at home with ann

Part of our CSA share last week was picking hot peppers. Colin, who has made it quite clear that he doesn't like peppers, going so far as to fish them out of a salad, or his mouth,  would not listen to my suggestion to steer clear of the jalapenos.  Instead, he took a few bites out of one raw.  He has since told me several times that it was "picy." With a whole bag of jalapenos on hand, I considered my options.  Chopping and freezing to add to chili and cornbread is always good, but I also wanted to try my hand at poppers.  It's a safe bet that any attempts by me to deep fry would likely end up in a kitchen fire, so the oven baking method seemed like a good approach. Baked Jalapeno Poppers modified from SkinnyTaste 8-12 jalapeno peppers 4 oz. cream cheese, softened 4 oz. monterey jack or cheddar cheese, shredded 2 scallions, sliced 1/8 teaspoon paprika 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/8 teaspoon chili powder salt and pepper 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup ...

I always thought corn chowder was kind of bland, which is why I hadn't made any yet this summer despite the abundance of corn.  But then, while flipping through the Pioneer Woman cookbook, I happened upon her recipe for Corn Chowder with Chilies .  Corn plus bacon, chipotles and chilies?  This was more up my alley.  I made it my own by subbing in the ingredients I had on hand (jalapenos instead of chilies and grilled corn instead of raw), and it was amazingly good.  It packed quite a kick, though, so much so that my brother-in-law, who ate a bowl after getting home late at night, was caught a bit off guard. He did confirm that it was delicious despite the somewhat mouth-burning quality. Between the time when I started writing this post yesterday and now we have picked up 8 more ears of corn from our CSA.  Might be making another batch this week.  Good thing I have a kitchen helper. Spicy Corn Chowder   Ingredients: 2 slices bacon, ...

For many years I thought I didn't like corn off the cob.  I'm not sure why, but I suspect it had something to do with canned corn at some point.  Last summer during the great CSA corn influx, when we were given 8 ears every two weeks for over a month, I gave it a try just to escape from under the sheer weight of corn piling up.  It's good!  And you don't need to follow it up with floss. Corn and Black Bean Salad is nothing new, in fact I've made a version of it before .  The variation this time was to grill the corn, though.  We had a grilled pork tenderloin this past weekend, and whenever Jon gets the grill fired up, I always have him toss on some sort of vegetable as well.   I love grilled vegetables, but I am scared of the grill because I think it's going to blow up in my face, and it seems silly to get the charcoal going just for a couple ears of corn.  All about the multi-tasking.  And not having things blow up in my face. To gr...

It's been a whole month since I've checked in, I hope a few of you readers are still around!  I took my little guy to his one month checkup today.  He's in the 84th percentile for weight, this kid likes to eat!  Just like his mom.  My sidekick doesn't always feel like hanging out in the kitchen, so I've been doing a lot less cooking these days.  I have been doing a lot of one-handed eating, however.  New mom tip: Drink your soup out of a mug.  Don't bother trying to mess with a bowl and a spoon, you'll never get to eat lunch. Yesterday I did a little cooking for the Super Bowl (we will not be discussing the outcome...).  On the menu was buffalo chicken nachos with blue cheese, pico de gallo and guacamole.  Sadly I didn't get a chance to photograph the nachos due to the aforementioned sidekick who was feeling a little fussy, but they were delicious.  I made the chicken in the crock pot.  One package of chicken breasts into the ...

Hummus is definitely one of my favorite foods.  Eaten with pita bread or chips, vegetables, topping a salad, or on a sandwich or wrap.  It's all good.  I totally admit that I don't always make my own.  Sometimes it just seems easier to buy it.  But, I'm always glad when I make it from scratch, it really only takes a few minutes. Also, we can polish off one of those little containers in two days, so this is way better.   Roasted Jalapeno Hummus 2-4 jalapeno peppers olive oil 1/4-1/3 cup sesame tahini Juice of 1/2-1 lemon 1-2 garlic cloves 2 cans chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved To roast jalapenos: Preheat your broiler. Cut peppers in half.  Protect your hands! On a baking sheet covered with foil, put peppers cut side down.  Drizzle with olive oil. Broil until the skin is blackened and blistered.  Keep an eye on them.  Remove pan from oven and fold foil into a packet around the peppers.  You want them to steam u...

This salad went through a lot of different iterations in my head before I made it.  I started planning to make it a salad, then veggie burgers, then back to a salad.  Mostly I knew that with six ears of corn in the fridge and eight more arriving this week, I needed to make a recipe that involved corn.  Fast.  It could be considered a salsa, I suppose, but the black beans bulk it up a bit.  This was good. So good that I dug into it for dinner at 4:58. Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Salad Ingredients: 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup corn 1/2-1 cup chopped tomatoes Pickled jalapenos, chopped (to taste) 1/2 mango, cubed Dressing: equal parts (~1/4 teaspoon) chili powder, cumin, and coriander.  Sprinkle of salt.   Equal amounts lime juice and olive oil. Mix everything together and drizzle with dressing.  I served with a scoop of guacamole and some tortilla chips for scooping.  Because food you can scoop = good. ...

I like my hummus creamy.  Super creamy.  The most important step in making creamy hummus it to remove the skins from the chickpeas.  All of them.  Individually.  Watching golf on tv is a good time to practice chickpea skin removal.  It's actually very easy, just tedious. Jalapeno Hummus based on Peas and Thank you 1 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, peeled 1/4 cup reserved liquid from chickpeas Jalapeno (I used half a large pepper, and didn't worry about removing all the seeds.  Seeds make it spicy, so adjust according to your tastes) 1 large (or 2 small) cloves garlic 1/2 lemon, juiced (about 2 Tablespoons) 1/4 cup tahini kosher salt, to taste Rough chop the garlic and jalapeno and put in the bowl of the food processor.  Process for a few seconds to fully chop.  It's ok if there are still some larger chunks.  Add in the tahini and lemon juice and process until fully combined. Add the chickpeas in two parts, fully p...