Sundays are good days in my kitchen & Blueberry peach compote

I love days where I have plenty of time to experiment, and that's exactly what I got the last couple of Sunday. Last week I made the chili from my last post, one of my favorite random pots of stuff meals in a long time. Once I realized it was going to be a chili I through together a corn bread to go with it. I adapted a recipe that used chedder, corn kernels and bacon. I left the bacon out and added cumin and cayenne. I wasn't as happy with it though. It came out a little dry, I went light on the cheese to lighten to fat content but I didn't make up for the moisture it was missing from the bacon. I'll be trying it again and increasing the liquids to see what happens.

I had to run to the store for buttermilk and eggs, and low and behold beautiful blueberries were on sale as well. So I grabbed two pints. And then I sat at home with chili on the stove and cornbread in the oven and two pints of blueberries and buttermilk staring at me. I started a search for something I could make that would use them both. And then realized I didn't have vegetable oil. Well I do, but its garlic flavored and that just wouldn't work. I ended up making a crumb cake from Every Day Food. I subbed some of the flour in the topping for oatmeal to give it a bit more texture. I was very happy with the outcome and took it to work where my coworkers happily did away with it for me. Sadly I didn't even get a picture of it.

A week later I still had blueberries in my fridge. I know its a sin, my only excuse is that I wasn't home very much. Saturday morning I made a smoothie with fresh blueberries, frozen peaches, mango juice, greek yogurt and protein powder. Easily one of the best I've made in a long time. It kept me going for hours.

Sunday at noon I wanted pancakes. I remembered reading a recipe that used sour cream for pancakes, and I knew I still had a lot of greek yogurt so I decided to give it a try. You don't get the recipe yet. The final product was easily some of the best breakfast I've made but there was a lot of tweeking along the way so until I get it just right I wont publish it. But I'll give you the blueberry peach compote I made to use up the rest of my berries.

1 pint blueberries
5 slices frozen peaches - frozen will hold up better but fresh would work fine, add them after 10 minutes of cooking time
1/4 cup sugar
Enough cold water to cover

Toss berries and peaches in small sauce pan with sugar to coat.
Add the water
Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer for 30 minutes until syrup is as thick as you like it.
I like mine very thick. It was that easy, and the flavor is amazing. 

Sweet potato black bean chili

Welcome back me!

At the request of a friend I am typing up this recipe, so he can stop bothering me about it. I had some sweet potatoes in my fridge that weren't long for the world. I did what I always do, I pulled a bunch of stuff out of my cupboards and started throwing things in a pot. Luckily I wrote it down as I went along.

Vegetable oil
1 Shallot diced
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
1 Tblsp diced garlic
2 sweet potatoes diced
1 can roasted/stewed tomatoes with green chili - I use Trader Joes Brand
4 cups broth - I use fake chicken broth
1 can black beans rinsed
1 can great northern beans
1-2 cups roasted corn - Frozen Trader Joes Brand, sadly I didn't have fresh at the time.
1-2 tsp Chili 3000 - Penzeys Brand
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 cup red quinoa

Heat oil in large pan. Cook shallots until just caramelizing, add first 3 spices and mix to coat, cook spices until warm and flavors are developed, about 5 minutes.
Add sweet potato and mix until coated, add 1 can of tomato cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until color on sweet potatoes darkens, and they're just started to get soft.
Add 4 cups broth, black beans, and white beans and bring to boil until it starts to thicken.
Add corn, and the rest of the spices, and the quinoa and cook for 20 more minutes.

I served it with a little cheese and some plain greek yogurt. I made corn bread to go with it, but it wasn't my best so I'll wait to post that until I've got the recipe down. Next time I make this chili I'll throw in some carrots and maybe some more tomatoes.