June 17, 2011- Luna Park Cafe

I planned on having left over barbecued chicken tonight, but it didn't sound good.  We continued to let carbs entice us by heading to Luna Park Cafe for dinner.  I had a bacon cheddar burger with fries.  Ben had chilli fries with a hot link in it.  Katie nibbled on a cheese quesadilla and had a couple fries.  We all shared an ice cream sundae for dessert.  Ben and I are sufficiently stuffed and satisfied. 

Saturday, 2/19/2011

Crock Pots, our church potluck group, met at our house tonight.  We had eight adults, two babysitters, and five kids.  The kids spent time in our room watching Mary Poppins or downstairs playing with toys.  I think they all gathered with us when it was time to serve dessert.  I made a green salad and a pot of Chili Mac and Cheddar Soup, from Sunset magazine, for our contribution to the meal.  I've increased the amounts of ground beef, chili powder, and cumin from the original recipe.  Also, the salt and hot sauce were new additions to the recipe.  It was all gone by the end of the night to glowing reviews:)  Here's the recipe.

CHILI MAC 'N' CHEDDAR SOUP

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon(s) olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 lb lean ground beef
4 tablespoons hot Mexican chili powder
6 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1 can (14 1/2-ounce) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (10 3/4-ounce) condensed cheddar-cheese soup
1 1/2 cup uncooked elbow pasta
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Hot sauce to taste

Diced tomato, for garnish
Tortilla chips, for garnish
Minced jalapeño chile, for garnish

Directions:
1.  Heat oil in a 5-quart soup pot over medium-high heat; add onion and sauté 4 minutes, until translucent. Crumble beef into pot and cook, stirring for 4 minutes or until no longer pink. Stir in chili powder and cumin; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
2.  Add milk and broth, then stir in condensed soup until dissolved; bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in pasta; continue to cook, covered, 5 minutes. Stir in cheese until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes or until pasta is fully cooked.
3.  Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with diced tomato, tortilla chips, and minced chile.

The rest of the group brought a potato casserole, corn bread, and a fruit salad for dinner.  And, for dessert, we had ice cream and oreo sundaes.  Good friends, good conversation, plenty of laughter, and great food.  Who could ask for a better Saturday night? :)  

Saturday, 1/15/2011

3 batches of spices for the beef chili

We hosted our church potluck group at our home tonight.  I made a batch of beef chili for our contribution to the potluck. The others brought:

• Chili with sausage and beans
• Jalapeno cornbread
• Shepard's pie
• Spinach salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, yellow bell peppers, and mushrooms
• Pigs in a blanket

After everyone arrived and the food was prepared, we sat down to watch the film "Inlaws & Outlaws".  It is a wonderful film that shares the love stories of several couples and singles, both gay and straight. There was a screening of the film at our church earlier in the week, but most of our group could not attend.  Our friend Laura suggested we watch it during our gathering too.  I'm really glad she did.  I found the film to be very moving.  It reminded me of how thankful I am to have already found the love of my life. 

Sunday, 9/26/2010

It was nice to be home with Katie after a day away.  She had a great time with her grandma, but did not nap for her.  After lunch at home, we all went to our church's re-dedication.  The building just underwent its first significant renovation in 50 years.  It included the addition of an elevator, new office space layout, a new conference room, a large gathering space directly outside the sanctuary, and a large patio.  Here are a few photos Ben took of the new space last week.

The new patio off of the enlarged narthex.

The new entrance to the building which gives an immediate view of the church and YMCA offices.

The new narthex/gathering place. 

Katie almost made it through the entire dedication.  We ended up taking a five minute walk outside so that she could get some "too sleepy" energy out of her system.  Soon after the ribbon cutting took place, we went home and put Katie down for a nap.  Just an hour later, Ben and I took a nap too:)  The fridge didn't have much in it for dinner; so, we went to Luna Park Cafe for dinner.  

Katie chanted "burger" all the way to the restaurant.  When I gave her some of mine to eat, she wouldn't eat it.  This was not surprising.  She did eat a few of my french fries and drank some chocolate milkshake.  I had a bacon cheeseburger with pickles and ketchup.  Ben had chili cheese fries.  We ordered Katie her very own chocolate milkshake from the kid's menu.  We thought it would be smaller for kids.  Nope--it was exactly the same size as the small chocolate milkshakes we ordered for ourselves.  Don't worry--we didn't let her's go to waste:) The food at Luna Park Cafe is delicious; it is just hard not to eat too much. 

Sunday, 5/2/2010

Ok, time to finish off the chili. I covered two plates with tortilla chips, added the chili that I made earlier in the week, and topped with shredded cheddar. A minute in the microwave each and we each enjoyed chili nachos. It was a fine, filling meal, but I now know I prefer to use taco meat for nachos. The chips got a bit soggy and would have been better dipped into the chili.

Thursday, 4/29/2010

With a batch of chili in the fridge, I decided to make and eat my first ever chili dog. I grilled a couple of big sandwich buns and Hebrew National Polish Beef Sausages. Spooned on some chili, sprinkled on shredded cheddar, and TA-DA...chili dogs. Ben said they were great. I thought the taste was good, but don't really need to try it again. I prefer to eat my hotdogs/sausages separate from my chili.

We cut up part of a sausage for Katie and gave her some chili. Seems like she is now a cheese snob. Shredded cheese no longer works for her. It must be sliced or cubed. Fine by me, shredded cheese gets everywhere!

Tuesday, 4/27/2010

Last night after putting Katie to bed, I made up a batch of chili. We've got a very busy week ahead of us this week and it seemed like a good idea to get that one out of the way early. We found this recipe on the Food Network a couple years ago. We've doubled the beef broth and tomato sauce quantities, but left the rest the same.

CHILI
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds ground beef (we like to use 1 lb leanest beef and 1 lb not so lean)
2 (14-ounce) cans low sodium beef broth (the low sodium is definitely preferred)
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce

Batch one:
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (we found bouillon granules on the grocery store isle with the Mexican food ingredients)
1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules

Batch two:
5 tablespoons red chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar

Batch three:
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

In a large heavy bottom pot (we use a dutch oven) heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and drain off the excess grease. Add the tomato sauce and the beef broth and simmer for 1 hour in covered pot. Uncover the pot for the rest of the preparation. Add all of the ingredients from Batch one, stir and simmer for 35 more minutes. Add Batch two to the pot and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring often. Add Batch three and cook for 10 more minutes.

Tonight we topped our chili with shredded cheddar cheese and scooped it with tortilla chips. I tried to serve Katie some chicken and stars baby food, but she would have nothing to do with it. She only wanted our chili. I even attempted to trick her by pouring some of the baby food into my empty bowl, serving it to her with my soup spoon. She was too smart for that. So, she had chili for dinner and loved it! Guess since she only wants to eat what we eat, we better start eating more vegetables for dinner.