House of Swank

For My Own Convenience

This is the recipe I like to use  for making white chili.  Although, as should be expected with chili it's not so much a recipe as it is a framework.  But it's a good framework, and every time I go to make white chili it takes me forever to find this recipe, so I'm posting it here in the hopes that next time around I'll have an easier time finding it.

It's very easy to make this in a Crock Pot, but if you make that change I recommend against swapping out the great northern beans for black beans because everything takes on a nasty color if you do.  Black beans and the stove top method work great, though, and if you use yellow corn makes for a colorful dish.  Otherwise, it's very monochromatic.

This go-round I'm using a bunch of leftover chicken bits from a roast chicken I made earlier.  I'm contemplating substituting lemon juice in place of lime juice since I've got some lemons on hand, but I don't have to make that decision final until I'm at the store.

I'll soak the beans tonight (outside of hummus I generally prefer using dried beans to canned) and throw the rest of it together tomorrow.

P.S.:  Sweetie - if you don't feel like having chili for dinner tomorrow night you should stop by Burgerville on your way home.

Who Knew Granola Bars Made You Happy?

That's right, I'm giddy about granola bars.  Never knew it was possible, never even considered it, but I'm downright in love with Nature's Path Granola Bars.

Prior to a week ago granola bars were a major source of consternation in the SwankPoet diet.  They serve a vital part in Sweetie's diet - perfect food to carry him over through a workout or a game he has to ref - but finding granola bars that are fully friendly to his diet seemed impossible.  They all seem to have honey as an ingredient - which can be an issue (a BIG issue) for him at times - and the more natural you go the more key honey is to the ingredient list.  Or they are LOADED with soy.  And/or they taste like ass.  We had mitigated by finding the brand of bar that caused the fewest issues and just ignoring the ingredient list.

Then a week ago I was at the store and they had these hippy-dippy granola bars on BIG sale.  I decided to check out the ingredient list and, amazingly enough, they passed the test.  Some of the flavors seemed pretty questionable - flax seed and pumpkin? - but I bought a box of peanut butter ones to give them a try.

They taste like a peanut butter Rice Krispie Treat.  But are relatively healthy as Rice Krispie treats go.

I went back to the store for a sampling of the flavors, so that we can decide which ones we like and stock up on them while the price is right.  So far everything passes the test except Apricot & Nut (which have yet to be tested) and Cranberry (which never made it into the test because of big issues with cranberries).

But now, they get the two thumbs up.  In fact, I think I may go enjoy one right now.

Cuts Like A Knife

A couple of nights ago while making dinner I noticed that I actually had to work when slicing the vegetables.  Could only mean one thing - it's time for the chef's knife to be sharpened.  Honestly, it's probably been time for a while now, but I've just now gotten around to realizing it.

Today I took it in.  I packaged it in a bag, so that I would not just be carrying this large blade around with me.  But, when carrying a large, unprotected, blade I'm carrying it by the knife handle, even if it is inside of a bag.

Do you have any idea how disconcerting it is to carry a large blade through the local mall?  The irrational side of me was quite convinced I would be stopped by security and end up at the police station for bringing a weapon onto public property.  Luckily, my memory of where the knife shop was within the mall was pretty good, and I chose the closest entrance.

I mentioned my discomfort at carrying a knife in the mall, and the fellow working the store mentioned I wasn't the first customer to feel that way.

Tomorrow afternoon I get to go through it all again, when I pick up the knife.  Although I'm hoping they at least have a sleeve on the blade for me.

In A Pickle

A note to the checker at Whole Foods:

You cannot simultaneously call yourself a pickle connoisseur and ask me if cornichons taste any good.  Cornichons are about the second rung on the ladder to pickle connoisseur status.

I mean, I'm glad there's a brand of pickles you really, really, REALLY seem to like.  And I suppose I am pleased that you seem to think I'd like them, too.  Based entirely on the fact that I was buying cornichons.  But I don't think you're going to be my resource for pickle selection in the future.

My Mother's Daughter

Today Sweetie and I ate at Lambert's Cafe - The Only Home of Throwed Rolls.  Sweetie got the recommendation from someone who had contacted him via his baseball stadium website.  I recalled seeing the place on The Travel Channel before, and it seemed like a place to unique to pass by.

The throwed rolls were the bomb.  Every few minutes a guy would come through announcing hot rolls and if you wanted one you'd just raise your hand and he'd throw one at you.  Not just toss it, but really throw it at you.  Luckily his aim is spot-on, so you don't have to do much work to catch them. 

And then there was the pork steak.  Even though I am not genetically related to my parents, there are some ways in which they managed to pass their genetic material on to me.  One of the ways my mom has done that is my fondness for pork, and love of a good pork steak.  My mom often complains how she can't find them in the Northwest to rival those found in Missouri.  And today I remembered what she means when she says that.  As soon as I saw the pork steak on the menu I knew I had to order it, and man if it wasn't even tastier than the rolls! 

Now pardon me, but the food coma is about to set in.

Expert Opinion

In the new quest for a heart-healthy diet I decided that I needed a new cookbook to help push me along the path.  Not that I'm not capable of preparing a healthy meal, and not that I don't have a zillion resources at my fingertips, but a go-to guide when I'm bored with all the standards and don't want to dig through all of the recipes I've culled from Gourmet magazine to find one that is appropriate for the new diet.

It seemed easy enough.  Powell's has several shelves dedicated to "Healthy Cooking."  It should have been so encouraging and empowering.  Instead, it was just damn depressing.  The shelves were filled with every get-thin-quick crap plan you could imagine.  "Eat No Carbs to Lose Weight," "Eat Nothing But Carbs and Live a Healthy Life," "Eat Nothing But These Five Foods and You Will Be The Healthiest Person Ever!"  There was the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Jenny Craig Diet, and a SPECIAL section devoted to Weight Watchers.  All next to several diet and weight-loss books by Dr. Phil - I'm sorry, but since when is a syndicated TV personality with a degree in clinical psychology qualified to teach me about nutrition?

Luckily, there were a couple of worthwhile books amongst all the crap.  I ended up with "The Stanford Life Plan for a Healthy Heart."  Written by a cardiologist, a nutritionist and a cook.  Now THAT'S how you get to healthy eating.

Of course, it's not just recipes but a lot of reading as well.  Time to start cracking the book!

Acting Our Age

Sweetie had a physical recently, and although everything came back "Everything's hunky dory" on his blood tests, his cholesterol numbers are a bit higher than we'd really like.  Blame it on his father's heart attack several years ago, but numbers inching up towards the "high" end of the scale make us want to put everything in check now, while we still can.

I went to the American Heart Association's website last night, for suggestions on what dietary changes need to be made to keep everything in check.  We eat FAIRLY well right now, but there was still room for improvement.

The changes we have decided to make:

• Limit meat to one meal per day (so if we had meat at lunch, go vegetarian or have fish for dinner)
• Cut back on the cheese (although part-skim mozzarella has a thumbs up)
• Explore butter alternatives

Hopefully these changes are enough to make an impact.  I'm going to miss my cheese.

Keep It Simple, Stupid

This evening I was picking up a few things at the grocery store, and kosher salt was on the list.  When we left Redmond I decided the half-empty, open box of salt was not worth packing and it was best to just replace.

So I'm at the store this evening, in the spice aisle, and they appear to not have kosher salt.  They have regular salt, sea salt, "ice cream" salt (which I presume was rock salt), but no kosher salt.  How can a good grocery store that prides itself on quality products not freaking carry kosher salt?

The moment right before my head exploded I realized it was probably in the kosher food section.  Which it totally was.

Which sort of makes sense.  Because it's kosher and all.  Although I would bet you that in Portland, Oregon, the vast majority of people buying kosher salt are not buying it because of it's kosher qualities, but because it's damn good salt for cooking.  So if they're not going to give up the 6" of shelf space to house it in the spice aisle, they should at least have a little sign on the shelf or something.  Because next time they might not be so lucky, and the person's head might literally explode before they can figure out what happened to the freaking salt.

Desert Island Cookware

Based on my anxiety of not having it available to me, and my excitement of finding it when I opened up the box, I've compiled a list of my absolutely essential cookware that, if I were stranded on a desert island (with a range and full array of food available), I would want at my disposal.

They are:

1. A nice, 12" saucepan.  May not be the BEST for everything, but I think you could cook just about anything in it.  And a decent quantity of it, too.
2. Wooden spoon
3. Chef's knife
4. Cutting board

Everything else is just icing on the cake.  Although, if I were allowed a 5th item, because these lists always seem to occur in multiples of 5, I'd add my Le Creuset Dutch Oven.  It can do a few things the saucepan can't.  But more importantly, it's pretty and I love it.  Also, it's damn heavy, so if some wild animal tried to come after me I could probably kill them with it.

Casualties of War

We suffered our first casualty of the move today.  Frankly, I'm surprised we've made it this far into the unpacking without any loss or breakage.  There was the afternoon that I thought we'd lost a bunch of shelves for our bookcases and entertainment center, but that ended up being my inability to count.

Anyhow, our large red serving platter was found shattered in the bottom of a box today.  Three or four large pieces, so a clean break that made for easy clean-up.  It was a shower present from the friend that Sweetie shares Mariner's season tickets with and his family.  I'm sad to see it go.

The eternal optimist in me is seeing it as an opportunity.  The thing is, my eyes were larger than my kitchen table when Sweetie and I set up our wedding registry, so all of the serving platters we registered for are HUGE.  Perfect for when we have everyone we've ever met over for dinner, but not so helpful for the more standard 2-4 friends over for a nice meal.  I've been trying to fix that since I realized the error, but it's been slow going.  As a matter of fact, WHILE I WAS UNPACKING THE BOX with the broken red platter at the bottom I was thinking to myself, "Holy shit, you really DO have a lot of ENORMOUS serving platters.  Where the hell are we going to put them all?"  I just wish that one of the boring white ones would have broken instead of the pretty red one.

I've decided to turn the negative into a positive, and start the search for an APPROPRIATELY sized serving platter to replace it.  Doesn't have to be red, but some sort of vibrant color would be nice.

Crossing my fingers this is the last casualty.