JAPANESE CURRY CHILI

Every year our school district has a chili cook-off contest. While some parents were talking about who would enter it got me thinking. Since our school is a Japanese immersion school, what would a fusion chili be? If I were to make a Japanese chili, what would that be? After some deep thinking, I settled on a fusion of classic American chili with Japanese curry. It would have all the main ingredients of chili, but all the spices of Japanese curry.

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THE BEST VEGGIE BURGER

The best? Really? I know some of you may be thinking the words “veggie” and “burger” are two words that don’t even belong together and especially combined with the word “best.” I used to think that too.

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MEAT LOAF? NO, MEAT CAKE!

My sister-in-law claimed to hate meat loaf. She also never had it and refused to eat it. My brother couldn’t even cook it at home for her to try. It’s not like she doesn’t like ground beef. She eats burgers and other meat dishes. How can you not like meat loaf? Or even more shocking, how do you hate it? It’s the classic mid-western American meal. What was her problem? It was my goal to investigate this, and then later educate her on the greatness that is meat loaf.

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BALSAMIC VINEGAR DRESSING

We were having friends over for dinner the other day. I had planned this fancy salad with pears, dried cherries, glazed pecans, and goat cheese. I originally planned on using store bought dressing to save some time, but after further pondering, I decided I should up my game and rock some homemade balsamic vinegar dressing. With a fancy salad bursting with all that flavor I couldn’t lame out for the dressing. This balsamic dressing was super delicious and was a crowd pleaser. It kept really well in the refrigerator too. I think using the immersion blender helped keep the oil from separating. Continue reading “BALSAMIC VINEGAR DRESSING”

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Corn and Black Bean Salsa

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I’ve been wanting to use my new grill more, but I’ve also wanted to still keep eating primarily vegetarian. I was having a hard time finding an easy main dish grilled veggie recipe. Our whole house loves cauliflower so when I came across this it looked like it was worth a try, and simple.

I didn’t have any cilantro on hand which I’m sure would add wonders to the taste. But I liked the combination of the cauliflower with the bean salsa. I grilled some zucchini as a side dish as well.

I only cut two “steaks” out of the cauliflower head. I wasn’t sure how thick to make them either. Mine were probably an inch and a half thick. The recipe said to grill them 3-4 minutes on each side, but I did about 10 minutes. I’d probably do a little longer next time because they were a little crunchier than I would have preferred.

I will definitely make these again with a few adjustments. It was just too easy and simple to not want to make it again.

RECIPES:

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Corn and Black Bean Salsa