food

Mad props to the Martha Stewart sugar cookie recipe. These are definitely the best ones I've ever made.

Moroccan-Style Tilapia

I don’t know if they have tilapia in Morocco, but anyway, this was delicious! Preparation is simple, though it takes an hour. One strange thing: this says to use five pounds of fish to make six servings! I don’t know about you, but I’m not that hungry. I halved the recipe and used .95 pounds of tilapia, and it made a generous three servings.

Serve with couscous!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spanish-Moroccan-Fish/Detail.aspx

This cracked me up

I've been lazy about chronicling the dinners lately. Last night we had huevos montelenos; Monday was crispy chicken tacos; Sunday was fish with homemade mango salsa. I'll try to remember to take pictures of tonight's dinner.

Anyhoo, I loved seeing this post on Defamisher this morning. Check it out!

Lemon pesto chicken

This is something Zach and I used to make a lot. You simply marinade some chicken breasts in fresh lemon juice and pesto for about 20 minutes, then throw those suckas on the grill! We served it on salad greens and topped it with parmesan. Yum!

Last night -- cheeseburger salad and grilled eggplant

Grilled up some burgers last night and served 'em up over greens. A side of grilled eggplant completed the meal! I thought the eggplant was super yummy, but poor Zach just can't bring himself to like it. C'est la vie!

More cooking for kiddos

In my frenzy last night I also made two recipes for the boys, rice balls (with sweet potato and spinach) and purple pancakes (with beets).

I had kind of a hard time with the balls -- the texture was way too gloppy, and I burned parts of them. (That's what I get for using my cheap nonstick pan. It always betrays me.) I took a small bite and knew Graham wouldn't eat them, but Dean sure did!



I'm not really sure how the purple pancakes went over. Graham ate a little bit this morning, but didn't gobble them with the enthusiasm he usually displays. On the other hand, he didn't complain, so we'll see.

I plan to make the balls again sometime and play with the texture issue. And pancakes are one of Graham's favorite foods, so I'll be experimenting with them for a long time to come!