Penney’s Palate

I think that chili is one food that Tommy and I take pretty seriously.  We know what we like (and don’t like) about it, and seem to gravitate towards using our same favorite recipe rather than venture out and find new recipes that we might like even more.

In an attempt to convince some of our vegetarian friends to come to our wine/football party last weekend, we advertised hamburgers AND vegetarian chili.  I thought this was a good idea, until I realized that my favorite chili recipe just couldn’t be converted into a vegetarian version by simply removing the beef and beef stock.  Having never made a vegetarian chili, I started to get nervous as party day approached.

Knowing what I already like in chili, I set out to find a recipe that would be acceptable to Tommy and I as well as our vegetarian friends.  I combined a few recipes to come up with a final version.

The final result was a very good first-vegetarian-chili.  Of course, my tastings had my mind spinning with the minor tweaks that I should use next time to make it even better.  It was lacking a serious kick (which I normally enjoy in my chili), but it still held up very well.

I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to enjoy an entire bowl of it.  It was very popular both with the vegetarians and the hamburger-eating folks.    I happened to look over as I was eating my hamburger to realize that there were only a few spoonfuls left of the chili, so I filled a little ramekin and had my few bites before the rest of it disappeared.  There are no pictures because 1) it was consumed very quickly and 2) I was in party-host mode and didn’ think about taking a picture.

Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

• 1 orange
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 jalepenos
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed then minced
• 3 Tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 15.5-ounce cans seasoned black beans
• 1 15.5-ounce can kidney beans
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1-3 cups water
• 4 chipotle chilis in adobo, seeded and finely chopped***
• salt
• pepper

Preparation
Juice orange. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots and jalepenos; sauté 5 minutes. Mix in garlic and spices. Add beans (with juice), tomatoes (with juice), and half of orange juice and vinegar. Add water. Simmer over medium heat until heated through and flavors blend, stirring often, about 2 hours. After 1 hour, mix in remaining orange juice, salt and pepper.

***This is one ingredient that I will add next time.  These chilies give the chili a nice smokey flavor that I love.

For New Year’s Eve, Tommy and I were in town and went to a party that one of his coworkers had.  They made fried chicken, biscuits and gravy.  This was our second fried chicken holiday party that we attended for the Holiday season.  The fried chicken was the best that I have ever had — pretty impressive since it was made by someone who is from Illinois, and had never made fried chicken before.  I guess he did some good research before starting.  But this is about what I brought to the party, not about the chicken.

I had some cream cheese in my refrigerator that needed to be used up before it went bad.  The only thing that I could think of to make with cream cheese was cheesecake.  I haven’t made a cheesecake in a long time, so I thought this was a good plan.  While a whole cheesecake would have been acceptable to take to a party, cutting into it can be a pain to deal with.  So I went bitesize.

I used my favorite cheesecake recipe and adjusted the quantities in hopes of filling up 12 empty muffin compartments.  I have a muffin tin that has straight sides and removable bottoms, which works perfectly when you want mini-cakes and don’t want to use muffin liners.

The cheesecake tasted fabulous as always.  The crust-to-cheesecake ratio was higher than with one normal cheesecake with crust.   I liked it better, and I think that it will encourage me to double the amount of crust that I use in the future for normal-sized cheesecakes.    This particular cheesecake recipe is has a very nice smooth lemony kick to it and a rough but wet texture (as opposed to a silky and dense cheesecake texture).  The cakes could be eaten in two bites, or shared between two people, each getting one bite (this is what most people did at the party because of the quantity of desserts that were brought by everyone).    If you want to make this as a normal-sized cheesecake, you can just double everything.

Mini Blueberry Cheesecakes

Ingredients
Crust
1 cup crushed graham crackers (15 squares)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup blueberries
juice and zest from 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp sugar

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a fork until evenly moistened.  Pour a heaping tbsp of crumb mixture into each muffin compartment and pack down.  Refrigerate until ready to pour the cheesecake filling into the compartments.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs and continue to beat slowly until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy, for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. The batter should be well-mixed but not overbeaten. Pour the filling into each muffin compartment, filling about 3/4 full.

Bake for 25 minutes.  Let cool in pan for 30 minutes (don’t be alarmed if your cheesecakes shrink in size — this is normal), then chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours.

While the cheesecake is baking, add the blueberries, lemon zest, juice, and sugar in a small saucepan.  Turn the heat to medium and cook until the blueberries begin to burst and the sauce thickens.  Let cool to room temperature, then store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Remove cheesecakes from muffin compartments and top with filling.