Are you ready for some football?

The Patriots are in the playoffs, and all is good in the world.  For now at least.  We're having friends over for the game, so of course we need some food!  I decided there's no better way to celebrate this joyous occasion than with some turkey chili. 

I am a big fan not only of the Patriots, but also of my crockpot.  I browned my ground turkey in a pan, rinsed it to get all the fat off, and threw in my crockpot.  I added a can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos, a can of kidney beans, a can of cannelli beans, a chili seasoning packet, a large chopped green pepper, and a large chopped red pepper, a medium chopped onion, and for today's occasion some corn.  Let it marinate in the crockpot on low for 4-6 hours.

What's chili without toppings??  I set out chopped red onion, shredded cheddar cheese (reduced fat of course), and some fat free sour cream. 

Want some extra heat?  Pick up a small habanero chili pepper, chop it, and throw it in!  Make sure to wash your hands after.  Trust me you don't want to accidentally touch your itchy eye after handling those hot peppers!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the chili was the highlight of the night....the Patriots blew it.  I guess there's always next year.

Banana smoothies for the one you love.

This past Valentine's day I made banana smoothies for the one I love, my wonderful husband, James.  These made for a good snack.  We had started the day with eggs over easy cooked in the center of toast.  Of course, I had cut out heart shapes in the middle of the bread to fry the eggs, and placed my toasted hearts on the side of the dish for 'effect'.  Nothing is too cheesy when it comes to showing my husband how much I love him.

But of course, we were hungry shortly thereafter, and I thought a healthy smoothie would hold us over until our next meal.

I fill the blender with almost a full tray of ice.  I say almost a full tray, because there's always a couple of ice cubes that are too stubborn to leave the tray.  I usually give up on getting them to leave their plastic cube home.  Then I add about a cup to a cup and a half of milk, 2 large bananas broken into pieces and start blending.  While the blender is mixing, I throw in a splash of vanilla extract.  Blend for about a minute or until all the ice has been blended, and it's time to pour this deliciousness into glasses.  This makes just enough smoothie for two tall glasses...picture your favorite beer glass, and fill it with this smoothie.  Now for the final touches.  Grab some chocolate syrup (a little won't kill you!), and make some cutesy hearts on top.  It is Valentine's day after all.  Drink up - not too fast, you don't want brain freeze!  If you feel like having a real drink, then add some rum to the blender!  Enjoy!

Kale Soup...My grandmother would be so proud.

So I was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist office when I decided to pass the time looking through a magazine.  While I was flipping through the pages, I came across an article about a Portuguese woman and her amazing Kale soup.  My Cape Verdean grandmother (Mama) has been making Kale soup my whole life, but I've never made it.  I decided it's winter, it's cold, I'm always making soups and chilis, why not try this one out.  So I snap some pictures of the ingredients and the recipe with my phone, and proceed to get my teeth cleaned.

I attempted this soup a few weeks later, and brought some over to Mama's house for approval.  My family thought it was good, and so did my husband and I.  I've made it another time, and look forward to making and enjoying it many more times.  

I just want to mention again, this is not my original recipe, but one I found in a magazine.

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves

2 medium-size onions, chopped

Kale Soup cooking in the pot.
That linguica looks oh so good!

1 pound linguiça, sliced

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound fresh kale, de-stemed, cut into small pieces

1 can Campbell's “Bean with Bacon” soup plus 1 can water

2 large potatoes, peeled, cubed

Kosher or sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, add oil and cook garlic, onions, and linguiça slices until onions are soft. Add 4 cups chicken broth and kale. Cover, and let kale cook down, stirring occasionally.

Add “Bean with Bacon” soup and water; simmer about 5 minutes. Add cubed potatoes. Simmer, covered, 20–30 minutes longer, till potatoes are soft.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with crusty bread.

I'm in love with our pizza stone.

We registered for a pizza stone for our wedding, and received it at our Bridal Shower.  But it was only a few weeks ago when I finally decided to use it.  It was one of the only gifts I hadn't used yet.  So after talking to one of my friends about how much she loves her pizza stone, I decided the time had come to test this puppy out.  And....I'm in love.

The first pizza I made was chock full of vegetables plus pepperoni.  Here it is getting ready for the oven.

I didn't take a picture when I took it out of the oven, but it looked scrumptious!  My husband thought so too.  My only issue with the pizza stone test run was I didn't use enough corn meal on the stone, making some sections of the pizza very difficult to get off the stone.  But don't worry, I learned from my mistakes. 

Pizza number 2 went a lot smoother, and didn't stick!!  I went with motz, pepperoni, peppercinis, garlic, and red pepper flakes...yummmm. 

Next week, I'm thinking of making a spinach, feta, motz, and garlic pizza.  Then maybe something with prosciutto.  I'll keep you posted! 

But if you want to start making your own homemade pizzas, and you just ran out and bought a lovely pizza stone, you should preheat your oven with the stone in the oven. While the oven is preheating, grab all your ingredients, your dough, sauce, and desired toppings.  I buy the pre-made dough (it's too much work to make my own!).  Roll out the dough, if you don't have a rolling pin, use a wine bottle, I know you have one of those lying around.

Once the oven has finished preheating, remove the stone, sprinkle a fair amount of cornmeal on it and carefully lay your dough on top.  Add your sauce, I typically use about 1/2 a cup of sauce.  Your sauce can be regular tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, pesto, anything you want!  Once you've added your toppings, throw the stone back in the oven and cook it for about 15-20 minutes depending on how crunchy you like your pizza, and viola dinner is on the table!