The Salad

My favorite specialty food is Cincinnati Chili.  I wish I could remember the very first time I had my mom's Cincinnati chili.  She had been given the recipe by a friend who was, as I recall, from Cincinnati, and I remember coveting the cream paper with man handwriting which scribed the world's most perfect chili recipe.  It would cook for hours and I would stop by the stove frequently to help stir, and to get an ETA for this world's most perfect chili.  What's different about Cincinnati Chili?  For one, it is beanless.  I always felt it was a more classy chili because of this.  More importantly, though, it relies on some subtle twists to the classic chili spice flavor profile.  It has cumin, cinnamon and often chocolate depending on whos making it.  (My mom doesn't use it, but I have started to now that I'm making it on my own.)  Cincinnati Chili is is served on top of angel hair pasta and topped with shredded cheese...if you're eating it "three-way," that is.  Add onions, that's "four way."  Add kidney beans, you're opting for "five-way."  As children and teenagers, we stopped the topping excitement at cheese, but as I've grown up I've gotten more adventurous.  I will dice some red onions and finely sliced jalapeno peppers.  Sometimes, I opt out of the pasta for low-carb's sake.  What would you call that?  Maybe "four-minus-one-plus-one-way."  Anyway you call it, any way you top it, this stuff is still like...well I was going to say "manna," but then I did some quick research and I'm not sure I'm prepared to back up that simile.  It is good.  Really good.  If I'm ever in the unfortunate position of having to pick a last meal, this would be it.  Less morbid: This is my favorite birthday dinner ever.

recession chicken soup

adding "recession" in front of things makes it funny. i was going to note yesterday about my reasoning for sharing this recipe with you...forgot.

i don't think avoiding talking about this economy will make it go away, but constantly obsessing and always talking about it also isn't going to make it better*. you gotta carefully and casually walk the line. you don't want to become known as

"the recession guy"

or

"the girl that always talks about the economy problems."

(yes that last one was not nearly as eloquent or as savvy a reference to my favorite thursday night tv show, but alas, it conveys the general gist.) but i have also found that people regard each other a little higher when they know what each other is doing to "tighten the belt," as it were. here's how i am...

unless you are actually in charge of the economy, like the president, etc.*

last night, [my roommate] jenny and i made chicken noodle soup. this chicken soup was the best chicken soup i have ever had or made. honestly.

chicken soup ingredients
whole chicken: $2.22
produce and chicken stock: roughly $6-8
purchased at fresh & easy and ranch 99 and olive tree market
[including, onions, celery, carrots, lemon & chicken stock]
other stuff on hand: flour, eggs, seasonings, buttah, and olive oil

all in all: about $10 soup. going to last for like 10 meals.

the chicken roasting went well. after brining the chicken for about 8 hours, we prepped it for roasting--put fresh roasted garlic & some butter on the skin & then some salt, pepper, rosemary, and fresh lemon. i'd say it roasted for about an hour and 15 minutes. after about 4 freakish meat thermometer readings (i'm obsessed with that thing. breast temp. 165F and thigh 175F.) it was finally ready for pickin'.

here is the wee chicken preparing for the oven alongside the roasted garlic:

meanwhile, on the vintage-inspired frigidaire stovetop, the chicken stock had been patiently simmering for an hour or so with lots o carrots, thinly sliced onions & celery. just a-waitin' for the goodies.

whilst amid chicken roast, jenny and i made homemade egg noodles. they were pretty good. just standard egg noodles. the only thing that could have been improved upon in the recipe. i would do an egg-less recipe next time. i think they were a little heavy, almost, for the soup. still tasty though.

we just threw the noodles into the simmering chicken stock, let em cook up for a few minutes, then added the chunks of chicken from the whole roast chicken that i deboned with almost as much skill as my friend michelle flores. nimble fingers. and then...{secret recipe info ahead} since the chicken stock was like 98% fat free and just basic, it needed obvious seasoning, so we chose to put the chicken's roasting...juices (?)...and it honestly thickened up the broth and added the most phenomenal flavor.

this chicken soup was stellar!

but you see, the most glorious part of this chicken soup ordeal is that it was also serving a secondary and yet equally important purpose. making this chicken soup (from conception to preparation to consumption) took 2 days. the actual prep took hours. we were painstakingly laboring over this chicken soup. and all the sudden, we had entertainment taken care of for friday night. you're laughing at me. i know. but you've read this far.

[blame it on the economy.]

what did i do this morning?

i brined a chicken. well, technically speaking, it is still brining, and will be for several more hours. but anyway, i'm brining a chicken.

i'm making homemade chicken noodle soup tonight and in an effort to make it recession-proof [cute, huh] i decided i was going to roast my own chicken instead of buying costco or whole food's bomb roasted chickens. fresh & easy whole chicken: $2.22 other stuff for chx noodle soup: like $6. meals for a while. it's the economy y'all. this is gonna be a new kind of recipe blog. :)

here is my adorable chicken brining away!
ingredients: chicken. water, salt, pepper, olive oil, ( a lil soy sauce just because ) bay leaves, lemon juice, and garlic. lots of garlic. but not roasted like they said, cause i don't have that much time.

stay tuned. i promise to update more often. especially for my loyal reader in boston.

dear friends

things have changed for me since i last bahloggged. i have discontinued my employment and begun classes at the art institute of san diego. i'm drawing, what? and it's not that bad! hoping to combine my graphic design skillz with my wells degree and just get a super delightful job.

also, we have mice. they are driving me nuts so the other day i did about THE most adult thing i've ever done in my life and bought mouse traps. i bought the kind that's a box and you don't have to see the thing--literally just pick it up and throw it away. i still haven't gotten the guts to put them out because if there's one thing that freaks me out more than mice, it's dead mice. cheers to mice...........NOT.

went up to san pedro this weekend for the tall ships festival. it was delightful. saw my sweet sweet friend anna. and so many tall ships! i went aboard the USCGC Eagle, the coast guard's big ass sail butt. it was so sweet. they have three steerin' wheels!! connected! because not just one person can steer at a time! that's...a..big..boat. waa waa wee wah!

as you know, i've really started loving me some cooking! last night i made a delightful set of concoctions...

fresh bean salad (grandmother status):
garbanzo beans, kidney beans, thin red onions, grape tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic, lemon juice, parsley, olive oil, balsamic & apple cider vinegar (twas hoping for red wine vinegar but we were out)

pasta "amandavera":
homemade spaghetti! and essentially a stew of grape tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus, and mushrooms with warm goat cheese and toasted pine nuts finished with fresh parm cheese.

baked acorn squash:
acorn squash quarters, with a wee butter, cinnamon and brown sugar

aaaaaaaaannnddd MILK!

twas good, if i do say so myself.

last: free obama button, if you want it!

Cilantro

Momma Hall doesn't like cilantro...which means I kind of grew up cilantro-less. And it has really been within the last two years or so that I've really discovered how awesome cilantro is...on everything. Tonight I made a deeeelicious marinade for my bison steak. I'll tell you more:

Garlic
Cilantro
Worcestershire Sauce
Lemon & Lime juice
More cilantro

Paired it with some steamed summer squash cause, duh, it's summer and it's awesome.

I'm a full on cooker! :)

So good. Sooooo goooooooood.

Listening to: The Weepies, Hideaway-Little Bird. So good.

Side note: where's Courtney???????????? I'm lonely!