Fire Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Chili February 24, 2011

JEM and I  both got home early tonight but started right in on doing lots of back up work. We decided to whip up a yummy fire roasted  tomato and red pepper chili. It was a first but definitely has been added to list of family recipes.

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, quartered and de-seeded
• extra virgin olive oil
• 10 Roma tomatoes, halved (Or 1 14-oz cans fire-roasted tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 spice y sausages, remove skin
• 1 13.5-oz can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 8oz can tomato paste

Seasoning

• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar

Garnish

• Sour Cream
• Cheddar Cheese
• Cilantro

Steps

1. Cut the Roma’s in half
2. Quarter and de-seed the red pepper
3. Place cut tomatoes and red peppers (on tin foil) on baking sheet.
4. Drizzle EVOO on all veggies.
5. Place under broiler until blackened.
6. In a large chili pot, add tomatoes, beans, onion and pepper.
7. Cook on medium-high heat for 5 mins (until the onion is translucent and the beans are tender).
8. Add sausage (preferably de-cased), tomato paste, garlic and spices.
9. Simmer until the meat is cooked (**This turns out very thick, so we added ~1 c. water to get the consistency to where we like it)
10. Enjoy!!

Fire Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Chili February 19, 2011

Sometimes you want some food that comforts the soul and sometimes you need to feed a lot of people. Sometimes you need to do both that’s when you should turn to homemade macaroni and cheese. JEM and I spent the weekend in Hanover, NH with JEM’s parents, Skidmore friends, and my sister, MAW. The first night everyone arrived was a bit hectic: we had to go grocery shopping, help clean and prep the house for guests, and somehow coordinate dinner for up to 10 people without knowing when everyone’s timing. So we went with mac cheese: yummy, filling, and easy to reheat for the stragglers. JEM’s mom passed the recipe on to us and I’ve given it over to my family. It is the best mac cheese recipe I’ve ever found.

Ingredients

2 tbs margarine

1/2 cup unsifted flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp pepper

5 cups milk

2 blocks (4 cups)

16 oz macaroni cooked 6 min, drained

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

Add onion to taste

Steps

1. In saucepan melt margarine over low heat.
2. Stir in flour, salt, mustard, and pepper until smooth.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Gradually stir in milk until smooth.
5. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat about 12 minutes or until thickened.
6. Remove from heat.
7. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of the cheese until melted.
8. Turn macaroni into greased casserole dish (9″ x 13″).
9. Pour cheese mixture over macaroni; mix well.
10. Mix remaining cheese and bread crumbs; sprinkle over casserole. (If you like color, you can also sprinkle a little paprika over the top and it really doesn’t affect the taste.)
11. Bake 375 oven 25 minutes or until topping is lightly browned. (We end up broiling ours for the last few minutes to give it a nice golden color.)
12. Bon Appetit!