What's for dinner?

I just started on the stove a "5-bean" vegetarian chili - it'll cook all day today - rest overnight and be dinner TOMORROW night... (going out for bbq tonight)....

Here's the recipe and method I use for my 5-bean chili...

1 Cup each of dried Kidney, white, pinto beans, garbanzo beans soaked overnight. Last night I changed the water and threw them back into the fridge. This morning I drained and washed them, then left them to drain for 5 minutes

The more astute of you will notice that there were only 4 beans there - the other will come later.

Today the kidney, pinto and white beans go into a big dutch oven with a liter of water, 1 can of tomato sauce, 2 cans of diced reduced salt tomatoes, granulated garlic, 1 medium onion finely diced, 2 tablespoons of dried onion flakes, 4 tablespoons of chili powder, 1 tblspn of cayenne, 1 tblspoon of paprika.

Bring to a simmer and let it sit on a low heat for 3-4 hours at least... I'll let it simmer off and soak up the juices - around the 3 hour mark I'll put in the garbanzo beans - adjust the liquid level and spice it again - more garlic, chili-powder, maybe cayenne and another onion. The idea is that first onion and spice dumps get into the beans and they just flavor - with a good chili I always do 3 dumps of spices.... the 3rd will be tomorrow.

After another hour or two - the final bean goes in - a can of either vegetarian baked beans, or pork and beans - minute the cube of pork fat they put in the can. These obviously have sugar in - they "round out" the flavor profile a little... depending on how the chili looks, I might add more onion at this point... Stir thoroughly and adjust spices again if you want (I always do) - let it cool covered and put aside overnight if you can.

The overnight rest will REALLY let the flavors infuse into the beans - in winter I'll put it into the garage on the concrete floor.

Tomorrow around 3PM - it will come back into the house (or out of the fridge if it was summer) - and be allowed to warm a little (to room temp) - I'll do a final adjustment of spice (with chili-powder, granulated garlic, cayenne and paprika) and then heat it thoroughly for dinner... we'll serve it over white rice with a side-salad - an almost completely vegetarian version of my chili...

My beef chili takes a very similar path - at least making it from early morning of the meal - preferably the day before ... it's just better tasting with that overnight "rest" ....

Nice! A LOT of stuff is better resting overnight, but particularly soups/stews. We have a pretty simple but tasty meatball recipe and they always taste even better as left over after sitting for a few days.

Sounds good wyb!

Last night I did Cedar Plank Salmon. Marinaded 1 hr before hand. One of the not-so-best-kept-secrets of the Pacific Northwest is that we get fresh salmon year round!

3 pics show the stages of marinade, throwing the filets on the hot cedar planks (pre-soaked in water) and the final result. My kids normally don't like salmon but when prepared like this it gets eaten ALL up.

Here's a photo - it is a little bit "soupy" still - but it is gradually tightening up...



I ran out of yellow onion - so you can see a few pieces of red onion - I might have to go fetch another onion though... needs a little more ...

Originally Posted by Sportsdad

Sounds good wyb!

Last night I did Cedar Plank Salmon. Marinaded 1 hr before hand. One of the not-so-best-kept-secrets of the Pacific Northwest is that we get fresh salmon year round!

3 pics show the stages of marinade, throwing the filets on the hot cedar planks (pre-soaked in water) and the final result. My kids normally don't like salmon but when prepared like this it gets eaten ALL up.

Nice looking salmon... yummy.... it's so expensive here in Colorado...

Thomas Keller's caramelized scallop recipe (brined). Probably saffron rice and a salad.. not sure yet.

Instant noodles. With a bowl of salad.

Roasted garlic & sauteed chopped onion 3 egg omelette, with thick sliced mozzarella semi melted just to make it softer and creamy, on a toasted croissant with sliced tomatoes, sprayed on olive oil, Dijon mustard and chili chilpotle adobo sauce.

What!!??

Originally Posted by MatWiz

Roasted garlic & sauteed chopped onion 3 egg omelette, with thick sliced mozzarella semi melted just to make it softer and creamy, on a toasted croissant with sliced tomatoes, sprayed on olive oil, Dijon mustard and chili chilpotle adobo sauce.

What!!??

Originally Posted by HGilmore

Hey!

Originally Posted by 1Dreamer

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...2&postcount=36

Bowl of cereal with lots of fruit - too tired tonight to bother with anything else.

Originally Posted by 1Dreamer

Dreamer - you eat coffee? Or you thought you were in the "what are you drinking?" thread??

ok - here is the chili after its overnight "rest" - it has tightened up a lot - which is exactly what I expected it to do...



and as I said, I needed more onion - so we picked up a 10lb bag last night - one large onion into the mix....



(in case anyone is wondering - nope, we're not going vegetarian - but having watched forks over knives on netflix - we've decided to cut back on meat intake considerably... I've battled cholesterol and have heart disease in the family, so we're coming up with a lifestyle change to eat meat no more than twice a week - at least that is what we are *trying* to do... meeting our insurance agent last night at our favorite bbq place didn't exactly start well... but on the plus side, I took a bottle of my own boubron bbq sauce and he said he's buy it if it was available... )

wyb, YUMMY!
Looks like I could power our BMW via methane with that meal!

Originally Posted by Sportsdad

wyb, YUMMY!
Looks like I could power our BMW via methane with that meal!

lol - we will see... tonight we'll be feasting on the chili - basmati rice - and a side-salad. Since we started moving of the meat and wheat products there has been less methane around here ...

Originally Posted by wyb

lol - we will see... tonight we'll be feasting on the chili - basmati rice - and a side-salad. Since we started moving of the meat and wheat products there has been less methane around here ...

Regarding gas...
Heavy veggie diet= above avg quantity but no quality. (All bark, no bite)
Heavy protein diet (includes beans!)=avg quantity, above avg quality (The dog leaves the room..)

Originally Posted by wyb

ok - here is the chili after its overnight "rest" - it has tightened up a lot - which is exactly what I expected it to do...



and as I said, I needed more onion - so we picked up a 10lb bag last night - one large onion into the mix....



(in case anyone is wondering - nope, we're not going vegetarian - but having watched forks over knives on netflix - we've decided to cut back on meat intake considerably... I've battled cholesterol and have heart disease in the family, so we're coming up with a lifestyle change to eat meat no more than twice a week - at least that is what we are *trying* to do... meeting our insurance agent last night at our favorite bbq place didn't exactly start well... but on the plus side, I took a bottle of my own boubron bbq sauce and he said he's buy it if it was available... )

Mmmm good.

Just drop-in a couple of tablespoons FTW

Looks good! I'm gonna ask my wife to make it (My cullinary skills end at noodles and stuff that gets heated in the oven) - she likes doing one or two vegetarian nights a week.

Originally Posted by Coconutpete

Looks good! I'm gonna ask my wife to make it (My cullinary skills end at noodles and stuff that gets heated in the oven) - she likes doing one or two vegetarian nights a week.

One thing I found, is that it requires more flavor boosting than a beef based chili - more onion, more garlic, more chili powder - the beans sort of absorb a lot of the flavors - more so than the meat does. In the end I put 2 1/2 onions in and I think the balance is about right now - garlic powder I have nearly twice my normal amount - and about 50% up on the other spices... obviously taste is very personal - I like a good deal of spice - heat I like somewhere between medium and hot - and I'll take the cholula hot sauce to mine rather than make it too hot for Mrs wyb to stand..

Ribs in the crock pot. Drool...

MREEEEEEEEs!!! Yum Yum.

Originally Posted by ///Mariani

MREEEEEEEEs!!! Yum Yum.

LOL! My kids love MRE's. When I rotate my emergency supplies once a year, I always have an extra case that is hitting the 8 year mark that I rotate out (and order two more IN). They gobble them up quick!

New smoker! (I had a smaller Brinkmann that rusted out after 5 years, time to replace it!)
Seasoning it right now. Tomorrow I'll do some turkey jerky and Sunday we're smoking another turkey for my oldest son's 17th B-day.