Chili and Cast Iron Cheesy Cornbread

Nebraskans eat cinnamon rolls with chili. It's a rule. Since I like breaking rules, I have been opting for cornbread lately. Tonight's cornbread features a great local product - Jisa's Farmstead Cheese New York Cheddar Curds. Delightful! The Jisa family owns a dairy and makes cheese in a facility on their farm about a half an hour from where I live. They are one of a few local cheeseries I love to support. Fortunately, I can get Jisa's many varieties of cheese at my local supermarket.

This is a great example of a meal that comes together quickly with the aid of some starters. The secret to the chili is Dei Fratelli Seasoned Diced Tomatoes. These tomatoes already have garlic, onions, celery, etc. in them so I don't have to clean and chop any of these. I LOVE these tomatoes. They appear often in our diet. I have been known to save a little in one of the cans to eat straight from the can. They are that good.

I usually have browned ground meat or cooked shredded meat in the freezer in one pound packages. This also speeds up the preparation of this recipe. While pulled pork is our favorite version, the image shown is ground beef. Depending on what is going on when I am preparing these packages, they may include shredded veggies - usually carrots, onions and sometimes zucchini. This is another time saver. While I am finding the pan and opening cans, the meat can be defrosting in the microwave.

Depending on my day, this chili recipe can be done in the slow cooker, on the stove or in the oven. It involves about five minutes of prep.

Chili

3 14.5 oz. cans Dei Fratelli Seasoned Diced Tomatoes

1 15 oz. can No or Reduced Sodium Black Beans

1 lb. browned ground beef, sausage or turkey or leftover pulled pork or roast beef

Chili Powder to Taste

For Slow Cooker: Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

For Stovetop: Combine all ingredients in a heavy dutch oven or stock pot. Simmer on medium 20-30 minutes stirring regularly.

For Oven: Combine all ingredients in a heavy dutch oven. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 1-2 hours.

Cast Iron Cheesy Cornbread

4 tbs. butter

1 8.5 oz. supermarket or name brand corn muffin mix

1 egg

1/3 c. milk

4 oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese Curds - I use Jisa's Farmstead Cheese's New York Cheddar Nuggets

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Put the butter in an 8-12-inch cast iron skillet. Place the skillet on the oven's middle rack to melt.

Prepare the muffin mix according to the package's directions. Fold in cheese curds.

Pour batter in hot butter in the skillet. Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes. I find adding the cheese increases baking time a bit. Check for doneness using a knife or toothpick in the center of the cornbread. It should come out clean.

In this instance, I had chili and cornbread. For leftovers tomorrow, I'll have chili over cornbread or maybe broken cornbread chunks in my chili. You have some options. Like all chili, it can be served with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt, a sprinking of cheddar cheese, onions, avocado, olives or other toppings that work at your house.

Enjoy! How do you like your chili?

Dinner 10.24.14 through 11.01.14

It is good to be home! The break in the posts was a result of work and family requiring a lot of travel and not so much dinner at home. I only have one more overnight trip through the end of the year for work, and it is only one night. Yeah! Honestly, the opportunity to travel and learn new things and meet new people is one of the things I love most about my job, BUT it seems like I haven't been home much lately.

Fall is in the air, though it is still hitting 75 degrees most days. We are finally getting some serious leaf color (fortunately, I didn't miss that). Dinners reflect cooler weather. I recently borrowed Meat and Potatoes by Rahm Fama from the library. We are trying a few things this week from it before it must be returned.

Friday, 10.24.14

Chili and Cast Iron Cheesy Cornbread

Saturday, 10.25.14

Chicken and Cheese Ravioli Primavera with Steamed Veggies

Sunday, 10.26.14

Chicken Fajita Nachos

Pineapple

Monday, 10.27.14

I'll be spending my birthday evening at Sigma, everyone at home can have breakfast for dinner aka scrambled eggs and toast.

Tuesday, 10.28.14

Scalloped Potatoes with Smoked Pork Chops

Garlic-Thyme Veggies from Meat and Potatoes. I'll be using a broccoli and cauliflower mix.

Wednesday, 10.29.14

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Biscuits

Thursday, 10.30.14

Pistachio Crusted Pork Scalopini Chops, also from Meat and Potatoes

Savory Bread Pudding Muffins, yet again, from Meat and Potatoes

Green Beans with Bacon

Friday, 10.31.14

Halloween!

Dinner will be out depending on how trick or treating goes.

Saturday, 11.01.14

We'll be Sneak Peek-ing.

Have a great week!

Dinner This Week - 09.28.14

Last week included a trip out of town for work and a trip out of town for fun so dinner plans were nonexistent. This week is a little crazy in our world, too. Monday is my sorority meeting. I'm super excited to be back advising the professional sorority of which I was in as an undergraduate student after a break. Sigma Alpha is a tremendous opportunity for young women with a heart for agriculture. I'm even more excited that for tomorrow night's sisterhood event, they opted for yoga! I need it this week. :)

Tuesday is a big work day. The Nebraska Department of Roads is building a bridge about 2 1/2 hours from the office with a lot of innovative technology meant to reduce the time and cost of building a bridge on a low-volume road. I'm hosting an open house for roads professionals at the construction site. In addition, we are broadcasting a live web cam with time lapse photography that has been a bit of a headache this week. Fortunately, we installed with time to fix before too much happens on-site.

The middle of the week is quiet, which is good as Friday is a licensure exam for my job ... a six-hour exam with a six inch stack of study materials to go with it.

The rest of the family's schedule is normal this week except that harvest is ramping up and and G is starting to get busier at work, too.

Dinner this week will hinge on our ability to plan and execute! Here goes ...

Sunday

Beef stew with fresh potatoes and carrots, garlic bread, watermelon, and apple crisp

Monday

Dinner out!

Tuesday

Breakfast for Dinner - Scrambled eggs and toast or French toast or Apple pancakes

Wednesday

Grilled bacon-wrapped sirloin filets, grill-roasted broccoli, fruit, and garlic bread

Thursday

Greek chicken, veggie TBA, watermelon

Friday

Dinner out!

Saturday

Sausage, potato and green bean skillet dinner and fruit

Leftovers Refashioned - Ham and Beans over Cornbread

The plan posted on Sunday went a bit awry this week. The grocery store trip did not yield many of the items on the list from the ad ... one of the consequences of shopping after the deli and meat counter are closed near the end of the ad week. (I also see that I left Wednesday blank which is OK, I guess, since I think I had Cheerios for dinner that night.)

One of this week's improv dishes utilized a leftover meaty hambone from the freezer and some pantry staples. For cornbread, I use my store brand mini-box that goes on sale for 2/$1. To dress it up, I'll add a cup of shredded sharp cheddar or another strong cheese.

Ham and Beans over Cornbread

• 1 meaty hambone left over from previous meals. I store mine in the freezer for future use. If frozen, I always thaw before slow cooking.
• 2-4 cans low- or no-salt beans ... I used one can of black and a can of great northern.
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 tbs. worcestershire sauce
• 2 cloves pressed, grated or minced garlic
• 1/4 c. dehydrated onion flakes
• 1/2 c. beef broth

Combine all ingredients in a sturdy Dutch oven over medium heat on the stovetop. Allow to simmer until the sauce thickens and the ham bits slide easily off the bone.

Remove the bone and discard. Remove any bigger-than-bite-sized chunks of ham and chop or shred into smaller pieces. Return ham to mixture. Serve hot over prepared cornbread.

You may notice this isn't hot or spicy. To bump it up a notch, include red pepper flakes or your favorite hot sauce.

Dinner this Week - 09.14.2014

Fall is upon us, well, at least it has been. Temperatures in the fifties late last week but predictions are back up to eighties by the end of the week. We are going to start making the transition to cool weather foods while enjoying the last few weeks of CSA.

Sunday

Chili and cornbread

Monday

Barbecue ribs, baked beans, potato casserole and grapes

Tuesday

Chicken nachos, homemade guacamole and pears

Wednesday

Thursday

Dinner out

Friday

Chicken and noodles, CSA veggies, and pears

Saturday

Spaghetti with CSA veggie sauce and garlic rolls

Mmm ... Peach Pie just like my mama makes it!

I come from a long line of pie bakers, and I love to make pie.  I even have a few fair ribbons to prove I am pretty good at it.  Once a year, I get to make a whole bunch of pies.  The little church I go to has a pulled pork, homemade pie barbecue each August.  The forty or so of us serve seven hundred or so dinners in a couple of hours.  To do my part, this year I made eleven pies.  Yes.  Eleven.

I've been holding on to this post until now, because most people make pie in the fall for Thanksgiving.  Recently, I saw a roundup of Thanksgiving recipes and plans.  While parts of the dinner have evolved, pie is still the number one finale.  Today, I am posting a recipe for peach pie.  As we get closer to the big bird day, I'll try to post a few more of my favorite pies.

If you are a pie lover, I'd check out Crazy for Crust's Pie Linky Party.  I'll be posting this recipe there, too.

Peach Pie

by Megan Patent-Nygren

Prep Time: 60 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Keywords: bake peaches pie freeze

Ingredients (8 wedges)

In Advance

• 6-8 peaches
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 tbs. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. almond flavoring

For the Crust

• 2 c. all-purpose or pastry flour
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. white vinegar
• 2-3 tbs. cold water

Instructions

In Advance

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large stockpot.

Dip peaches into the boiling water for 30-60 seconds.

Use a paring knife to peel off the skin.

Slice peaches. Mix with sugar, cornstarch and almond flavoring.

Pour all contents into a gallon-sized freezer bag. Set in a pie plate.

Freeze for up to one year.

For the Crust

Put flour into the bowl of a large food processor.

Hint: Move as quickly as possible to work while dough is still cold.

Cut cold butter into small pieces. Add to flour. Pulse until the mixture resembles crumbs.

Add the vinegar and egg. Pulse. Add water as needed to form a ball of dough.

Divide dough into two balls. Flatten into discs. Wrap tightly to prevent drying out. Chill for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Use a rolling pin to roll dough into a circle 2 inches larger than the pie plate. Line a 9" pie plate.

Set your frozen pie filling into the crust. Dollop with a tablespoon of butter.

Repeat rolling with the second disc of dough for the top crust.

Top the pie. Crimp the edges to seal.

Cut a few slits in the top of the pie. Place on a lined baking sheet.

Bake for 90 minutes or until the middle is bubbly.

Allow to cool before cutting to serve.

Powered by Recipage

First class is totally worth it!

In my "regular" job, the one that pays a regular salary and has health insurance, I get to travel.  I know that there are lots of business people that travel more than I do, but in my circles, it seems like a lot.  Over the last few years, I have learned a few things I'll sprinkle in here and there in posts as it seems relevant.

Most of my travel is to deliver full-day trainings so I use the day prior as a travel day.  Even though my goal is simply to get there, I almost always choose the early flight.  The budget people like it because the 6 AM flight is generally cheaper than those later in the day.  Another advantage is that, while I don't like getting up at 3 AM to be at the airport by 5 AM, it gives me the day to do some exploring once I get to my destination and the flexibility to not be stressed out by delays or changes in the schedule.  Traveling to and from Nebraska, I rarely get to fly direct.  Sometimes, I am lucky enough to get to take three planes to get there!

On a recent trip, I had the 6 AM flight out of Omaha to Dallas on my way to Orlando for a conference. The airline staff at the departure gate asked for volunteers to be bumped in exchange for a travel voucher.  The first offer was $400 and a later flight routing through Miami.  I thought about it.  Getting my husband to come with me on a trip or two has been a goal for awhile and a free or nearly free plane ticket might help.

The next offer was $500, still through Miami.  More tempting, but I still hesitated.  The next offer was a $500 voucher AND an upgrade to a first class ticket on a later, direct flight.  Yippee!  I was sold!

I had never flown first class before.  I work for a university and am on federal dollars so we have pretty strict travel policies.  Here is my regular view from the middle back of the plane ...

Things I loved about first class:

• Not having to wait to get on the plane.  I'm not impatient, but I'm not really patient, either.  Getting on and getting settled always makes me feel ready to go and being the last one on the plane drives me nuts.
• The roomy seat and the extra leg room.  Who wouldn't love it?
• Little things like extra courteous attendants.  I have a lot of admiration for flight attendants and can't say I've ever had an experience with one that was rude or not on top of things, but meeting the needs of a whole cabin full of travelers is a little different than twelve people.
• The free booze.  Honestly, it would be dishonest of me to omit that I enjoyed the Cape Cod shortly after take-off and the white wine with my snack.
• Yes, snack.  Food.  In real dishes with real flatware.  A lovely bowl of warm mixed cashews, almonds and pistachios followed by a plate with hummus, mini whole wheat pitas and grapes and one of those little Ghirardelli chocolate squares.
• Finally, three seat trays.  I tend to have a lot of random stuff and there was plenty of places to put it, even with the fancy snack tray.

The only negative of first class was my seatmate.  He fulfilled every stereotype of a rude, indulged passenger I could mention.  It didn't bother me that he didn't talk to me.  I had a yummy book to read and new experiences to absorb.  It did bother me that he didn't say "please" or "thank you" during the entire trip.  He complained about the flight attendants and difficulties with our flight - we had to change planes and were delayed because the catering cart hit the first plane and it was deemed unflyable.  He was also less than pleased that the family across from us included an adorable toddler.  She was excellent with only a couple of small outbursts and no crying.  He, not so much.

If given the chance, I will definitely fly first class again.  Now, to figure out how to go about that ....

So you can share my first class experience, here is a favorite Cape Cod recipe:

Cape Cod

1-2 oz. vodka

4 oz. cranberry juice

Lime wedge

Shake vodka and cranberry juice with ice.  Pour into highball glass and garnish with the lime.