Hominy Stew

I got this recipe from a friend of a friend, who invited us over for an all girls New Year's Eve party a few years ago. It's very filling and delicious.

1 big onion...I used purple
"lots of butter" (or olive oil)...about 1/4 cup
a few cloves of garlic
zucchini 1 or 2
1 chopped up jalapeno (lose the seeds)
salt (about 1/2 tsp)
bunch of cilantro (I skip this)
chili powder (I put about 1/8 cup)
4 cans of hominy (about 60 oz total)
cheddar or other shredded cheese

Chop the onion and garlic, saute in butter/oil, and throw in the zucchini. Throw in the rest. Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes. Open up the cans, pour off about 1/2 the water, and dump it in. Heat on the stove for about 20 minutes until boiling. either stir in grated cheese or sprinkle on top.

Beer Bread

I first had beer bread at my brother's house at least a year ago. I remembered it was good and so decided to try making some myself tonight.

Ingredients
3 cups flour (sifted)
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 cup will do just fine)

Optional Ingredients
Any spices you like.
I added oregano and garlic powder.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients and beer. (and butter if soft crust desired)
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Pour melted butter over mixture if crispy crust desired.
Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.


For the beer, I used an irish red. I didn't have any self-rising flour, so I went the baking powder and salt route (as listed above). I also put about 2/3 of the butter in the mixer while it was mixing, and saved the rest out to pour over the dough in the bread pan before baking; one of the websites I was referring to said this would make the crust nice and crispy. Yum!!

Note: I used a glass bread pan; they absorb heat evenly and hold that heat evenly around bread loaves as they bake. I greased the pan with olive oil using a misto sprayer.

Vegetarian Chili

I have made this recipe many, many times and it is super good. One of my old roommates joked that she was going to stage an intervention if I cooked it one more time. Guests always seemed to enjoy it too. The picture at right is the batch I made tonight, all stacked up in my snapware for lunch next week.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
2 green bell peppers, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained (optional, but tasty)
3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
1/4 cup chili powder (to taste --- I like lots)
1 tablespoon ground black pepper (I forget to add this sometimes and it's still good)
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans (choose whatever beans you like)
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

DIRECTIONS
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.

I like to serve it with a little dollop of sour cream on top and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.

Hummus

I've been looking at hummus recipes around and about, and decided I'm going to try one tomorrow, keeping the ingredients I like and nixing the ones I don't. Here goes:

Ingredients

5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups cooked chick peas (or one can)
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup tahini
3 lemons, freshly squeezed
1 T olive oil
½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients, blend until smooth.

My parents have a lemon tree, which might have some fruit on it right now. I'm not sure where my pepper is right now, as I just moved, so I'll need to find that. And tahini...I guess trader joe's might be the best place to find that? Not sure. I'll also want some pita bread :)

Will update this post after I've tried it.

Here's the nutrition information for a 2 tbsp (1/8 cup) serving

So I just finished making the hummus and it's delicious. It was a little difficult to get it fully blended; I was using my Magic Bullet and it was mixing well in about half of the vertical volume but the mixing action didn't reach the other half, so I kept reaching in there with a spoon and trying to integrate the layers. It seemed to work out in the end.

Very yummy!

Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi

I tried this recipe for the first time last week. I was having my parents over for a celebration dinner (I just moved into a new place). Neither of them is really into fish, but they both said they loved it, and kept taking a little bit more. Here is the recipe I was loosely following:

Ingredients
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 3 tablespoons soy sauce
* 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
* 1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste
* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 4 (~6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions
1. In a shallow dish, stir together honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
3. Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

This basic recipe is from allrecipes.com; I was working with still semi-frozen fillets (didn't realize it takes so long to defrost!), so I cut them into 1-inch cubes, tossed the fish along with all the marinade in a pan, and stir-fried it that way. Yummm. Maybe I'll try it the traditional way next time!

Oh yeah, here's the nutrition info: