California Dreamin' of that Good Ohio Cookin'

     I've been in Los Angeles for the past week. Maybe it's the cold spell that's gripping L.A. - the locals are bemoaning the recent 40 and 50-degree daytime temperatures while waxing nostalgic over past Christmases and New Years Days spent on the beach - that set off my hosts' craving a couple days ago for a bowl of my crockpot white-bean chili.
     So I zipped over to Ralph's, 

....picked up the necessities,

...then got to work on a batch of:

     Crockpot White Bean Chili
     5 cans of great northern beans
    6 cups of water
    3 tablespoons of chicken bullion
    (or you can use 6 cups of chicken broth instead of the water and bullion)
    1/2 an onion
    A few shakes of Lawrey's garlic salt (more or less depending how salty you like things)
    Cooked rice
​    Shredded cheddar cheese
    Sour cream
    Salsa
     Taco chips 
      Drain and rinse the beans then pour them into the crock pot.  ​ 
      Chop the onion and add it to the beans in the pot then add the garlic salt.

     Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil and add the chicken bullion.

    When the bullion is dissolved add the broth to the crockpot.   Cook on "high" for 4 hours or "low" for 8 hours. 
     When the chili was ready we ladled it over a scoop of hot cooked rice and added garnishes of shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and salsa,

...and used  taco chips as a "spoon" to scoop up the chili.
      The consensus was that the chili was the perfect antidote to the cold L.A. weather.
      The following day our host took Tom and I out for lunch to their  favorite vegan restaurant, the Native Foods in Culver City, where I was enjoying my vegetable and "chicken"  wrap,

...when Tom looked up from his jicama, cucumber, quinoa, raisin and pumpkin-seed salad,

...and said to me, "You know what would really taste good for dinner?  A plate of spaghetti with your home-made sauce and a nice loaf of Italian bread."    In deference to our hosts' vegetarian preference he added "you can leave the meat out."
​     So I headed back to:

...and picked up the ingredients for spaghetti with tomatoes, garlic, green onions and olive oil.

     Spaghetti With Tomatoes, Garlic, Green Onions and Olive Oil
      1 1/2 lbs. hot cooked spaghetti
      1 tablespn butter or margarine
       salt to taste
​      1/4 cup olive oil
      3 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes
      3 cloves garlic
     1 bunch green onions
      1/ 1/2 tspns salt
     Coat the spaghetti with the butter then season the buttered spaghetti to taste with salt.
     Chop the garlic and the onions.  Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onions and garlic in the pan for 1  minute, then add the tomatoes and salt and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the spaghetti to the tomatoes, garlic and onion and mix well.  
       Serve with a nice slice of Italian bread and, if desired, top with shredded Parmesean.   

     It was yummy, and worked well with the batch of oven-fried chicken I made as a side.
     
     Oven Fried Chicken
      1 package of 12 chicken legs (just the legs, not with the thighs attached)
       2 eggs, fork-beaten with a little water
       Plain bread crumbs
​       Olive oil spray
       Lawrey's garlic salt
      Onion powder

      Line a large baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil spray.
      Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
      Dip each leg in the egg and water then coat with bread crumbs.  Place the breaded legs in the baking dish and sprinkle with the garlic salt and onion powder, then turn each leg over and sprinkle the other side with garlic salt and onion powder. Spray the legs with the olive oil spray.  Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

      The night before New Years Eve 

      The night before New Years Eve I offered to once again do the cooking, and opted  to use the left-over chicken in a chicken, vegetable and rice stir-fry.
      
      Chicken, Vegetable, and Rice Stir-fry
​      2 1/2 cups of rice
      5 cups of water
     2 teaspoons of salt
     oil for sauteeing
     1/4 of an onion, chopped
     8 ounces of mushrooms, sliced
     a handful of snowpeas
     a handful of olives
     left-over chicken
      snipped fresh or dried parsely to taste
     1 1/2 cups chicken broth (can be made from 1 1/2 teaspoons of chicken bullion dissolved in 1 1/2 cups of water). 
      (This stir fry can be made with any combination of veggies and meat or without meat.  If beef or pork are used then use beef broth instead of chicken broth).
    Place the rice, water, and  2 1/2 teaspoons of salt in a pan and bring water to  a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes, or until the rice is tender and all the water is absorbed.  While the rice cooking heat the oil in a pan then add the mushrooms and onions. Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Add the snow peas, olives, chicken, cooked rice, olives, parsley, chicken broth and garlic salt, simmering until the mix is hot. 

      With, a side of fresh-baked rolls the meal was complete.

       And so we rang out the old year with good food and friends.

      And on January 1st we rang in the new year with left-overs.