Posts Tagged recipes

Pam’s recipe for “Killer Chili”

This is a recipe which came to the list via email, originally Pam had posted it and Gilda hat made some corrections to it. In my own cooking I had to change it a bit as my biggest pot was not big enough to accommodate all of the food listed below. I adapted and my version of this recipe I’ll post after.

    Pam’s Killer Chili

  • 1C. Vidalia onion diced. (i don’t like onions and that provided enough flavor for me. if you want, use more.)
  • 1- 24. oz can of tomato sauce
  • 1- 24 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
  • 1- 24 oz. can diced tomatoes w/ liquid
  • 2 med. zucchini* cut vertically into 1/4s and then holding the strips together cut horizontally into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces.
  • 2 yellow squash * cut it the same as the zucchini
  • 1/2 head cauliflower-cut, broken what ever you want to make them roughly marble sized.
  • 1 lb. sliced ’shrooms. i lazily buy the pre-sliced and then halved them vertically
  • 1 stalk celery, diced- that’s enough to give it flavor add more if you like the taste.
  • 2 decent sized tomatoes, seeded and diced
  • as many carrots as you like cut into 1/4 to 1/2 circles
  • a couple of sprays of Pam
  • 1 C. (approx.) aw approved veggie broth
  • and I guess anything else you may want to throw in. I didn’t do asparagus or green beans because I was going for a similar consistency to my non-veggie, kick ass, give you a fat ass, chili. (the recipe is nothing like this.)
  • chili powder- to taste, but it takes a lot. I don’t like anything really spicy and it still takes a ton. I had 2 tall containers on hand.
  • salt to taste
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • a generous pinch of baking soda
  • Give it another 1/2 hour and taste again. Season accordingly and add that generous pinch of baking soda. it will bubble and foam, just stir it in for a few minutes and taste. Keep going till you would actually consider serving it to company.

Note: zucchini and yellow squash are not “starchy” but they break down easily and dissolve into the sauce – thereby thickening the stew.

Spray your pot w/ Pam and cook onions until clear. If your pot get too dry toss in a splash of AW approved veggie broth.

Add all 3 cans of tomato products. Add some salt, chili pepper (start w/ a 1/4 bottle) and some fresh ground black pepper let it simmer.

Take carrot circles, diced celery and cauliflower bits (and any other veggie that you add that is hard and will take longer to cook) put in microwave safe bowl, add another splash or 2 of veggie broth and cover w/ saran. Steam them in the microwave just long enough to soften slightly.

Add all raw and nuked veggies to the tomato mixture.

Let it simmer about 1/2 hour to 45 min. stirring occasionally throughout, and taste. Now it’s time to slowly add more salt, black pepper. (I don’t use a ton of this) and chili pepper all to taste.

REMEMBER TO LET IT SIMMER BETWEEN EACH SEASONING. The longer it cooks, the thicker and more flavorful it becomes. Be careful, it’s easy to over season. I let it simmer at least 3 hours or more. I didn’t put guac. in mine. Someone else does. I like them both so much that I want to enjoy them separately. I hope it works for you

A great many thank to Gilda! Also, I noticed that I wrote Chili pepper instead of Chili Powder in one place. I only use Chili Powder and when it is done I have used so much the color of the chili is almost Reddish Brown. I have done green beans since writing. I cut them into pieces 1/2 – 1/4 inch long. Also, this recipe clearly isn’t for one day. I divide it up, package and freeze it. I freezes fabulously and is so easy to grab and take to school w/ me it’s also always there if I run out of veggies. I even double the recipe. There is no great way to measure eyeball it, or weigh the chopped ingredients before cooking and allow for the addition of the tomato products. It’s good my husband and kids actually eat it w/ me and my kids are typically don’t eat like this. Lastly, isn’t there something about chili powder speeding metabolism?

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Starbucks

This posting is for all Starbucks fans. As I’m not a huge fan of American coffee – see my other posting which coffee I prefer – it’s not so much about me but rather about all of the people on the program craving their special treat:

How to survive as a Starbucksaholic

 

Their Cup sizes:
Short: 8 oz
Tall: 12 oz
Grande: 16 oz
Venti: 20 oz

  • 1 pump of sugar free syrup is 1/3 of an ounce. If you buy a gift card and pay for your coffee with that, the syrup shot is free! (Saves 30 to 50 cents!)
  • Espresso is usually 1 ounce.
  • A Short latte is the way to go with approximately 5.5 ounces of milk
  • A Tall latte generally has 9 ounces of milk the other 3 ounces are foam, espresso and such
  • A Grande latte generally has 11 ounces of milk the other 5 ounces are foam, espresso and syrup if you chose a flavor.
  • A Venti is 14.5 ounces of milk
  • A Grande Cappuccino is made of approximately 7oz of milk
  • A steamer which is just whole milk steamed with sugar free vanilla syrup
  • A latte with whole milk, cold or hot, with sugar free vanilla, caramel, cinnamon dulce or plain. Make sure you tell them sugar free!
  • A  Misto –  It depends what size you order. A misto is half coffee and half steamed milk so a medium is only 8 ozs of milk, add the SF syrup and voila!…. yummy!
  • Starbucks Vanilla Cream: You ask them for their milk-only drink with whole milk, sugar free vanilla and NO whipped cream.  Simply ask them to froth the milk the way they do with lattes.
  • Get a latte…whole milk….sugar free caramel and sugar free mocha…..no whip cream….no foam….and get it hot or cold.   It’s AWESOME!!!
  • An iced VENTI LATTE has 12 oz milk and I add WF Choc Syrup to it and it is wonderful!

Remember to tell them to use whole milk (they switched to 2% a little while ago unless you ask) and sugar free syrup!

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Portobello mushrooms gourmet style.

You guessed right, I am on the hunt for all the goodies which make it possible to enjoy this adventure. So here is another great recipe from the mailing list:

Portobello Mushroom with Spinach

Try sauteing a large portobello mushroom cap in a little veggie broth, then separately saute some spinach and minced garlic in another pan. Put the spinach mixture on top of the mushroom cap and enjoy.

For a twist you could grill the mushroom while sauteing the other veggies and when done fill the portobello with it.

For a different taste, you could put onions or green peppers or any other veggie with the spinach and/or add some tomato sauce on top. It’s yummy, fast and satisfying. You can bring it to work and re-heat it in a microwave or toaster oven.

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Ratatouille, my way.

My first veggie meal. It was great to open the fridge and choose from the abundance of vegetables. What I made is one of my easy favorites. If not on a diet you can pair it with some grilled chicken and still have a very healthy and low calorie meal:

Ratatouille

Heat a non-stick pan over medium. Add the sliced onion. Make sure the onion does not stick or blackens. After about 2 minutes add the sliced bell pepper, soft sides down to allow them tenderize faster.

You can add now a lid to capture the steam and to help fasten the process and to keep all available moisture in. After another 2 minutes add the zucchini. As there is no fat you need to turn the food frequently enough to prevent sticking but to still allow some browning to occur.

Add pepper and some salt. At this point I also like to play with my mood and add other spices, such as garlic (concentrated liquid or powder) and Provençal type spices or whatever comes to mind. I for one like the spices from Windwalker Farm which sells their own, proprietary blend.

Again, after about 2 minutes add the mushrooms and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Add the bouillon to the pan, this will develop a nice steam, close the lid to capture. After a brief moment and quieting down, spread the tomato slices over it all. Close the lid again and let go for a couple minutes. Remove the lid, turn the food with a spatula and while you do it make sure to scrape up the browned stuff on the pan bottom. All the veggies should be nicely softened without being mush. If not, cook a bit longer.

Serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The 2-min routine is only a rough estimate, watch your food, if it dries up too fast you might want to cut back to 1-min intervals.

Following this program make sure you’re not above 1 1/2 pounds of raw veggies if you are also having 2 fruits on the same day.

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How much Jello can you have?

The past few days there was some questions about this topic on the Accu-Weight list-serve – is it a no-no, a 1/2 cup a day, a cup a week or only in emergencies to not do any major damage when cheating? Here is the best answer I found on this:

Straight from the mouth of Dr Schwartz:

Make a 4 serving packet of Sugar Free Jello, but pour into 3 dishes for 3 servings.

And have no more than one serving a day and one box a week.

Some background info: It appears that this is one of the very few things that Barbara & Dr. Schwartz have altered back & forth. You can pour the packet into as many dishes as you want, Dr. S was just suggesting 3 to make it bigger servings. That was the original rule, and only one box per week. Last year Barbara had said we could have more than that because it would be better to use an extra jello than to cheat on anything else. Your best bet: limit yourself to one jello box a week, but if an extra serving of jello is going to keep you from eating XXX or XXX, than that would be the best way to cheat.

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