Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Last night I made turkey chili again.  I know I should've tried some other type of soup or variation on the chili, but my husband likes things the way they are and ordinary...ha!  For example, if I try to make a cupcake with a different kind of icing other than regular buttercream or cream cheese, than he says, "I really just like it when it's the regular icing, etc."  So if I want to go outside the box, I have to do it slowly ;)

Enough of this little rant; I have 4 jalapeno plants that are still producing many jalapenos...can't believe it.  I pulled 7 off the plant two days ago, and there are still more growing.  What to do with these jalapenos?  I used 3 for the chili I made and decided to make some cornbread.  Who doesn't like cornbread with chili?  Since I still had 4 more left, I used 3 of them in the cornbread with some cheddar.  I absolutely love jalapeno cornbread.  And I figured that Chris would like the cornbread with the cheese more than without it.

This cornbread recipe is absolutely delicious, sweet and moist.  Also, I added the jalapenos and cheddar to this recipe.  And with the jalapenos you get sweet and spicy=perfect harmony!  And my test for good cornbread is when you take a bite of cornbread or cut into it, it crumbles.  This recipe definitely gives you crumbly cornbread....yum!

However, I can't remember where this recipe comes from unfortunately, probably from All Recipe or Cooks.com.

So enjoy this recipe!

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 jalapenos
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter and add sugar; beat together well.  Remove from heat.  Add eggs and beat until blended.  Make sure that egg does not cook!
3. In a separate bowl combine cornmeal through baking soda.  Add egg/butter/sugar mixture and buttermilk and beat until mixed well.
4. Add jalapenos and cheddar, and mix.
5. Grease pan, pour cornbread batter into pan, and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Super Moist Pumpkin Bread

Now that it's officially Fall, it's time to start baking with Fall's bests fruits....pumpkin and apples.  So today, I'm sharing with you a pumpkin bread recipe I found in an old Cooking with Paula Deen magazine.  .

I tried it out on the ladies at Jane Page Design Group, when I worked there, and they loved it.  This pumpkin bread is absolutely delicious and so moist, it's unbelievable.

I haven't made this recipe in a while, so I was a bit nervous making it again.  Why?  Who knows!  I shouldn't have been, because it turned out superbly!

This batter is a wet batter, so when you are making it, don't be worried about it somewhat "runny".  Also, it's a large batter, so get a large bowl when mixing it together.

I like to make mini-loaves instead of regular sized loaves.  Something about the small loaves I love.

Pumpkin Bread:

• 1-15 oz can pumpkin
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 large eggs
• 3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.  Grease 2 (8x5-inch) loaf pans.  In a medium bowl, beat pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. In a separate medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Gradually add to pumpkin mixture, stirring to combine.
3. Pour into pans, and bake for 1 hour (the mini loaves bake about 30-40 minutes), or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool in pans for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

Recipe: Cooking with Paula Deen, Sept/Oct 2007 Issue

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Still learning/working on food presentation photos :)

I have been really craving chicken tortilla soup lately.  It's probably because since I've moved to Columbia from Houston, I haven't had any chicken tortilla soup (or any decent Mexican food...sigh).  And when I lived in Houston I had it at least once a month.  Yet another type of food that's not fabulous here in Columbia.  Oh well, that's my life now.  So I decided I had to make myself some.

I found this recipe in one of my Cooking Light magazines.  The recipe originally calls for shrimp, but I wasn't feeling the shrimp that day.  So I substituted the chicken for the shrimp, seasoned the chicken, and baked it before placing it in the soup (the chicken part is from The Pioneer Woman).

I think that there needs to be a little more broth in the soup, but not much...maybe 1/2-1 cup extra.  I didn't change the amount from the original recipe.

This meal was so quick and easy to make...the soup part was pretty quick.  The chicken took about 20-25 minutes to bake, but while it was baking I was making the soup, so it worked out well time wise.

If you want, you could double the size of the soup, and make home made Mexican rice, and add that to the soup.

And of course, chicken tortilla soup has to have avocado in it and cheese!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2-1/2 tsp. cumin, seprated
• 2 tsp. chili powder, separated
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, separated
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 1/3 cup chopped carrot
• 1 Tbsp minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1-15 oz can black beans
• 1-15 oz can no salt fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 avocado, diced
• corn tortilla strips
• chopped cilantro, optional

1. Mix 1-1/2 tsp of the cumin, 1 tsp of the chili powder, and all garlic powder, and sprinkle chicken with seasoning.  Preheat oven 350; drizzle olive oil over seasoned chicken on baking sheet.  Bake chicken breasts 20-25 minutes, or until done.  Use 2 forks to shred chicken.
2. Meanwhile, heat Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.  Add onion through garlic and remaining cumin and chili powder; cook 6 minutes or until carrot is crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.  
3. Add broth, hominy, and tomatoes; bring to a boil.  Cover and cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  
4. Add chicken and avocado; let the chicken and broth meld together for about 5-10 minutes.
5. Remove from heat; stir in juice and salt. 
6. Serve soup and garnish with cheese & cilantro.

Recipe: Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, Feb. 2011 issue, & The Pioneer Woman 

Happy Eating!!

Turkey Chili

Is there enough sour cream in this bowl?

Well it's that time of the year, Fall!!  Fall is such a great time of the year.  It brings a nice reprieve from the heat, beautifully colored leaves, sweaters, scarves, boots, oh and did I mention Cooler weather!!  This is my husbands favorite time of the year; he loves the cool weather and of course football!  F is not only for Fall, but also for Football!

So since we were fortunate to have some cool weather, I decided to start looking at all the delicious soup recipes.  I decided to start of my soup season off with some delicious Turkey chili.  It was perfect for our cool weather, football watching day.

I like my chili to have a little kick to it, so my chili seasoning has cayenne pepper in it, and I like to add fresh jalapenos to my chili as well.  My husband doesn't like beans, so we have a beanless chili, but I do add bell pepper, onions, and diced tomatoes to mine to give it a little more texture.

Remember chili is a soup, not a paste.  You don't want it too watery or too think.  That is why I didn't put a specific amount of beef stock.

Serve your chili with saltine crackers, home made corn bread, or Fritos; if you use Fritos, you can make Frito pie.  Top the chili with grated cheddar cheese, sour cream and a couple more slices of jalapenos.

Turkey Chili:

• 2 lbs lean turkey chili
• 3-4 cups Low sodium beef stock
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 jalapenos, seeded; chopped
• 2- 16 oz cans salt free diced tomatoes
• 2- oz cans salt free tomato sauce
• 1-8 oz can tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3-4 Tbsp home made Chili seasoning

1. Brown ground turkey, season with salt and pepper while browning.  Remove from stock pot and drain grease from pot.
2. Add pepper, onion, jalapenos to same stock pot and sautee; add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Once onion is translucent, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, ground turkey, chili seasoning, beef stock, and vinegar.  Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 2-3 hours.

Recipe: Life of A Modern Housewife

Chili Seasoning:

• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 2-1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I added more bc I like mine spicy)

1. Mix all ingredients together & store in air tight container

Recipe: Taste of Home webiste