This past week Gutsy Cooks decided to join the masses and have open choice with our menu options and celebrate the upcoming Super Bowl madness.

The theme was to post our favorite game food.

Originally, we planned to have a couple of friends over for the game and that plan crashed and burned and it ended up being just us on a Sunday night.

Or actually just Tom, since I’m not a big football fan.

But, let me totally get off topic here and give a HUGE SHOUT to Madonna.  You ROCKED the halftime show…you still got it, you still made get up and VOUGE!

*cough, cough* Back to our main topic… our dinner.

I knew that we were not going be eating finger food, so the only option for a dinner was the Chili and that was my starting point.

I gutsied up the whole thing, omitted some stuff, added others and totally went rogue and built my chili as a Sheppard’s pie.  I wanted to bake some corn bread to go along with the chili and then had a light bulb moment and thought, why not add the corn bread ON TOP of the chili and bake it?

And that is what I did.

Was it a hit? Was it a miss?

The chili was a home run, or I should say, a TOUCHDOWN!

The corn bread was good.

On top of the chili?

Sort of.  I know what went wrong (to much corn bread topping, not enough chili at the bottom) and will totally try again with some modifications (bigger dish, less topping on top).  But our quarterback of the night - “Mr. Chili” was working it.

It came out perfectly, spicy, creamy, I used ground beef, pork and pinto beans and a secret ingredient that brought forth all of the flavors.  This recipe also gave the opportunity of trying some canned tomatoes that were sent to me by Red Gold.  They contacted me a couple of weeks ago in order to get the word out about their efforts in ending hunger in America.  And sent me a sample of their products for me to give them a try.

I’m always impressed when a company invests their efforts in the fight against hunger.  And Red Gold was not shy about it. This past January 26, the company made a 15,000 pound food donation to Feeding America Tampa Bay. 

It makes me proud to use products from companies that want to make a difference, that are committed in being responsible and giving back to their communities. Red Gold products have earned a spot in my pantry.

GAME CHILI WITH CORNBREAD TOP

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried or crushed chili flakes
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 red pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1 green pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 3 cans of tomatoes (I use the following Red Gold: Chili Ready, Petite Dice with Green Chilies and Dice Tomatoes)
• ½ cup tomato ketchup
• ½ cup tomato puree
• 1 cup water
• 1 to 3 teaspoon of hot sauce (optional)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa (secret ingredient – trust me you will not regret using it)
• 2 cans red kidney beans, rinsed.

CORNBREAD TOPPING:

• 1 package of cornbread (your preference, but I had this one in my pantry)
• 1 can (14.75 oz) cream style sweet corn
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 2 cups grated Cheddar

SERVING SUGGESTION:

• sour cream
• grated Cheddar (because there can never be enough cheese!)
• chopped green onions

Heat the oil in a very large pan and fry the onion and garlic until it begins to soften. Add the chili flakes, coriander and cumin.

Add the peppers and season with salt and pepper and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Break up the ground beef/pork into the pan and, using a fork, keep turning it to separate it as it browns. Add the chopped tomatoes, ketchup, tomato puree, and water stirring to make a rich red sauce. When the chili starts to boil sprinkle on the cocoa and hot sauce (if you are using) and stir it in. Taste at this point, I found that I needed to season it with a bit more salt and pepper.  If you have a chicken bouillon, add 1 to it. Add the beans and simmer partially covered for 1½ hours. At this point you can cool and freeze the chili, or just keep it in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Pour the chili into a large, wide dish or keep in the pan you cooked it in if it is ovenproof.

Make cornbread mix as directed on pouch, substituting cream style corn for the milk and adding the egg and melted butter. Pour the cornmeal topping over the chili, and using a spoon spread to cover the top as evenly as possible.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the cornbread and then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cornbread topping is golden and the chili underneath is bubbling. How long this takes depends on the how cold or hot the chili was when it went into the oven. You may find it easiest to reheat it on the stove in its pan first if you had it cold in the refrigerator.

Let the chili stand for about 5 minutes once out of the oven before cutting the cornbread top into squares or slices to serve with a helping of chili underneath.

Now watch people fight for it!

I started writing this post last Sunday.

This final post is not what the original post was.  The original post was much longer, full of explanations and key points and well, you know how I can ramble on and on.

Just so you know, I’m like that in real life too.

But, I was feeling it. I was in the writing “zone” - the one where it’s flowing and flowing and you are typing happily away.

Then about the third paragraph down, I stopped, because I got side tracked by a 180 pound dog tearing into the house full of soap and water.

Apparently Rufus, had gotten away from Tom during his bath time.  And that dog made sure that we knew how much he hates bath time.

I promise I will be back later this week, I got two posts in the works and the Gutsy Menus for February is up!

Baby steps people, baby steps.

Thanks for sticking around thru the CRAZINESS.

This was taken a while ago when Tom and I attended the local Food Truck Rally here in Tampa.  I could not help myself not taking a picture of this.

Tells you how powerful images are instead of words.

For more Snap Thursday, visit Jenn’s Knitty Baker

One of the main reasons I started Gutsy Cooks was to push myself when it came to trying new things in the kitchen.  Often time, we get comfortable with our favorite dishes and tend to make them over and over again, losing the opportunities to try new flavors, ingredients, and techniques.

The whole point of calling the cooking club Gutsy was to remind myself, and those that participate every week with me to be fearless in the kitchen.  That is how good cooks are born.

It may be a total bust and you may not like it, but – you.tried.it.  You were Gutsy.  And then there are those times when something you have never thought would work becomes your new favorite thing.

This salad is my new favorite thing.

I have not posted anything with my baking group from ABC in so long; I’m surprised to see I’m still part of it!

Thank you Hanaa for keeping me in the fold and not kicking me out to the curve.

For 2012, the ABC bakers decided to bake from Abigail Johnson Dodge, The Weekend Baker and she was kind enough to pick our inaugural recipe.

She describes this as an “elegant brunch coffee cake” and after making it today, I could not agree more.

I planned to do this cake back in late December in order to have it ready to post in our early January schedule.

Then, life; sort of happened and this fell through the cracks.

I’m going to start with a quick apology.

I have been so absent from posting because, well… I have been absent from cooking.  The past two weeks I have been basically living on cereal and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Did you know that if you melt a bit of cheese on your skillet and then put your toasted grilled cheese on top, you get the best crust EVER?

Try it – you will never see a grilled cheese sandwich the same again.

I continue on my “master the yeast” path.

Since cooking has taken a HUGE backseat to other things happening in my life, my “Recipe to try” folder in my computer is bursting at the seams with tons of recipes waiting for me to make. And what better way to start the New Year than with a yeast bread recipe?

This is one of them.  I first saw it back in May (see how long ago!) in the Fisher & Paykel site “Our Kitchen” which is run as collaboration between friends that work for the company.  If you have not discovered this site, go now and put it on your reader list.  The photos are gorgeous and the recipes are truly one of a kind.  

Just like this Braided Hazelnut Bread.

The recipe got my attention because of the hazelnuts (love them!) then it lost my attention because it has apples in it - and if you have been reading me for a while, you know how I feel about cooked fruit in anything sweet.  But, I figured that Tom would love it and it has been a while since I have cooked anything specifically to his likings.

But, once I took it out of the oven, the smell was just too good to pass up having a quick taste.

I’m officially converted!

I apologize in advance for the long post.

But I had A LOT of information to give you about this recipe.

Plus, the pretty pictures will keep you salivating.

Then running to your local fish market.

This past Saturday, Tom and I invited our respective mothers for early dinner at our house in order to celebrate Christmas.

During the menu planning, Tom suggested we try making the Paella I been talking about for months and months.

“hint, hint”

I took it and ran with it.

I’m a bread snob.  Just like I’m picky about the type of chocolate I eat (the dark kind) I picky about the bread that I use to make my sandwiches.

My preferences always turn to anything that has a crust that is darker brown and a creamy inside.  If it’s right out of the oven, it’s a bite of heaven - especially, if it’s use to carry things like a good piece of cheese, salami or my all time weakness – Prosciutto.

Whoever eats prosciutto in soft sandwich bread should be shot in the spot. (I seen it and I have died a little too).

You may think I’m talking specifically about French bread.  And while I adore French bread, this is not the only type of artisan bread that I love.  Give me a good Ciabatta or a round crusty sourdough and I’m a happy camper.

So when I was planning our Christmas day meal and my mother offered to bring a selection of cure meats and cheeses to munch on while we waited for the Paella, I jumped at the chance to offer to make the bread for it.