Cheesy Mushroom Chili from The Mushroom Lady

We were on vacation last week on the Delmarva Peninsula.  It lies between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays and consists of land belonging to Delaware, Maraland and Virginia.  On Tuesday afternoon, we visited the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Farmers Market in Grove Park.  We arrived a bit early so B happily played in the playground while we waited.  At a couple of minutes to noon, a bagpiper walked from the end of the market to the beginning while he played.  Once he reached the beginning, a big bell rang, signally the start!

What a wonderful variety of vendors!  In addition to the fruits, vegetables, fresh meats and local honey you expect to see at a farmers market there were homemade pastas, snacks, candles, wreaths, breads and sweets.  There were even vendors selling lunch items and the hubs had to drag me away from the tent making the best smelling grilled burgers!  (We did an excellent job sticking to our vacation budget, but I think my vacation would have been enriched by that burger!)

At one of the vendors, Davidson Exotic Mushrooms, The Mushroom Lady was serving up free samples of her Cheesy Mushroom Chili and giving out copies of the recipe.  It was so good, I have not stopped thinking about it so I decided to make it for dinner tonight.  YUM-O!  Only 7 ingredients and cooked in 20 minutes.

The Mushroom Lady's Cheesy Mushroom Chili

EVOO
1 quart Crimini Mushrooms, chopped into bite-size pieces
2 tbsp Cumin
3 cups Salsa
1 cup Frozen Corn
1 can White Beans (16 oz), rinsed and drained
1.5 cups Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

Saute mushrooms in oil a few minutes, then add Cumin and cook until mushrooms are soft.  Add salsa, corn and beans.  Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cheese.  Ladle into bowls, top with remaining cheese and serve with toppings of your choice.  Can also be served as a dip with tortilla chips.

I halved the recipe but still used the whole can of beans (didn't want to waste it), replaced the olive oil with canola, and cut up a few Colby-Jack cheese sticks since that's what I had on hand.  I made a batch of The Pioneer Woman's Restaurant-Style Salsa because we looooove it in this house, but just use whatever fresh, canned or jarred one you like.

The chili was done before 4pm so I went outside with B to talk with the neighborhood moms while the kids played.  We came in an hour and a half later and I heated the chili back up.  Just like The Mushroom Lady, I served it with sour cream and had to put a dollop of the homemade salsa on top.

Since everything was eaten, cleaned and put away so easily, I decided to bake Money Saving Mom's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins for tomorrow's breakfast.  I halved the recipe and got 18 muffins, using 1/3 whole wheat flour and 2/3 white flour.  I'm not the biggest fan of muffins because they tend to be dense and a little too dry for my taste, but not these!  They are light and moist and sooooo gooood!  They are a freezer cooking recipe and she provides instructions for freezing and thawing your muffins.  However I know for a fact, since I have already consumed 2 tonight, that these muffins will not last long enough to see a freezer.

I hope you try both of these recipes and let me know how they turned out.

B Taking on a Bigger Role in the Kitchen

This past weekend, the hubs decided that B should take a bigger role in the kitchen and help us cook dinner every night.  We started last night, Meatless Monday.  We made Creamy Portobello Pasta, my version of Food & Wine's Ziti with Portobello Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese. Once again, I just used what I had on hand and our finished product tasted fabulous but looked gross.  SMH  I don't know how Food & Wine get such a light colored finished product!  Portobellos release their liquid and it's dark, so it colors my pasta.  Oh, well.  Onto B cooking.

I wasn't ready for B to be using a knife, so I sliced up the onions.  But B turned on the heat under the pan and added the butter and oil.  This is him adding the sugar.

 Stirring the onions so they all get nice and caramelized.

The hubs said B should start learning to cut (my heart stopped) so he sliced up the portobellos.  And did a darn good job at it, too!

 

Leftover Wednesday - Monterey Chicken & Dirty Rice

After I graduated from college, I went to work at a restaurant named Steak & Ale.  I loved that place - the food was awesome and my co-workers were great.  My favorite dish was Monterey Chicken.  So, when I scoured the fridge and cupboards looking for something to do with the very last 3 chicken breasts in the house, Monterey came to mind.  I wanted something more flavorful than just plain rice to go along with it so I scoured the internet for a dirty rice recipe.  They all called for fresh peppers, which I did not have.  Then I found this recipe from VeggieBelly.com.  It's a homemade dry mix in a jar for gift giving and no fresh peppers needed!  So let's get started on what I did.

Here is a pic of (almost) all the ingredients I found in the house to use.  I had no green onions for the Monterey Chicken so I sautéed a Walla Walla Sweet because I just love them.  After taking this picture and then chopping all that needed chopping, I found 2 ears of cooked corn leftover from the weekend.  So I sliced the kernels off of one cob to add to the chicken and heated the other one up for B to eat with his dinner.

I roasted the corn kernels in a dry pan,

cooked the bacon,

and sautéed half an onion in the bacon drippings.

Salted and peppered both sides of the 3 chicken breasts and cooked in the bacon drippings for 2 minutes a side.  Drained them on paper towels and let the chix ingredients sit until dinner time.

Then I made the rice.  Brought 2 1/4 cups of water to boil and added 1 chicken bouillon cube.  I didn't even remember I had chicken bouillon cubes!  I bought them years ago when I was going to make a Paula Deen recipe and then decided not to make anything with a bouillon cube b/c of the ingredients.  However, I did not have any chicken stock on hand yesterday, so I decided to give it a try.  It worked out great.  After the cube dissolved, I added paprika, garlic powder, 3 times as much fresh oregano and thyme than the dry amount the recipe called for and 1 cup brown rice.  Brought back to a boil, stirred, covered and cooked on low for 55 minutes.

When it was time to eat, I turned on the broiler, rubbed one side of the chicken breasts with some BBQ sauce and put under the broiler for a few minutes.

Took the breasts out of the oven, turned them over and covered 2nd side with BBQ sauce.  Then topped with roasted corn, onions, chopped tomatoes, bacon and shredded cheddar cheese.  Put back under broiler for a few more minutes to heat up.  The broiler really crunched up the cheese.  Next time, I won't put the cheese on that early.  The heat of the chicken and toppings will be enough to melt the cheese if sprinkled on top immediately after coming out of the broiler.

All three of us completely enjoyed this dinner!  I hope you do, too, if you give it a try!