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.