Holiday Cookies

My wife makes some awesome cookies, and now that its holiday season, the volume really picks up. Yum!

Corn Tortillas

Corn
(Zea mays)

We're using corn tortillas in tonight's casserole - they really have a better flavor than flour.

Pickles

Incredible! Now on the second Phantom Gourmet episode today, pickles are the food item for the dish of the day. I couldn't understand the name of the winner - Guglesheins or something. Doesn't matter, I bought the cheapest store brand!

Hidden Boston

Just found a cool new website called Hidden Boston. I noticed right away that they featured Santarpio's, which is a great pizza restaurant in East Boston.

Speaking of pizza, I've taken quite a liking to Freschetta frozen pizza lately. Its really good, and they've been having a bunch of 50% off sales at Super Stop and Shop lately.

And speaking of Super Stop and Shop, I picked up a package of pickles yesterday. Several packages in fact. Slices, chips, and baby dills, yum!

Turkey Chili!

I've made turkey chili a bunch of times, the first time when my brother in-law gave me a can of tomato puree he got from Ocean State Job Lot for a dollar. I browned the ground turkey, mixed in the puree and added a bunch of spices. It was OK, but not very "chili"-like. I explained the situation to my brother in-law, and he said I didn't add enough cumin. The next time I added more cumin and it really tasted like chili!

I'm back at it today, and checking out a couple of different recipes. Here's what I know off the top of my head:

* Onions
* Peppers
* Ground turkey (browned before added to tomato puree)
* Cumin
* Chili powder
* Kidney beans
* Garlic
* Salt and pepper

I checked out this recipe at About.com:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/groundturkey/r/bl90924c.htm

I'm not crazy about About.com, but its not bad. There is so much crap on the internet, its tough to find good sites, but at least you know you're getting decent quality from About.com.

Actually that recipe kind of sucked. I'm using:

29 oz tomato puree
6 oz tomato paste
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons of chili powder
1 dash of cayenne
1 lb of ground turkey
1 green bell pepper
1 vidalia onion
1/4 teaspoon of chopped garlic
28 oz can red kidney beans, drained rinsed
Salt and pepper to taste

I brown the turkey with the garlic, onion, and bell pepper, then mix with the tomato and kidney beans in a slow cooker.

Vanilla Granola

My wife found an awesome recipe for granola, and we've got to write it down. We made it for my dad for his birthday (he loves healthy food) and kept a little for ourselves. It was much better than the last batch, which was too nutty.

I'm also trying to get my brother in-law to check out this blog, as he is a phenomenal cook. I'm always trying to learn from him, and in trade teach him about technology. He is a smart guy buy doesn't like email for some reason.