Thursday, November 13, 2008

i do still cook, i swear it

Back to the food, eh?  This has been a week of easy dinners.  We even ordered pizza on Tuesday.  But I have been cooking, I promise.  On Monday, I made this:
chili with vcon skillet cornbread

I never really have posted my chili recipe...  It's one of those things that I am just naturally good at making.  I don't have to think about it, I just do it.  Onions, peppers, beans, tomatoes, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle pepper in adobo...  Oh, but this time I added 2 cups of water and a 'beef' bouillon cube.  It was ohsogood.  Spicy.  Yum.  We ate it for lunch for 2 days afterwards, and it was wonderful.  It's been rainy and chilly (ha!) here this week, so a big bowl of steaming chili with some cornbread broken up in it is just what the doctor ordered.  (by the way, I'm not sick anymore!)
daddy bowl and mama bowl

I made both of those bowls, too.  A lot of the dishes you see (besides the fiestaware) is stuff I've made.  Did you know that?  I'm crafty as hell, people.

Last night, Michael and I wanted sloppy joes.  We went to the store to get tomato paste and basil to put into the mix we had in the cupboard.  Then we came home and realized...  no mix!  Well, luckily I knew about the sloppy joannas recipe in YRR.  It turned out startlingly similar to the Fantastic brand mix we usually buy.  How nice to know that we don't have to buy it anymore!  
yep, those are curly fries you see.  jealous much?

We did change the recipe a bit, but not too much.  First, we doubled it so that we could have some for lunch today.  Instead of 2 cups of TVP, we used 1 cup TVP, one cup of crumblers.  Added into the mix were a green bell pepper and about 1/2 cup fresh basil.  Have you ever put basil in your sloppy joes?  Do it, it's amazing.  It adds a flavor dimension that will knock your socks off.  I can't take credit for this, it's on the back of the box of the mix we buy as a suggestion.  But a good suggestion it is!  Indeed.  Oh, I think we also added a bunch of garlic powder, onion powder, and salt to the recipe as well.  I made a salad to go with it, I promise, I do eat green veggies occasionally.
I ate mine on a slice of homemade bread, openface style

So uh...  lots of fake ground beef, tomatoes, and peppers this week, eh?  Oh well.  It was all very, very good.  And!  Since Virginia got her cookies, I can now show a picture of the cookies I made last week.  These aren't identical to hers, but they are damn close.
my new favorite cookies.  f'realz.

I really must thank Celine again for coming up with such a fabulous pumpkin cookie recipe.  These have white chocolate chips.  And I doubled the recipe and made like 2 dozen small cookies instead of 6 big 'uns.  Virginia didn't get white chocolate chips in her version, but honestly...  I don't think they added much.  These chips are going to be best when I put them in a full-on chocolate cookie, I just know it.  In these, they were just little pockets of sweet.  The flavor got lost in the pumpkin.  That's why I made hers with just regular semi-sweets.  They go nicely in this cookie.  

Now it's time to go work on dinner again.  And there is possibly a trick up my sleeve.  Stay posted!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

*steals your curly fries* Yummy:D
And where did you find vegan white chocolate chips?? I didn't even know that they existed! ( Unless I completely misunderstood and you are a vegetarian,lol)
And the pots you made are adorable! i've messed with boxes and stuff before, but never pots- that's so awesome!

allularpunk said...

becca - they have vegan white chocolate chips at food fight grocery! mine came from there via amy at veganaddict. but they have them on their online store as well.

aTxVegn said...

You MAKE DISHES??? You are amazing.

I think it might be cool enough this weekend to finally make chili. Yours looks so good!

Georgia said...

Those dishes are so cool!! Where did you learn to do that.

Oh I am missing chilli a little - it is getting warmer here and so we don't really feel like the heavier meals.

Oh well - you will just have to eat another bowl for me ;)
*also steals a few curly fries but nat steals them off me*

Anonymous said...

I've always wondered about your dishes ~ making your own is above and beyond the call of duty! You rock!
The food looks 'Nom' as always. Thankfully we have curly fries over here, so not jealous much, just adding them to the shopping list (monkey see, monkey do!) >:o)

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

yumm to all of that.

I made chilli and cornbread the other night for my friend - she'd never had cornbread before and she loved it. I've not tried the vcon one yet - It looks ace though so I must give it a go!

miss v said...

i know what you mean about chili. it's one of those really easy things that just turn out so good. my confession: i've never made cornbread. but i'm going to the next time i whip up chili!

also, those are some gorgeous bowls. my undergrad is in studio art - ceramics. :) i actually do more sculpting, but i do have a wheel and a kiln and make dishes sometimes.

jessy said...

i had no frigg'n idea you were so crafty, Jessica! hells yeah! that rocks! :D hooray for more deliciously perfect skillet cornbread! and your chili (as always) looks magnificent! don't you just loooove leftover chili - tastes sooooo good for days and days! i love that! :D

oh man, sloppy joannas!?! drooooooooooool! dan never liked sloppy joes - so i rarely get to make 'em. i think i'm going to have to break down and just make some and enjoy them for lunches at work or something. 'cause now i've got a major craving! curly fries - craving those, too! yippeeeee!

the pumpkin cookies look rock'n! sorry the flavor of the white chocolote chips got kinda lost in the mix there. where do you get white chocolate chips from? do you order them online?! i need to find some - 'cause i miss them so much!

hooray for trickery up your sleeve! i can't wait! and have a super fabulous and ever-so glorious weekend, too!

superw00t!

Anonymous said...

I love your bowls! They are so beautiful! Do you have your own wheel at home? Please so us more of your craftiness!

Leslie Richman said...

Those sloppy joannas look wonderful! And curly fries- yum!!!

Gina said...

Coooookieees :) I was really looking for a cookie recipe today, and I would totally be making these if I had vegan white chocolate chips!

Anonymous said...

I could have sworn I left a comment, so I'm officially losing my crap.
I haven't tried YRR's sloppy joes, I got so hooked on the ones from V-con. must try them soon.

Joanna said...

i've been craving sloppy joes for weeks now. i really need to make some. those look amazing.

K said...

Your food looks freaking yummy!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Yummy yummy comfort food & cookies! I'd like some pumpkin cookies, please!