New Year, New Food, New Approach

January23

I have taken a break for the past month to reflect on where I am in life, this space and a fresh approach. Coincidentally the government of Canada’s new food guide was released yesterday and it too is a new look at how we should regard our food.

https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

I especially appreciate the references to mindfulness, cooking at home more often (avoiding fast and processed food) and eating more often with others-in essence “en” joying eating and food. Now, I have always professed that there is much joy (and love) in food. For me there is both joy in the preparation and in the sharing.

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I also received a beautiful gift this week. I fessed up on Instagram that a good friend and I have girl crushes on Joanna Gaines and that same friend gifted me with Joanna’s beautiful new cookbook: Magnolia Table-a collection of recipes for gathering. I have yet to try one of the recipes but I am enamored just the same by what she shares of food and her family in the Introduction.

Last evening I co-hosted a training evening and we kicked the evening off by breaking bread together. I knew that I was cooking for up to 18 people so I made a vat of my favourite chili. I adapted a Zest Cooking Solutions (Sister #3) recipe. Where it called for a Veggie Ground Round I used ground chicken and I also boosted it with yellow corn for colour and kale for nutritional oommph. Unfortunately I did not take any photos of the recipe preparation or the end result because in truth I didn’t know last evening that today would be the day that my personal reflection was done and I was back to blogging.

New World Chili
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Ode to mexico
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8-10
 
Ingredients
  • cooking spray
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, shredded in the food processor
  • 1 red pepper, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 can black beans, undrained
  • 1 can kidney beans, undrained
  • 1 can whole tomatoes, emulsified with hand blender
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • ¼ c salsa
  • 2 T chili powder
  • 1 t cumin
  • 1 t oregano
  • lb ground chicken
  • half a package of frozen corn
  • half package of frozen kale
  • half a bunch of fresh cilantro
Instructions
  1. Spray the bottom of a large pot with canola or olive oil
  2. Place onion quarters, red pepper quarters and garlic in the food processor to finely dice
  3. Shred carrot with the food processor shredding disk
  4. Add carrot, onion, pepper and garlic in the pot and saute for 3-5 minutes (until onion is translucent)
  5. Add the ground chicken and continue to stir until chicken changes from pink to white
  6. At the this point I added the spices and put the pot in the fridge overnight
  7. The next morning I set the pot on low heat and added the undrained beans, emulsified tomatoes, tomato paste and salsa to the pot.
  8. Once it is heated thoroughly add the corn and kale.
  9. Heat to desired temperature (I let the chili simmer all day)
  10. Serve with cilantro sprigs

Please forgive me for the small m in Mexico. I mean no disrespect but I cannot figure out how to edit it without deleting and starting over again.

I doubled the recipe for the large group. The dish could have been served with crushed taco chips but I decided to make some cheesy corn muffins to go along with it. It was a hit!

Kath’s quote: This meal embodied comfort and safety to me. It felt like home. To this day whenever I eat spaghetti, that warm, fuzzy feeling hits me and I feel like all is well in the world.” -Joanna Gaines

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Love never fails.

 

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