FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

A Short Little Chili Ditty

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In a huge effort to cram as many yoga practices and runs in after work this week, I’ve depended almost solely on my slow cooker for dinner.  I ran home during lunch one day and skipped all the browning the meat and cooking the vegetables steps and tossed all my favorite chili ingredients into the slow cooker on high for 4 hours.  An easy chili recipe quickly turned into the easiest chili recipe!

FoodFash Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

1 pound ground turkey, raw
½ large chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can pinto beans, undrained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaping tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

After 4 hours, use a large spoon to break up the turkey.  Enjoy as is, or top with chopped onions, shredded cheese, or a dollop of sour cream!

Homemade Sushi

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I have terrifying memories of my elementary school self sitting across from mom at Joto, begging for chicken tempura as she tried to convince me I must like sushi because I’m a quarter Japanese.  I have hilarious memories of enjoying sushi with high school friends at a random sushi joint in Clearwater where Hulk Hogan sightings were a thing.  And I have the greatest memories of eating Dragonfly sushi weekly in college, turning sushi naysaying sorority sisters (that’s you Lis!) into tuna, cream cheese and cucumber roll lovers.  And today I made a memory for my present day self, one that involves homemade sushi.  Talk about a sushi transformation.

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The sushi mat, sushi rice, and nori were all purchased during the blogtastic shopping extravaganza that was last weekend.  And then I picked up some asparagus, carrots, and avocado for the sushi stuffing.  Fish would have to wait until homemade sushi part deux.

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I peeled, chopped, sliced, and anxiously prepared myself for the first roll.  A rolling action that was freakishly similar to rolling up a yoga mat after practice just minutes before.

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The success of this roll can only be attributed to the stickiness of the sushi rice as it flawlessly held everything together with little effort on my end.  I can’t wait to sub carrots with some super fresh tuna and recreate my ultimate favorite restaurant roll!  Or maybe host a bring-your-own-sushi-stuffing party?

#BakingBootcamp: Croissants

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After reading real bakers post that croissant making is an 11 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 10, I thought for sure I was going to mess something up.  I followed the croissant recipe in The Secrets of Baking as much as I could, but found that I was still rough and impatient with this two-day dough.  And since rough and impatient are not good things when it comes to pastry, I popped these bad boys in the oven expecting my first #bakingbootcamp failure.

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Mixing ingredients, 6 hours of rising, 3 passes at laminating the dough, 6 more hours of rising, cutting then rolling, 2 hours of proofing…  Who was the baking mastermind that came up with all these rules??  And then there were all of the instructions that I impatiently ignored: perfectly squared edges, perfectly measured cuts.  Instead, I depended on my construction mind and super steady hand.

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What came out of the oven was a gazillion calories of accomplishment.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw croissants so layered, so golden.  I facebooked about it, I tweeted about, I brought them to my co-workers, I ran up the steepest hill in town to deliver to my favorite neighbors.  And after all this, I still feel…  I feel “happy of myself”!

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Cheers to challenging yourself in twenty thirteen!

Slow Cooker Sort Of Tortilla Soup

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

Since moving to Austin, I’ve eaten a ridiculous amount of tortilla soup.  Like it could have been 114 degrees outside and the craving never ceased.  And one more tidbit?  Nine times out of ten I order tortilla soup sans tortilla, so that’s just the way I made it at home.

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FoodFash Chicken Sort of Tortilla Soup (yields 6 servings)

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

32 ounces chicken broth

1 – 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes

1 – 8 ounce can of tomato sauce

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 or 2 serrano peppers, seeds removed and chopped

2 – 15 ounce cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

a handful of fresh cilantro

salt to taste (if needed at all)

For garnish:

lime wedges

avocado

fresh cilantro

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Place chicken breasts in a slow cooker.  Pour everything except for the garnish ingredients over the chicken.  Stir the ingredients and slow cook on high for 3-1/2 hours.  Carefully remove chicken breasts, remove and discard the skin.  Use a fork to separate the meat from the bones and use two forks to shred the chicken.  Add the shredded meat back to the soup and cook on high for 30 minutes more.  Ladle soup into a bowl, squeeze a lime wedge over each serving, and top with fresh cilantro and sliced avocado.  And if you’re one of the normal people that likes tortilla strips on your tortilla soup, go ahead and make that happen too.

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This whole slow cooker thing is new enough to me that I’m completely amazed every time.  And the soup itself was amazing too!  I’ve eaten soup for the last four lunches and dinners and could probably keep it going if I wasn’t about to run out.