Pork and Beans Chili and Honey Hush Corn Bread

Like most families, we have our favorite meals that I cook and repeat, cook and repeat each month. My husband and son know though, that I am always up to trying a new recipe, even when it is something that we already have a favorite recipe for.

Like chili. Don't ever mess with the recipe for chili from the 1960's Betty Crocker's Cookbook. It really IS the best I have ever had.

But tonight I went off in a different direction and tried Pork and Bean Chili. I usually can judge how good a recipe might be by it's ingredients and this one sounded good....nothing too funky in it not to try it.

I never warn my family that I am trying something new or where the recipe is from. If it turns out bad, I will confess everything.

 

 

Pork and Bean Chili

 

4 teaspoons canola oil

1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat

 and cut into 1" pieces

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, ,minced

1 (14 3/4 oz) can diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 (15 1/2 oz.) can pinto beans,

rinsed and drained

1 (8oz.) can tomato sauce, optional *

 

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large nonstick saucepan over medium high heat. Add the pork and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer pork to a plate.

 

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the same saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion, pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook until the mixture comes to a boil, about 4 minutes. Stir in the beans; reduce the heat and simmer, covered until mixture thickens. Add the pork and cook until the pork is cooked through. * At this point I felt the chili was too thick without much juice so I added the 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and it was perfect.

 

 

 

I always serve chili with a side of rice to put on the bottom of the bowl, sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese for on top. On the side....some Honey Hush Corn Bread from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

 

If you don't live in the Northeast USA you may not have heard of the The Dinosaur Barb-B-Que Restaurant. It originated in Syracuse, NY and has restaurants in Rochester, NY, Harlem in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a honky tonk rib joint with the best barbeque ribs and all that goes with them. And their bottled sauces are available to buy at our local Wegmans grocery store.

 

Their cornbread is the best I have ever had. I just happen to have a copy of their cookbook,  full of all the restaurant's fare.

 

You cannot eat another bowl of any kind of chili without this corn bread.....

 

 

 

Honey Hush Corn Bread

 

1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup melted butter 2 tablespoons honey

 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8" x 8" pan with shortening and put it in the hot oven to heat while you are mixing the corn bread.

 

Mix the cornmeal, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Whisk togethetr the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter in another bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just till everything is moistened.

 

Pull the hot, greased pan from the oven and pour the batter in. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean. Brush the top with the honey as soon as the cornbread comes out of the oven.

 

 

 

 

So the Pork and Bean Chili was approved by my husband and son. It had a lot of flavor and little bit of bite to it with the combination of spices used.

 

What I didn't tell them is that it is a Weight Watchers recipe!  Shhhhh.......! The chili was good enough that I did not have to confess this.

 

And the leftover corn bread? Really good toasted in the morning with butter.

 

Are you an adventurous cook or do you stick to the usual every night?

 

AnnMarie :)

 

 

I've linked this post up with these great blog parties!

Marvelous Mondays

Sweet and Savoury Sunday Link Party

Aloha Friday Blog Hop

Weekend Meet & Greet Blog Hop

 

 

 

Weekend Musings........

I was supposed to have hip replacement surgery last Wednesday and so I thought I'd be laid up for the Easter weekend, and many weeks after! When it was postponed for other complications, I was left with one of those "now what do I do with myself?" moments.

I scrambled to get last minute Easter basket items for my granddaughters, husband and son. It is a childhood tradition that I indulge in every year now for others.

My husband and son both had Good Friday off so we decided to go out for breakfast to The Frog Pond on Park Ave in the city of Rochester. My husband is from New York City and says the Park Ave/East Ave./Monroe Ave. section of the city is the closest he will get to home.

There is a fabulous homemade chocolate store, Stever's, right across the street. Getting some Easter chocolates afterwards was definitely in the plan.

 

I was so happy when we pulled up and got a parking spot right in front of the restaurant (which is usually impossible) and then we got the window booth seats that face out on the Avenue as our table! The Frog Pond is a bistro/diner with the best selection of omelets, benedicts and other breakfast fare. They are known for their 1/2 pound burgers too.

I had one of their many chalkboard Specials, Crabcake Eggs Benedict........mmm

After all three of us ate every last bite of our breakfast we walked across the street to Stever's anticipating the strong, luscious smell of chocolate when we went in. Didn't happen. The line was out the door to the street and the wait inside to get around the store, pay and get out, was 45 minutes. That's what we get for going to the BEST candy store in the city two days before Easter!

Next stop was Archimage on Monroe Avenue, another funky, trendy area of the city. The store is a boutique full of  out of the ordinary gifts, jewelry, and fair trade items. I went in looking for a new Spring crossbody hobo bag and came out with a denim washed tiered skirt!

 

 

I had to see my granddaughters to give them their baskets so I had them come over on Saturday for a little while. It is becoming a tradition for my 7 year old granddaughter Cassidy to decorate cutout cookies each holiday at my house so she came early to do that. Chloe will be able to join us in a few years!

 

 

Chloe arrived in her Easter outfit looking so Springy! She had no idea what was to come but I had hidden their baskets so the two cousins could have a mini hunt together. The baskets in the pictures are the Easter baskets my daughters had when they were my granddaughters' age.

 

 

 

Hmmm, let me see what Cassidy got in HER basket......

 

I couldn't resist getting Cassidy those wax lips from MY childhood!



Sunday morning we attended an uplifting Easter service at our home church where we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior every Sunday. 

 

So since there was no Easter dinner planned and my girls already had their plans, the three of us decided to go out of the ordinary again and go to a small gourmet restaurant in the Finger Lakes, near Naples.

It was a long drive and the dreary weather made the scenery not as pretty along Canandaigua Lake as usual. The restaurant is located in a small, quaint house. My husband noticed the occupancy sign on the wall said 12!

The food was pretty good but pricey, the waitress called us "guys" so many times we lost track, and it just didn't "feel" clean in there. The best part for me was I got to wear my new skirt!

It's okay though. I had a pretty full weekend and I got to see both granddaughters again today. It was priceless to watch a 7 year old and a 19 month old play Fruit Ninja on Xbox with my 14 year old son.

Everyone loves sitting in my "surgery" chair!

The day was topped off with a scrumptious, easy dinner. Pasta Fagioli (which is a Weight Watcher recipe) and Irish Soda Bread. Not your typical pairing but I was craving both.

It was my first attempt at making the bread and the three of us ate three-quarters of it in one sitting!

Have you made anything that you've been craving lately?

AnnMarie :)

 

Bunnies on Parade

I finally sat down and worked on and finished a project that has been waiting for my attention for awhile.

Hand stringing 135 vintage white and ivory buttons onto crochet thread is time consuming. But the end result is worth it.

I just love the look of a vintage button garland. I started making these from the abundance of buttons that I have when I got a button garland as a Christmas gift one year. I have made multicolor garlands and red and white and green and white for the holidays but my favorite is the all white and ivory vintage button garlands. There is just something so nostalgic about a string of one fabulous vintage button after another. This one is available in my Etsy shop.

After I finished it I wanted to decorate with it and show it's versatility. My favorite things to do with these is drape them in unusual places, like the top of a cupboard, over a cafe curtain or on the mantel.

I am homebound today on a snowy New York Spring day, so I decided to play a little. I started to take all the pictures of my children and grandchildren off the mantel and replace them with all the bunnies I have out for Spring decorating. Tucking the garland in and out of the bunnies added just the right touch.

 

There are handmade chalkware bunnies, a faux birds nest and carved Easter eggs....

 

 

a vintage handmade wooden puzzle bunny and a large paper mache

egg with a bunny family on it....

and a large fuzzy Peter Rabbit complete with a basket backpack 

 



 

Now my project had an immediate purpose and my decorating is complete! I will have to fill in all the spots the bunnies originally were but I don't think I will have a problem with that!

 

I have a new, bright spot in my house to walk by on these dreary wintery, I mean Spring days!

 

 

AnnMarie :)

 

 

Linking up with:

 Aloha Friday Blog Hop 

 My Turn for Us Freedom Fridays

 Thursday Sew Crafty Link Party

 Be Inspired Friday

 No Rules Weekend Blog Party

 Meet & Greet Blog Hop

Marvelous Mondays Link Party

Bouquet of Talent Linky Party

Wednesday's Adorned from Above Blog Hop



 

 



 

Can I Just Brag A Little?

It's the simple things in our everyday lives that stir our hearts.

And so here are a few things in the past week of my life that made me feel so blessed that I wanted to brag about 'em......




 

My adorable granddaughters Cassidy, 7 and Chloe, 19 months

 

 

 

 

Good things to eat! I am blessed to have a wonderful grocery store in my area called Wegmans. They are making quite a name for themselves and now have locations all over the northeast. Their bakery is exceptionally good. This Chocolate Pudding Pie is beyond words. My son, husband and I ate two of them in little over a week......really!

 

 

 



I have the best girlfriends! They all came over my house with lots of goodies to eat and we spent most of the day Saturday eating and laughing. The pictures are not so great but you can see their personalities coming through. Someone said something about angels and well, there they are behind the couch!

 

 

What have you been blessed with this past week?

 

 

AnnMarie :)

Pretty Easter Sunday Table Decorating

I went around that thrift store three times looking for something to buy! I stop in there every so often when I get the feeling something is there just waiting for me. I usually find it right away.

On that third time around there it was. A plastic bag of doilies all squished inside. I grabbed it and started going through them, knowing full well I was going to buy it no matter what was in there!

 

I had been on the lookout for vintage doilies because I wanted to make more runners. I made some before Christmas and I have only one left. 

I love the whole process of it. Finding the doilies, especially a large assortment because there are so many choices and no two are alike. Then laying them all out down the center of the table to come up with just the perfect design....not too perfect and symmetrical but a nice flow for the eye.

Then there is the pinning each one to another in just the right angle and overlap. Then making sure they are pinned securely so the whole thing doesn't fall apart when you go to sit and sew!

I had all Sunday afternoon to sit with my feet up and just sew. With my son in the next chair and the basketball game on in the background, my husband off on a men's outreach, I just sewed for hours. Here is the end product!

 

 

This runner has a 6 point star design doily at it's center and then rounds and square doilies are stitched off of that. There are 13 different doilies in ecru and ivory, beige, and white. One is embroidered, another has an open weave. There are floral designs and star designs. Each doily is completely different from the next. Each doily is a nice size measuring from 8" to 12" in diameter. They are handstitched together on both sides with thread, which does not show!

 

 

I am off to layout another one.....maybe smaller, maybe all white, maybe another round....the possibilities are endless! I will be listing them all in my Etsy shop NaNa's Things in time for Easter decorating.

 

My table is ready.....

 

 

 

AnnMarie :)

 

 

Linking up with Marvelous Mondays Link Party, the Weekend Meet & Greet Blog Hop , Adorned from Above Blog Party, Common Ground Be Inspired Blog Party



 

Spring Ahead!

Just heard that this Sunday we can Spring Ahead with our clocks by one hour!

That tells me to start REALLY decorating for Spring!

I have been slowly putting away the winter but I do still have the winter wreath on my front door and my fabulous shabby chic snowflakes in the windows. My bunnies have started to make an appearance so it is time to go full out with Spring.

My front entryway is very narrow and I painted it in a deep Indigo blue with cranberry accents. The wood is dark and original to my 1870's Victorian home. I just have this need to fill every space, however narrow or small and I find the best way to do it is with vignettes.

A vignette is a contained decorative area that has a theme.

 

I have my little vintage half table painted white and a white milk stool set up on this wall year round. That way I can change it out with each season.

 

The table has a large vintage blue and white crocheted doily folded and draped over. The Easter basket and bunny is from the late 1970's early 1980's when it was THE thing to take ceramics classes and paint your own home decor. I made a lot of these now sought after kitschy items (remember the Christmas trees?). A faux birds nest and eggs fills in the space.

 

 

On the stool is a crazy quilt piece in pinks and blues and pastels with my paper mache bunny perched on top. The pot was a gift from a friend who handpainted and decoupaged it for me, just because. Pale blue and yellow hydrangeas say Spring and Summer!

 



 

 

 

With two boys in the house (who may not be very mindful of delicate decorations!), this actually works out being walked by everyday to go in and out and up the stairs. Just adds enough seasonal decor without a lot of fuss. I actually put this all together this morning in the 15 minutes I wait by the door for my son's school bus!

 

 

Have you started decorating for Spring? Spring ahead!

 

 

AnnMarie :)

 

 

Linking up with Be Inspired Blog Hop Party at Common Ground. Visit this wonderful blog for gorgeous decorating ideas!

 

 

Saturday Morning Baked Oatmeal

I titled this recipe Saturday Morning Baked Oatmeal because most of us just don't have the time to whip up a delectable breakfast like this during the week.

I got up on this dreary, cold, Saturday morning and was inspired to try this recipe. My girlfriend, sweet Carolyn gave me a great cookbook for my birthday, super natural every day by Heidi Swanson. This is the third recipe I have tried from it and thumbs up so far! And that is thumbs up from my husband too, the king of junk food!

 

It is full of good things like bananas, blueberries, nuts, milk, eggs, maple syrup and of course, oatmeal. As I usually do, I put my own tweaks to a recipe according to what I have or what is available. For this I used old fashioned oats as opposed to quick oats....not sure what rolled oats are but I am sure I could have gone to a natural food store for them. I used frozen blueberries because fresh right now are ridiculously expensive, and I used slivered almonds instead of the walnuts. I chose the maple syrup instead of the sugar.

 

Here is the recipe:

 

 

Baked Oatmeal

 

Serves 6 generously

 

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup walnut pieces, toasted and chopped

1/3 cup natural cane sugar or maple syrup

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

scant 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

2 cups milk

1 large egg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 cups huckleberries, blueberries or mixed berries

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees with a rack in the top third of the oven. Generously butter the inside of an 8 inch square baking dish.

 

In a bowl mix together the oats, half of the nuts, the sugar, if using, the baking powder, the cinnamon, and the salt.

 

In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, if using, the milk, egg, half of the butter, and the vanilla.

 

Arrange the banana pieces in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared dish. Sprinkle 2/3 of the berries over the top. Cover the fruit with the oat mixture. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats. Gently give the baking dish a couple whacks on the counter to be sure all the milk goes through the oats. Scatter the remaining berries and remaining nuts on top.

 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is nicely gold and the oat mixture has set. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Drizzle the remaining melted butter on the top and serve. Serve maple syrup to drizzle over for a sweeter taste.

 

 

I think this would be so good sprinkled with brown sugar over it or cold with ice cream. I am thrilled that my husband plans on taking it to work next week for breakfast.....beats eating a pop tart every morning!

 

 

Happy eating!

 

AnnMarie :)

 

 



Linked with Common Ground, Adorned from Above and Healthy Tuesdays bog hops.