Roasted Chickpeas with Bacon

Chicka-BOOM! I'm back from a nice little blogging rest. Now I am full of great new ideas, and ready to share. Today I was reading the new Bon Appetit Magazine and it reminded me how much I love roasted chickpeas! Roasted chickpeas- with BACON! Yup might as well do it up! This is a great side dish or for a lite snack. Lets face it once you start eating them it will be hard to stop. Trust me. And when it's this simple to make you'll be surprised how often you crave them.

Roasted Chickpeas with Bacon
(2) 15oz cans of chickpeas drained and rinsed
4 slices of bacon chopped
1-2 pinches Cayanne Pepper
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
2 pinches Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Cumin
2 Bay Leaves
1 TBS Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 400
Pour olive oil on a 4 sided sheet pan, place sheet pan in the oven. Let the pan preheat for 5 min.
In a bowl combine, chickpeas, bacon, and spices. Stir to combine. Pour onto the hot pan, and shake to even out. Bake for 30- 40 min, checking every 15-20 to stir and shake the pan. They are done when the chickpeas are crispy. Let cool for a bit, and enjoy!

Spanish Rice

To accompany my Delicious Chili Colorado Burritos I made Spanish rice. Oh boy the burritos were amazing. So here yea go! And leftovers were even better.

Spanish Rice:
1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup corn kernels

14 oz can pinto beans

14 oz can black beans

8 oz tomato paste

1/4 cup pickled Jalapenos (optional)

wash and rinse the rice.

Combine the  rice, water, red pepper flakes, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper  in a large saucepan, boil on high for a few minutes. Turn the heat down and cover for 8-10 min. Until all the water is absorbed and rice is cooked through.  Add tomato paste, corn, pinto and black beans and jalapenos if using.  Voila this rice is so nice!

Wrapped up inside with Colorado Burrito

Clam Chowder

To continue with my last post Steak House Chili. It's Clam Chowder time. When I think of Clam Chowder I can only imagine New England Clam Chowder. The stick to your bones thick chowder of my childhood. I know there are some die hard Manhattan Clam Chowder people, but to that I say "That ain't Chowder!" It's more like Manhattan Clam Soup- which is fine and dandy.

 Alright now down to my chowder, it has to have nice chunks of potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, clams and bacon. - Yes Bacon! My recipe calls for canned clams- Sorry to disappoint, but clams here are rather expensive, and since the heaviest part of a clam is the shell. I can't afford to be buying 8 pounds of clams just for 3 1/2 pounds of meat. 

Clam Chowder:

4 Slices Bacon

1 Yellow Onion- diced

3 Stalks Celery - diced

3 Carrots- peeled & diced

3 Medium Potatoes- peeled & diced

2 Cups Stock- Fish, Chicken, or Veggie

48 oz of canned clams drained from juice - SAVE THE JUICE!!

4 oz salted butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups whole milk

1 TBS Dill Weed

1 TBS Red Pepper Flakes

1 TBS Black Pepper

Salt to taste. 

In a large stock pot cook the bacon slices till crispy, take them out and set aside. Add the onion, celery, carrots and potatoes, saute in the bacon fat till the onion is translucent. Add the stock, and reserved clam juice. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 20 min.  In a separate  pan melt the butter, once the butter is melted add the flour. Whisk for 1 min, then  slowly add the milk. Once the milk is Incorporated , let simmer till it is thickened.  Add to the big pot of veggies. Chop up the bacon. Add bacon, clams and spices. Keep on low for 10- 15 stirring so it doesn't burn, or stick to the pan. Serve with nsourdough bread. 

Steak House Chili

Last Friday I was ambitious!  First I started cooking a few of my favorite things Chili and Clam Chowder. Ryan wanted Chili and I wanted Clam Chowder. What the heck right? I had plenty of time and everything I needed.
First off I started with Chili since it cooks longer then Clam Chowder. I looked at a few recipes but then decided to wing it, as I do quite a bit. In no way since I made both in 1 day am I suggesting you do the same. I am just insane.
Clam Chowder is right after the Chili, I just wanted to do two separate posts.

Steak House Chili
3 TBS Olive Oil
3 Pounds Beef for Stewing* (see note) cubed
1 Jalapeno Pepper- Diced 1/2 seeds removed
1 Yellow Onion- Diced
1 Red Pepper-Diced
1 Green Pepper- Diced
1 TBS Minced Garlic
3 (14oz) Canned Beans** (see note)
1 (28oz) Canned Tomato Sauce or 1 jar of  Tomato, Basil & Garlic Sauce
1 (14oz)  Petite Diced Tomatoes
2 TBS Chili Powder
2 TBS Cumin
2 TBS Italian Seasoning
1 TBS Oregano
1 TBS Dill Weed
1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro Chopped
1 TBS Red Pepper Flakes - or more if you want it Spicy
1 TBS Ground Black Pepper
2 tsp Salt- add more to taste.

In a large pot over medium heat Saute Beef, Jalapeno, Onion, Peppers, Garlic. Until the meat is browned and onion is translucent. Lower the heat, add everything else. Cover and let simmer for a few hours, till the meat is tender. Serve by it self or over rice, noodles, hot dogs, burgers, nachos. Great toppings are cheddar cheese, diced onions, cilantro, sour cream. The possibilities are endless.

Notes: * This steak is  really tough and needs to be cooked for a long time to become tender. It is relatively cheap. If you like ground beef, pork or turkey that can subbed as well. Even chunks of chicken is good. If you don't have a long time ground meat is the way to go.
** Any variety of beans works well.  I like to use a mixture or Black, Garbanzo, Kidney, Pinto and Chili. If using dried beans you will need  4 cups dried beans that have been soaked overnight and rinsed.

First Thanksgiving

Yesterday was my Epic thanksgiving. It was the first time cooking all the dishes, along with  a 20 pound turkey. In my family we name our turkey, this year was no different to me. I named him "Hank" I know some people think of it a little strange that I would name my dead frozen turkey before cooking it and eat it.

 I will recount the crazy 2 days of thanksgiving.  I did make every recipe from my post gobble-gobble, I only strayed a little bit, we will get to that later.
It all started on Wednesday morning. The brine was ready and it was time for hank to be tucked away for 24 hours. It was not the usual brine, the base was apple cider, soy sauce, ginger, salt, peppercorns, cinnamon, garlic and cilantro. For the brining process I found a brininig bag at the store, this bag saved me a whole lot trouble. Turkeys are big-O birds and to accommodate brining for 24 hours and still have everything for the sides and desserts in my fridge. I brined hank in a bag in a cooler with 3 bags of ice. The cooler stayed in the cold garage. To be safe I checked it during the day.

Apple Blackberry Filling

Wednesday was off with a bang. The goal for the day was desserts. I was a little ambitious with picking 4 completely different desserts. First the graham cracker crust, I added one secret ingredient- Candied Ginger, it got ground up with the graham crackers. For the crusts the food processor was my best friend, it makes the doughs effortless. Next was chocolate tart dough, then the cinnamon and ginger double crust pie. Once I had all the doughs done, a break was in order. I am sure it would have taken less time if I hadn't taken so many breaks, that's the luxury of baking from home.

Assembled Apple Blackberry Pie

While reading through my sweet potato pie recipe I realized that  I bought the Wrong kind of sweet potato- WHAT?! I had no clue there was different kinds! Oh great now I had to head to the store on Wednesday night! Needless to say it was a zoo, but getting the right kind of sweet potato (yams) was worth it. After that fiasco I put together the apple blackberry pie. When looking for my mini cookie cutters, they were nowhere to be found. Instead I did a classic lattice crust, I just love that look. With the pie assembled, and pecan toffee tart baking in the oven, I was half way done!  Sometimes I amaze myself when I don't read the whole recipe and then at 9 o'clock at night realize I need to roast the yams for 1 1/2 hours. Luckily I had plenty of sugar in my system so I was just getting started, and with the baby asleep I had less distractions.

Baked Cream Puffs

 On to the cream puffs! You have no idea how many times I tried to talk myself out of making them , then convince myself that it was a yummy idea and they had to be made. So on to making cream puffs at 9:30 at night! While they were baking I made the pastry cream and caramel sauce. Once the cream puffs came out it was time for the sweet potato pie to go in. By the time the pie came out it was almost midnight.  But lucky me all the desserts were done and it was time for bed. Oh my bed felt so good after the day I had.

Thursday was the Big day. I got up and pulled hank out of the brine, patted dry and let sit at room temp for 1 hour. Thursday seemed relatively  easy, all I had to do was the sides.  Once I got the turkey in the oven, it was time to peel 10 pounds of potatoes, 3 pounds of carrots, clean 2 pounds of brussels sprouts and green beans.  I was prepared for the turkey to cook for 4 hours, no way it was ready in 2 1/2!! I was so surprised when I checked the temperature.  I pulled it out and covered with foil. Once the sides were ready I covered them with foil and placed in the oven on warm. I was done! Finally I sat down and had a glass of wine.

 I mentioned I only strayed from the plan a bit. Well on Wednesday night I realized I was not going to make rolls, I had lack of oven space. I made a call and she was happy to make rolls, they were not cranberry but who cares? They were delish! I also added mushrooms to the green bean casserole, I was amazed that mushrooms were not included, just chopped them up and folded in.

Sweet Potato & Apple Pie

In the long run we had 10 adults and 3 kids. Turned out 2 people couldn't make it. I might have gone over board with the mashed potatoes, we have a ton leftover.The sides went fast, only about 1-2 servings leftover. I got rave reviews on the desserts. The cream puffs were the first to go, then the sweet potato pie. Only 2 slices of apple blackberry pie, and chocolate pecan tart are lingering in my fridge. I thought I had made too much dessert, well I was Wrong! Everyone had plenty of food, after dinner we played board games. It was truly a fun night. It was been requested that I do Thanksgiving again next year. So I have officially taken over thanksgiving! Woo whoo! My only regret was that I was so hungry that I didn't take photos of the turkey or sides. I managed to snap a few of the desserts as we were slicing them.

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

 I am getting ready for Thanksgiving! This is my first year going the whole nine yards, we are having 15 people over and boy am I in over my head. I have been making lists and lists and lists. I have a shopping list which I have been comparing to the store ads and coupons. One list for all the dishes I will be making, another list of ingredients I already have, I even have a list to keep my lists in order. Oh it's going to get crazy in this house come November 23. I am not going to be doing test runs of the food since it's about a week away. I will share with all of you what I am planning on. If the recipes are online I will share them too. So bring on the Lists!
List 1: Dishes- This was way longer until I looked at it and freaked out. Way too much food, but I do love some leftovers! This list doesn't include the actual dishes I will have to be doing after dinner.. 
 I am taking a lot of advice from bon appetit and Martha Stewart

 

Photograph by Marcus Nilsson  


• 20 pound Turkey- did I really have to list this? Yes! it is the star of the day, GOBBLE GOBBLE! It's all in the way that you prepare it. I have cooked turkey before but not one this large.I have decided the cider-brined-turkey-with-star-anise-and-cinnamon is the way to go!
•  Garlic Mashed Potatoes-  now when making them you need a ton, it is the co-star to the turkey in my world. I just use a basic recipe but will add 6 cloves of roasted garlic cloves to 10 pounds of potatoes. mashed-potatoes

• Carrots- Usually it is a ton of starches and turkey, this year I want good veggie sides for everyone to choose from. spiced-glazed-carrots-with-sherry-and-citrus sounds yummy!
• Green Beans- Lets face it the traditional green bean casserole isn't the cat's meow. I found this updated recipe that includes artichokes, I think I will add the fried onions and some spices since they sound better then chunks of bread. green-bean-and-artichoke-casserole sure does look tasty. 
• Brussels Sprouts- Ever since I started liking them about a year ago I can't  get enough of them, plus paired with pancetta will be amazing this is a great recipe brussels_sprouts_with_pancetta.
• Gravy ties everything on the plate together. I am using this as a guide to silky-turkey-gravy but i will be using chicken stock that I have made already. 
• Rolls- cranberry_nut_rolls  I will omit the nuts, just a preference of mine. 
• Cranberry Sauce and Stuffing-  I am delegating it for someone to bring, com'on I can't do it all!

• Sweet Potato Pie- YES we have made it to dessert ! Instead of having sweet potatoes as a side dish, this pie will be replacing pumpkin pie at our feast- I hope I don't get in too much trouble for this.This looks so much better sweet_potato_pie
• Apple Blackberry Pie- Since I went a little blackberry picking crazy this summer I have a ton of blackberries to use up, this seems fitting and enclosed in a all butter double crust how can anyone resist? apple-blackberry-pie
• Chocolate Pecan Tart- I made this last year and it was Amazing, it has been requested this year. chocolate-toffee-pecan-tart
• Salted Caramel Cream Puffs- I am using this recipe but changing it a bit, I am only going to make the cream puffs with salted caramel pastry cream dipped in dark chocolate. Oh YES I went there! this is what I am going to have for dessert! milk-chocolate-and-salted-caramel

I have my work cut out for me, however I do have Wednesday off and I do some of this for a living, so it will be like working from home. But I don't get paid- darn!  It will definitely be a feast. I will report back after and let everyone know if I had a melt down or not.  Well I hope everyone has a great Turkey day. And I am thankful for my 4 followers, lets hope for a few more in the new year!

Cheers!