Morrocan Chili

Posted on by Michele

Moroccan Chili Dump Dish

Dump dishes are the BEST! Just dump whatever you have in the pantry into a pan and you’re off! I was
planning on making chili this week so I had the basics: hot Italian sausage links, ground bison, petite
diced tomatoes. But then I was watching (ok… I admit it… I binge watched the entire season) Guy’s
Ranch Kitchen and Chef Aarti Sequeira made chili pie… but of course she added her usual Indian twist.
Inspired by Aarti, and with a full spice cabinet staring me in the face – it’s Chili game on at Ride, Camp,
Eat!

Indian and African spices replace the usual chili powder, and diced sweet potatoes replace the beans.
And the best part? There’s a triple onion threat going on here… some left over sour cream French Onion
Dip (You know you love that Lipton Onion Soup mix!), left over crunchy fried onions, and some fresh
sweet diced onions on top for garnish.

I know what’s going to happen… you are going to look at the ingredient list and be all NOPE, NOPE,
NOPE like the penguins in the Geico commercial… too many ingredients for me! Use the recipe as a
guide – if you don’t have it in the spice cabinet, don’t worry about it! Use what you’ve got to add that
Indian/North African spice note and you’ll be good to go. Trust me, this is going to blow your mind it is
so good! And French Onion Dip on Chili is going to be a thing… just wait!

Moroccan Chili
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
½ medium red onion, diced
1 small shallot, diced
2 links hot Italian sausage (I like Johnsonville), casing removed and broken up into small crumbles
1/3 lb ground beef or bison, pork, lamb broken into small crumbles – whatever you have on hand will work
1 medium sweet potato or yam, diced into even-sized pieces (so they cook evenly and you don’t get
chopped for some of the pieces being raw in the middle!)
1 cube Knorr chicken bouillion
1 15oz can petite diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup water (more or less depending on how thick you like your chili sauce)

Spice mix:
About ½ tsp of all or some of the following:
Garam masala
Ground cumin
Ground coriander
Ground cardamom
Onion powder
Cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
Smoked paprika
Turmeric
About ¼ tsp of the following:
Ground cinnamon
Red pepper flakes
Chili powder

Garnishes:
Diced sweet onion
Chopped cilantro
Fried onions (use up that package you have leftover from your thanksgiving green bean casserole – you
know it’s in there!)
French Onion Dip (sour cream and Lipton Onion Soup mix)
Shredded manchego and cheddar cheeses (use whatever you’ve got in the fridge that you think will go
along with the flavor profile we’re after here)

Combine the spice mix ingredients into a bowl and set aside. In a deep sided pan over medium heat,
heat the oil. When the oil is hot add the onions, shallots, and sweet potato dice and saute for a few
minutes until the onions begin to look translucent. Add the sausage and ground meat and continue to
saute until the meat is about half done – about 5 minutes. Add the spice mix to the meat and onion mix,
stirring thoroughly. Continue to cook for about another 5 minutes until the meat is cooked through.
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and chicken boullion cube along with the water (start with ½ cup and

add more to desired consistency). Continue to cook over medium heat for about another 10 minutes
until the sauce thickens slightly and the sweet potatoes are just cooked. Remove from heat.
Scoop the chili into bowls and top with your choice of garnishes and your favorite adult beverage.

Horn O Plenty – Farm to Table “Freshtaurant”

Posted on by Michele

s03e20-horn-o-plenty-thumbnailAs you have probably figured out by now, Darryl and I love to eat.  Cooking our own, or dining out – we LOVE food!  For me, one of the great things about becoming a better cook is that our home cooking is pretty darned good.  But the other side of being a better home chef is that sometimes when we do eat out, the food just doesn’t seem to be as good as it used to be.  So it can be really tough for us to find restaurants that have good food at a good price.  Does that make us food snobs?

We stopped eating fast food a long time ago and finding something other than McDonalds or Wendy’s on the road can be a real challenge.  Sometimes we bring food with us to eat on the way, but most of the time we try to find something not too far off the path that at least offers something fresh and reasonably healthy.

I’m not sure what in the world we did before the Internet, but there is an app for everything and my go-to app for finding good food on the road is Yelp.

Seriously, Yelp it is a foodie traveler’s best friend.

If you don’t have it – download it RIGHT NOW!  I’ll wait….

Ok – now that you have it, you’ll see how easy it is to use, and the map and directions functionality usually doesn’t steer you wrong (although it never hurts to double check the restaurant website just to make sure they haven’t moved or closed recently).

I’m sure that most Yelp users have a philosophy how to pick a restaurant.  When I look at Yelp, I always look for restaurants that have lots of reviews with a solid 3.5-4 star minimum.  I figure that means a lot of people have gone there and the service/food has been consistently good.  I will read through the reviews if I’m on the fence (note to reviewers – tell me what you ate!!).  Too many so-so reviews and we’ll pass – but if it sounds good, we will give it a shot!

In addition to finding good healthy food, one of the other things we look for is finding a local business to support.  We love contributing to the success of family-owned restaurants – and let’s face it, the service and the food is so much better when you are supporting a local business.

We’ve been spending a lot of time in south central Pennsylvania this summer, so when the weather was rainy and chilly this past weekend, we decided to go for a drive and have lunch at one of our favorite Yelp finds up in the small town of Bedford, PA.

Horn O Plenty is an amazing farm-to-table restaurant in an old farmhouse just outside of town.  And when they say “farm-to-table” they mean it!  The menu changes weekly based on what they are growing on their farm 3 miles down the road.

It is just so perfectly quaint!  From the well-worn wood floors, to the wood-fired oven hypnotizing diners from the open-air kitchen – it just begs you to come in, sit down, and make yourself at home.  Great locally sourced food, comfortable atmosphere, and supporting a family business – perfect.

See for yourself… as Ferris would say “If you have the means (or are just in the area), I highly recommend it”!

Dinner & S’mores

Posted on by Michele

dinner-and-smores-thumbnailI’d have to turn in my cooking card if at some point I didn’t talk about the most iconic of all camp foods – S’mores.  Thank you Girl Scouts – who came up with this back in the 1920’s and have made millions of campers very… well… happy campers!

There is even a National S’mores Day (August 10) – who knew?

With S’mores you can go traditional, or you can go high-falutin.  Google “smores” and you’ll get more than 8 MILLION results!

If by chance you have never had one, or actually need a recipe – here’s the wiki-how on s’mores:  http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-S’more

We have tried a few frilly editions – rice crispy treats and peanut butter cups (really, really sweet).  Here are a few more: http://mentalfloss.com/article/58257/11-creative-smores-combinations-national-smores-day

We usually go traditional – graham crackers, chocolate, toasted marshmallows.  Note to campers – store your chocolate in the fridge or in your cooler.  Just saying…

Everyone has their own style of s’mores making… Darryl likes the ‘brown but not burnt” marshmallow approach.  I’m more of a burnt marshmallow kind of gal.  I tend to overdo the chocolate – but even I admit that less is more when it comes to s’mores.

Did you know that s’mores go great with red wine?

Every good camping dinner ends with a few s’mores…

Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

Posted on by Michele

Seneca RocksOne of the best ways to find out about really cool camping locations is word of mouth – especially when it comes from your brother-in-law.  He and his wife had taken a rock-climbing class at a place called Seneca Rocks – and that was all it took for us to be off on our next adventure!

About 3 hours from DC, Seneca Rocks is a large crag and local landmark in Pendleton County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, USA.  Apparently it is the only “true peak” — a peak inaccessible except by technical rock climbing techniques — on the East Coast of the United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Rocks thanks Wikipedia!) and there are 375 major mapped climbing routes, varying in degree from 5.0 (the easiest) to 5.13 (the hardest).

Not a state park, Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks is actually a National Recreation Area (NRA) established within the Monongahela National Forest by an act of the U.S. Congress on September 28, 1965.

In addition to rock climbers, the Seneca Rocks area is a huge hunting and fishing draw – and the hundreds of miles of twisty mountain roads attract huge numbers of motorbikers on any given weekend.

For us, this was purely an exploratory trip to see what the camping was like, and get the lay of the land for future adventures.  We aren’t trained rock-climbers (and we have no climbing equipment of our own) – and sadly the rock-climbing school was a little out of our price range – so camping and hiking were our two main activities for the weekend (that, and keeping cool with triple digit temps and triple digit humidity).

There is a hiking trail that takes you up to the rocks… with a bunch of signs at the end of the trail warning you not to scramble on the rocks (but everyone does).  It’s 1.5 miles one way and about a 1500 foot rise in elevation –a bit challenging but not terribly difficult.  There is an observation “porch” at the trailhead that gives some breathtaking views of the valley below.  Unfortunately, this is the only real hiking trail in the area – but it definitely didn’t disappoint!

After some research, Darryl picked Seneca Shadows as our camping spot: http://www.recreation.gov/camping/seneca-shadows/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70322

(My review:  It is VERY well tended (the best I’ve ever seen actually) and extremely clean – I would highly recommend it!  It was pretty easy to get into with the trailer, and has a number of electric sites as well as tent camping (50% reservable in advance, 50% saved for walk-ups).)

Cool campground, good hiking, excellent views… not a bad way to spend a weekend.  Hat tip to the BIL for the recommendation – and if you are ever in the area, it is definitely worth the trip.