Cooking Misc.: January 2006 Archives

So let's see if I can remember how I made this; I think it was more than a week ago. I chopped up onions, cubanelle peppers and tomatillos and cooked them in olive oil until they were starting to get soft. I had never made a chili with tomatillos before, so I just treated them like regular tomatoes. Then I mixed in a lot of cumin, a little bit of ancho chile powder (I wanted August to eat some so I didn't want it too hot; ancho's pretty mild), salt, pepper and oregano. Cooked that a little, then added the shredded dark meat from the rotisserie chicken, some white beans and some chicken stock that I made from the chicken carcass (I was always really skeptical about making stock but it really is as easy as you always hear; I just covered the carcass with water and added a bay leaf and chunks of carrot and onion, which was what I had, then seasoned it at the end).

It was a big hit with Todd and August. I don't know if it was the peppers or the tomatillos that gave the chili a fresher taste than my usual chili.

So let's see if I can remember how I made this; I think it was more than a week ago. I chopped up onions, cubanelle peppers and tomatillos and cooked them in olive oil until they were starting to get soft. I had never made a chili with tomatillos before, so I just treated them like regular tomatoes. Then I mixed in a lot of cumin, a little bit of ancho chile powder (I wanted August to eat some so I didn't want it too hot; ancho's pretty mild), salt, pepper and oregano. Cooked that a little, then added the shredded dark meat from the rotisserie chicken, some white beans and some chicken stock that I made from the chicken carcass (I was always really skeptical about making stock but it really is as easy as you always hear; I just covered the carcass with water and added a bay leaf and chunks of carrot and onion, which was what I had, then seasoned it at the end).

It was a big hit with Todd and August. I don't know if it was the peppers or the tomatillos that gave the chili a fresher taste than my usual chili.

I'm a terrible googler. I've just spent an hour looking for a good food blog by a parent of a toddler; I want some recipe ideas. Right now my main challenge with August is to keep him from choking even though he only has four teeth (so chewing's not entirely natural for him). I'm also suddenly obsessed with things I've never thought much about before: pesticides on produce, hormones and antibiotics in meat, poultry, milk. Strong flavors are not necessarily out, but I'm pretty sure spicy foods are. If I spend more than 6 minutes at a time on something in the kitchen August starts to grab onto my knees.

I love to find things he loves, though. I get this canned low-mercury tuna from FD, and he devours it (even though tuna's kind of a strong flavor). He likes medium-flavored cheese (I haven't tried stinky cheese, but the mild stuff isn't so interesting to him). He loved the pumpkin spice cookies I made and the marbled butter cookie from the local bakery, hated packaged zweiback. Doesn't like mashed potatoes, but likes sweet potatoes and the potato croquettes friends brought for Thanksgiving dinner. Full-fat yogurt.

I've had success with frittatas, finger-friendly pastas (the one with tuna, peas and a little grated hard cheese was popular), meatballs. Simple baked white fish. Faux pho from The New American Cooking.

I'm a terrible googler. I've just spent an hour looking for a good food blog by a parent of a toddler; I want some recipe ideas. Right now my main challenge with August is to keep him from choking even though he only has four teeth (so chewing's not entirely natural for him). I'm also suddenly obsessed with things I've never thought much about before: pesticides on produce, hormones and antibiotics in meat, poultry, milk. Strong flavors are not necessarily out, but I'm pretty sure spicy foods are. If I spend more than 6 minutes at a time on something in the kitchen August starts to grab onto my knees.

I love to find things he loves, though. I get this canned low-mercury tuna from FD, and he devours it (even though tuna's kind of a strong flavor). He likes medium-flavored cheese (I haven't tried stinky cheese, but the mild stuff isn't so interesting to him). He loved the pumpkin spice cookies I made and the marbled butter cookie from the local bakery, hated packaged zweiback. Doesn't like mashed potatoes, but likes sweet potatoes and the potato croquettes friends brought for Thanksgiving dinner. Full-fat yogurt.

I've had success with frittatas, finger-friendly pastas (the one with tuna, peas and a little grated hard cheese was popular), meatballs. Simple baked white fish. Faux pho from The New American Cooking.