Week 4 = Guest Blogger Week: Lori Gillespsie

Cowboys  and Saints; Texas and New Orleans.  Hmmm… what should I make?  Texas Chili it is.  What makes it Texas?  No Beans.  I’m also making Corn Bread and Cole Slaw and for dessert, Chocolate Croissants.

So let me explain my cooking style.  I’m pretty good with flavors, so I get an idea, check out the internet and then let it fly.  I typically don’t measure anything.  I cook by taste.

I started the Texas Chili by cutting up a roast into bite size pieces.  I think it was about a pound. I browned the meat with some onions then added some beef granules, some water, some crushed tomatoes, chili pepper, red pepper, garlic salt, and cumin.  Brought it to a boil, then covered and simmered until meat was tender.  I added just a bit of flour to thicken it up.  Spoon it in a bowl with some sour cream and cheese and it looks like this.  

 Corn Bread with Texas chili is a must. I cheated here and I bought a mix, Fleishmann’s Simply Homemade.  It had some ideas on the side, so I added frozen corn and Cheese to the mix before baking.  

We needed a vegetable with this chili since it really doesn’t have anything but meat in it, so I made coleslaw. It’s so easy and tastes better than almost anything you can buy in the deli.  Get a cole slaw mix from the produce department and add a dressing of some mayo and vinegar and sugar or honey.  Finish it off with some salt and pepper and you’re done.  It’s really a “to taste” kind of side.

Dessert was Chocolate Croissants.  I totally cheated here too.  Trader Joe’s had some really good ones.  They were frozen.  Just follow directions and bake.  They need to be left out for about 9 hours before going in the oven. Here they are baking.

Everything was tasty.  My husband suggested that the chili could have been a bit spicier, but I was also feeding 2 young boys so I went easy.  But add more if you like.

And that my friend’s was dinner for my Sunday night Game.  It was a bit Texas heavy, but that would be because I have been a fan of the Boy’s since 1977. Go Cowboys!

Read More From Lori at  lfginspired@blogspot.com

HELP!

Anyone wanna be a guest blogger?

Rob and I are going to the Denver Digger and won't be home until really late on Sunday evening. No cooking for me!

All are welcome. Just let me know.

VA

Week 3 = Some Risks Are Worth It

If Rob hadn't come up with the Italian sausage wontons, I would never have tried this bizarre combo. And since I used pierogi last year, I really wanted to try something different for Pittsburgh this year.

Cabbage rolls do have an unfortunate resemblance to brains.

My first plan was to make an eastern Carolina bbq sauce to go on the cabbage rolls stuffed with pulled pork, mainly because I thought Charlotte was on the eastern side of the state. And I thought a vinegar based sauce would make sense. But when I figured out where Charlotte actually was and saw how many halupky recipes had tomatoes in them, I ended up with a Lexington/Piedmont sauce.

Okay - I definitely still have problems with planning because I never checked if I had enough cider vinegar. I didn't, but I substituted a combination of distilled white and balsamic and no one died.

Success!

The cabbage  roll recipe is this one from All Recipes. It's pretty easy, much less futzy than the wontons. Really, anything that sits in slow cooker all day works for me. I did substitute ground pork for ground beef. Like I said, I wanted pulled pork, but I wasn't sure how to make the pulled pork, stuff the boiled cabbage, and then cook it all together. Maybe I could have just wrapped them and left it at that, but since I had never made halupky before, I choose to stay close to the recipe.

The end result...

One more thing. Thank God, I decided to add the mashed potatoes. That sauce was hot!

Next week is New Orleans at Dallas. Let's see if I can avoid barbeque this time around.

Later,

VA

Week 2 = Crafts Suck but this Meal was AWESOME!

I so wish I could take credit for this one.

Seriously. Pan-fried Italian sausage wontons? Stroke of genius! And it was all Rob's idea.*

Carolyn asked for the recipe, but I really kind of just looked at videos and read some recipes and then guessed at what to do. My main guide is this recipe at About.com. I substituted Italian sausage, peppers, and onions for the pork, shrimp, and scallions. I didn't add any liquid because, well, I forgot. That may have been a lucky accident because of the veggies and the fat in the sausage. I'm also a little paranoid about undercooking sausage, so I browned the filling first. 

As for folding wontons - holy crap! What a pain in the ass! You can maybe get a teaspoon at the most in any one wrapper. And even then, half of them are going to rip. Having said that, I'll probably do it again. I love all things wrapped in dough.

Speaking of "pain in the ass," let's discuss the giant-sized Twinkies. 

First, they're giant-sized because I am incapable of crafting anything, and almost every recipe out there required making little Twinkie molds out of aluminum that you wrap around spice bottles. Plus you had to poke holes in the Twinkies and squirt cream inside using a pastry bag.

Are you kidding me? It's stuff like this that kept me off of Pinterest for years. 

I did the best I could. I skipped making the proper filling and just made buttercream filling that was excessively sweet. (Btw - getting the filling in the little wholes looks a lot easier on television.) Luckily, I bought dark chocolate Ghirardelli chips and that helped balance things out.**

Alright. That's all I can write. Bogey wants to go to the park. 

Until next week,

VA

*I'm so proud!

**Frosting + chocolate chips = delicious snack!

Week 2: Chicago @ SF

Chicago at San Francisco? This is  a case of too many options.

Let's see, I could make...

• Seafood Deep Dish
• Italian Beef on Sourdough
• Fried Rice-a-Roni
• Joe's Special on a Horseshoe Sandwich
• Chicken Tetrazzini with Sausage

All delicious sounding, although Rob is not interested in frutti di mare pizza. He says it sounds gross. And I'm putting on the kibosh on the Italian beef. I love it, but I did it last year. I'll have to save that for a Monday Night game.

Fried Rice-a-Roni is crazy...but maybe Asian would work. Both cities have areas called Chinatown. I haven't made Rice-a-Roni in years, and I've never made fried rice. Is fried rice really Chinese?


Well, I've learned one good thing. The martini was invented in San Francisco. Martinis make everything taste just fine. Ask my mom.

Week 1 = Epic Fail

I'm sharing the picture of the Colorado Burrito portion of the dinner. It was pretty good. I love enchilada sauce and cheese and tortillas. Those parts were all good.

If I make this again, and I might, I would reconsider the stew meat. I just don't care for it, but I also don't know enough about using a slow cooker to know what to substitute.

I also got to use my new convection oven/toaster/ broiler thingy, so that was cool.

My mistake? Baked beans and cornbread. Blech! Very unpleasant. Maybe because I overcooked the cornbread. Maybe because I don't really like baked beans, even when they are made with bacon.

Lessons from this meal -

• Plan ahead. I kept waiting for inspiration to hit. It never did. Then I panicked and went for easy. It's not that easy isn't good, but I wouldn't have been stuck with something half-assed if I had thought through my meal just a bit more. 
• Ignore Erica's suggestions. It's not that she's a bad cook,* but she will fuck you up if she gets the chance. Ask me why I hate green peas so much. 

Week 2 is Bears at 49ers. Two awesome food cities! I had better start planning now. 

VA

*If you get the chance, go camping with Erica and Chris sometime. They make an awesome campfire team.

NFL Week 1: Colts @ Broncos

vs. 

I just found out that I have to coach the little ones on Sunday night, so that means I'm breaking out the slow cooker. I think I'm going to make Chile Colorado Burritos. Recipes abound, but I like this one from Six Sisters' Stuff.


Now...what about Indianapolis? Corn salsa?

Help!

I almost forgot - I pick the Broncos. I don't really care for either team, but my dislike of Eli Manning has tarnished his brother for me.