The 32 Hour Day

I need one.

I do promise that eventually I will make Creamsicle cookies for Lyra. But omg math. I spent 9 hours on one day of the long weekend doing homework (more on other days too!) and I'm just managing to keep up. I've also started hiding in empty boardrooms on my lunch break so I can scribble numbers in peace. This is not looking like my funnest summer ever.

And after eating sandwiches and cereal for dinners last week I decided I really needed to make freezable meals again this weekend. Not that I object to cookies for dinner from time to time (you so have and you know it) but I just don't think a full week of it is a good idea.

So instead, I made meaty balls. Froze them. No pics.

And chili.

Or at least, what I call chili.

I'm sure there are purists of all kinds who are going to complain about one thing or another but you know what? Go make your own freaking chili. No beans allowed? Too bad. I love the musical fruit so they're in there. Ground beef? Yup. Deal with it. Tomatoes? Holy freaking crap you'd think the world was gonna end if someone put tomatoes in chili. But you know what? I did. And I still have an assignment due next week so obvioulsy it can't be that catastrophic.

Chili, The Way I Felt Like Making It

What you need:

• about 1 lb of lean ground beef
• 2-3 onions
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried crushed chilis
• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce
• 3 poblanos
• 2 anaheims
• 2 sweet red peppers
• 1 jalapeno (at least)
• 1 c dried pinto beans
• 1 c TVP (I'll explain later)
• 2 c crushed tomatoes
• 2-3 c beef broth

What you gotta do:

Chop your onions and garlic and combine them in the biggest pot you have (you know, the one you have to put on top of the cupboards because it doesn't fit inside them) with the ground beef and oregano.

While that's cooking (stir it from time to time to bust up the meat) chop your peppers. A coarse chop is fine. They're going to be in there all day simmering and will break down quite a bit, so save yourself the work.

Speaking of saving work, since you're going to be adding heat and seeds to this, don't worry about picking every single seed out of your peppers. If you just cut around the top:

And then pop the core out:

Good enough.

It's particularly easy to do this with poblanos, but it works on any pepper really.

Do it to them all, chop em, and toss em in the pot.

Give it a stir and then pile in the spices.

May as well stir them in too.

Now, add the dry stuff. Beans and TVP.

Textured Vegetable Protein. Yeah, I see you making that face. But you've probably already eaten it. I first learned of it from a vegetarian roommate. He'd use it to make spaghetti sauce, meatballs, pretty much anything that would normally have meat in it. It's cheap, fat free, veggie sourced protein and when it's reconstituted it has the same texture as ground beef. Even some restaurants use it (yup, you've probably eaten it). You can find it at most bulk stores, any health food store, and even at some supermarkets.

And it makes a pound of beef make a lot of chili.

But it is dry, and needs liquid. That's where the tomatoes and beef broth come in. You could use water, beer, or any other liquid you like. Start with about a cup and a half.

After a while, the beans will be wrinkly.

But then they'll start to puff up. You might need to add more liquid. I did.

I cooked mine on fairly low heat with the lid on (do not need the extra humidity in here). But still, check it from time to time, and add more liquid of choice if it seems too dry. And then eventually, you'll have something that looks like this:

And you'll be able to mash a bean against the side of the pot.

And the peppers will have broken down, and the TVP will look exactly like the beef, and the whole house will smell freaking amazing.

And since there was no way I was turning the oven on (it's finally warm here and I'm really thinking I need to get myself a little window AC unit) to make corn bread, I had it with corn chips. Organic blue ones. Fun!

And then I bagged the rest and froze them for later this week.

And probably for dinner next week as well since I really don't like eating the same thing for dinner every night. Except, apparently, when it's a bowl of cereal.

I really need a couple 32 hour days so I can get all the crap done that needs to be done. Like feeding myself.

What would you do with a 32 hour day?

Taneasha's Crazy Cross Country Road Trip Part One

Well, perhaps it’s just because I’ve been on the road for almost four weeks now, but I think this road trip has definitely been eventful enough to warrant two posts.  With a two and a half week ‘layover’ in Virginia, it’s basically been two road trips anyway. 

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll give a brief explanation.  On May 20^th, we (hubby, Otto, and I) left Utah with only 9 boxes that we shipped and whatever would fit in the trunk of the car, and began our cross country move to Massachusetts.  The day before we left, we found out that my husband’s ninja like training skills were greatly needed in Virginia, and would we maybe, please just stay there for 18 days.  Yes, I said the day before we left.  Needless to say, we had a last minute change of plans on our itinerary. 

So, onto our journey.  Frozen bottles of water to keep the sandwiches cold… check. 

Back seat turned into one big, cushy dog bed… check

When you’re traveling, don’t think you have to just eat beef jerky and something you pick up from a drive thru window.   Take the time to make some good sandwiches.  I even made two different types.  One was just some sliced ham and salami on some good rolls.  The other was chicken salad.  I had some leftover chicken from a kabob I got at an India restaurant the night before, so that’s what I used.  I just diced it up with some celery and green onion then stirred in some mayo and grated smoked cheddar. 

Somewhere between Evanston, WY and Loveland, CO we stopped to eat our sandwiches.  I realize that’s a really long distance, but let’s just say it wasn’t terribly memorable, so I couldn’t say where exactly we were.  So, pull out your sandwich and your pistachio nuts.  You did pack a little container of pistachios for the sandwiches, right? 

Put them right on top and enjoy. 

Where are they, you ask… They really are on there. 

See, even on the road you can have gourmet, you don’t have to go without. 

Our first stop was Loveland, CO.  We stayed at Embassy Suites that night and just had some of their cheese, crackers, and hummus to satisfy us enough to not starve until bedtime.  We were too tired to do much else. 

After Colorado came Kansas.  This picture pretty much sums up Kansas for me. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, but it’s just this forever.  It never changes.  You feel like you’re just driving the same stretch of road over and over and over and over and over.  We stayed in Salina, KS that night.  So, I’ll be honest, I was not expecting to find good food in Salina, KS.  Imagine my surprise when I was served one of the best steak dinners I’ve ever had.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures.  Salina was also where our tornado adventures began.  When we read about the tornado that had happened nearby while we slept, we had no idea what we were in for in the coming days. 

Before that, however, came Kansas City.  When in Kansas City, one must eat Barbecue, right? 

If you don’t know where to go, just look for the place with cop cars in front.  They always know who has the best food. 

(Notice the sunshine?  That didn’t last long.)

Never having been to Kansas City, we went in with a plan.  Try some of just about everything on the menu.  Hubby ordered ribs, burnt ends, sausage, potato salad, and baked beans. 

I ordered turkey, pulled pork, ham, and coleslaw. 

The ribs and the pulled pork were… OMG, I’m salivating just thinking about them now.  Seriously amazing.  I have to give a shout out to Arthur Bryant’s.  It’s a have to have if you’re ever in the area.  Personally, if I ever find myself there again, I’ll skip everything else and just have a pile of the pulled pork and some baked beans.  Let me just savor this part for a minute, because, well…

Not long after we left, the sky started to look like that.  We were literally dodging tornadoes, and sometimes outrunning them. 

I admit to having a total meltdown at one point when we were stopped on the side of the freeway for one to cross somewhere in front of us and one started coming in from behind.  Not fun.  Tornadoes are not something we get in Utah, so it was a first for me. 

During one of our jaunts off of the freeway to let some bad weather pass ahead of us, we came across a restaurant advertising foot tall pies.  Even in the middle of tornadoes and storms, you can’t pass that up, can you? 

Hubby had lemon meringue. 

I had chocolate meringue.  Yeah… they’re all meringue pies.  That’s how they make them so tall.

Unfortunately, I have to report that they tasted about as good as they looked.  That is to say, not fabulous.  Perhaps they would have been good if they weren’t served warm.  Warm?  Who serves chocolate cream pie warm?  Ok, so it was more like room temperature because they weren’t refrigerated.  It came as a huge shock to me when I took my first bite, which I’m sure showed on my face.  After a few bites, we paid for our pie and drove as fast as we could the rest of the way to St. Louis. 

Yummies is supposed to be THE place for soul food in St. Louis, and we wanted soul food. 

Unfortunately, they were closed by the time we got there.  They had only been closed a few minutes, and my husband being my husband, he walked up and knocked on the door.  He talked to the owner (I assume) who kindly offered to box us up some of what he had left so we could take it to go.  Thank you, Yummies for a fabulous dinner of turkey, stuffing, beans, mac n’ cheese, and greens.  There I go salivating again. 

We made a quick stop in Indianapolis on our drive from St. Louis to Cincinnati.  I just have to mention it because they actually serve ketchup like this:

Hubby almost made them take it back.  I’m pretty oblivious of sports stuff, but apparently the Colts are a rival to Hubby’s team.  You know how men can be.  Now onto Cincinnati. 

So, in Cincinnati they eat chili.  Chili on hotdogs, chili on French fries, and most notably, chili on spaghetti.  Sounds weird, I know.  I thought so too, but when in Rome…

When in Cincinnati, definitely pay a visit to Camp Washington.  It’s just a little fast food lookin’ joint, but it was awesome. 

On top of that, it was super cheap. 

That’s right.  Hubby and I both ate for seven bucks.  Awesome, huh? 

The next day was our longest drive, Cincinnati, OH to Fredericksburg, VA.  There weren’t really a lot of eventful things that happened, except lots of crazy rain and wind because the storms were still following us.  We got in really late and had to just order off of the late night  menu at a pub.  I was way too tired for pictures at that point, so that brings us to the end of part 1 of my long, crazy, fun, and sometimes scary, road trip.  Stay tuned for part 2 where things really start to get good. 

Gemma Halliday is visiting us on Friday, so be sure to stop by and see what she cooks up for us!