Friday, February 4, 2011

2011.02.03 - Chili and Cornbread



Chili was the answer to the typical Seattle gray and rainy weather this week.  I have a go-to chili recipe, but I decided to branch out and try another one, also from Smitten Kitchen.  I also for once used ground beef instead of ground turkey!  A was quite pleased :)  Instead of my typical accompaniment of tortilla chips, I decided to make cornbread instead.

K added to the festivities with a delicious cauliflower cake (or "cake" -- still having issues deciding what to call this type of food).  Of course this recipe was *also* from Smitten Kitchen.  Are we obsessed or what? :)

Beef Chili

This was great.  It tasted brighter, a little more spicy, and more "chili"-er than my go-to recipe.  I think we have a new go-to recipe!  Next step is to figure out even more vegetables to add to this.

Modifications: Omitted garlic, used 2 pounds of beef instead of 3, doubled the amount of carrots, added frozen corn (in the last step when you add the bell peppers).

Gripes: I used 80/20 ground beef because it was the cheapest at the store, and found the chili a tad greasy.  Next time I would use a better ground beef or would brown the beef separately and drain off the fat.

Gluten Free Cornbread

Cornbread is one of the easier things to bake gluten free because it is dominated by corn to begin with. I thought this recipe was easy to make and tasted good, although perhaps a little dry.

Modifications: Used a glass 8x8 pan instead of a skillet

Gripes: I felt this was dry, but could be because I didn't check for doneness until the recommended 20 minutes. I think that a few minutes less cooking time would have been better. I'm not sure what temperature my oven runs at, so that could be another issue.

Banana Cranberry Bread

I had a mini banana cranberry loaf in the freezer, so took that out to serve for dessert. This bread is good and a great way to use up leftover frozen cranberries.

Modifications: I halved the recipe and it made two mini loaves (3x5). I omitted the nuts.

Gripes: This banana bread is a lot stickier than most -- it doesn't seem to develop a nice golden crust. Maybe I need to try cooking it longer.

No comments:

Post a Comment