A quick and easy dessert!

I watch too much Food Network.

Really I do.

Well not as much as I used to; but I still watch a decent amount. So whenever I see the chefs make something that peak my interest, I always make a mental note to either try it later or look the recipe up so I can make it in the future. This particular one comes from one of my favorite FN chefs, the lovely Giada De Laurentiis.

I’ve been watching her and her shows since 2007 and frankly, I never get tired of her. Even if she doesn’t use a lot of different adjectives to describe whatever she’s making, she still somehow manages to make it sound delicious. She’s adorable! From the all the shows she’s done, I’d like to see more of Giada’s Weekend Getaways. I almost feel like I’m on vacation with her whenever I watch.

Anyway, back to the recipe. I made an Affogato! All you really need for this is 2 key. You can just add whatever ingredient you love to have once you build this.

Traditionally, this is made with gelato and a shot of hot espresso. If you’re really into coffee, you’re probably going to have some expensive brand of coffee. That works too, but I only have a regular blend and a vanilla ice cream from the local grocery store.

Giada also made hers with whipped cream. I didn’t have whipped cream, so I didn’t include it. But if you have it and you want that s*** to go straight to your thighs, go on ahead and cream away and want to use it, be my guest .

SO! Make some espresso for yourself (and possibly more if you’re planning on serving more than just yourself). While waiting, prepare your glass/mug and scoop a generous amount of gelato or vanilla ice cream into your dish. You can also start whipping that cream if you’re planning on using it.

When the coffee is ready, simply pour a generous amount into the ice cream! Like so

Look at me being all Messy Jessie!

But that’s it! So easy and simple.

Like I already mentioned, if you want to add something else to jazz it up, feel free to do so. I served 5 of those and I put in something different for each one.

• Chopped walnuts
• Vanilla
• Cinnamon
• Hint of Maple Syrup
• Crushed Oreo Cookies

We all loved it obviously.

As you can see the sky is the limit with these toppings. Here are a few more suggestions:

• Use flavored ice cream if you want to. I’d be careful about using fruit flavored ice cream though. Mango Ice cream might not sit well with espresso.
• Wafer sticks
• Candy Sprinkles
• Caramel drizzle
• Chocolate shavings (will probably melt right away when you drop it, but who cares!)

And whatever else you can think of.

Enjoy! And let me know if you tried a topping that I didn’t include here.

Homemade Chili

When I’m at home, I usually get requests from the folks to cook something for lunch or dinner. I usually have something I want to try (whether I’ve seen it on TV or on foodgawker) or something I’ve cooked in school which I want to cook again.

One evening, I got a special request from my dad to cook chili. I’ve never made chili in my life so I was at a loss. I didn’t even know where to start. So where did I start? Where everyone starts when they don’t know how/where/when/who/what/why something is: Google.

I found that chili recipes are actually pretty easy to make. I combined about 6 or 7 different recipes and made something that utilized ingredients which I had at home.

Note that I changed a few things, but the core ingredients and final result is still the same. Also if you want to try this recipe, make sure to allow enough time to cook this (the recipe called for 6+ hours of simmering it for the flavors to come out and make it more tasty. I didn’t have 6+ hours so I only simmered it for 2).

I had

• Around 3/4 lbs of lean ground beef,
• 6 or 7 Italian sausages
• A bag of kidney beans (98% of the time I don’t measure anything, this is why I’m not a fan of baking), rehydrated overnight.
• 2 large carrots
• 1 medium-sized onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 huge green bell pepper
• 5 medium-sized, Roma tomatoes
• A small bowl of frozen green peas
• A medium-sized can of diced tomatoes (again, I apologize for not knowing the exact amount)
• A small can of tomato paste
• A large can of tomato sauce
• A can or bottle of beer (any kind, I just used whatever we had in the fridge. The recommended beer was some sort of lager)
• A few drops of worcestershire sauce
• A sprinkle of chili powder
• A sprinkle of paprika
• A sprinkle of cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil to cook all this

In addition to the chili, I also prepared a toasted baguette with cheese. For this I had

• 1 whole wheat baguette
• Cheddar cheese (or any cheese you have, I just used what’s in the fridge). If you have mozzarella or parmesan or asiago, use that. Just experiment! Use flavors you like
• Butter
• Italian seasoning (or garlic powder, works just as fine)

The first thing I had to do before I started was to make sure the beans are rehydrated. The last thing I wanted was to bite into a half hard bean. Not cool.

I started by heating the oil. After 5 or so minutes, I browned the beef. While the beef was browning, I chopped the onions, peeled and chopped the carrots into cubes, and minced the garlic. Once the beef was browned, I took it off the pan, drained it and added more oil to cook the sausages. I kept in mind to only cook it halfway because I would leave it to simmer for a long time.

While that was cooking, I chopped the green peppers and tomatoes, and took out all the spices I needed.

I took out the sausages once it was halfway done and added more oil to the pan. I then added the onions and garlic and cooked it for about 3 or 4 minutes. Right after that, I added the carrots, peppers, tomatoes and cooked it for about 5 minutes.

After the vegetables were soft, I added back the ground beef and the sausages and let it cook for another minute or so. I then added the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste and let cook for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes I added the beer, worcestershire sauce, paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, green peas and kidney beans. I left the peas and beans towards the end because these are super fragile; I didn’t want it to be crushed into mush by the constant mixing I was doing.

After it boiled, I turned it down to simmer and stirred it every so often. I also seasoned it with salt and pepper.

I didn’t want to prepare the baguette just yet because I was going to let the chili simmer for at least 2 hours. I prepared it closer to when the chili was about to be served as it only takes 10 minutes to prepare + bake it. I just remembered to shred the cheese while I waited.

For the baguette, I sliced it into small cuts and laid it out on a greased baking sheet (I used PAM cooking spray). I spread a thin layer of butter/flavor on to the slices, sprinkled the Italian seasoning and layered the shredded cheese on top. I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes and it was done!

After the baguette was out of the oven and the chili was ready, it was time to eat!

I only wish I had sour cream. I would have added a generous dollop of that onto my chili!

So there you go, a nice hearty bowl of home-made chili.

Thanksgiving 2011

It’s Thanksgiving! This means rounds and rounds of turkey, stuffing, gravy, roasted vegetables and pie. Well, that’s the traditional Thanksgiving feast. At my residence, we don’t always sit on the traditional side. And that’s what I love about it; we can pretty much keep whatever we want traditional and have anything else we feel like.

Since I was in charge of cooking dinner, I decided to make just a few instead of a slew of dishes. Plus the kitchen ain’t big enough for 2 cooks. This year, we had Turkey (with Stuffing of course), Mashed Yams with Roasted Garlic, and Rotini with Chicken and Scallops in Tomato and Cream Sauce. For dessert, I decided to make an easy one – Affogato with chopped Walnuts.

Mise for Ratatouille

Cooking the Thanksgiving Pasta dish

First time I’ve made/used Roasted Garlic at home. What took me so long, I’ll never know

My Thanksgiving creation!

Affogato, pre caffeine shot but post sprinkled Walnuts

Apologies for the lack of pictures. I don’t really like taking pictures while I’m working in the kitchen. I’m too focused on what I’m doing to snap images.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!