I have heard that it only takes 3 weeks or 21 days to develop a habit. When I went on bedrest I didn’t realize exactly what that would mean for our family. During that time a couple bad habits developed in particular–too much TV watching and no cooking at home. I am so so so thankful for all the people that brought us delicious food, but now I am so out of practice I am finding it difficult to come up with ideas.

Actually the journey to little cooking began earlier in the year. I would often lament that we had all this great, organic produce but little time to make it. Since we were commuting to our farm if I didn’t plan ahead and bring items home to cook then I was out of luck, plus there was just the time and energy constraints of commuting, farming, Proeun working full time, being pregnant, and trying to keep the children grounded.

Now we are in our quiet season and it feels so nice. We still have some winter produce around now I just need to get my act together and start cooking. Luckily winter is my favorite time to eat.

This week we made, “3 Pepper White Chili” and “Roasted Almonds”. The chili used our homegrown dried beans, Hutterite Soup Beans, peppers, onions and garlic grown by one of the other farmers.  

Roasted Almonds are another favorite snack to have around the house. Sorry I wasn’t thinking enough to get pictures but here are the recipes. I will keep you posted on our quest to cook more at home.

3 Pepper White Chili

2-3 cups cooked white beans (I love great northerns if you don’t have homegrown!)

1 lb ground turkey or hamburger browned and seasoned with salt and a dash of sugar

1 bell pepper
1 poblano pepper
1-2 jalapeno pepper
1 medium onion
3 tsp chicken style seasoning or broth cube (optional)
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cloves garlic

I like to cook the beans in a crock pot overnight. No need to soak, just add 1 1/2 cups beans and about 8 cups water, turn it on high and in the morning perfectly cooked beans.

Then I brown the meat and add the other ingredients in the morning (sometimes I remove excess water to make a thick chili). Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8.

 Roasted Almonds

4 cups raw, whole almonds
2 TBSP water
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Dissolve salt in water and mix with almonds. Pour on a cook sheet so they are about one level and roast in oven for 2 hours. Cool and enjoy!