Yeah, I know it's not a "summer" food.

Ok, so arguably, chili is not something you want to eat in the heat of summer, but I figure, if I'm already perspiring because of the humidity then a little extra heat in the kitchen can't hurt. Plus, this is a great way to use all those summer veggies you have laying around.

Black Bean and Chorizo Chili

Since it's summer, I like to use fresh corn in this recipe, just note that you add it near the end of cooking to preserve some of it's sweetness. Feel free to adjust the amount of chicken stalk, the original recipe didn't call for any but I found the final product was WAY too dry and thick without some added liquid.

Note: This makes 12 cups, so feel free to cut in half!

cooking spray
2 1/2 cups chopped onion, divided
1 1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper
1 1/2 cups chopped red bell pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 links Spanish chorizo sausage, diced (about 6 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained
3 (14-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, undrained and chopped
2-3 cups chicken stalk

1 (8 1/2-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained
or
3 fresh ears of corn, corn kernels cut from cob with sharp knife

1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Toppings
Sour cream
Avocado
Chedar Cheese
Hot Sauce

Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chiles, onion, bell peppers, garlic, and chorizo; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add chili powder and next 7 ingredients (chili powder through chicken stalk), stirring to combine. If you're using canned corn, add now. If you're using fresh corn, reserve for later addition.

For Canned Corn: Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, covered, 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate, salt, and black pepper.

For Fresh Corn: Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, covered 20 minutes. Then add fresh corn and simmer additional 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate, salt, and black pepper.

Ladle 1 cup chili into each of 12 bowls. Top each serving with sour cream, avocado, and cheese (or anything else you feel like).

Cooking Light

Stay tuned for recipes from my recent summer vacation (i.e. cooking with my sister Sarah). Here's me munching on a carrot from her garden.

Where's Waldo

Hopefully I'll do some cooking this weekend and post the results. In the main time, here's a department picture that was taken this year. Can you find me (click the picture to see a larger version)?? If you do, post a comment.

Tomatillo?! Clearly they just misspelled tomato.

That was my first naive thought upon coming across an enchilada recipe that called for tomatillos. But if you, like me, thought that tomatillo was simply the result of sloppy proofreading, allow me to share my new discovery.

Tomatillos are often the main building block of "green" or "verde" sauces in mexican cuisine, just as a tomato is the building block for a marinara sauce. Tomatillos can be found in most large grocery stores (they make come packaged in groups of 4, so look around or ask someone). Tomatillos grow inside of a husk that must first be removed prior to cooking. The fruit inside looks like a small green tomato. After removing the husk be sure to give it a good rinse to get rid of the stickiness. Ok...now comes the super hard part...cut the tomatillo in quarters. Yep, that's it, no peeling, no prep, just cut them up and you're reading to make some amazing enchiladas!

Enchiladas Verdes

The most amazing part of this recipe is that if you have a stick blender you can cook and puree the sauce all in one pot! Barring that, after you simmer the salsa verde, put it in a blender or food processor. This is also a fantastic use of left over chicken (remember, I like to cook 5-6 breasts on Monday and then use them throughout the week).

Salsa Verde:
1 pound tomatillos (about 15)
1 1/4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped (optional, I find 1/2 a pepper is enough spice for me)

Filling:
2 1/2 cups shredded chicken
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded asadero cheese or Asiago cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup minced fresh cilantro
1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Remaining ingredients:
Cooking spray
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

Preheat oven to 400°.

To prepare salsa verde, discard husks and stems from tomatillos; cut into quarters. Combine tomatillos, 1 1/4 cups broth, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and chopped jalapeño in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until tomatillos are tender. Cool slightly. Puree with a stick blender or place salsa verde in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth, or mash with a potato masher. Return to pot and simmer till reduced to 2 cups in volume. Then allow to cool slightly.

To prepare enchilada filling, combine chicken and next 9 ingredients (chicken through black pepper) in a large bowl.

Spread 1/2 cup salsa verde in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish (alternatively you can use an 8x8 and just cram it full) coated with cooking spray. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Arrange enchiladas, seam sides down, crosswise in dish. Pour remaining salsa verde evenly over enchiladas. Cover and bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve with sour cream.

Preheat Kitchen to 350 °F

It's great to see some awesome suggestions in response to the last two posts. Keep it up!

Thankfully the worst of the heat wave in Boston is over. It makes me think back to growing up in Yakima where the summer temperature would regularly creep up into the high 90's. When I'd ask my mom "What's for dinner?" she'd often reply, "it's too hot to cook!" I share that sentiment but seeing as I don't want to eat out, I've modified her maxim to "It's too hot to cook every night." The solution, is to cook a batch of chicken breasts then eat them chilled over a bed of greens during the week. Since assembling a salad requires only minimal time and no open flame, it seemed like a good solution.

To prepare chicken breasts, remove from package and rinse well. Pat dry. Lightly coat with dry herbs (I use equal parts basil and oregano with a pinch of garlic salt). Bake at 350 °F 17-20 minutes or till done. Remove and let cool slightly (10-15 min). Bag any chicken breasts you're not going to use immediately and refrigerate. Slice the remaining one and set aside.

This recipe features a chilled chicken breast served over fresh greens and topped with marinated red onion. You can leave out the onions if you'd like but I find that the marinating process gives them a nice tangy flavor which balances well with the sweet bell pepper. I really like Annie's Papaya Poppy Seed dressing (available in the natural foods section of most stores) with this dish, but any light vinaigrette will work well. Remember, it's called a "dressing" because it's supposed to lightly coat the lettuce, it's not called a "smothering."


Chilled Chicken Salad with Marinated Red Onion

1 sliced chicken breast (see above)
1 1/2 c. mixed greens
1/2 c. red bell pepper, sliced into 1/2 in wide strips
1/3 c. marinated red onion (see below)
vinagrette dressing to coat

Combine all ingredients on a plate...yep, it's that easy.

******

Marinated Red Onion Recipe

1 c. red onion sliced thin (as thin as possible with your knives!!)
3 tbsp. rice vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
juice from 1/2 a lime

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate at least 8 hours (but preferably 12-24 hours). Remove onions from marinade (which should have turned pink by this point) and store in airtight container.


This will the the only post for a while as I'll be attending the Bioorganic Gordon Research Conference in Andover, NH through Friday of next week. Wish me luck!

It's a dessert! It's a breakfast! No, wait, it's a smoothie!

The past few days in Boston remind me why I tell everyone that Seattle is a horrible place to live...let me explain. It has been in the mid 90's with humidity that gives you a perpetual "I'm standing in a shower" feeling. Now, for anyone who has been to Seattle for an extended period of time in the summer they realize it's quite the utopia; sunny, low humidity, reasonable temperatures. And this is precisely why I tell people it's horrible, because one day I'd love to move back to the city and the last thing I want is demand driving up the cost of housing.

Then again, perhaps I overestimate my ability to influence the urban housing market.

Well, the point of today's post is that in the midst of this special canto of Dante's Inferno that I call Boston summers, I whipped up a fantastic smoothie. The inspiration for this drink was that I wanted something to satisfy my evening sweet tooth but was not the typical summer favorite-- ice cream (I don't want all the dairy and sugar).

How do you like to cool off during the summer? Post a comment and let us know!

Dante's Smoothie

Don't let the name fool you, the blazing hell-fire refers to the weather that inspired this recipe, not the spiciness of the actual drink.

9 ice cubes (approx 1 cup)
1/2 c. apple juice
1/4 c. apple sauce
1/4 c. pineapple
1/3 c. frozen unsweetened strawberries
1 small banana (broken into pieces)
1/4 c. shredded sweetened coconut

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend till smooth...or smoothie.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups.

Quality Food ∝ Available Time

It has been awhile since I last posted. Partially this is because I had a little Crohn's flare up, and no one wants to see recipes for dishes like jello or chicken broth! The other contributing factor is that I helped put on a retreat for the Paulist Center's young adult community and just didn't find a lot of time to cook in the days leading up to it. It was a real privilege to work with such a gifted planning team (see picture).

I find that the amount of crap I eat is inversely proportional (1/∝) to the busyness of my day. So it's especially important during these crunch times that I have some snacks on hand to get me through the day until I can pull something healthy out of my fridge. This leads me to my current snack obsession--almonds and dried cranberries. If you've never tried this combination, I highly recommend it. The nutty flavor of the almond goes quite well with the sweet of the cranberry. If you're looking for a fuller, slightly more astringent, and buttery nut then try substituting walnuts for the almonds. I usually eat about a 1/4c. of each at a time, just remember, don't go overboard. A snack is meant to get you through a crunch, not replace a meal!

So while I was a little stressed out and short on cooking time leading up to the retreat, it was totally worth it!

What are some of your favorite snacks?? Post a comment and let us know!