Bean’s Texas Chili

I am going to post a friend of mine’s Texas chili. Most of you know Bean from Shacknews. I made the chili following his recipe as exactly as I could. I don’t know if it is right yet because I am still simmering it! I also have pictures of each phase (except Phase 1). Maybe he can tell me if it looks the same as his!

UPDATE: This is the best chili I have ever had. I can’t wait to make it again. We invited my BIL and his gf to eat with us and they said the same thing. Thank you Bean!!

Bean’s Texas Chili
(Has no beans, because beans in chili are like little cancer pellets full of Super AIDS)

for Morgin and Vantage

PHASE 1
- 2 TBsp olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions (sweet), diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced

PHASE 2
- 3 lbs meat, cut into 3/4″ to 1″ cubes or ground (Can be whatever. I usually mix beef tri tip or skirt steak, pork loin, and hot italian sausage)

PHASE 3
- 4 roma tomatoes, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup tomato paste (one of those little cans)
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 2 TBsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin, ground
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt

PHASE 4
- 3/4 cup dark beer (Shiner Bock is “traditional” down here)
- 3/4 cup beef stock (broth is fine too)
- 2 TBsp apple cider vinegar

PHASE 5
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano, minced
- 1/2 tsp pequin pepper (or cayenne if you can’t find pequin)
- pinch freshly grated nutmeg

PHASE 6
- salt and pepper to taste

STEPS
(Use a wooden spoon to stir throughout this process for the authentic Texan experience)

1. Put PHASE 1 ingredients in a large (6-quart or larger) enameled cast iron dutch oven, or other large cooking vessel that can hold heat evenly for a decent length of time, and turn the heat to medium-low. Start cold and allow the oil to come to heat (you will start to hear sizzling), and then simmer for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent and the garlic is fragrant.

2. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add PHASE 2 ingredients in small batches so that you brown all the meat effectively. Take your time, you are making flavor here (do not worry about cooking the meat through, that happens on the long simmer, just get brown). Get that meat nice and brown all over the outside. About 10 minutes, depending on how much surface area you have in your dutch oven.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and add PHASE 3 ingredients and stir it all up. You want to mix together all the spices, get them all over the meat, brown the tomato paste, release the essential oils, and all sorts of good stuff. Your kitchen should be smelling AWESOME at this point. About 5 minutes.

4. Add PHASE 4 ingredients, stir vigorously to distribute everything, and use your spoon to scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the dutch oven and dissolve them back into the mix for maximum flavor. Allow the mixture to come to a light boil. Once it gets up to temperature, drop the heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes.

5. Add PHASE 5 ingredients, stir to distribute, and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Adjust seasoning of the mixture at this point (PHASE 6), add more liquid (water is fine) if needed, etc… final tweaks to get it the way you want it. Then simmer for another 15 minutes.

7. Take off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Finishing suggestions below.

FINISHING
- Serve:
A) with a dollop of sour cream and minced fresh chives, OR
B) with roughly shredded sharp cheddar or colby jack cheese and a bit of diced red onion, OR
C) ladled over a nice slice of corn bread (just use Jiffy corn bread mix in the 40-cent blue box, fuck you zakk, srsly)

* Note – I backed off the heat in this recipe to account for the fact that most of you probably aren’t used to true Texas Firehouse heat. The heat level of this recipe is moderately high, and is the way I make it when I have a mixed audience, especially one including yankees.

If you want to truly have this chili the way I make it for myself: use 3 TBsp chili powder in PHASE 3, and 1 tsp pequin pepper in PHASE 5 and once you add the liquids to the mix in PHASE 4, drop in a whole habanero pepper that you have perforated with a fork (remove the habanero before serving).

I took the recipe directly from his post exactly as he wrote it. For the meats I chose ground beef(80/20) – which i would use something with less fat next time prolly – a pound of top sirloin steak cut into cubes, and a pound of hot italian sausage taken out of the casing. Hopefully I did that right. I am going to have to use dry oregano in the last steps because I don’t have any fresh and couldn’t find any at the store. **I added another Tbsp of Chili Powder and another 1/4-1/2 tsp of cayenne to it at Phase 6 to make it a bit more spicy**

After simmering!

My bowl with cheese, sour cream, like 3 diced onions and some cilantro:

Carter’s bowl with nothing.

Pumpkin experiments

I wanted to make something different with pumpkin. I have done pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes and pumpkin cheesecake and of course, pumpkin pies. I am not usually a big fan of pumpkin but when I finished with these cookies, they were delicious. Apparently, there is a shortage of canned, purreed pumpkin right now so I had a hell of a time all day looking for it. I finally decided to just use the canned pumpkin pie mix. The only difference is that the pie mix has spices and sugar already in it. To compensate for this, I only used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar. This made the cookies the perfect sweetness. I also made a frosting to go on top with confectioner’s sugar and milk. I used craisins instead of raisins because they are supposed to be better for you and because cranberries seem to go well with pumpkin. Next time I might add chocolate chips to the recipe as well. I am very happy with these and will be making them again before the end of the season for sure.

Pumpkin Cookies I
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com
Ingredients:
8 ounces butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and pumpkin.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, raisins and flour. Stir into pumpkin mixture.
4. Drop cookies by the heaping teaspoonful on to cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until slightly browned around edges.
5. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Frost with your favorite powdered sugar glaze or leave plain.

Refridgerator cleaner

I made some minestrone soup the other day so I had a bunch of leftover vegetables. I chopped half an onion and a clove of garlic. I sauteed it in some olive oil, very little til it was translucent. Then I added one zucchini, cut in half then chopped into half moon shapes. I cut about 1/4 of an inch off a head of cabbage and then cut that in half and chopped it and added it to the pan. then I added some salt and pepper and szechuan seasoning mix. It needed something orange or red and I didn’t want to add tomatoes so I grated some carrot into it as well. Then I decided it needed a sauce. I put a heaping tsp of Hoisin Sauce, tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce, and a dash of rice wine vinegar. I cooked this all down on low until the angel hair pasta was done cooking. It was so good but I would add the pasta to the sauce pan and cook it for a minute or two with the sauce before plating next time for sure.

No awesome pics of this one tho, I ate it too fast for fancy camera pictures. maybe next time!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30298171&l=38cb10b7f4&id=139400972

Larry the Thanksgiving Turkey

24 Standard pumpkin spice cupcakes baked in white paper liners
24 mini size pumpkin spice cupcakes baked in white paper liners
You will need to double this recipe to get 48 total cupcakes.
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
4 large eggs
Make as directed by the package instructions.

1 cup vanilla frosting
1/2 cup chocolate frosting
24 thin ginger-flavored scalloped edge cookies (Anna’s Ginger Thins)
2 cups candy corn
1 1/2 cups caramel jimmies (sprinkles)
1 can plus 1 cup caramel frosting
24 pieces indian candy corn
48 brown chocolate covered sunflower seeds
1 roll red fruit leather (fruit by the foot)
24 graham cracker sticks
12 marshmallows

1. Spoon the Vanilla and chocolate frosting into separate ziplock bags, press out the air and seal. Snip 1/8-inch corner from the bag with the vanilla frosting and pipe a dot of frosting on 7 adjacent scallops on each ginger cookie to make the tail fan. Add a piece of candy corn to each dot of frosting, pointed end facing in.

2. Place the caramel jimmies in a small shallow bowl. Spread the caramel frosting on top of all the cupcakes, standard and mini, and smooth. Roll the edge of the standard cupcakes in the jimmies. Dip the top edge of the mini cupcakes in the jimmies.

3. Press 1 piece of indian candy corn into the center of each mini cupcake, flat side down, for the beak. Pipe 2 dots of the vanilla frosting above the beak for the eyes and insert 2 brown sunflower seeds, pointed and down. Cut the red fruit leather into 24-1 1/2 inch long teardrop shapes and lay them over the beak to make the wattle.

4. Snip a 1/8 inch corner from the bag with the chocolate frosting and pipe names on the flat side of the graham cracker sticks.

5. Enlarge the hole in the corner of the bag with the chocolate frosting to 1/4 inch. Using clean scissors, cut the marshmallows in half on the diagonal. Place 1 marshmallow half, cut side down, near the edge of one of the standard cupcakes, with the tapered end facing the center, to make a support for the tail. Pipe a dot of chocolate frosting on the tapered end. Place the tail cookie on the marshmallow, pressing the undecorated edge into the frosting on the marshmallow. Add the mini cupcake head on top so that half of it is resting on the undecorated edge of the cookie and the other half is pressed lightly into the frosting to secure.

6. Add the graham cookies at the base of the mini cupcakes, securing with a dot of frosting.

7. Arrange the turkeys on the table as place cards. Place 2 candy corns on the table in front of each turkey to make the feet.

Pumpkindoodles

I decided that I want to make something special for the guys at the Halliburton shop today. I took Laurgasms’ dickerdoodles recipe and turned them into pumpkins! I also made Minestrone soup but I do not have a picture of that masterpiece.

The recipe can be found: http://latestchatty.com/shackfood/index.php?title=Dickerdoodles

Pics!

Everything Lo Mein!

Denise and Tom wanted to cook something with me so I chose a good looking recipe from my new Rachael Ray cookbook! Everything Lo Mein. We fired up the laptops and cooked over skype. I only cooked half a recipe and they made a whole one. If you follow the recipe exactly, I would double the amount of sauce you make. Otherwise, the pasta will be a bit dry. I also will probably add a little more garlic next time I make it. Shrimp would be really good in this as well as fried tofu.

Everything Lo Mein
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients:

Sauce:
* 3 rounded tablespoons hoisin sauce
* 3 tablespoons dark soy, eyeball it
* 3 tablespoons water, eyeball it
* 2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it

Everything Lo Mein:
* 1 pound spaghetti
* Salt
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
* 2 large eggs, beaten
* 3 chicken breast cutlets, thinly sliced into strips
* 3 thin cut pork chops, thinly sliced into strips
* Black pepper
* 2 teaspoons ground coriander
* 2 inches fresh ginger, chopped or grated
* 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 6 scallions, cut into 3-inch lengths then sliced lengthwise
* 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, chopped
* 1 red bell pepper, cut into quarters, seeded, then sliced
* 1 small can sliced water chestnuts
* 2 cups fresh bean sprouts, 4 generous handfuls or 1/2 pound shredded cabbage, your choice

Directions:
Mix together sauce ingredients and reserve.

Bring pasta water to a boil, salt water and cook spaghetti to al dente.

While pasta cooks, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large, nonstick skillet over high heat. When oil ripples, add beaten eggs and scramble them to light golden brown, remove and reserve.

Season the meat with salt, pepper and coriander. Heat the remaining vegetable oil to a ripple, then add meat and stir-fry 4 minutes, push meat to the side and add ginger, garlic and veggies. Stir-fry veggies 2 minutes, then drain and add pasta and eggs back to skillet. Pour sauce over the spaghetti and toss to combine. Turn off pan. Toss 30 seconds and let the liquids absorb.

Calzones

So i bought some pizza dough with the intention of using it for making cheese calzones. I can’t order them at any of the pizza places around town so I thought I should make it myself.

I used whole milk ricotta cheese with a little garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper, and parmesan cheese mixed in. I do it to taste so I don’t have any measurements. I split a pre-made pizza dough into 4 pieces and rolled out 2 of them and saved 2 of them. I rolled them thin and put a spoonful of ricotta cheese on each one and put some mozzarella cheese on top of that. I closed them up and baked them at 400F for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown and delicious. I made a romaine salad with oil and vinegar as a side dish as well.

Shrimpies and salad

I was watching “What Would Brian Boitano Make?” on the Food Network this afternoon and I just had to try the panzanella salad that he made. The recipe looked really simple but delicious. It turns out that it really was DELICIOUS. I served it with shrimp cooked in the same mixture that the bread is tossed in (I made a second batch of the butter/garlic/oil mix while the bread was toasting in the oven.) I used regular olives because that’s what I had in the house. I also used Apple Cider vinegar for the same reason.

Ingredients:
* 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 loaf ciabatta bread, cut into small cubes
* 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 2 pints red and yellow, grape and pear tomatoes, sliced in 1/2
* 1 cup halved, sliced kalamata olives
* 1/2 pound perlini mozzarella
* 8 basil leaves, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small skillet over medium-low heat, add 3 tablespoons olive oil, the butter, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook to infuse the butter and oil with the garlic, about 4 minutes.

Add the cubed bread to a large bowl, pour the butter and garlic mixture over the bread and toss to coat. Transfer to a sheet tray and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a small bowl whisk together the remaining olive oil and red wine vinegar and set aside.

In a large serving bowl, combine the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, croutons, basil, and the oil and vinegar mixture. Gently toss to coat all the tomatoes and croutons. Let the salad sit for 10 minutes before serving.

At first I thought the show was going to be lame but he is just so adorable! It is one of those shows that I will just HAVE to see on the weekends now. Incredible!

Ladybugs!

We played with the fondant again today! Tomorrow is my sister in law’s birthday so we decided to make ladybugs for her!

We used a boxed angel food cake mix and followed the directions on it for the cupcakes.

The fondant we colored red and black and we used white sprinkles for eyes.

Casey’s Birthday!

For our friend Casey’s birthday we decided to make Mario cupcakes. We used Fondant for the first time and cut out all the shapes and things with biscuit cutters.

I made chocolate cupcakes according to the box directions and my very own chocolate butter cream. We also filled them with Vanilla frosting from Pillsbury that comes in a cool ass can.

PICS: