Winter’s day chili

It is a snow day for us today, which means the kids haven’t changed out of pajamas for two days and we are all stuck around the house because the roads are slushy and icy.

Ground-chicken chili topped with
greek yogurt and cheddar cheese

When this kind of weather rolls around, it is chili, soup and stew time. Today, I’m making chili and I am sharing one rendition of our chili recipe here. One great thing about this dish is that the only actual requirement of chili is that it contain chili powder. Anything else is optional. It can be made with chicken, beef, vegetables, beans, pork—although there are always purists who will argue that their concoction is the only thing that really deserves to be called chili. For me, it’s all about not having to go to the grocery store on an ugly day, so I like to make do with whatever I have on hand.

In general, we serve this chili with cornbread. I like mine with a bit of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and perhaps a few dices of raw onion on top. Some folks enjoy their chili over rice and others, who I will never understand, put it on top of spaghetti noodles. It’s also very nice atop white or (especially) sweet potatoes. Unconventional, yes, but the combination of sweet and spicy is delicious.

Recipe

1 lb ground chicken (or leftover cut-up chicken, or ground beef)

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper (or green or yellow)

Brown the meat, onion and pepper in a large soup pot over medium-high heat until the meat is cooked though and the onions begin to soften. If you are using ground meat, break up the meat chunks as you stir.

Add to the meat/onion/pepper mixture in the soup pot:

1 clove fresh garlic, minced, or ¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp Chili powder

¼ tsp dried ground Chipotle Chili Pepper

¼ tsp black pepper
28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Stir until combined. Add one 28-oz can crushed tomatoes and one 28-oz can full of water to the pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low, or pour the chili into a slow cooker on low.

If you are cooking on the stovetop, allow the chili to simmer for about 30 minutes. If in the slow cooker, you can let it simmer on low for 4-5 hours (or longer).

Luscious GF Quiche

Spinach, red pepper, onion and feta quiche

This is a luscious, crumbly-crust, whole-egg, cheesy and satisfying quiche that works great with a wide variety of fillings, is very forgiving of mistreatment, and can be cooked ahead of time. It's a nice dish to take for a lunch, brunch, breakfast or tea. It holds up relatively well, but the exposed parts of the crust will shatter easily, so pack it protectively in a pie box if you are taking it somewhere.

I strongly recommend using the food processor for this crust, but you can also use a pastry blender to cut in the fat.

For the crust
You can use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free pie crust mix OR, you can make your own pie crust with the following recipe (makes two pie crusts. If you are only making one quiche, halve the recipe).

2 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
15 tablespoons cold butter (that's two sticks minus one tablespoon). Cut each stick of butter into about 16 cubes

6 tablespoons ice water

In the bowl of a food processor with the cutting blade at the bottom, combine the rice flour, salt and butter cubes. Pulse about 10-15 times until the mixture takes on the texture of small pebbles or coarse sand.

Pour 6 tablespoons of ice water into the food processor bowl, one tablespoon at a time.

Pulse the mixture until it comes together in a ball.

Turn out the ball of dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper. Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate for half an hour.

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Shape each into a disk about five inches in diameter. Working with one disk at a time, place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and roll it out until it's about 10 inches in diameter, or large enough to cover your pie plate.

Peel off one sheet of plastic wrap, and place the dough exposed-side down in a pie plate. Remove the other sheet of plastic wrap and fit the crust into the pan. Flute the edges with your fingers. Prick the bottom of the crust about 15 times with a fork, and precook the crust in a 425F oven for about 15 minutes. (Note: I would ordinarily line the pie shells with tin foil and fill with pie weights or beans when I pre bake, but the foil tends to stick to a GF crust. If you do line the crust with foil, be sure to grease it first)

For the quiche
You can fill a quiche with just about anything, but below are a few suggestions. If you are using fresh vegetables, be sure to cook them first or they will shed their water into the egg mixture, preventing it from setting properly.

Lay the filling in the bottom of the crust, then pour the egg mixture on top.

• Spinach, red pepper, onion and feta cheese: Sautee one small diced onion and a small diced red pepper until the onions turn translucent. Add about 1 cup fresh chopped spinach and cook until the spinach wilts. Pour the vegetables into the bottom of the crust. Add about 1/8-1/4 cup feta cheese.



Ham & Cheese Quiche

• Ham and cheddar: dice about 1/3 cup ham and place in the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle on about 1/8-1/4 cup cheddar.

For the egg filling:

In a large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 2 cups of milk (or half and half, or cream) and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the filling in the pie crust.

Bake

Pop the quiche into a 350F oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

Picky party planning

My family is a haven for picky eaters. My niece and brother-in-law are lactose intolerant. She and my daughter are vegetarians. My sister and I are gluten-free. My husband is salt-sensitive and my daughter eats almost nothing. Trying to figure out what everyone can eat is sort of like a logic puzzle: Mary has twice as many apples as John, and John has three more apples than Jim, but Troy can't work on Saturdays and Betty Lou is afraid of trains. What is the square root of the number of Suzanne's music collection?

Over the years, I have learned a few things about planning for picky parties and I would like to share these tips with you. (By the way, I do not mean to disparage people with food allergies, sensitivities or preferences by calling them "picky." It's a term of affection, and I use it for myself as well as anyone else--so please don't think I am making light of a serious food condition.)

Picky party planning

• Offer a variety. This is generally true for any party, but especially where you know your guests have food preferences or allergies. I have heard of parties where the whole theme is "bacon," and every dish, including dessert, incorporates salty pork in some way. Although that's fine in certain circumstances (and when your guests know what to expect), in general, it is a good practice to plan a range of flavors, textures and ingredients. Offer something meaty, something vegetabley (I just made that word up) and something fruity.
• Encourage guests to bring a dish to share. Chances are, your guests understand their food preferences better than you do. Encourage your guests to bring something to share with others, especially if they have stringent dietary needs. A vegan, for example, can bring a lovely bean salad that everyone can sample. This not only allows the guest to rest assured they will be able to eat at least one thing at the party, they will also be able to share their vegan cooking prowess with others, and educate people that being vegan does not require eating tree bark exclusively for the rest of your life.
• List ingredients on a card. Here’s a tip I learned from working at a hotel event center: Take a few minutes to print up cards that not only say what the dish is, but also what is in it. You don’t have to list every trace ingredient, but definitely call out the big-ticket food preference/allergy items like meat, dairy, egg, wheat and nuts. For example you can type up a label that reads, "Baked Stuffed Shells: Wheat pasta, ricotta and mozzarella cheese, egg, tomato, salt, pepper, ground red pepper." Our hotel used to print these up on card stock in a big, flowy font. Then we would fold them like place cards and set them in front of the dish. The cards can also help you arrange your buffet before guests arrive: if you set out the cards first, you know that you have a place for everything and you can see if you forgot to set out the cranberry sauce because there will be a card without a corresponding dish.
• Keep food simple and separate. Although glossy food magazines and TV shows may make us feel like we need to spend hours and lots of money making complicated dishes, simple foods are less expensive and easier to prepare. Fresh foods taste better.  For example, our appetizers are usually cheese and crackers, grapes and apple slices, tangerine sections, carrots and celery with dip, and other simple items. For a main course, we offer something like a ham or a turkey and simple side dishes.

If you have tips for planning parties for picky people, I’d love to hear them. Please share in the comments!