About A Boy

We call him Biebs, my 11-year-old boy.  He weighs more than I do now and will soon surpass me in height.  My son is large and tall like his dad.  My husband is 6'5" I am a striking 5'1" (and 3/4", yes it counts!).  Long gone are the days I picked him up, now he gives me piggy-back rides to show off in front of friends and family members. 

Cooking started out as a chore for me around 8 years old. After a few years, it became an experiment and my siblings were happy to be my taste testers/guinea pigs.  We didn't have a lot of food in the house so most experiments started out with flour, sugar, and food coloring.  My motivation back then: satisfy a strong desire to sample what 'White American people' ate and to duplicate restaurant food that tasted really good for the few times we ate out.  We eventually called my experiments "Creations".  Some were bad and salty, some were edible, and some made our stool green for days (probably not Kosher to mention the two in one sentence).

So to circle back to Biebs, what started out as a chore from putting away the groceries, to washing the vegetables, and helping us chop ingredients for meals he actually enjoys cooking now.  Biebs comes from a long tradition of male role models who love to spend their time cooking so it's not a stretch for him, particularly because he loves to eat. 

Photos of sausages are one of the hardest to take if you want the food to look appealing....


After home work on a school night Biebs made this dish, mostly by himself with my supervision.  What a good son.  One of Bieb's favorites:  Sausages and bell peppers.  We caramelize the onions along with the red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.  The original recipe is from La Cucina Italiana, one of my favorite food magazines.  For a balanced meal I added succotash as a side, not the best to go with pasta but veggies are good for you, so there you have it.

Turkey Chili served over white rice, garnished with scallions and tomatoes...have I mentioned we serve almost every meal with white rice.

Biebs also inspired me to enter this dish for his school's Annual Queen Esther's Chili Cook Off.  We call it Bieb's Totally Rockin' Turkey Chili. This was an experimental recipe that I have modified throughout the last seven years.  I have a hard time with remembering to measure the ingredients but I have a rough idea of what goes in the chili.  I didn't grow up using measuring cups or other cooking tools ('ha! no need' my mom would say).  My mom didn't believe in spending money on a 'Measuring Cup' while measuring spoons were just plain spoons we used to eat with.  My mothers' cooking implement was usually a pair of chop sticks, yes even for soups!  However rare, I actually had to publish the ingredients in a Word document to legitimize my participation in the contest.  If you want the recipe, write me and I'll dig it up.

Not joking, my trophy is the stove back-splash...

I placed 3rd at the Chili Cook Off, the only turkey chili against all beef and brisket recipes.  This trophy sits above my stove and acts as a back splash.  People who first come over tend to think it's a joke.....until they taste my turkey chili and discover: YUM!

Food Rookie Note:  I make a large pot of chili the day before serving, which adds depth of flavor.  I also freeze extra portions to serve later in the month during school week, thermos lunches, and weekend chili dogs( Nathan's are the best!).