Sunday night after Ryan left I was feeling bummed out. I guess it's always a downer when a houseguest leaves. I felt that maybe cooking in my pretty new Vera Bradley apron April got me for my birthday would cheer me up, so along with my planned chili and cornbread, I made some Bundt brownies in my new Bundt pan. I couldn't resist buying it last week at Target, so this week I decided to make the recipe that came with the pan: cheesecake brownies.
First things first though, the chili. I browned ground beef with a chopped onion and a sprinkle of garlic powder in a pot. After draining off the juice, I added a can of diced tomatoes with the liquid, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and red pepper sauce. I knew it must be right because with the spices it started to smell like my mom's chili. I cooked all of that for one hour covered (which was too long because it burned on to the pan) and then added kidney beans and cooked it for another 30 minutes uncovered. The chili turned out delicious! I put waaay less chili powder than it called for, so it wasn't too spicy, which is the way we like it.
For the cornbread, I used a vintage Youens recipe which I am not sure I am authorized to share online. Other than the fact that it got a little crispy because I cooked it too long, it tasted great! Next time I'll try 15 minutes to start and check it until it's done. The cornbread is sweet (it has two tablespoons of sugar) and I like to eat it with jelly. Shane likes to put it in his chili. My dad has been known to drown it in about a gallon of "squirt butter" and honey.
Finally, the Bundt cheesecake brownies. This was a from-scratch brownie recipe, even starting out with melting unsweetened baker's chocolate and butter. I have the best thing for that: my silicone measuring cups. As advised by Chef Linda, I use them to melt butter and chocolate in the microwave and it all comes out easily with a silicone spatula and washes easily. I am sure this is far less messy than heating up chocolate and butter in a saucepan, as the recipe called for. Along with the brownie mix, I mixed up some cream cheese, powdered sugar, and egg for the cream cheese part. Into the mini Bundt pans went a dollop of brownie mix and a dollop of cream cheese mix. The brownies turned out great, and even came out of the pan, but I learned yet another trick from Chef Linda: when you are flouring a pan to make something chocolate, use cocoa powder instead of flour to avoid the white residue. Ideally, Chef Linda recommends the Pam spray or Baker's Joy that already has flour in it.
All around this was a successful meal! I am considering declaring October "soup month" and going through the soup recipes in my book like tortilla soup, veggie chili, and black bean soup. We are having as close as Houston may come this year to "soup weather" and I don't want it to pass by without finishing the soup recipes! Okay, now back to watching vintage ER. I am on Season 1, which I used to listen to from my bedroom when I was 9 years old and it came on past my bedtime. It's really quite good!
Oh, and C-boo's 10 months and can pull up on her own now :).
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