Comfort Foods and Indulgences

We love chili. Enough said, really.

The weather has finally turned and Fall is in the air. While the rain and gloomy weather is not good for the wine grapes, it is chili weather.

There are so many versions of chili out there. At our house, we prefer chili without beans, the real way to make chili, he-he. However, I love Cincinnati chili with all of its 3-way and 4-way styles. Yum.

I have to admit, my chili changes a little bit each time, based on the amount of meat I have or what chili powders I have. However, the overall style does not change. This chili is great by itself or poured over things like hot dogs and burgers or even chili fries. Okay, chili fries sound good right about now.

Hey everyone...another great party trio.  This is really fun to serve all of them, at once.  Each one has a unique flavor and all are top notch flavors.  I have to admit my favorite was the Buffalo Wing, it's also the spiciest.

I served these with plain Kettle Style chips, they were the perfect vehicle for delivering the yumminess. And by incorporating your favorite fatty foods in hummus, there is no reason to deprive yourself (2 Tablespoons average about 40 calories). I love it.

Apparently there is a restaurant in Baltimore (The Desert Cafe) that has a rotating menu of a 175 versions of hummus...even sushi and banana-split flavors.  They even ship their hummus nationwide.

Here are three of their recipes they shared with Food Network....they are must trys...

I'm calling this a pie. Yes, it resembles a quiche, but I prefer to call it a pie. It seems more manly that way. Plus I wanted a more rustic looking version that does not require rolling anything out or having to make actual dough.

The crust here is cheese based, you just press it in the pan and it's ready to go...no skills required. While quiche is often served for just breakfast or brunch, this is definitely perfect for dinner too.

It's not eggy or flavorless. In fact it's bursting with all kinds of tastes and works great for leftovers. Enjoy this one over the weekend!

Sometimes you want a gallette instead of a pie.  You’re shocked hearing that from me? Well, don’t be. Apparently I enabled a gallette to be the winning “pie” at the last pie contest.  And you know why?  Because of the increased caramelization possibilities of more exposed crust and the ability to make a really big one for a wow presentation. 

Like this one here which served almost 20.  Also, I find that for bakers who are nervous about the whole cooking fruit inside a crust + thickener thing, cooking the apples separately can be an easy anxiety fix.

To size up the recipe just use more dough to make a bigger circle for your gallette and prep more apples.  For this gallette that was 14″ across I made my Ratio Dough using 15 oz of flour.  I used 10 small apples.  You actually don’t need to use many more apples than for a regular pie, they’re just spread out in a much thinner layer.