Wasabi Guinness Chilli

As previously posted, cooking with beer is amazing. It really enhances the flavor of every dish you can think of. From veggies to dessert, it is YUMMY. I enjoy experimenting with chili, I make it often and never make it the same way twice. Found this awesome recipe from AllRecipes.com that I used to inspire my chili dish for cooking club at the end of last year. It was so so so so so so good. I can't stop raving about it. Secret Ingredient? Not the beer (though that was great), not the wasabi powder, (thought that made it kickin!) It was COFFEE!!!  All the crazy ingredients together make for a flavorful, exotic meal with a lot of kick. I dare you to use it for any chili kick-off you compete in.

I know that picture isn't that classy, but trust me...this dish was FANTASTIC.

Ingredients:
1-2 cups of diced onion
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb of ground beef, extra lean
1 lb of spicy Italian sausage (remove from casing)
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bottle (12 oz) of Guiness (or other dark beer)
1 cup of brewed coffee (I used some fancy Jack Daniels brew)
1 can beef broth
1/2 cup hot sauce
1/4 cup chili powder (or more)
1.5 tbsp wasabi powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp coriander (or ground coriander)
1 tsp salt
1 can kidney beans, dark red
1 can kidney beans, light red
1 or 2  chile peppers or 1 jalapeno peppers, chopped (don't rub your eyes!)


Directions:
Cook onions, garlic, beef, and sausage over medium heat until browned and tender.
Pour tomatoes, beer, coffee, broth, and hot sauce.
Add chili powder, wasabi powder, paprika, cayenne, cumin, sugar, oregano, coriander, and salt.
Stir in beans & peppers, bring to a boil.
Then reduce heat, cover and simmer.
Cook for 2 to 3 hours.

Serve with cornbread & biscuits!

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Guiness Beer Biscuits

Cooking Club back in August did a Beer-Themed Night. It was amazing. Everyone had to cook with beer as one of their ingredients. Just so you know, everything tastes better when made with beer. It's so flavorful and delicious. Instead of steaming veggies in water, do it with beer instead. So good! I made this insanely delicious wasabi beer chili (stay tuned for that recipe) and since we were in need of a starch, I made these beer biscuits. Simple to make, only a few ingredients, but worth all of them.

Ingredients (this makes 12 muffins):

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 bottle of beer (I used Guinness!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Mix flour, baking powder, & salt.
Cut in shortening until the dough has a cornmeal consistency.
Stir in beer.
Kneed the dough lightly.
Break off even pieces and place into greased muffin tins.
Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve with some delicious butter!


ENJOY!


What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Low Fat Crab Dip

I know this isn't the prettiest picture, but hey, it's life! Back in May we did a special Mother's Day Cooking Club event. We invited all our moms and did a "Year In Review" where we made a bunch of recipes that we had made throughout the year. It was awesome! I wanted to do my crab dip from our Costume Party but I decided to try to do a lower fat version. 

Ingredients:

8 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

16 oz of fat free (or reduced fat) cream cheese, softened

8 oz fat free sour cream

4 tbsp lite mayo

4 tbsp horseradish
2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt

2 tsp white pepper

1 onion, diced

1/4 cup worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp old bay seasoning

1 pound crab meat

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Heat frozen spinach in microwave safe dish for 5 minutes.

Drain liquid. 

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, horseradish, and mayo in a large bowl.

Stir in seasonings.

Mix in the crab & spinach.

Spoon into casserole dish.

Back in oven for 30 minutes.

I like to serve this dish with bread, crackers, cucumbers, & pretzel crisps. 

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I hosted Cooking Club back in April and the theme was Asian-Inspired food. I decided to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls. They were really fun to make (pretty easy too) and they came out healthy & delicious.


I experimented with different types and different sauces/seasonings. Not all of the ingredients could be found out my locker grocery store, Darrenkamp's. But Stauffer's has an AMAZING international section. I found a ton of my ingredients there. 

You can switch up all types of ingredients. I used shrimp, but chicken would be great too or you can just do straight veggie. You can add different spices to the rice. You can also use as many different types of veggies as you like. Endless possibilities. 

  

Ingredients:

rice wrappers

shrimp, cooked & peeled
2 - 4 oz. vermicelli rice
fresh spinach leaves
alfalfa sprouts
shredded carrots
diced cucumbers

Directions:

Cook vermicelli rice according to package instructions. (Boil for about 3 to 5 minutes until al dente)

Drain & set aside. 

Next, prepare the rice wrappers. (this is the fun part!)

Fill a large bowl, pan, or dish with some warm mater. (It must be big enough for the wrappers).

Dip the wrappers in the water one at a time just for a few seconds so that it softens. It's really cool how the consistency changes and becomes pliable.

 

Then lay wrapper flat on a dish. 

In the center place a few spinach leaves.

Then top with a handful of rice and a couple shrimp. 

Place vegetables on top. 

Fold sides over and tightly roll up the wrapper.

Repeat with remaining ingredients. 

Serve with sauces. 

Here are pictures from the night to go with the theme. So fun!

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Peach & Mango Bellinis

Cooking Club's theme this past month was Barefoot Contessa inspired recipes. We all made a recipe from one of Ina Garten's cookbooks or found one online. I was in charge of cocktails for this dinner club meeting so I made Fresh Peach Bellinis and made it my own. So yummy! I got these great champagne flutes from my mom as a wedding present years ago and like to bring them out every so often. Bellinis are the perfect occasion! Check out the other Barefoot Contessa courses at our Cuisine Queens website! :-)

Ingredients (serves 8 to 10 people):

• 4 peaches
• 2 champagne mangoes
• 2 tbsp of sugar or equal
• 2 tsp of lime juice
• 1 bottle of sparkling wine or champagne, chilled
• I used Peach Seltzer water for a non-alcoholic version (we have some pregos in our group)

Directions:

• Chop fruit into small pieces.
• Place fruit, lime juice, & sugar into a food processor.
• Puree in processor until mixed well.
• Pass through sieve (optional) and leave out skins & bits.
• Place 2 tbsp of the puree in each champagne glass
• Fill with champagne and serve.

For a non-alcoholic or low cal option use peach seltzer water instead of champagne/wine.





My husband & I had an awesome dinner on the back porch (the weather has been fantastic)   and I tried out the bellinis on him before making them for cooking club the following night. They were a hit! They also paired nicely with leftover Southwestern Pasta Salad & these AMAZING BLT Lettuce Wraps which I made for the first time that night! YUMMO!


What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Purple Cow Smoothie

Our cooking club recently did a challenge where everyone had to bring a dish (we break it down into appetizer, salad, soup, entree, dessert, drink, etc) that contained the same main ingredient and we picked VANILLA as our special ingredient. There are lots of great recipes out there that include vanilla and with the help of All Recipes Ingredient Search you can find a lot of them.  I got to do the dessert beverage and went with a smoothie/milkshake. It was delicious!



Ingredients:
1 cup grape soda
4 cups vanilla bean ice cream
20 ice cubes
1 tbsp vanilla extract
milk


Place ingredients in a blender, add enough milk so that it blends smoothly. Feel free to change the ice cream or purple smoothie amount depending on the taste. I liked just having a hint of the grape flavor and more vanilla flavor. 


What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Valentine's Day Hearts Cake Pop Bears

I know this is late in posting, but this is probably one of my greatest achievements of the year (sort of kidding) so it is worth the wait. Beware, this was A LOT of work.

As all of you faithful readers know my newest OBSESSION is Cake Pops. (I have big plans for March 14th, stay tuned). In February my cooking club had a Sweetheart-Themed Dinner (everyone had to make something red) and I was in charge of the favor. PERFECT opportunity to make cake pops! They took me all Saturday and I only made 20.

I was inspired by Bakerella (of course) but I made a few changes. I used mostly dark chocolate--dark chocolate wafer melts from AC Moore and dark chocolate hershey kisses. I used a funfetti-type cake with Valentine's-themed sprinkles mixed in. (they were on sale at Giant!!!) Then I used chocolate frosting with it. The edible candy eyes are a must. So much easier to use those then paint eyes on with the edible-ink pens. I used brown M&M's for their paws. I ran out so I switched to goobers and raisenets. The secret was to use chocolate chips, but not just any chocolate chips, special Ghiradelli chocolate baking chips (they are in the baking aisle). They are bigger and flatter so they are perfect for the bear ears and the protruding nose. SOOOOO CUTE!

The secret is with the conversation hearts. I'll admit conversation hearts don't taste very good. There is a special SweetTart brand that does taste good, but I decided to be cheap. (These candy hearts were donated by my mom.) You can always take the candy hearts off before eating. It's more about the presentation. You have to use the LARGE candy hearts, not the normal size that come in the individual boxes. 

After forming the cake balls into longer oblong shapes and freezing them, then press the candy hearts into the bottom half of the "bear's body" to make a little heart imprint. This will give the impression of the bear holding up the hearts in the final product. After this step insert Ghiradelli chips as the ears (use melted chocolate as glue) and an additional chip where the nose would be.

Let dry, dip in chocolate. It needs to be a deep thin cup/dish because the bears are very long compared to a normal cake pop. Quickly now...before the chocolate completely dries press the candy heart into the spot that was previously imprinted. Also attach the hershey kisses as legs and then brown m&m mini's on the nose. You have to work fast to get these all in before it dries. Think about reheating the chocolate after a while.

Once completely dried, individually add the paws & eyes using melted chocolate as glue. Feel free to use the edible pen to add smiles & eyelashes or other features.

SO SO SO CUTE!!! Totally worth the work. Needless to say cooking club enjoyed them.


What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)