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.

Quick, Easy Chocolate Croissants with 2 Ingredients You Probably Already Have On Hand

Yesterday, I was craving chocolate, so I made some chocolate croissants.  Way easier than making cookies or brownies when you have a can of crescent rolls in the house, leftover from Thanksgiving dinner (I gave myself permission to not make butter rolls from scratch this year and I'm glad I did!).  We usually make chocolate crescents just like the Pillsbury can directs you to make their rolls, only we add some chips to the triangles before rolling them up.  This time, I wanted them to look more like the filled croissants at bakeries.  So fast, easy and delicious!  Here's what you do:

Jessica Seinfeld's Chocolate Chip Cookies

B woke up yesterday morning and decided he wanted to make chocolate chip cookies.  The hubs and I were still asleep, BTW.  He started looking through my cookbooks to find a recipe. The 4th book he went through was Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious.  She had a recipe for chocolate chip cookies in there and B looked over the ingredients list to see if we had everything.  He found all the ingredients in the pantry except for one - chick peas.  That's right, chick peas.  He had no idea what chick peas were, but he absolutely loved her Sloppy Joes so he was willing to give it a try.

Luckily, at this point, he remembered he is not supposed to use the oven!  He figured he'd mix up the batter and get it all ready for us when we woke up.  How thoughtful of him!  ;o)  But he still didn't know what chick peas were.  So he woke up the hubs and asked if he could get him some chick peas, please.  Imagine the hubs' surprise and confusion, being woken up with that question.  It still doesn't top me being woken up by B at the age of 5 saying, "Mama, my balls are gone."

After going for a lovely late afternoon walk, we came back to the house and B made the cookies.  The same friend who recommended Jessica Seinfeld's Sloppy Joes to us also told me her husband loves these chocolate chip cookies with chick peas.  She is 2 for 2 with her recommendations; these cookies are good!  You don't taste the chick peas at all.  I thought maybe they'd melted during baking, but they didn't; you cans till see them in the cookies.  But they are just soft like the dough and blend in.  No taste difference at all.  I don't know what made Mrs. Seinfeld think to add chick peas, but it works!

Once the chick peas and chocolate chips went in, we had to cover the mixer with a towel to prevent flying chick peas!

Look at that scooping concentration!

YUM!  Can you spot the chick peas?  Only if you know they are there and look for them. Going to try them on my parents this afternoon and not tell them about the chick peas.