Shhhhhh . . . Secret Sauce Chili

Rain, rain go away but if you’re not . . . we are having chili today!

This brings cheers of joy to my family. They love this chili and this chili alone. It is not your average spicy-hot-peppery, salty chili-dog chili but a mildly-spicy, sweet, tangy, addictive concoction. It is a family recipe passed down from Nan.  Too bad its not more complicated.  Here’s the secret. Another Not-So-Martha Good Thing. 

Homade (yes, that’s how it is spelled) Chili Sauce

(I’ve given you an online link to order but I get it at my local grocery store in the condiment aisle. If they don’t carry it-ask them to order it for you.)

It is a vinegar, tangy- sweet sauce that makes this chili unique.  The jar is pretty too!

Nan also has a secret recipe for corn muffins . . .

Love the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. You can’t go wrong with “America’s Favorite” since 1930. 

These Not-So-Martha Good Thing muffins come out perfectly toasty on the outside and crumbly, soft on the inside.  Drizzled with honey or crumbled in the chili-they are perfect-and you can’t beat the price! In a later post, I’ll share a recipe for Blueberry Muffins using this mix but with homemade flair.

I know, I know. Not very Martha-like but worth it. You’ll like it-maybe even love it. So try it and let me know what you think.

Rainy Day Chili

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped finely

1-2 Tablespoons of chili powder

pinch of red pepper flakes

salt

1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef or ground turkey

1 jar of Homade Chili Sauce (secret sauce)

1 30 ounce can of dark red kidney beans (undrained)

1 15 ounce can of dark red kidney beans (undrained)

1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes (undrained)

1 Tablespoon of tomato paste

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.  Add onions, chili powder, red pepper flakes and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook until onion is soft, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for about 15 seconds until fragrant but not brown.

Add meat and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Stir in the “secret sauce’, beans, diced tomatoes with their juice, tomato paste, and another ½ teaspoon of salt Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.

Remove lid and continue to simmer until meat is tender, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Serve with corn muffins, cheese, diced onions, sour cream and whatever else you like on your chili.

You can also serve “Cincinnati style” over pasta.  That’s good too!

Oscar, My Date Tonight

This post will be short because I am getting ready for my Big Date tonight . . . 

Oscar.  

B says this is like my Super Bowl Sunday but he loves it just as much as I do.  Every year, we look forward to the Academy Awards.  The amount of celebrating we do varies.  It just so happens B’s birthday is around this time so I use it as an excuse to prep special celebratory food. B thinks it is all for him-actually not really, he knows me better than that.  In the past we’ve done super nachos, sticky wings, an “all-mini” theme i.e. tiny grilled cheese, tiny tacos, tiny corn dogs, very-large tiny martinis.  This year we are going with Shirley Temples, steak, baked potatoes and fixin’s, and chocolate cake for dessert.

Whatever the menu, it usually doesn’t involve much planning and prep because the highlight is not the food, it is the competition.  All of us-B, The Girl, The Boy, me, and usually Grandma-enjoy a fierce friendly rivalry to see who can earn the most points on our Academy Awards ballots. We have no tangible prizes, just the laureate of being the winner and the glorious reputation of “One to Beat Next Year”.  Here’s how it works.  We print out the ballots and fill in our choices while watching the Red Carpet Show.  Even if we haven’t seen all the nominated movies (if it not out on DVD or rated G-forget it) or have no idea what a cinematographer really does, we stand by our selections to the very end, rooting them on to the finish, whooping with joy when they win, falling to the floor in devastation when they lose. Walking by our house, you might think crazed, face-painted fans waving foam fingers live here. We are that serious.

This year, I have upped the ante a bit and added Oscar Bingo from How About Orange  This should add a fun twist to the event. While you’re there, check out the printable ballot as well.

Well, gotta run, I’m flat-ironing my hair, my make-up artist (The Girl) just woke-up arrived, and there is only a few hours until Oscar arrives.

How are you prepping for the red carpet?

M-I-C . . .K-E-Y

Look what we found at Target. 

The Boy and The Girl begged persuaded me to buy it.  Here were their reasons:

            “It is on sale.”

            “We all love Disneyland and Mickey Mouse, even Grandma does too.” (This is true.)

            “You won’t have to make your own homemade soap anymore.  It is runny and it stinks.”  


Uhhhmmm, Okaaay. I guess the whole “living green” part of making my own foaming soap has yet to catch on with The Boy and The Girl.  

So, of course I gave in and it is just so darn adorable on the bathroom counter.  Truth is, I really didn’t need much convincing after the “It is on sale.” comment. I am a sucker for anything on sale. And guess what? It is lemonade scented-that’s right not just lemon but lemonADE. Right now, as I am typing (and because I type so fast), I am catching the slightest whiff of those frozen lemonades they sell in Disneyland-you know which ones I am talking about. The tart, lemony, slushy goodness in a cup; sticky and sweet, dripping down your hand and hopefully not in your purse, perfect on those, hot, unbearable days when you are standing in line for a million, zillion hours for It’s a Small World. I’m drooling now . . . over soap.  That’s right, it smells that good!  It comes in a Minnie version too, Strawberry Fizz scent. We’ll have to try that one next . . . but only if it is on sale.

Please note: I am not being paid by Target or Method to write this. In fact, I paid them, but it was on sale!

What is one your new favorite things?

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler and Beignets!

To celebrate Mardi Gras, I decided to make Beignets.  I’ll never forget my first taste of those puffy, flaky sweet clouds.  It was the summer of my 15th birthday and my first real trip on an airplane. Our destination? New Orleans.  It was an interesting trip, mainly for my hair (I have naturally, curly hair so you can imagine the affect of humidity). It was a great culinary excursion with my first taste of gumbo, blackened anything, and deep-fried duck with chutney. Best part?

Ode to Joe . . . Cup o’, that is

      I thought I should start a Monday post with the morning love of my life, Joe (don’t tell B-although his morning love is Chai-that spicy, cup-goddess).

See? Joe even has his own initial mug at my house. (Just kidding-we share the same first initial- This “J” is for Jen.)

      My love affair with coffee did not begin until after age 30 a certain decade of my life when I had two kids, a full-time job, was a project manager of millions, part-time Girl Scout leader, sometimes school volunteer, half-marathon runner, and overall woman extrordinaire.  At least that’s what coffee made me believe.

Thumb’s Up With A Cherry On Top!

Nan called me the other day. Who is Nan you ask?  She is my 79 year-old nanna.  She needed to ask me a question.  Just so you know this is exactly what all her messages say.  “Hi, its Nanna. Uh, uhm. Hello? Just have a question. Call me back. Love you. (Long pause) Bye.” She still really hasn’t adapted to voicemail or answering machines or telephones of any kind, for that matter.  Gotta love her though.  Back to her question of the day.  She needed a cake for one of her bible study ladies.  They like to celebrate birthdays with cake.  She wanted to order a coconut cake.  Panic set in . . . I have not been able to make a good coconut cake. It is one of the few cake recipes I have yet to master.  So, I hopped on to Pinterest for a few hours minutes and came up with a plan.  I would like to credit Chocolate Therapy’s The Best Coconut Cake  for the filling, assembly and inspiration.  I then used my “favorite, all-time, go-to, super-secret, very-complicated, white cake recipe.” And it won’t be a secret anymore because I am going to share it with you.  It comes from my trusty Cake Mix Bible. I know, once again, a Not-So-Martha Good Thing-using cake mix but it is always everyone’s favorite white cake; moist, vanilla-goodness with a little something extra, you can’t quite put our finger on (it is almond extract). Then, I put it all together and put a cherry on top because that’s all this beautiful, snowy-white vision of coconut needed. Don’t you think?

Prehistoric Times

We have a new addition to our brood! Good news-doesn’t require feeding of any sort.  Bad news-I already broke its neck.  Announcing . . . Woolly-the Woolly Mammoth! 

Isn’t he cute?  This was a very cool “homeschool style” project for The Boy.  He just completed a science unit on Living Things of the Past and fossils.  We He became fascinated with the Woolly Mammoth so he completed an animal report with pictures and tons of facts.

Pink Cupcakes, Barbie’s Birthday, and Zazzle

It was my friend, “Barbie’s” birthday last week.  That’s not her real name but she is a total Barbie Girl from head to toe.  I made her cute, adorable, Barbie-sized, pink cupcakes. The best part?  The frosting! It is made with cherry Laffy Taffy-how Barbie is that? It is the perfect bite of fluffy, whipped, cloud-like, tart cherry. Something this good deserves no competition so it is best on the Light-As-Air Mini Vanilla cupcakes. I have also made this frosting with other types of chewy candy-Airheads are a personal favorite-thinking of the watermelon flavor right now is making me drool! You could try Starburst, Mamba, Tootsie rolls-the options are endless.

Please Sir . . . I want S’more

Granola bars that is. Quoting lines and singing songs from Oliver! is not unusual in our house. The Girl and The Boy spent a summer in a local theatre production of Oliver! a couple years back. So fast forward, The Girl has a new favorite snack.  It took some convincing for her to forget her favorite, store-bought version but now she’d “do anything” for our homemade granola bars.  Thank you to Self Reliance By Jamie  for the inspiration and the first few batches.  Now, we have been inventing our own versions.  The latest?  S’more Granola Bars.  So go ahead,  have “S’more Food, Glorious, Food!” (Sorry for the Oliver! puns, I can’t help myself.)

Homeschool Style

The Boy is homeschooled.  We are fairly new to the process but it fits right in with our hippy “Montessori” household (in quotes because we do not follow the philosophy but it is what some people like to call our parenting style).  It has not been unusual for our house to be dominated by the interests and current obsessions of the The Girl and The Boy.  I don’t mind the clutter of legos, art projects, experiments, and inventions of all types. It is what matters most to us.  So even prior to our adventure in homeschool, our house was a place of fun, learning, and discovery but not always of neurotic impeccable neatness.  Now that we homeschool The Boy, we like to call it “Homeschool Style”.

You had me at Dulce . . .

I don’t know about you, but I am a recipe hoarder collector and all it takes is one word or ingredient or a pretty picture and I’m a goner. The recipe is torn and thrown into a pile of papers, receipts, wrappers,etc.  neatly cut out of the package or magazine page and filed appropriately.  I found the inspiration for this recipe on the inside of a Challenge Butter package and all it took? The words “Dulce” and “Brownies”.  Really, it probably would have just taken “Brownies” but the “Dulce” made me look twice.  Made it today in honor of the Superbowl and it was so worth it.  Chocolately, caramel, gooey-goodness. 

Mmmmmm. Want some?  I bet you do!

My New Addiction . . .

I have a new addiction, “Downton Abbey” on PBS.  Have you seen it? I first heard about it while watching the Golden Globes this year and thought, “Who would ever watch a show about a stuffy, English family and their boring, old house, when you can entertain your mind with such high-quality programs, such as the “Real Housewives of Such and Such”? Well, now I know who would-ME!!!