My Version of Chili

This is my lazy version of chili, this recipe is easy to do. If however; your are a chili fan who will go to great lengths to find the perfect chili, this recipe is not for you. In other words if your are a chili purest go to the next recipe. For the rest of the world this is an easy dish to prepare.

2 pounds of stew meat
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 onion chopped
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1-28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes in its own juice
1 cup of water
2 teaspoons of The Spice Hunter Salt Free Chili Powder Blend
2-16 ounces cans of kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 pound of frozen white corn
Non stick cooking spray

In a large Le Creuset pot, spray the bottom and sides with the non stick cooking spray. Add the stew meat, salt and pepper and brown the meat over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute for a few minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add the canned tomatoes, water, chili powder, drained beans and the pound of frozen white corn. Bring to a slow boil and then turn the flame to medium low and simmer for a minimum of 2 hours, the longer the better. Check to pot every 15 to 20 minutes to stir and make sure that you have enough chili broth so that the chili does not burn. After one hour of cooking tasted the chili broth and adjust the seasonings to your liking.

Serve with warm corn bread. It is not our custom, but you may add cheese to the top of the chili after it has been ladled into the bowl.

I have also made this recipe with diced chicken or turkey, for poultry I would cut the chili powder in half.

I have not made this recipe to accommodate vegans or vegetarians.

If your store does not carry The Spice Hunter Salt Free Chili powder blend go to www.thespicehunter.com for where to buy locally. Amazon does carry The Spice Hunter Chili Powder but it does come in a six pack.

I am not being paid to promote The Spice Hunter Salt Free Chili Blend. This just happens to be the one that my family likes. Like wise I am not being paid to promote the Le Creuset Pots, I just love them and wish I could afford a full set.

Improvising a Casserole Dish

It occurred to me yesterday when I was on the phone with Teri that a lot of people born in the last 25 years or so have not had mandatory cooking classes in middle school or high school, so I though I would write about improvising if you don't have the called for casserole dish.

To improvise a casserole pan is one of the easiest things to do. Most of you basic cooking sets will come with either a rectangular or square cake pan or a bread pan. And you should have aluminum foil as on of your kitchen basics.

Line your pan with the foil, shinny side down. added your ingredients and seal your pan with another layer of foil shinny side down. Make sure that your seal is very tight or you might run out of cooking liquids and end up with a very dry or burnt dish.

For metal pans you can use the the temperature called for in the recipe. For glass baking pans DO NOT put the oven temperature above 325 degrees Fahrenheit and give it a longer time to cook.

If you have any specific question on improvising just leave a note in the comment section and I will address the issue to the best of my abilities.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

In Memory of Jarrad

In memory of Eric's friend Jarrad I will be donating 10% of all sales from http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri to the Tucson JCC Special Needs program till 9/8/2009.

Both Jarrad and Eric have enjoyed the Tucson JCC Special Needs Programs through out the years. I can think of no better way to honor Jarrad then to make a donation in his memory to a program that he loved so much.

If you would like to make a donation in Jarrad's honor you can send a check to:

Tucson JCC
Special Needs Programing
3800 East River Road
Tucson Arizona, 85718

This is a non-profit group and government funding has been reduced for special needs programing this year due to state budget constraints.

Mohave Mango Salsa Chicken

This is what I am cooking for dinner tonight.

Mohave Mango Salsa Chicken Tacos

2 chicken breasts skinned and boned
1/2 cup of Goldwater's Mohave Mango Salsa
1/2 Cup of water
a pinch of salt and pepper
Corn tortillas
shredded lettuce
2 tomatoes diced
1 Avocado diced

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. 1 hour before dinner spray the inside and cover of a 2 quart Le Creuset casserole with non-stick cooking spray. Rinse the chicken breasts and place in the casserole. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the water and put the salsa on top of the chicken breasts. Cover and cook for 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Once the chicken is in the oven clean the sink and any counter space used with your bleach solution of preference.

Wash and shred the lettuce and place in the fridge. Wash and dice the tomatoes and place in the fridge. Dice the avocado right before serving so it does not brown.

When the chicken has finished cooking very thinly slice or shred the chicken and place back in the casserole dish and cover. Dice the avocado and leave the pit in the bowl. Heat the corn tortillas 2 at a time in a fry pan on medium heat, turn once just till warm, be sure not to burn them.

On a plate assemble the salsa chicken taco's by placing the tortillas on the plate. Add the chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and avocado, for a spicier taco you may add extra salsa.

Serve with rice and/or beans.

This recipe will make 8 to 10 taco's.

The Vegan option is even faster to make, just dice the vegetables, heat the tortillas and cover with vegetables and add a dollop of salsa on top.

For the vegetarian option just skip the meat, dice the vegetables, heat the tortillas , cover with vegetables, cheese and a dollop of salsa on top.

For those of you that are not lucky enough to have an A.J.'s Fine Foods near your home, the salsa can be bought on line. Please go to http://www.goldwaters.com/ .

I am not being paid to endorse the Goldwater's Salsa, this is just a family favorite. Likewise I am not being paid to endorse A.J.'sFine Foods, it happens to be close to my house and have a lot of products that are not available elsewhere in Tucson.

The Friday Pattern -Wash Cloths and Beyond

This was the most wanted pattern by new knitters on Friday.

The pattern is for a wash cloth for new knitters this is a perfect pattern to leap off from. Use the needle size recommended by your yarn of choice. I like Lilly "Sugar and Cream" or Lion Brand cotton for dish cloths, but feel free to use any cotton you like.

Cast on 2

Row 1 knit one (K1), yarn over (YO), knit one (k1)

Row 2 knit one (K1), yarn over (YO), knit (K) till the end of the row.

Repeat row 2 till your wash cloth measures 10 inches up the diagonal side.

Row 3 knit 1 (k1), knit 2 together (k2tog), knit (K) till the end of the row.

When you have 2 stitches left on the needle bind off (BO).

Weave in the ends.


The abbreviations in the brackets are like the ones you would see in a typical knitting pattern. The pattern would look like this in in a typical book.

CO2

Row 1 K1, yo, K1

Row 2 K1, yo, K till the end of the row

Repeat row 2 till the diagonal measure is 10"

Row 3 K1, k2tog, k till the end of the row.

repeat row 3 till you have 2 stitches left on the needle.

BO and weave in ends

The thing I like about this basic pattern is that it can be grown into different projects by just adding a little more knitting. I like to use cable needles when knitting blankets, the weight is distributed more evenly and does not get as heavy as if knit on straight needles.

For a preemie blanket knit till the diagonal is 20-26 inches long. I would use a soft washable yarn with NO metal threads in it. The nurses in the NICU's generally do not like wool because it tends to felt when washed and is not quite suitable for their smaller charges.

For a full term baby blanket knit till the diagonal is 36". Use any yarn you like. If it is meant to be a show only blanket the yarn does not matter, if however, you want a usable blanket make sure that the yarn is machine wash and dry able.

To make different size blankets make 9 (3 blocks by 3 blocks)to 30 (5 blocks across by 6 blocks long) wash cloth size squares and sew them together. This is a good way to use left over yarn. Once the squares are sewn together a a small crochet trim to bring the project together.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment with your e-mail and I will answer to the best of my ability. Have fun knitting and see where the yarn will take you.

Have a wonderful day.

My First Pattern

I am writing my very first pattern to sell on my web site. I only have 4 more skeins to knit. This is my I can knit in my sleep shawl that everyone seems to like and want the pattern to. I guess that I will have a lot of time to work on it since Eric was sent home sick from school. I can't believe that school has been in secession less than 2 weeks and that he is already sick.

I hope to use his sick days more productively this year, but round the clock child care seems a bit tyring at times. The bright side of the whole Eric being sick is that I have lots of patterns to write, lots of items to knit in my queue, and yarn everywhere...did I mention that yarn was one of my addictions?

Well on to child care and knitting.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Yet Another Red Pot Recipe

This is my families favorite chicken soup. This is a basic recipe that you can change up with the addition of matzo balls, dumplings or noodles or a combination of noodles and dumplings or matzo balls.

1 whole chicken ,washed in cold water.
1 teaspoon salt
water to cover chicken
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 pounds of carrots peeled and sliced
1 large celery sliced, this will be about 7-8 cups
1 onion diced

In a large pot add cleaned chicken and salt. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Skim the pot of any junk that comes to the top, this should take about 30 minutes. While you are waiting for the chicken to boil now is an excellent time to scrub down your sink with your favorite bleach cleanser. It is important to clean the sink and the surrounding area before you chop the vegetables.

Once the chicken is not making any more junk and the broth has been skimmed clear, Add all the vegetables at once and add the pepper. Turn the stove to medium low and and simmer at least 2 hours.

After about 2 hours I carefully pull the chicken from the pot and de-bone the chicken, this is the process where the skin is pulled off and the bones are taken out of the chicken. Smaller pieces of chicken are tossed right back in the pot, I tend to dice the larger pieces before they are put back in the pot.

If you are going to add dumplings this is the point where you add them. For a quick dumpling just use a regular biscuit recipe and spoon into the boiling broth and turn down the temperature and simmer for about 20 minutes. For and even faster dumpling just get your favorite ready to use biscuits and layer them on the top of the broth and simmer for about 20 minutes.

I usually make the noodles separately and keep them separate from the soup. Since everyone has their own noodle preference I let everyone scoop their own noodles and then add the soup. The only exception to this would be alphabet noodles which just taste better when they have more time in the broth.

The soup is ready to serve. I usually serve this with bread and margarine.

Enjoy this soup recipe and add your families favorite vegetables to the soup to make it your own.

Unfortunately I have no vegan or vegetarian options for this soup.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.