Beef Chili

I don't love chili.  I never have.  Well, that does not include white chicken chili.  I love that.  I'm talking about red beefy beansy chili.  But this one I could actually tolerate.  Don't love it, though Callen said a few times that he liked it.  He even said it was a bit sweet (due to the sweet peppers and the lack of hot spices.  I don't do hot).  So overall rating, from me 2.5, from Callen, probably a 4.5?

Chili

• 1
  pound lean ground beef
• 1/2
  cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 small)
• 1/2
  cup chopped onion (1 medium) (omitted)
• 4
  cloves garlic, minced
• 1
  15 ounce can tomato sauce (only had 8 ounces, it was fine)
• 1
  15 ounce can red kidney beans, undrained
• 1
  14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 - 3
  teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2
  teaspoon salt
• 1/2
  teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1/4
  teaspoon ground black pepper
• Shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
• Chopped onion (optional)
• Dairy sour cream (optional)
• Crushed red pepper (optional)

directions

1.In a 3-quart saucepan cook and stir ground beef, sweet pepper, 1/2 cup chopped onion, and the garlic over medium heat until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat.

2.Stir in tomato sauce, undrained beans, undrained tomatoes, chili powder, salt, basil, and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. To serve, ladle chili into bowls. If desired, top each serving with cheese, chopped onion, and/or sour cream and pass crushed red pepper. Makes 4 main-dish servings.

Avocado Lime Chicken

This was a weight watchers recipe.  It was pretty good.  Ok.  Not excellent.  But I still love avocado and I love lime.  Not sure what I didn't love about it, but it was just kinda... eh.

Seared Chicken with Avocado
(Weight Watchers Five Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons blackened seasoning
• 4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 diced peeled avocado
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
• 1 lime, cut into fourths

Directions

1. Sprinkle seasoning on both sides of chicken.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat.  Add chicken; cook 1 minute or until seared.  Reduce heat to medium; cook 3 minutes on each side or until done.
2. Combine avocado and next four ingredients.  Squeeze lime over chicken before serving.  Top with avocado mixture. 

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 1/4 cup avocado mixture). 

Weight Watchers POINTS per serving: 6

Sorry, I'm too lazy to put a picture on.  Go to the original website to find the recipe.

Overall rating, 2.5 stars.  Just ok.

Chicken and Dumplings

When I asked Callen what types of things his mom used to make, he couldn't come up with a bunch.  He did mention chicken and dumplings.  NOT something we used to eat in my family.  The first recipe/attempt I made was a disaster.  Callen diplomatically said something to the effect of, "This isn't how I remember it, but it's good".

So here is attempt #2.  Find the recipe here.

I started by boiling the chicken and making the dumplings.  (Callen asked me later why I didn't just buy the dumplings.  Who knew you could actually do that?)

Cut them up, then boil them about 20 minutes in the chicken stock.  They looked weird to me, but apparently that's what they are supposed to look like.

Then just add the cooked/diced chicken and it's done.  

There was not a lot of spice and the dumplings' texture kind of weirds me out, but the only difference between this version and what he knew was that it was a little more "yellow" than normal.  But he went back for seconds, so I guess it was good enough to pass.  And I did get a "This reminds me of my childhood" as he was eating.  So I felt like this recipe went much better...

My opinion?  Kind of bland and like I said, weird texture.  So purely because of those two, I would have to say 2.8 stars.  A little better than half, but not something I will ever make if Callen isn't there.

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

I'm finally ready to start posting my meals.  Mostly as a way to catalog what I'm cooking so I can remember what I liked and what I didn't.  Tonight's meal comes as a thank you to my Bountiful Basket, which contained spaghetti squash, and this recipe.

I've never used spaghetti squash before.  But it's simple enough.

Cut the squash (I used two small ones) in half, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic salt, then cover in foil and cook at 375.  My oven tends to cook things faster than recipes require, so I went with 1 hr and 15 mins.  The recipe then said to use a fork and scrape out the "spaghetti".  I was confused as to how this would go, but it was in fact, really easy.  It kinda "spaghettis" itself as you scrape, so to do both, it took about 1.5 mins.

I browned turkey meat and added it to my spaghetti sauce, and now we're ready for dinner...

And the verdict is....
It's okay.  I'm not sure if I undercooked the squash, but it was a little crunchy.  Well, crunchier than noodles.  I think my problem is I expect something to taste the same as the original, when clearly it will not.  But it was good and considering I had to use the spaghetti squash, this was an edible recipe.  Will I ever search out and purposefully buy a spaghetti squash?  Probably not.

Two.eight stars out of 5.