Chili or Chili Beans? That is the Question.

Matt and I have had an ongoing “argument” of what this dish is actually called.

Here’s a little background:

A few years ago, Matt tells me he has fixed chili beans for dinner and invited me to eat with them.

Now if you know me, I am a very literal person, so I was assuming that Matt had prepared a large pot of chili beans.

When I got to his house for dinner, I discover that it is actually a pot of chili with beans.

This is when I told him that he could only call it chili beans if it was only a pot of beans. Being that it was not just a pot of beans, it must be called chili with beans.

We still have this argument each time he makes it.

We agree to disagree.

Ok back on subject.

I will be the first to say that Matt’s chili with beans is absolutely phenomenal.

He has made it with ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, and ground deer (venison).

The other night, Matt prepared what had to be the best pot of chili to date.

He refuses to give me the recipe, all he will tell me is the basic ingredients…but he refuses to tell the secret ingredients.

This most recent dish consisted of:

Ground turkey

Ground deer

Diced tomatoes

Chili Tomatoes

Corn

Chili Beans

Salsa

Chili Powder

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Pickled Jalapenos

Then you just top it with a little cheese and sour cream and you are set!

Cuppy Cakes

Who doesn’t love a delish cupcake?

If you don’t, then we might not be able to be friends any longer.

Just kidding, kinda.

Seriously, whoever came up with the idea of a cupcake, in my opinion is a genius.

I know you aren’t dumb, but I love them because they are miniature cakes, which automatically make them cute.

AND I don’t have to worry about cutting a cake.

I’m not sure about you but I hate when I ruin a pretty cake by cutting it and then it falling apart and cake crumbs getting on the top layer of icing.

It’s just not pretty anymore.

O-well, I digress.

As most of you know, World Changers came to Franklin the end of July.

The summer staff, who consisted of 4 fantastic college students w/ a heart for God, quickly became my new friends.

The summer staff had spent their entire summer together, traveling across the US, sleeping in schools/churches on air mattresses, eating cafeteria food, and getting little to no sleep.

I know how it is to be away from home and just long for something to give you a little comfort until you can be back in your own surroundings.

Being that I’m not the greatest at cooking (I’ll leave that to the moms out there who know how to make the ultimate comfort foods); I do have a knack for baking.

I asked the staffers for their favorite cake and icing.

Then I headed for Ingles where I picked up the ingredients.

(BTW – they were from a box….sorry. I am working on this….)

I prepared Funfetti cupcakes with Funfetti icing and batch of Strawberry cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing.

I will say, I tasted one of each and OH.MY.GOODNDESS.

I do believe that, hands down, they were the best made-from-a-box cupcake I had ever put in my mouth.

Too my delight, the staffers thought so as well.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Creamcheese Icing

Funfetti with Funfetti Icing

Quiche

One of my favorite go-to dishes for a quick breakfast or to eat as part of a meal with a salad.
Quiche is defintely something that you can eat anytime.

You can also change the ingredients for anything you desire.

The base is always the same; just add whatever ingredients you want.

Sort of like a pizza, but in a pie shell.  (I say pizza b/c you can put whatever on a pizza and its always delish.)

Rotel Quiche

1 frozen deep dish pie crust
5 eggs, whipped
6 slices Turkey bacon, chopped into pieces (fry/nuke the bacon, whichever you prefer)
1 can Rotel, drained
2/3 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used FF)
Milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare the pie crust as directed on the package.
Mix together eggs, turkey bacon, Rotel, and cheese together. Pour into prepared pie crust.
Pour just enough milk into the pie shell until the shell is full.
Bake for approx 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let set for about 10 minutes then serve.

Grilled Banana Splits

I read a blog called The Daily Dish.

There is always neat recipes and new twists to old recipes featured on this site.

Friday is generally set aside to discuss different grilling recipes.

One particular Friday, there was a recipe for Grilled Banana Splits.

Oh yes, it is as decadent as it sounds.

I decided to try it last weekend on Matt and our friends.

After dinner was over and cleaned up I began cutting up and skewering my fruit kebobs.

Each skewer featured:

2 banana coins

2 whole strawberries

2 pineapple chunks

After they were skewered, I brushed them with a combination of pineapple juice and melted butter.

The grill was fired up and ready to go.

I placed each skewer on the grill for approx 8-10 minutes, turning often.

I asked each guest which flavor of ice cream they would like to have, and then slid the grilled fruit off on top of the homemade ice cream.

The consensus seemed to be unanimous. Delicious.

YAY! I was so excited.

Then I tasted mine.

Oh.My.Word.

I don’t know which was better, the ice cream or the grilled fruit.

I absolutely woofed my bowl down and was tempted to get more.

But alas, I had picked the wrong dairy battle and reluctantly, I waved my white flag of surrender.

Grilled Banana Splits

8 Skewers
2 Large bananas, sliced
¼ Small pineapple, chunks
8 Large strawberries
2 T. melted butter
1 t. pineapple juice
Favorite ice cream flavor
Various sundae toppings (nuts, chocolate syrup, cherries, sprinkles, etc.)
Soak skewers in water for 20 minutes.

Thread banana, pineapple and strawberries onto skewers leaving a small space between each piece of fruit. (I used 2 banana slices, 2 pineapple chunks, and 2 whole strawberries per skewer.)

Combine butter and pineapple juice. Brush over the fruit skewers.

Gas up the grill and set it on medium heat for about 5 minutes before you place the fruit skewers on it.

Place skewers on grill for about 5-10 minutes or until warm and bananas are lightly browned; turning occasionally.

Serve immediately over a couple of scoops of ice cream and whatever toppings you wish to use.

Homemade Ice Cream

A couple weeks ago, I received a feed from Amanda at Kevin and Amanda.

Amanda hails from Alabama and is a sweet girl, who makes all kinds of delicious foods and crafts and whatnots. She goes on cool trips, takes awesome photographs, and has two really cute dogs.

Anyway, she was hosting an Ice Cream Give Away and she posted how to make ice cream w/o an ice cream maker.

*huh?*

Automatically my ears perked up.

If you know me, you know that I LOVE ice cream, sorbet, gelato, pretty much anything dairy and yummy.

You may also know, although never diagnosed by a professional, I believe I am lactose intolerant.

For obvious reasons that I will not divulge into here, I love to enjoy a dairy product like anyone else, but I also know that by consuming them I will spend the next hour or so absolutely miserable.

Needless to say, I pick my dairy battles.

Last weekend we had some friends come into town and we had a cookout planned for Saturday evening.

I had been eyeballing a couple of different recipes that I wanted to try out.

This cookout would be the perfect time!

I had to try this recipe for a no-ice-cream-maker-ice-cream.

It is a quick mix up of whipped heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk and whatever toppings you so choose.

The possibilities are ENDLESS!

I chose to make the Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream that Amanda had made. (You can find the recipe here.)

While I was at the grocery store that morning, I thought I would also make a second flavor of ice cream and was set out to make Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream on my own.  Super Walmart didn’t have any pumpkin and I refused to stop at Ingles.

I opted to make vanilla.  After I got home I realized that I only had enough vanilla for the Cinnamon Bun recipe.

*drat!* 

I was back at square one.   I remembered that I had bought some macaroon cookies.

*yum*

I crushed up about 4-5 cookies,

then sprinkled a little Nutmeg and Cinnamon.

Folded it together,

Put it in a container and stuck it in the freezer.

Done.  Fino.

Took all of 10 minutes if even that to whip up two delicious looking ice cream flavors!

After a trip up to Bear Lake for some swimming off the dock,

we arrived back home and began preparing the feast.

The feast consisted of boneless BBQ Ribs, Grilled Marinated Chicken, Shrimp Skewers, Fresh Green Beans, Baked Macaroni & Cheese and Potato Casserole (the last two provided by Malea at Sassypants in SC.)

Dessert was Grilled Banana Splits…but more on that later.

Scoop O'Macaroon (L) and Cinnamon Bun (R)

Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream

2 c. heavy cream

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used FF)

3 T. butter, melted

½ t. ground cinnamon

½ t. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whip cream until it forms stiff peaks.

In another large bowl, whisk condensed milk, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla together, mixing well.

Fold in whipped cream.

Pour into a 2 quart container and cover.

Freeze for 6 hours.

Macaroon Ice Cream

2 c. heavy cream

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used FF)

5 macaroon cookies, crumbled

Dash of Nutmeg

Dash of Cinnamon

In a large bowl, whip cream until it forms stiff peaks.

In another large bowl, whisk condensed milk, cookies, cinnamon, and nutmeg together, mixing well.

Fold in whipped cream.

Pour into a 2 quart container and cover.

Freeze for 6 hours.

Ta-Da!

Welcome to my new cooking (I use that word loosely) blog...or lack thereof, I'm not sure.

You may be the judge of that in the future.

First of all, let's get on the same page,

I do not claim to be the next Paula Deen, Betty Crocker or Ree Drummond.

I can't even hold a candle to their extraordinaire abilities.

For heavens sake, I still prepare things "from the box."

*Gasp*

However, I will be working on this over the next few weeks years.

I hope that you enjoy this blog where I will be documenting my trials, errors, and few successes as I try my hand in the kitchen.

According to the "old timers" the kitchen is a woman's place.

Yeah, we'll see.

I may be better off washing the dishes instead of preparing the dishes.

Here's to determining whether my dishes will run away with the spoons!

If you do not have a blogger account, please make sure that you bookmark my page so you can keep up with new updates.
The web address for this blog is:  http://www.runningdishes.blogspot.com/