thyme is money » Comfort Food

Comfort food: Chili

tiffany — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:21:29 +0000

Chili made its debut today for my husband’s family. The in-laws were over to help fix our apartment up a bit (hanging lamps and curtains) and my sister-in-law joined us afterwards for dinner. When you need to feed 5 people quickly without resorting to take-out, chili seemed like a great option. Gray’s American Store was closed – which meant no pre-packaged chili seasoning – but it was easy enough to make my own. The nice thing about making chili at home is you can make it just right. As spicy as you want, with as much cheese and sour cream as you want, and just as bean-y as you want. I’m also from the Midwest, so I usually serve it over pasta. It was a hit with the family, and that’s what counts.

Tomato Barley Soup

tiffany — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:33:10 +0000

It’s definitely Fall!

First soup of the season: Tomato lentil w/ Barley
My measuring and unit conversions got the best of me. Even in college, I could do integrals in my head, but ask me to do division, and I was stumped. After 3 hours in the kitchen, I ended up with a batch large enough to feed an army. The barley expanded and made the soup so thick, that the consistency was closer to a risotto. It was a good base though, and we made the best of it by adding different things each time (one thinned as a vegetarian soup, one thinned with mini-meatballs, another with salmon, and another thickened as a side with chicken w/ goat cheese). Lesson learned: I’ll definitely use a light hand with the barley next time….