Turkey Chili

Sometimes simplicity is the key. It doesn't always have to be grass fed bison fillets on organic chanterelle risotto. Sometimes a nice warm bowl of spicy turkey chili is just what you need to get warm after spending it in the frigid fog of a short and dark December day.

Sure some people aren't impressed with turkey chili, but you know what? Those people wouldn't turn down a bowl of this delicious creation if it was offered to them. Not enjoying homemade turkey chili would be like saying you don't enjoy hanging out with your friend at IKEA. Sure she may take a little too long looking at bookshelves, and they all look the same to you, but the truth is you wouldn't choose to be anywhere else at that moment. Just like you wouldn't choose to be eating anything else while you're shoveling this chili into your mouth. Now get off your high horse and make this turkey chili, or some horse chili now that you won't be riding it.

Turkey Chili

• 1 pound Ground Turkey
• 1 yellow Onion diced
• 2 cloves of Garlic minced
• 1 clove Black Garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons Olive Oil 
• 2 Jalapeños diced
• 2 tablespoons Paprika
• 1 tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Curry Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 cup +plus the rest of the package Chicken Stock
• 1 can of diced Tomatoes drained
• 1 cup Navy Beans
• 3 cups Water
• Optional:
• Sour Cream
• Chives minced

1. Soak the Navy Beans in 2 cups of chicken stock overnight. 
2. Saute the onion, and garlic in a dutch oven with the olive oil. Add the Jalapeños to the onions and garlic and continue cooking until slightly browned. 
3. Add all the spices. Continue cooking and stirring until the aroma of the spices waft into every corner of your place of residence. 
4. Stir in the ground turkey. As you're stirring in the turkey be sure to sort of chop it up to avoid clumping of the meat. 
5. Rinse the beans. Add the beans to the pot, along with a cup of chicken stock, the diced tomatoes and 3 cups of water
6. Cover and simmer for a few hours, stirring occasionally. Take a trip to IKEA or something while the chili cooks, just enjoy your day you deserve it. 

And if you're wondering who captured the flavor of this chili, it's Katy Weaver!

Beef Stroganoff with Gorgonzola Gnocchis

Before we get into this post I just want to mention that we have a holiday ecookbook on Google Play! Which can be downloaded by clicking here, here or here. Or you can click on that ad to the right. It's a good way to support your favorite food bloggers!

This is our first post in a series entitled: Foods with Weird Names.  Sure Beef Stroganoff seems like an outdated dish, but adding the Gorgonzola Gnocchis turns this into a new modern classic. This is a perfect example of taking something from the past and making it fit today's tastes. It's not as hard as people make it out to be. 

Side note: I want to lick that steak. 

Beef Stroganoff

• 1 lb. Top Sirloin Steak sliced into strips about 1/4" thick.
• 6 Mushrooms baby cremini--sliced 
• 1/2 medium Red Onion minced 
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 1 clove Garlic minced 
• 1/4 cup Wine (Pinot Noir) 
• 3/4 cup Sour Cream
• 1 tablespoon Crushed Mustard Seeds
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Chives finely chopped

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the garlic and onions. Caramelize until caramel in color. 
2. Add the sliced mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, sauté for about 3-5 minutes.  
3. Introduce the steak into the mix at this point. Sauté only until the steak turns slightly brown.
4. Stir in the wine and sour cream. Bring to a boil then reduce to a low simmer. Stirring occasionally let the sauce thicken up before serving. 

Gorgonzola Gnocchis

• 2 Potatoes boiled and mashed
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1 cup Flour (plus extra if needed) 
• 2 Eggs
• 4 oz. Gorgonzola crumbled

1. In a large bowl mix the mashed potatoes in with the butter and 1/4 cup of the flour.
2. Mix in the eggs and the rest of flour.
3. Sprinkle the gorgonzola into the mixture. Fold the cheese into the batter. Add more flour as needed. It should be the consistency of slightly tacky bread dough.
4. Transfer the dough into a ziplock bag. 
5. Heat several cups of cold water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. 
6. Cut the tip off the ziplock bag, that's right - just the tip. Squeeze over the boiling pan while cutting the dough into tootsie roll sized pieces. 
7. Boil until each gnocchi floats in the pan.
8. Drain the water and serve with Beef Stroganoff on top. Garnish with chives. 

Photos as always by Katy Weaver (you probably know that by now)

Baked Eggs

We're back with breakfast! It's been a while, but I proffer onto you yet another Cooking with B.S. breakfast recipe. I think after making Skip's Scramble I was a little burnt out the breakfast food group. If you're wondering what's in this food group, it's mainly the stuff on the top of the pyramid.

Sure baked eggs isn't the best looking dish but you know what? Like most things that look messy, once you dig into it's pretty darn good. I'm sure there's some sort of inner beauty metaphor here, but who needs that with good photography.

Makin bacon!

Side note: Fermented black garlic is my new favorite ingredient. It's sweeter and less intense than your average garlic. I found mine at Trader Joe's. I highly recommend putting it in your next dish, even if it's some sort of sugar cookie.

Baked Eggs

• 5 Eggs
• 1 cup Half & Half
• 4 Bacon Strips cooked
• 3 cloves Black Fermented Garlic chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning 
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1/3 cup White Cheddar grated
• 5 slices of Sourdough Bread toasted 

1. Preheat the oven to 375°
2. In a small bowl mix the black garlic in with the half & half. 
3. Lay the bacon strips in the pan you're going to be baking the eggs in. Or if you're feeling ambitious and good about your cholesterol level you can make a bacon weave on the bottom of the pan.
4. Pour the half & half over the bacon. Crack the eggs over the half and half, be sure to evenly space them in the pan.
5. Top the eggs with the Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, and white cheddar.
6. Place in oven for 15 minutes. (Don't worry if you happen to forget it for 20 minutes while you're exploring travel pictures on tumblr, it'll still taste great, the eggs will just be a little overdone.) 
7. Eat with toast and enjoy your morning by having a conversation with whomever you're sharing this dish with. 

I think what makes breakfast food so popular is the fact that even if it doesn't look good, it still usually tastes good. We know what to expect from it. We know after a cold night there's something warm and comforting to help us welcome the day. We know that conversations over breakfast food are the most important, even if they're about nothing. 

These eggcellent photos by Katy Weaver

Chicken and Dumplings

"Winter is coming." Well screw you Ned Stark. I say winter doesn't need to be a cold barren wasteland of ice, snow and family gatherings. It can be so much better and warmer with Chicken and Dumplings, which is basically like a hug in a bowl. Just remember even if there's no one to keep you warm this winter at least there's this soup to keep you warm, and hell you can even bring it to your office's Holiday party! But don't let Tim hog all the dumplings.

I had never made Chicken and Dumplings until someone on the Cooking with B.S. Facebook page suggested I make it. I'm glad I did, because this is one delicious dish and perfect for any winter day. So I before I made this dish I did a little research on the dish. It turns out that this dish originated from the Chinese province of Hunan when a village came together one freezing winter day, each farmer giving up a piece of that year's crop to the soup that would feed the village and give the soldiers stationed at the village to fight off the invading Mongols. 

Well it turns out I was on the Sweet and Sour Chicken Wikipedia page and this dish actually originates from, I dunno the South? Maybe some place in Europe? If you really want to know, you're at a computer look it up yourself! I have a recipe to write! 

Big news coming from Grub NorthWest and their line of salts. We'll keep you posted!

Chicken and Dumplings

• 3 Chicken Breasts
• 1 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 1 Egg beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• Salt & Pepper
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 Leek sliced
• 1 Carrot stick sliced
• 3 stalks Celery chopped 
• 1/2 medium Onion diced
• 4 Chanterelle Mushrooms chopped
• 52 oz. Chicken Stock
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 cup water

Dumplings

• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1. Get out your Dutch oven, and no I don't mean that dutch oven. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. 
2. In two separate pie pans, create a buttermilk and egg bath, and a flour mixture of well flour, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. 
3. Coat the chicken in the buttermilk bath then coat it in the flour and place in the dutch oven. Evenly cook all three breasts until the middle of each is fully cooked. Should take 10-15 minutes. 
4. Remove the chicken from the pan. DO NOT GET RID OF THE DRIPPIN's! 
5. Let the chicken cool enough to handle.
6. Add the onions, carrots, mushrooms, celery and leek to the pan. Sautee for a good 7 minutes. 
7. Then add the chicken stock, bay leaves, and other seasonings to the pot. Tear apart the chicken breast into small pieces, and dump into the pot. Continue cooking while you prepare the dumplings.
8. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. 
9. Melt the butter in a microwaveable safe bowl. Let the bowl cool down a skoch. Stir the buttermilk into the butter, which will solidify the butter. 
10. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture to create a dumpling mixture. Let's take a moment to thank this week's sponsor's mixtures.
11. Using two soup spoons make little dolops of dumpling mixtures, and drop them right into the soup! Be sure to spread them out in the pot as to avoid clumping. Make as many dumplings as possible with the dumpling mixture. 
12. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover with the lid until you're ready to serve it up! Enjoy!

So, go start a fire and curl up with some chicken and dumplings this winter and you'll fight off the cold at least for awhile.

All phantastic photos by Katy Weaver. Give her a Like would ya!

Yam and Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

Thanksgiving is already upon us. If you follow this blog then you know we've been making Thanksgiving inspired recipes all month and there's no better way to end November than with something sweet. Yams with marshmallows are usually pretty delicious, but the yams turn out too soggy half the time. Instead of making those soggy tubers, make the stickiest damn cookies EVER. If you have kids I highly recommend giving them these cookies. They'll be so sticky that you can just kind of stick them to a wall and not have to worry about them for a while. Or they'll just make everything in your house sticky. Do whatever you want, they're not my kids.

Despite being so sticky that NASA uses the filling to patch holes in the space station, these cookies are pretty damn good to be honest. They're a nice break from the traditional pumpkin and pecan pie and they still feel extremely seasonal too. So now is the time to bust out this new recipe and finally show grandma who's really in charge of the kitchen.

Yam and Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

• 1 1/2 cup Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup pureed and cooked Yams
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 3 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Butter melted
• 1 tablespoon extra
• 1/4 cup Shortening 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 package Big Marshmallows

1. After boiling your cubed yams in water, preheat your oven to 375°. 
2. Using a mixer mix the sugar, eggs, butter, shortening and vanilla together. Add the yams. Sift in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Fold in all ingredients together with a rubber spatula.
3. Scoop the batter onto a baking tray using soup spoons. Don't worry about making them perfectly circular, the stickiness of the marshmallows will distract any naysayers. 
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown slightly.
5. Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack while you make the marshmallow filling.
6. To make the marshmallow filling use a medium sized sauce pan. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add all the marshmallows. Constantly stir until the marshmallows are just slightly melted. 
7. Spread on the bottom a cookie and then add another to the top. Dip in chocolate if you're feeling ambitious.

Everyone enjoy their Thanksgiving and be sure to make all my Thanksgiving recipes this year! All delicious looking photos by Katy Weaver!