Green Chili

I've been feeling bad lately--head aches and stuff. Emotionally I'm messed up to. I really don't know what to do with all of my feelings. Every night I go to bed and lay awake dreaming about what to make next. Then I'll look on Blogs and get depressed because I'll never be as good a cook as other people (I think). I'm excited about taking a class next semester at a local Culinary School. I'm sad because I don't think my dream of owning a resturant or baker is practical or within reason.

Then I'm dealing with school and everything else.

But check out that green bowl! I love Fiesta Ware! I get sooo excited every time I get something new ^_^ We were supposed to have a cold front yesterday, so I planned to make Green Chili. It didn't really get cold. Oh well. First I had to track down Pale Ale. Actually, mom had to, since I'm not old enough to buy it! It ended up being a pretty expensive meal because of the beer and lean meats. However, it was a successful experiment. The meat was tasty without feeling like I was gaining weight while eating it. The lime and tomatillos added a nice taste to it. The beer was also what gave this a different taste...but next time I'd try some kind of wine or just more broth (because it's cheaper!)

This recipe originally came out of our newspaper, but I changed it around and really have no idea who to give the credit it--sorry!

Green Chili

Ingredients:
2 tbl olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tea cumin
1 tea paprika
1 tea chili powder (heaping)
1 tea dried oregano
2 pounds ground turkey and chicken (I used 1 pound each)
5 medium tomatillos (green tomatoes), husks removed, washed, and diced
2 tbl pickled jalapeno peper slices, diced (I took out the seeds)
6 ounces pale ale beer (about 3/4 cup)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 14oz can navy beans, drained and rinsed off
About 6 ounces of fresh spinach, chopped up
Lime juice, salt pepper to taste, cheese to top

1. Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Add onion, garlic, and spices, saute until tender. Add meat and cook until all brown. Add the tomatillos, japaneos and beer. Bring to a boil until the beer is reduced, but don't let it burn. You'll probably be able to smell the difference. Add broth and beans and simmer. Cook 10 minutes or so, stirr occasionally. Add spinach and stir until wilted or desired done-ness. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice (no idea how much :p) Season with salt and pepper and top with cheese!! Feeds at least 8.

Nutritional Value per serving (without cheese): 304 Cal, 19g Fat, 3g S Fat (I think this is wrong, sorry!), 228mg Sod, 9g Carb, .5g Sug, 2.6g Fiber, 23.5g Protein

~Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini

This recipe comes from Simply Recipes. I have liked every recipes I’ve used from her blog so far (a total of two are three, ha!). I changed a few things about the original recipe, including using a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh, dried instead of fresh herbs, and a different amount of zucchini each time! Here’s the original recipe http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/005289stuffed_zucchini_with_turkey_sausage.php My brother may move out soon and has requested I give him this recipe. While it's not hard, I don't call this is a fast recipe (because it isn't!). However, anything that's requested again must be good!

Ingredients:
About 6 medium size zucchinis
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chopped onion (about ½ a good sized one chopped)
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ c chopped mushrooms (I like mine finely chopped, and I really like mushrooms, so I used about six)
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1 pound ground turkey
1 14 oz can no-salt added diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried basil
About ¼ teaspoons dried rosemary
¾ cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
About 2 teaspoons of salt and pepper

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides, leaving shells about 1/4 inch thick. Reserve all the insides.

Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add mushrooms and reserved zucchini insides, and sauté another 2 minutes. Remove from skillet.

Heat a Tbsp of olive oil on medium high heat. Add the ground turkey. Cook until the ground turkey is lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Drain any excess fat. Stir in the onion and mushroom mixture. Add the wine. Stir in tomato, basil and rosemary and cook 1 minute longer. You can add the tomato juice from the can or not. I think I’ve done this recipe both ways and there’s not too big of a difference. Remove mixture from heat and set it aside.

When mixture has cooled a little, add cheese, egg, salt and pepper. Fill zucchini shells with mixture. Fill a baking pan with 1/4 inch of water. Place filled zucchini halves in pan and bake at 375° degrees for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Remove zucchini from pan and serve while hot.

Serves 4.
Nutritional Value per serving: 460 Cal, 35g Fat, 10.8g Sat Fat, 1515mg Sod, 5.5g Carb, 3.5g Sug, 1.75g Fib, 31g Protein

~Enjoy!