Turkey Chili

 

It's February so apparently winter has decided to arrive and stick around here in Houston.  After being out of town for my birthday trip, I've been out of the groove of meal planning and grocery shopping which made dinner this week look like:

Monday - pizza

Tuesday - rotisserie chicken, steam in the bag broccoli, and baked sweet potatoes

Wednesday - salmon, rice, and steam in the bag green beans

So Thursday I actually did a real grocery haul incase we got iced in and I made White Chicken Chili and bought ingredients for classic chili (recipes in my newest newsletter; subscribe here.)

So I thought I'd share our favorite turkey chili.  It's adapted from the Mom-a-licious cookbook and my kids prefer this to classic chili hands down; plus it's leaner.

What you need:

1 lb turkey

1/4 c onion, diced

2 T cumin

2 cloves garlic minced

1 T tamari

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can chopped green chilis

chicken broth

2 t chili powder (or more or less to taste)

1 t onion powder (or more or less to taste)

garlic salt to taste

What you do:

1. In a saute pan, saute onion in olive oil until translucent ~4 minutes (add garlic for the last minute of cooking time so you don't burn it).

2. Add in cumin and combine.

3. In a big pot, brown turkey and tamari browning turkey until no pink remains. Drain fat and then add the onion mixture to it.

4. Add in beans, tomatoes, chiles and broth (eyeball this until desired consistency.

5. Add in the rest of your spices adjusting to taste.

We like ours over rice and served with fritos.

Friday Favorites: Christmas Dinner Menu

 

One year when we lived in Edinburgh, I hosted Christmas at our flat, and it was EXHAUSTING.  So much respect for my mom and mother-in-law for hosting all these years with grace and cheer all the while making it look effortless! So if you're hosting, you want to make sure your Christmas Dinner Menu is delicious but LOW MAINTENANCE so you can enter into the festivities without being too preoccupied.

When I got married, I was shocked to find out that it was traditional to basically serve Thanksgiving for Christmas dinner.  Not to knock Thanksgiving because I do like it, but it's more special to have it once a year, and it's too much work to make this for Christmas in my opinion.  In case you fall in this camp, I'm giving you permission to adopt my family's Christmas menu this year.  My mom (actually her mom) is a genius for going against the grain on it because it is better than Thanksgiving! It's clean (if you skip the dessert and cocktail), and it's simple to throw together, but it looks fancy!  My goal on Christmas Day is to be present with my family NOT a slave to my kitchen.

Kellam Christmas  Dinner Menu:

1. Standing Rib Roast

Disclaimer: make sure the bottom of your oven is clean so you don't set your house on fire.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees (you read that right).  Rub roast with olive oil and salt and pepper or butter instead of olive oil if you're not dairy free.  Place roast in 500 degree oven for 5 minutes per pound (keep close watch and make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy...kidding, kind of), then turn the oven off and leave roast in there for 2 hours and DON'T OPEN THE DOOR for the entire time it's in the oven (this is a very important step because if you open it early, you could cause your entire apartment complex to have to evacuate on Christmas Day because you set off the smoke alarm...not that I know this from personal experience, ahem). In all seriousness, pay attention to it while the oven just in case ;) (we've never started a fire, but if the bottom of your oven is dirty, all bets are off at that temp).  The high heat for the first part will give you a delicious crust on the outside and then leaving it after you turn it off makes it perfect on the inside.

2. Rosemary Garlic Smashed Potatoes*

(photo from foodiecrush.com)

Click above link for recipe. *I sub olive oil to keep them dairy free!

3. The BEST Green Beans

Buy the prewashed, steam in the bag green beans (don't buy a huge bag if cooking for a crowd because cooking time can be tricky and they don't steam as well.  Buy multiple normal sized bags and steam in batches.  I under cook them a tad so they are al dente (~2 minutes) and throw in an ice bath to preserve their bright green color.  Then saute minced garlic in olive oil or butter for 30 seconds, drain green beans and add to pan sauteing on med high heat. Sprinkle with salt and stir often.  Add in a heavy pour of dry white wine like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, turn up heat and reduce by half.  Squeeze a lemon over it and serve immediately.

4. Cherry Pie 

This is the easiest pie ever but for some reason is my kids' favorite.  We literally follow the cherry pie filling can directions and use a  frozen Pillsbury Pets Ritz Pie Crust and make a latticed top with Pillsbury rolled dough (refrigerated section by the biscuits). Pillsbury is the best so don't sub for a different store bought version! To make lattice, slice rolled dough into ~1 inch strips.  Line top quarter of your pie with strips pressed into the crust but folded outward on the counter.  Do this on left side quarter as well.  Weave strips together. Cover edges in foil for first part of baking time to keep it from burning and then uncover so it turns golden.

Bonus: Festive Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

Line rim with raw sugar, add 1/2 a shot of chilled rum to the glass and fill the rest with champagne and add a cranberry juice floater on top.  Add fresh cranberry and mint for garnish.

Tag me on instagram if you make any of this! @fasterwaywithrobin

What's Up Wednesday {9.6.17} Edition: What Day Is It?

This What's Up Wednesday post is most likely posted on the wrong day, but this is how most of us in Houston are feeling...

What We're Eating This Week:

Well, after helping our Chick-Fil-A owner friend not waste all of her defrosted chicken during Harvey...


not chicken!

Y'all, Taylor coordinated my dad and neighbors to cook at least 500 pieces of chicken!  We handed it out to shelters, first responders, and tried to eat the rest at a block party for our street, and we still had to freeze about 300 pieces.  It was so yummy, but the #Harvey15 is real folks.

Here is a tiny portion of the sandwiches we handed out to first responders

Chicken Spaghetti made with Chick-fil-a chicken

So this week, because we've been so cooped up the past 10 days, we're letting the little people decide because two weeks into the school year with no school,  Mama is choosing her battles.  Traditional spaghetti it is.

What I'm reminiscing about:

Last Fall.

Fall is my favorite season though it's debatable that Houston has seasons.
Read:
1. summer and
2. warm and muggy (not sure what to call this season).

But the beginning of the school year is a new beginning for me, a clean slate, a get back on a normal bedtime schedule, eat healthier, eat all of the fall food (apples!!!), and have a break from each other (school!!!).

This September, fall doesn't exist.  Normal doesn't exist in Houston right now.  We had a week of school and then Harvey hit.  Harvey has devastated my city.  For those of you not living here; the news has moved on, but we are still dealing with after effects of epic proportions.  It has extended summer and made real life go on hold while major street arteries stay flooded - it took me an hour and a half to get from my parents house to my house yesterday; this is usually a 15-20 minute drive.  The last mile took 45 minutes. The grocery stores have no eggs and very little bread.  Schools are still closed till next week and some even the week after that.  Many homes still have 3-4 feet of water in them. News has moved from home rescues to relief workers coming down with nasty bacteria from the filthy standing water.

Mercifully, we were not affected physically by the floodwaters, but for most Houstonians that were not affected physically, we are still affected emotionally.  It was hard for me to let my mother-in-law watch my children across town yesterday, I was woken up by thunder two nights ago and couldn't get back to sleep, and I wake up exhausted even though I'm getting the same amount of sleep I usually get. My friend, Hillary, shared this on Facebook the other day, and it gave words to this feeling many of us have here:

What I'm Loving

All of the relief efforts for Houston!  My favorite is what Jenn's company is doing:

Click here to see her Harvey Relief necklace line.  100% of the proceeds will go to Harvey Relief (these photos are some of the supplies they have purchased so far for the GRB shelter).

What We've Been Up to

Harvey Relief.  As a mom with little kids this mostly looks like making lots of food for various people though here is a funny break in all of that - I found myself alone in my house (thank you Mia for taking my kids for the day) after running around all day getting errands done and finally taking a break at 3 to eat lunch, and my friend Kara texted Jenn and me to see what we were up to:

Busted!  Sometimes you just have to laugh.  That is Survivor Season 3 FYI.

What I'm dreading

The possibility of school being postponed another week.

What I'm working on

Letting go of any part of my "normal" that I should leave behind. (Credit)

What I'm excited about

Our upcoming anniversary trip to Colorado

What I'm watching/reading


Duh.

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I just finished The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, and it was an interesting read though not what I expected.  It paints a good picture of what idolizing a person does to you.

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What I'm listening to

During the day I stream Mozart Piano Quartet on Pandora because in a house full of children, give me all the peaceful music.  In the evenings,  I've been foregoing my typical Pandora station, "Italian Cooking Music" (think Dean Martin) for this youtube station, French Cafe music.

What I'm wearing

My summer uniform: denim shorts and a solid color t-shirt

Worst lighting ever!

{via}

{via} I got mine from a clothing swap, but these are similar

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What I'm doing this weekend

I'm kind of creeped out to put this on the internet...tell you about it next week, mkay? I'm excited about it though!

What I'm looking forward to next month

Pumpkins and hopefully cool weather! #eternalHoustonweatheroptimist

What else is new

About to start a minor remodel in our kitchen because our oven died, and our new one doesn't fit in the old space. #badtiming #contractorsinhighdemandinHoustonrightnow #goodthingmydadisacontractor