Recipe of the Week: Chili

Cooling outdoor temperatures prompt thoughts of foods that are warming. Chili is one of my favorites. There are many good chili seasoning kits on the market; the Wick Fowler’s 2 Alarm is my favorite. Of course - I make my own modifications:

• Add 1 can of pinto beans or the equivalent of home cooked pinto beans
• Only half the salt packet
• Entire red pepper packet
• No Masa flour 

I like to serve chili over multi-grain rice or egg noodles rather than with crackers. My husband eats his in carb balance tortillas - again without crackers.

Chili also can be dipped with wedges of pepper or celery.

And what about toppings: cheese or chives or diced tomato/onion (salsa!) or guacamole.

Chili is a hearty meal in a bowl (or tortilla) that warms a cool or cold day!

Recipe of the Week: Pinto Beans

Years ago I cooked pinto beans with chunks of ham - but now I cook with no seasoning at all because of the variety of ways I want to use them; I safe the seasoning for right before I eat them. My technique for cooking beans (that reduces their tendency to be the ‘musical fruit’) is: 

• Sort the beans removing any small dirt clods or rocks.
• Rinse.
• Soak overnight - or longer - in enough water to cover the beans + about 2 inches.
• Drain.
• Place in a big pot and cover with water + 2 inches.
• Bring to boil on high heat.
• Skim any foam that forms from the pot.
• Simmer covered until beans are very soft. The amount of time it takes depends on how dry the beans are. I recently had a pot that took almost twice the amount of time I had expected. Make sure there is enough water to keep the beans covered while they cook.
• Drain the liquid from the beans.
• Freeze beans that you will not use in the next few days in containers sized for the way you will be using the beans. 

Be creative on how you use the cooked beans to add a nutritional boost to just about any meal. Remember that since no seasoning was added while they were cooking - they will meld with just about anything you put with them. Alone they are quite bland. Here are some ideas to get you started...there are lots of recipes you can find with a simple search if you need more details.

Soups

• Stir fry onion, peppers, and celery while stock/bullion + carrots are boiling (to soften the carrots). Add a teaspoon of your favorite no-salt seasoning, beans, onion/peppers, and tomatoes. Top with parsley.
• Heat V8 or other veggie drink, beans, frozen or fresh peas, corn, and broccoli. Season to taste.

Salads

• Combine tuna, beans, and your favorite creamy dressing or mayonnaise.
• Combine beans, frozen green beans and peas and your favorite vinaigrette.
• Combine lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beans, a sprinkle of orange zest and your favorite salad dressing.
• Combine beans, an apple, raisins, celery and a sweet dressing (for example - olive oil and orange marmalade or mayonnaise and honey)

Refried beans (a great Southwestern/Mexican side dish)

Muffins (see my recipe below…but there are others to be found on the web)

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Pinto Bean Oat Muffins

1 cup pinto beans (cooked)

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup oats (process to a rough flour in a food processor/grinder)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preparation Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Put everything a food processor and pulse process until everything is blended/moistened.
• Take out blade and use a spatula to fold in the raisins.
• Spoon into muffin cups prepared with cooking spray, about 3/4 full.
• Bake until golden brown.

(This recipe was modified from one found on Yummly.)

Quote of the Day - 03/27/2012

The fuel of life is new information - novelty - ordered into new structures.  We need to have information coursing through systems, disturbing the peace, imbuing everything it touches with new life. - Margaret J. Wheatley as quoted in Michele Bechtell in The Management Compass (AMA Management Briefing)

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It is very easy to get a lot of new information and novelty these days. Our technology has removed many of the barriers to information dissemination so now we find ourselves honing skills to avoid being overwhelmed by the ‘fire hose’ of new information made available every day. The trick is to somehow recognize the misinformation (i.e. recognize information unsupported by data of any kind and/or intentional falsehoods), decide if ‘opinion’ is indeed information too, cull information that is relevant/actionable and then get the highest quality new information ‘ordered into new structures.’ We want the ‘imbuing everything it touches with new life’ not a frenzy of circular motion that produces no discernible outcomes!

The quote is from a management book but applies to our individual lives as well. What positive role does new information/novelty play in your life? Trace a new information/novelty to the change it caused you to make. Realize that learning something may be a step you take to order information so that it can be applied or may simply be a storing away of information is almost raw form.

A recent example for me: I was cooking a big pot of pinto beans to use for homemade refried beans when it occurred to me that maybe beans could be used in other things - like muffins. This is an example of seeking novelty. I did a quick search on the web, found several recipes, picked one, and baked it. I’ll share the results tomorrow!