Perfect Fall Day

It has been rainy, rainy, rainy and we have been cooped up inside for several days. But yesterday we had pumpkins to carve and the ingredients for chili, plus my husband had some pumpkin ale in the fridge and there was football on TV so he was pretty happy. Pretty much the makings for a perfect fall day. By noon we had put the chili in the slow cooker and made these:  

And by we, I mean that I helped with the chili but was not at all involved in making the pumpkin masterpieces. That was all my husband and his brother - they are so creative!  Did you know that gourds are not at all easy to carve like pumpkins? Yeah, neither did we. That green Frankenstein one was impossible to cut open. Good thing we had a saw.  

So now to the recipe.  This award winning chili recipe was created by my brother and sister-in-law and it is amazing. They are very kind to allow me to share it with you.  I think it strikes the perfect balance between being nice and meaty, while still containing beans.  When we serve it to people who don't normally like beans in chili, they are always impressed by how good it is! 

Walt & April's Springtown Chili
This yields roughly 6 dinner-size servings of mild to medium chili.  We have often found that this chili is better the day after cooking.  

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. pork sausage 
1 large onion, medium chop
1 large green pepper, membrane and seeds removed, chopped
1 teaspoon oil
5 cloves garlic, minced 
1 16 oz. can black beans, mostly drained 
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, mostly drained
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 
3 tablespoons chili powder 
1 ancho (dried poblano) chili, de-seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons salt 
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 dash habanero hot sauce 

Brown ground beef over medium-high heat, waiting to break up the meat so that most pieces sear on the outside. Drain, then repeat with sausage.  Saute onion and green pepper over high heat in 1 teaspoon oil (if needed), until slightly brown.  

Combine all ingredients except the beans in the slow cooker and stir to combine.  Then add the beans and gently stir until they are roughly mixed in.  Cover and turn heat to high for 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook for 9 or so hours. If your slow cooker runs hot like mine, you can get away with cooking it for 8 hours on low the entire time.  For a spicier chili, double the chili powder or add a couple tablespoons of your favorite hot sauce.  

We like to top it with chopped avocado, raw diced onion, and maybe some tortilla chips.  

My son likes it with daiya shredded "cheese":  

A note about ingredients: 
When this recipe was originally developed, it called for a tube of Jimmy Dean pork sausage.  It probably tastes the best if you use that but I don't cook with conventionally raised meat anymore. So I've been using Italian pork sausage from Whole Foods and I think it still turns out pretty great.

I also try whenever possible to avoid using canned goods so I often substitute 4 cups of homecooked beans for the two cans of beans. The tomatoes are tougher to substitute but I recently found some in glass jars that are not diced but seem to work ok with this recipe.  

What's for dinner?

I get asked this question a lot by people who are new to the dairy free lifestyle.  One of the hardest things about eliminating dairy is that so many of us are used to putting cheese on everything and when we look through our own recipe collection, we are hard pressed to find recipes that are dairy free.  So, here is a week of ideas for easy dairy free dinners. Enjoy! 

Monday: Tacos

If you need a really fast meal, you can stick to the basics:

• tortillas or taco shells
• ground beef or cooked beans
• store-bought salsa
• lettuce and tomato

If have some extra time, adding one or more of these elements will add lots of flavor (and not to mention nutrients!) 

• guacamole is creamy so it's great instead of sour cream (try my super fast easiest guacamole ever)
• saute some peppers, onions, and/or mushrooms in olive oil for about 10 minutes
• diced raw onion (or other veggies)  

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce . 

Serve with rice and veggies 

Wednesday: 15-minute Creamy Avocado Pasta 

From the oh she glows blog.  This is super yummy, vegan, and fast.  Make sure you include the optional basil when you make it.  I definitely do not consider it optional.  If you are making this for carnivores, some plain grilled chicken would go nicely... 

Thursday: Hamburgers or Veggie Burgers 

Some commercially made veggie burgers contain milk ingredients so check labels carefully.  

To make this meal super easy serve with some of the following: 

• store-bought sweet potato (or regular) french fries 
• tortilla or potato chips
• frozen vegetables 
• store bought baked beans 

If you have a little more time: 

• mashed potatoes
• grilled or roasted vegetables 
• make up some guacamole to put on top of the burgers

Friday: Pizza Night

Super Quick: 

• Buy premade pizza dough (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods both have dairy free ones.  Or check out your local pizza shop, most non-chain pizza places do not use dairy in their crusts)
• Store bought tomato sauce (check labels!) 
• Canned sliced mushrooms and olives
• If you like fake cheese, you can sprinkle some on top.  Or just drizzle with a little olive oil to kick up the flavor a bit  

If you have a little more time: 

Romesco pizza with carmelized onions and squash.  This is my favorite cheeseless pizza, it is made with romesco sauce which is much more flavorful than regular tomato sauce.  It was invented by the vegan chef who wrote Veganomicon so it was never meant to have cheese on top and it really doesn't need it...  

Saturday:  Spaghetti with Tomato Meat Sauce and Salad.  

Or use baby portabellas instead of ground meat in the sauce to make it vegan.  

Slow Cooker Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce

Lately, dinner planning has consisted of asking myself one of these two questions:  What already made food do we have in the freezer? -OR- What can I throw into the slow cooker? In this case, the answer is chicken and some stuff I always keep in the fridge. This is an amalgamation of a couple of different recipes that I'm pretty sure were probably all stolen from the same person.  It is really easy and super delicious.  I usually serve it with rice.  

Slow Cooker Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce
1.5 lbs chicken thighs (or whatever cut you want really) 
1 cup honey
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce 
1/4 cup ketchup  
1 1/2 Tbs. neutral tasting oil (such as peanut or canola)
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) 
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)  

Combine ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours, depending on your slow cooker. A 4-quart one is probably the best size.  If you have larger one or one that runs hot like mine, you might even want to check after about 3 hours to avoid drying the meat out.

Italian food without cheese?

Yes!!  Italian food can still be delicious without cheese!  I think making dairy free Italian-inspired dishes really boils down to these three factors:  

• Good ingredients: Food that tastes good on its own doesn't really need cheese to make it better.  I think restaurants and home cooks often use cheese to cover up something that wasn't really that great in the first place (like a boring jar of spaghetti sauce).  So using fresh ingredients (or at least better canned tomatoes) can go a long way.  If you are new to dairy free cooking and have the cash to spare, I'd recommend going to one of those specialty stores where you can taste different olive oils and pick one you really like.  
• Salt and fat:  Especially when we're talking about parmiggiano regiano and pecorino romano cheeses, a lot of the flavor profile can be explained by the salt and fat content.  So if your dairy free dish tastes a little bit lacking, it could benefit from a little more olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.  
• Getting used to it:  It took me a couple of months to get used to having pasta dishes without dairy products but for the most part I don't really notice anymore and I know it is so much healthier to leave the canned parm off of my dish.  But let's face it, there is no really good substitute for fettuccine alfredo. (There are some things I make when I'm craving that type of food.  But that's another blog post).  Most of the time I just focus on other types of Italian dishes, which can be delicious without dairy. Like this one:  

Gnocchi with Mushroom Sauce 
adapated from this website: danatreat.com
2 Tbsp non-hydrogenated margerine 
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
12-18 oz  fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced  
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
1 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth 
2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage   
3 cups baby arugula (or chopped up regular arugula)  
1 lb potato gnocchi  (find it in the pasta aisle or in the frozen section)  

1. Start boiling a pot of water for the gnocchi.  

2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and melt the margarine and oil together.  Add the mushrooms and shallots.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring once in awhile until they are lightly browned.  (It's ok if you don't get yours browned, if they have softened up you can just go on to the next step).  


3. Add the stock and the sage and simmer 6-8 more minutes, until the liquid has reduced slightly.  You will want to make sure it is really bubbling in order for it to reduce properly.  

4. Meanwhile, add the gnocchi to the boiling water and prepare according to the package directions.  Normally, it will be done when most of the pieces float to the top.  

5. Add the arugula to the skillet with the mushroom mixture and cook for about 2 minutes until wilted.  Then use a slotted spoon to move the cooked gnocchi into the skillet and mix everything together.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Serves 3-4 (but make sure you serve it with a salad or something else.  I don't t hink it would be enough food for dinner without having a side dish.)   

A note about substitutions:  If you wanted to make this a bit healthier, you could omit the margarine and use vegetable stock.  You could also use whole wheat potato gnocchi (which I did the last time we made this, maybe you can tell in the pictures).  But here's the thing, I don't think will be quite as good.  This dish is pretty simple and it's really delicious made with the exact ingredients listed above.  So maybe make it the first time as it is, then you can tweak it a bit if you want later.