Saturday, February 4, 2012

Chili Fest

Super Bowl Sunday Sugar Cookies from Crepes of Wrath
 For the past three days I've been receiving emails from the Dean of Students warning all students not to "walk or bike around or through the Kenmore Square Area" tomorrow. Supposedly during Super Bowl XLII, Patriot fans were so upset that they started turning over cars and setting other cars and garbage cans on fire. Since the Dean and the police are taking care of the safety aspect, I'm putting all my energy into preparing Super Bowl-worthy food.

Wings, pizza, and chips are all classic football foods, but the one I'm most excited for is the chili. Nothing beats watching football with a big bowl of chili and some cornbread to dip in it. To prepare ourselves for tomorrow, a bunch of us are going to Harvard Square's annual "Some Like It Hot Chili Cook-Off". Not only do you get to try innovative chili recipies from some of Boston and Cambridge's best chefs, it's also completely FREE. If you're in Boston definitly hop on the T and head over!

Some delicious chili recipes from a couple of my favorite bloggers:

Sweet Potato Chili from Chocolate Covered Katie 



Bulgur Chili (vegan) from Naturally Ella
 
Best Vegetarian Chili from Herbivoracious
 
Best Cornbread Recipe Ever from Herbivoracious
 I can vouch for the Herbivoracious's cornbread -- it is by far the best from-scratch cornbread recipe I've had. Another bonus is it doesn't use real corn -- I'm not a fan of corn pieces in my cornbread.

Have a great weekend!

--Kelli

Friday, February 3, 2012

Feeding an Addiction: Maple Temphe

 
A trend I've been noticing lately is more and more people and restaurants are going meatless at least once a week. For some, they want the health benefits of plant-based protein, others it's a cheaper option than buying meat from the butcher. I LOVE this new trend! No matter what your reasons are for doing it, I highly encourage everyone to have one day a week where they fill up on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant proteins like beans and legumes. You'll be amazed at how easy and fun it is to change it up! Another great part about eating vegetarian is cooking vegetarian. It takes more creativity to come up with a flavorful, filling vegetarian dish than to make chicken with rice. A recipe I made for my parents while I was home was Heidi Swanson's Maple Grilled Tempeh. This was my dad's first time trying tempeh and my mom's second or third. All of us loved it! The great part about tempeh especially for omnivores, is that, unlike tofu (which I love just as much), it has more of a texture to it. Definitely try out this recipe you wont be disappointed! I served mine with salad and baked sweet potatoes. 

-Kelli