It's Chili Yall.

With the weather dropping, sorta depending where you live, I think most of us want something warm and simple to come home to. And if you are like me, with all this holiday insanity, you need something that doesn't take a lot of time. Soups and Chili are the perfect fix. With only a little chopping you throw everything into a pot and cook it until the flavors meld, which gives you just enough time to open the wine and snuggle up to a book. 

This recipe is a meld of a few different vegetarian chili dishes I found. You can add all sort of other vegetables such as zucchini, sweet potatoes, peppers, etc but I was looking for something with almost no chopping needed. My kitchen had been usurped by my roommate all day so it was 9pm before I could start dinner. Given the circumstance, I needed dinner to be quick so did not add a ton of vegetables. As I said, there a million variations, but this is a great basic chili to add on as you see fit. The flavors are rich and it's healthy to boot! You could also play with beans, using pinto or white northern beans, along with the classic black bean for a variation. As I said chili is fairly versatile, but knowing what spices to use helps your chili stand out.
Most of us will be eating fairly gourmet this weekend, but next week I urge you to make this simple, healthy chili. Make it on Monday and have lunch for the rest of the week :)

Vegetarian Chili
Based on "Vegetarian Pleasures" Black Bean Chili

The Goods: Makes a big ole pot of Chili, serves 4-6

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil 

2 medium onions, diced

6 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms, stemmed, wiped clean and cubed

2 cups fresh corn kernels (frozen is fine) 

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes in their juices

3 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups vegetable stock or water

2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (more if you want a spicy chili)

Suggested toppings: 

Sour cream and chives

Sliced Avocado

Shredded Cheddar

Fresh Cilantro

The Deal: 

1. Heat oil on medium high heat in a large stock pot. Add onions and garlic, cooking until soft, about 3 minutes. Add corn and mushrooms and cook until soft and browned around the edges, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chili powder, soy sauce, cumin, oregano, ginger, cinnamon, salt and cayenne, stirring constantly and cooking until fragrant about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, black beans, and vegetable stock and mix well while bringing to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, keeping a good simmer until thickened, but not pasty, about 30 minutes. Taste and add seasonings if desired. 

Serve warm over brown rice. This also reheats beautifully, add a bit of water if too thick when reheating in a pot. 

Turnip the heat

Root Fries Anyone? 

Look at me making up recipes! Last week at the market I decided to buy some turnips as to force myself to find an easy recipe. I noticed turnips were one of the root vegetables that I had not played with in the kitchen. But if it's in season, Im doing my best to experiment. 

DA Turnip

Turnips aren't really winning any beauty food contests, they are boring looking. No offense turnips, but you know its true. I looked through many of my cookbooks and the recipes I found included roasted turnips, turnip mash, stuffed turnips, simple things like that. None of the recipes I read got me excited to make these white little root balls. So I began to search the web and found turnip fries. Well, I pretty much like anything that has FRY in the title, so I decided to give them a go. I've also been trying to play with Asian and Indian flavors lately, and this particular night I was making a Thai Curry (recipe coming soon). So instead of flavoring the turnips like a traditional fry, why not throw some cumin and coriander and see how it goes? I also happen to have this amazing fresh ginger (which I bought at the market a few weeks back) so grated a piece up and threw that in the mix. 

You will be fries someday! 

My cooking ego is about the size of a turnip (teeny tiny), but I was freakin proud of these little guys. Simply, healthy, and almost all the ingredients are items most basic kitchens will have. 

As far as what oil to use, I usually have at least 4-5 different types, but feel free to use vegetable oil, or any flavorless oil you have in the pantry. I enjoyed the depth of flavor the peanut oil brought, but no need to buy it just for this recipe. Same goes for ginger.

What's neat about this recipe is using Indian spices with a fairly American vegetable. Of course these spices would be delicious on regular or sweet potatoes, but mixing up your vegetables is always a good idea. Variety is the spice of life! 

These would be a great side to almost anything. They require little in the kitchen time, and I dare you to just eat one. 

Hope yall like these as much as I do. Healthy boyfriend has already requested more :)

Turnip Fries with Cumin, Coriander and Ginger

The Goods: serves 4-5 as side

3 pounds turnips, peeled

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (vegetable is fine)

1/4 tablespoon peanut oil (optional)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

The Deal: 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop turnips into fries, which will vary depending on the size of the turnip. I sliced my turnips in half, then turned the turnip half sideways and made a vertical cut. Keeping the top and bottom together, I then made 1/4 inch slices, see picture below.

2. In a bowl combine both oils, cumin, coriander and ginger. Place turnips in and with your hands toss to combine, being sure the spiced oil is evenly distributed to all the fries. 

3. Place on a large cookie sheet (use 2 if you need more room) being sure the turnips aren't overlapping. Bake for 20 minutes or so, flipping the fries at least once to ensure even browning. Remove when golden brown and crispy. Serve warm!   

Sweet Potato Hash with Curry Spices

This post could also be called I was lazy and wanted sweet potatoes. Or how to not cook much but have something crunchy. Thursday night I had a familiar hankering for sweet potatoes but needed to try something new for blog posting purposes. I would probably roast root vegetables in greek dressing five nights a week if not for the need to come up with original recipes for my blog.
So I quickly searched a few of my favorite sites, looking for recipes that required no additional food purchases and minimal actual in the kitchen time. Two Blue Lemons to the rescue! (click on the name and transport yourself to a lovely site)

I tinkered with the original recipe a bit, adding cinnamon because I think sweet potatoes and cinnamon should get married and have babies. The original dish also called for poppy seeds, but I had sesame so thats what went in. I should have made it more breakfast themed, made a couple spicy scrambled eggs to lay on top, but as was came out pretty good. I had some spinach so I sliced it fancy-like and threw it on top for some iron and color. This recipe can be used in a lot of different ways, so I hope you will find your own way to make this simple hash your own.

I have a strange sensation this dish is missing a certain I don't know what yet. But I'm sure I will, at some point, figure it out.

This would also be great with breakfast; with an egg on top, avocado, sour cream, or salsa. These are versatile so use what spices you have. If you need to make brunch for a big group this is a quick way to make a large quantity of hash browns and leave you stove open for other cook to order type items.

Remember sweet potatoes are in season, so buy local! Sweet potatoes keep for a while and can be used in almost anything. Go get some from a farmer, that's a good day for everyone.

Sweet Potato Hash with Curry Spices

Green and orange food. It's Fall, get used to it. 

The Goods: Serves 3-4 as side dish
3-4 small sweet potatoes ( I used 1 big un, and 1 little un)
1 red onion
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup fresh spinach, chiffonade

The Deal: 
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grate (by hand or using a grater attachment on your food processor) the sweet potato and onion. Grating an onion sucks for your eyes, power through! Transfer the onion potato mixture to a sieve and squeeze with your hands to release as much moisture as you can.

I don't have a sieve so I used a strainer.

2. Dump in a bowl and add spices. Mix well with your hands to make sure everything its coated in yummy spices.

About to be hash...

3. Shake in an even layer on to a pre-greased cookie sheet and bake until bottom starts to brown. Scrape and toss once and continue to bake until new bottom is crispy. Total cooking time is about 25-35 minutes, depending on the the amount of moisture in your sweet tater mix.

4. Serve hot with spinach sprinkled on top.