Hi All…. Susan and I of She’s Becoming Doughmesstic decided to do a blog post swap for Super Bowl. If you want to see what I made head over to her site.

Hello everyone! I’m thrilled to be here, guest posting for Miss Peabody, Queen of Sweet. Me? I’m Susan, and I have my own blog – She’s Becoming Doughmesstic. Over there you’ll find lots of sugary goodness, a few dinner worthy concoctions, breads, breakfasts…you name it. But like Peabody, I LOVE desserts, so you’ll find no lack of them there!

When the two of us put this plan in motion, I had every intention of making you all something sweet. Cupcakes, brownies, cookies. But P probably has you covered there, so I opted to go a little savory, and present you with this incredible Sweet Potato Chili.

After having survived a long and brutal winter, filled with lots of football and the foods that go along with it, I thought it was time to change the snacking line-up for this year’s Super Bowl. Sure, you need the staples when watching the big game: Chicken Wings, Meatballs, Chips & Dip. But why not add in a little sweetness? A little heat with those chips? How about Sweet Potato Chili?

Thick enough to use as a nice dip for some Tortilla Chips, but just as good on its own as a meal, this chili offers a nice kick along with it’s refreshing cilantro and orange zing to keep it fresh. And the sweet potatoes? Well, they are the icing on the cake…and I know you LOVE cake.

Three Bean & Sweet Potato Chili

Makes 10 servings

• 4 Tablespoons Salted Butter
• 1 Teaspoon Minced Wet Garlic
• 1 Sweet Onion, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 2 cups Vegetable Stock
• 1 1/2 pounds Sweet Potatoes, cut into cubes
• 2 – 15oz. cans Mild Green Chili Diced Tomatoes, not drained
• 1 can Rotel Diced Tomatoes with Lime & Cilantro, drained
• 1 – 15oz can Black Eyed Peas, drained
• 1 – 15oz. can Black Beans, drained
• 1 – 19oz can Cannellini Beans, drained
• 1 can Sweet Corn, drained
o 1 Tablespoon Orange Juice
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon Orange Zest
• 1/2 Tablespoons Lime Zest

Melt butter in large dutch oven or pot. Add onions and cook over medium high heat for 2 minutes. Add chili power and stir, cooking for another minute.

Add vegetable stock and sweet potatoes, and cook on medium/low for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and beans, then simmer for roughly 10 more minutes. Add corn and orange juice and cook 5 additional minutes. When ready, add zest and cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips if desired, and enjoy!

Thanks for having me today, Peabody! It’s been fun!

I was in a rare cleaning frenzy on Friday. Like dig stuff out from the back of the closet kind of cleaning. It resulted in my finding a few things. I purse I forgot I owned, always a fun find. Six dollars and seventeen cents US dollars and $5 Canadian dollars. A bag of gummy bears that were a little stale…but still edible (don’t judge). And a crumpled up wedding veil. Now I didn’t wear a wedding veil at my wedding. I actually wore it to bowl the night before. I didn’t have a rehearsal dinner, we went bowling instead…cheaper and more fun. Anyway the veil was just a cheapy one, the kind that if you had a bachelorette party of something along those lines you might buy.

Anyway I was being goofy and put it on and decided I would put on a little Madonna’s like a Virgin and dance around. When the song was done I remembered to turn off the iPod but kept the veil on (it was a short one so it wasn’t really in the way). I got to cleaning and cleaning and the next thing you know there is a knock at the door. I go open the door and it’s my UPS guy. We have the same one (well actually two…there’s a morning guy and an afternoon guy). I give my morning guy treats (shhh, don’t tell the afternoon guy). So he looks up and is trying not to laugh and says to me “I’m not really looking for a commitment right now” and then we both started laughing as I realized I still had the veil on.

Before he left I gave him some leftover cupcakes and joked “see if you like this flavor for our cake”. To which he laughed again and said fine but that his groom’s cake should be German chocolate. FYI- his wife reads my blog so it’s all in good fun…he knows I’m only slightly crazy.

I figured I best throw out (it’s not in good shape to donate) the veil before I scare off another UPS man. I have a knack for having interesting incidents with UPS men. Three times I have flashed them thanks to the dog jumping up on me and pulling down what were baggy shorts/pants. So the men in brown love me. So that’s how we will tie these muffins in and say the little strawberry heart is for all the love the UPS men have for me. Ha!

If you don’t have Meyer lemons you can use regular lemons though I would add another 1/3 cup of sugar though. The strawberries aren’t really necessary either but considering the fact that Arizona Statehood Day is coming up (you know it as Valentine’s Day) I would try and be festive. Some of the batter eats the strawberries as they bake up and some survive…I guess like relationships (wow, I’m deep )

Meyer Lemon Love Muffins

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one Meyer lemon
Juice of 3 Meyer lemons
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 and ¼ cup sour cream
Decorative sugar
12 strawberries, hulled, and cut in half and then in the shape of a heart

Mix together the oil and sugar on medium speed for three minutes.

Add in the lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.

Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.

In a separate, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the egg-oil mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl occasionally. Mix until just all the ingredients are together but try not to over mix.

Portion the muffin batter into greased tins (I use an ice cream scoop). Depending on the size of your tins, you should get about 12 muffins.

Sprinkle with decorative sugar and place strawberry heart into middle of muffin, don’t press too hard they will sink during baking.

Bake them for approx. 22-24 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

Many of my friends are sad that Heidi Klum and Seal are divorcing and so very shocked as they seemed so happy (with the exception of my delusional guy friends who think they have a shot with Heidi now…hahahaha). A lot of people seem to be a lot of things. I firmly believe that people have three lives: a public life, a private life, and a secret life.

People always tell me how open I am on here and what not, I can assure you that there are many a thing you don’t know, and well that’s okay. You don’t need to know everything about me. We don’t need to know everything about celebrities. I am not sure what happened along the way but it’s not our right to know what celebrities are doing at all times. I don’t care if they pump gas just like me. Or that they eat ice cream. They carry their own groceries. They aren’t like me. You know why? Because no one is following me around with a camera trying to take photos of me at the grocery store. Thank goodness too. If someone saw me today, I took the dog out in pj bottoms and gigantic sweatshirt with my hair being some sort of throwback tribute to Duran Duran. The only thing following me is a hungry cocker spaniel when I have food in my hands.

Of my friends who have gotten divorced (and even including me), they all seemed to be sooo happy. Partially because if things work out you don’t want your friends judging your spouse and partially because people don’t really like to hear people complain all the time. I honestly think that as a general rule most people in your life would be shocked to learn something about you.

This chili in a way is like people a lot of different layers that make you who you are. This is not a throw it all in one pot and leave it for hours kind of chili. It’s one that requires not only hours of cooking, but four layers of seasoning and four different times. This is how you build depth in food. It’s how something goes from good to really good. I sent this with my BFF to for him and his co-workers to eat. One of them asked for the recipe so I figured I would put it up. It would be great for a cold night or a Super Bowl party.

Lots O’ Spices Chili

1 pound Cubed Beef Roast
1 pound ground beef
1 can kidney beans (14 ounces)
2 cans Beef Broth
2 cups Water
2 cans Tomato Sauce (15 ounces each)
¼ cup ground Masa
Vegetable Oil

1st Spices
2 Tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. Beef granules
1 tsp. Chicken granules
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. season salt
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. Hot Mexican chili powder (McCormick makes it)
1 Tbsp. ground chili pepper

2nd Spices
2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. season salt
1 Tbsp. Hot Mexican chili powder
1 Tbsp. chili powder

3rd Spices
1-1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. Hot Mexican chili powder

4th Spices
1-1/2 tsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Brown ground beef in 2 tsp. oil. Then add cubed beef and brown that.

Add 2 cans beef broth, 2 cups water, 1 can Tomato Sauce and 1st spices.

Bring to boil, cover and cook at medium boil until beef is almost tender (2 hours).

At the end of two hours add 2nd spices, kidney beans, ¼ cup ground masa, and 2nd can of tomato sauce. Bring to boil, then turn down and simmer for ten minutes.

Add 3rd spices and bring to a boil. Turn to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add 4th spices. Adjust to taste for salt and for heat add Tabasco Sauce.

Adapted from the International Chili Society

1998 Chili Cook Off Winner Kathy LeGear

The snow has all melted and I have a very sad and unhappy puppy. She’s more of a snow person than me…and that’s hard to do. As much as she normally hates to walk, she loves to walk in the snow. According to my pedometer we walked over 3 miles each day (which is a lot for a dog who never goes on walks) and just shy of 5 miles on the last day the snow was here. If we lived in snow country she would be the fittest dog…and I probably would be in much better shape as well. In case you are wondering she won’t go on walks now that the snow is gone. She’s a snot like that.

Along with the snow went away the cold temperatures as well. And though 45F can’t be considered balmy, it’s not the kind of chill I go for. I like the kind of weather that once all cozy in bed you sit there a debate for a long period of time if it’s worth freezing your butt off to run to the bathroom. The kind that involves lots of layers and thick socks. The kind that invokes cooking stews or soups. And of course the kind that makes you crave hot chocolate…with marshmallows.

When I have the time I do like to make my own marshmallows. Which nowadays more and more flavors are offered but that didn’t used to be the case and I pretty sure you can’t get these commercially. I figured I would make Malted Milk Marshmallows to give my cocoa the taste of Whoppers when it melts into the cocoa. That’s pretty much what it does. Especially when you are like me and keep adding marshmallows as they melt.
Here some pictures from the snow.

Malted Milk Marshmallows

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 ounces malted milk powder
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining ½ cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to medium. Add powdered malted milk at this time, 1 TPSP at a time to avoid it spitting back at you (you know, like a llama). Bring speed up to high when all malted milk is in. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13-by-18-inch metal jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into leaves or any shape for that matter, with a cookie cutter dusted with the powdered sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Alton Brown Food Network.com