Bountiful Basket Numero Uno

So this morning I headed out bright and early to get my first bountiful basket (yay!!).   My overall reaction?  Super!  It was really exciting because I love food, and I find this as a new food challenge.  If you like cooking and trying new foods, I really recommend this (yes, already).  Why?  Because it will challenge you to find new and interesting ways to cook food, or even try new foods.  

A little information about bountiful baskets... each week you can purchase a produce basket for a flat rate of $15 (plus $1.50 for handling) which will contain half fruits and half veggies.  Bountiful Baskets also offers many other 'add-ons' which you can purchase in addition to your basket (ex: $10 for 5 loaves of bread).  So for my first time (first timers also pay an extra $3 for the baskets), I just ordered the conventional basket.

Here is the low-down on what my baskets contained this week:

The vegetable half of my basket was good... contained carrots, lettuces, spinach, sweet potatoes, zucchini and asparagus.  The zucchini and asparagus are both beautiful and I can't wait to eat them... actually I will probably grill one of them tonight for dinner!  The only negative in the veggie half was that the lettuce is really limp already, so I will need to use it up quick, but other than that, there are no issues!

The fruit half of my basket was especially exciting!  In this half I got apples, tomatoes, mangoes, grapefruit, bananas and a cantaloupe. The tomatoes are very nice and I love apples and bananas so those will definitely be put to good use, but the other fruits I don't buy as often, especially mango.  The mangos are pretty ripe so I will probably find something fun to do with them today (see how this is already testing my food and creativity skills?!).  Everything else will be good for a week or two before they have to be eaten.

So, overall I am very happy with my first experience and I will try to occasionally add posts with what I received in my bountiful baskets week to week.  I encourage you to try it out!

www.bountifulbaskets.org

Rainy Day Chili

So whether it really is raining outside, or you just want a quick easy crock pot meal, this chili is the one!  I love chili… chili with cornbread, chili cheese fries, chili on hotdogs… I can eat it almost any way, and the best part is it can literally be assembled in 15 minutes!

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs ground meat (I use ground turkey) –use however much you like, if you like it very meaty, add 2lbs, if you like it thinner, add less

1 small-medium onion

1 can pinto beans

1 can light kidney beans

1 can dark kidney beans

1 can black beans

1 can chili beans (if your grocer doesn’t carry them, substitute with another can of your choice)

1 ½ - 2 cups chicken stock

3 tbsp chili powder

½ tsp red pepper flakes (change depending on how spicy you want it)

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

So here is how it goes:

Cook your meat and saute your onion together until the meat is done and the onion is translucent.  Add it into your trusty crock pot.  Drain most of the juice off the beans and add to the crock pot.  Then add the rest of the ingredients, give it a stir and let it cook on low all day!  You will have a warm and hearty rainy day meal whenever you are ready for it!  And the best part (for me) is the leftovers!  Of course, you can still eat it as just chili... but my favorite thing is to add some french fries (steak fries or crinkle cut) and cheddar cheese and call it a day!

No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls

A few months ago I inherited the recipes of my husband's mother.  The tin of recipes came with a cooking weight larger than any I had ever known, as my versions of her recipes are meant to live up to the idolized foods my husband, his father and his brothers grew up with.  Good grief!  My saving grace?  Her recipes (or the ones they insist I recreate) are simple, easy and virtually fool proof.  Here is one that I instantly added to the quick and easy section of my recipe book:

No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls

The key here?  No-rise of course!  I love cinnamon rolls, especially ones fresh from the oven.  My issue is my patience.  As I have mentioned before, I don't really have the best baking skills (exact measuring, waiting for food to rise, etc.).  These cinnamon rolls, however, are not your normal cinnamon roll where you need to wake up at 4 in the morning to have them finished by 8am (and yes, my mom did this when I was in high school).

First, sift together 2 cups of flour, 3 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 cup white sugar.  After this is all sifted, cut in 1/2 cup shortening (butter flavored is best).  Cut this in much like a pie crust or biscuits, however the mixture will still be pretty dry and powdery.  Add 2/3-3/4 cup milk, depending on how much you need.  Usually, 2/3 cup or just over is fine for me.  Work this into a dough.  Turn it out onto a floured surface and kneed for 1-2 minutes or until a smooth ball is formed.

Roll out into the best rectangle you can get (mine is always an oval).  Cover it with 1/2 cup melted butter, and yes, use it all!  Then sprinkle the butter with about 2 tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves and 1/2 freshly grated nutmeg.  I usually mix the spices into the butter for better distribution.  Now, add about 1/2 cup of white sugar on top of the butter and spices.  Time to roll! 

Roll up lengthwise and cut into rolls about 2 inches long.  Here is where you can be creative :) 

The first time I made these, I just put the rolls into a 9x13 and baked them.  They were delicious, but my husband said they looked nothing like his mom's.  The taste was the same, but they weren't the right shape.  So it turns out, his mother put each roll into a muffin tin to keep them separated and to give them uniformity in shape.  The woman was a genius.  Now, of course, I use her method of baking and it really does make some cute cinnamon rolls.
If you choose the 9x13 method (there really isn't anything wrong with this), they will need to be baked at 400F for about 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven.  If you use the muffin tin method, bake them at 400F for 20-30 minutes, once again depending on your oven.  Also, if you use dark or non-stick pans, the baking will take longer, but beware of the cinnamon rolls browning too fast!

The should look something like this when they are done if you use the muffin tin method:





Lastly, my husband's mother never used icing...  In fact, my husband's younger brother made sure that I knew his mother made her cinnamon rolls "dry" so that I would be sure to know that they never ate them with icing...  Well, I could eat them without icing (and the first time I made them, I did), but I also really love my icing--especially cream cheese based icing!  So, here again is another way for you to make these your own.  To ice or not to ice: that is the question!