Four Foods On Friday (46)

#1. Egg salad or deviled eggs. How do you prepare?

Neither.  I really don’t like eggs that much.  I’ve never had egg salad and I don’t like deviled eggs.

#2. French fries. Do you make homemade or frozen?

I’ve never made my own, but definitely want to.  I love french fries.  We bought frozen waffle fries once — so good!

#3. Gravy. What do you use – homemade, jar, can or from a package?

I’ve never made my own gravy before.  I think my mom has used all of the above: homemade, jar, can, package.  I loved them all.

#4. Share a recipe for a hot (temperature, not spice) dish.

Check out my previous post for Speedy Improv Chili!

Speedy Improv Chili

Another recipe from Pampered Chef’s “29 Minutes to Dinner”.  This time my inspiration was Lightning-Fast Veggie Chili (p. 117).  I’ve never made chili before and  I ended up changing this recipe a good bit, first because we don’t have a reason to eat vegetarian and second, after I started, I realized I didn’t have any canned tomatoes… it was interesting.  I think I did okay with my improv skills, considering tomatoes are probably pretty important in chili.  The picture (bottom) is not going to be the most appetizing thing you’ve seen all day, but WF still proclaimed that it tasted good!

Speedy Improv Chili

Serves 2 to 3

Stuff you need:

• 6 oz. canned tomato sauce
• 2 garlic cloves (minced or grated)
• 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 small to medium yellow squash
• 1 small to medium onion
• 1 small to medium red pepper
• 1 small to medium poblano pepper
• 2 tsp. olive oil, divided
• 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 (16 oz.) can chili, undrained
• chopped fresh cilantro
• sour cream and shredded cheese (optional)

What to do with that stuff:

Prep

1. Grate or mince garlic.
2. Seed and dice yellow squash.
3. Dice poblano pepper, red pepper and onion.

Cook

1. Combine tomato sauce, grated (or minced) garlic, small handful of diced red pepper, chili powder and salt in microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on HIGH 5 to 6 minutes.  Remove from microwave and set aside.
2. Add 1 tsp. of oil to a large pot and heat over medium-high heat 1 to 3 minutes or until shimmering.
3. Add squash and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until tender.
4. Remove squash from pot and set aside.
5. Add remaining tsp. of oil to same pot and cook onion, poblano pepper, and remaining red pepper 3 to 4 minutes or until tender.
6. Add tomato paste and cook an additional 30 seconds or until tomato paste begins to caramelize, stirring constantly.
7. Add microwave mixture to pot.
8. Reduce heat to medium-low.
9. Add beans and squash to pot.
10. Simmer 4 to 5 minutes or until chili is thickened, stirring occasionally.
11. Stir cilantro into chili.
12. Serve with cheese and sour cream if desired.

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