Meal Planning 8/19/12

So I made the conscious effort this week to try to come up with some food to make that we can eat throughout the week. My husband goes to Haymarket (big open air fruit/vegetable market in Boston where you can get produce for really cheap) on Saturdays so I made sure to have a list ready for him. Apparently we are on sort of a Mexican theme. So I made 2 recipes this weekend - both are ones that I've made before and really enjoy.

1) Tacos! Using Jane Butel's Chile Beef Taco Filling.

1 pound extra-lean ground beef
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons ground mild chile
1 Tablespoon ground hot chile
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1. Cook ground beef in a large skillet, stirring to break up meat, until browned.
2. Drain off any fat, then add the seasonings.
3. Cook, stirring, to combine ingredients and blend the flavors. Serve hot.

We used ground turkey instead of ground beef because that's what we had on hand. This recipe calls for ground chile, which I had from when I went to Jane Butel's cooking class with my mom. But alas, now I am all out. I never really knew before that "chili powder" is a lot of salt and other spices, whereas the ground chile she uses is just ... ground chiles. I always thought that was what the chili powder you get in the store was, but apparently not. You can buy some online here,

2) Emeril Lagasse's Vegetarian Chili

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions

1 cup chopped red bell peppers

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 to 3 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, and minced, depending upon taste

1 medium zucchini, stem ends trimmed and cut into small dice

2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears)

1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms (about 5 large), stemmed, wiped clean and cubed

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespooon ground cumin

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

3 cups cooked black beans, or canned beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup vegetable stock, or water

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and serrano peppers, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, corn, and mushrooms, and cook, stirring, until soft and the vegetables give off their liquid and start to brown around the edges, about 6 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and stir well. Add the beans, tomato sauce, and vegetable stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro. Adjust the seasoning, to taste.

I love this recipe - it's a great vegetarian chili that holds its own even without meat. We were able to get cheap white mushrooms vs portobellos at Haymarket so we used those instead, and frozen corn instead of fresh because that's what we had. I feel like recipe's like this it doesn't really matter if you fully stick to the recipe - it'll turn out pretty good anyway. Haven't tasted it yet, but we made a double batch so we'll have plenty of leftovers.