Comfort Food for the New Year

December 31, 2010 by Lynette ·

Cincinnati Chili There is something about having a big pot of comfort food on the stove or in the oven cooking while you spend time with your family. Maybe the holidays bring that craving out in people or maybe it’s the long winter nights (and short days…) While digging in my cabinet for a different recipe, this one fell out and landed right in my hands. I took that sign to mean COOK ME and within 10 minutes I had put dinner on the stove at 2pm. I got this recipe about 8 years ago from friends of ours that always cook it for Superbowl parties. My daughter will not likely go for it because it is a bit spicy, but my son will gobble this up.

You may even have all the ingredients in the house right now, I found the ground beef in my freezer and put it in the cooking pot frozen! I’m not a particularly domestic person, but do like to cook from time to time (NEVER like to clean) and this is one of my favorite ‘for a crowd’ meals.

What are some of your favorite comfort foods? What does it make you think of when you cook or eat it? I’d love to know! Enjoy & enjoy your new year!

Cincinnati Chili

1 quart water

2 pounds ground beef

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 large onions, chopped

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon red pepper

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons allspice

6 ounce can tomato paste

1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 large bay leaves

Bring water to boil. Add meat and all ingredients. Simmer uncovered for 3 hours. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve chili over hot spaghetti, and top with cheese and onion. Serve with oyster crackers.

Filed Under: randomness goodness, stuff i felt like saying Tagged With: chili, Cincinnati Chili, comfort food, cooking, food, new year

What’s For Dinner?

October 7, 2008 by Lynette ·

How should I know? Oh, you want me to *cook*? I need to find a website that answers the question “what the hell can I make with THIS?” – and gives me options to enter in cheddar cheese soup, French bread, chicken nuggets, and Pop-Tarts. Because that’s what I feel is in my pantry most days. How do people come up with two weeks worth of meals to cook to keep their families fed, healthy, and interested? Harder yet is the fact that the baby (who is almost technically a toddler at 11.5 months old) is eating real food, and not just mush in a jar. I’ve never seen a human being get so excited over chicken breast and broccoli (our dogs are another topic).

I’m stalled on my diet, mostly because I choose to eat evil chocolate-peanut butter snack cakes my mom has been making. I’m still down 10 pounds, but weight loss is stopped until I can stop eating these snacks. Here is the evil, but very simple, recipe.

Mock Peanut Butter Tandy Kakes

1 box pound cake mix (prepared, but not cooked)

1/2 large bag of milk chocolate chips

1 jar natural peanut butter

milk (about 1/4-1/2 cup)

Spread mixed pound cake batter in a 1″ deep cookie sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes until done. Let cool 15 minutes, then spread a layer of peanut butter on warm cake. Let cool completely (refrigerate if necessary to harden peanut butter). Melt chocolate chips over double boiler, and add enough milk to thin. Pour over cake/peanut butter, cool, and cut into squares.

And don’t get any ideas about me becoming Rachael Ray or anything. I’m still not a great cook at all.

[tags]dinner, cooking, tandy kake[/tags]

Filed Under: fatblogging, stuff i felt like saying Tagged With: cooking, dinner

Food for Thought

April 15, 2008 by Lynette ·

I love to eat good food. Healthy, fresh, nourishing food. I want my family to eat the same way. Problem is, I really don’t know how to cook. More specifically, I don’t know how to grocery shop. Every time I go to the store I walk out with $100 worth of ‘nothing to eat’. I crave ethnic foods like Thai, Japanese, French, Mexican & Greek. That added to the fact that I rarely eat red meat, and CANNOT stand touching raw meats or fish at all (a nice little quirk left over from being pregnant), really stunt my meal options.

For breakfast I grab the best invention in processed breakfast bars ever – a Fiber One bar – and a 20oz mug of coffee. Lunch is maybe some raisins or chocolate chips & another Fiber One bar, and dinner is a nibble or two of what I make my daughter for dinner. Wow, I eat like crap. I’m not sure I even classify that as eating. No wonder I never have any energy and fall asleep at 9pm. Lack of food plus the fact that I’m nursing my son about 8-10 times a day must really be doing a number on my system.

I’ve been toying with the idea of a diet program like Jenny Craig or something – mostly for the frozen meals that just need five minutes in a microwave to cook. In the long run, it won’t really teach me to cook, or feed my family properly. As it is, my lazy kitchen skills have turned my daughter into a ‘white food and carb’ junkie … mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, fries, grilled cheese and pasta. I don’t want the baby to grow up with the same bad eating habits. Hell, I need to eat better if I’m to have any chance of keeping up with an infant and first grader this summer.

This past Saturday I went to a local women’s expo, and there I found the most perfect idea. A meal preparation service, Cena To Go, looks like a godsend to me. Trouble is, I’m having a hard time rationalizing the cost. In a way, I don’t spend enough money on food for the family as it is. Look at my diet, it can’t cost all that much a day to eat like that.

I grew up with very limited means, and still remember government cheese being a treat. To this day I can’t stand spending a lot of money, especially on food. Paying a premium for a service like this seems wasteful. I mean, I’m home most of the day, I should be able to whip up a wholesome meal with an apron tied around my waist, right? Services like that seem like they are only for uber-busy career women with three kids and money to blow.

In the end I think I’m going to try a few meals from Cena in exchange of meals out. Somehow it feels like a failure on my part, but dammit I’m hungry and really need to start eating better.

[tags]cooking, family, meals[/tags]

Filed Under: stuff i felt like saying Tagged With: cooking, family, meals