Welcome!

So I decided to start my very own food blog! It will be filled with photos of food I make, recipies, and sometimes food and restaurant reviews. Yes, I am vegetarian. No, I don't always cook strictly vegetarian. I am not one of the picky vegetarians that won't handle meat and everyone else I know are all meat eaters. I love cooking and don't mind at all cooking with meat, I just don't eat it.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what I could attempt to cook next, feel free to share! Questions and comments are always welcome.

I'm going to start out with some food I made a couple weeks ago. I've been pretty busy with my new job lately so I haven't had as much time as I like to cook. First off is homemade white bread:Simple white bread is the easiest to make in my opinion out of all the 'from scratch' bread I've made. It still takes a very long time, but it's well worth it. This recipe makes about 2 loaves.
2 packets dry active yeast (4 1/2 t)
3 T sugar or honey
1 T salt
2 T shortening (I use vegetable crisco)
2 T softened or melted butter or margarine (I use butter)
6-7 c all-purpose or bread flour (I prefer bread flour)
2 1/4 c very warm water (125ish degrees; think shower temp)

Mix 3 1/2 c of the flour, the sugar, salt, shortening and yeast in a bowl. Mix in the water and beat for about a minute. Stir in remaining flour a cup at a time until the dough is easy to handle (you might not use all of the flour, don't worry). Lightly flour a surface and knead the dough about 10 minutes or until it's smooth and springy. Put the dough in a bowl greased with shortening or oil and turn it so that it's greased on all sides. Cover lightly with plasic wrap and let it rise in a warm place 50-60 minutes. It should be ready if it's doubled in size and if the indentation remains when you poke it.
Divide the dough in half. Flatten each half with you hands or rolling pin into rectangles and then roll each tightly, beginning at the shorter side. Pinch the edges to seal, then press each end with the side of your hand to seal and fold under the loaf.
Place the loaves on either a greased flat pan or greased loaf pans. Brush the loaves lightly with butter and make a couple of slits across the top with a knife. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place again for about 30-50 minutes. The loaves should be about double in size.
Heat oven to 425 and place loaves in center in oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until the loaves are a nice gold-brown. The loaves should sound hollow when tapped. Brush with butter again and let cool. Enjoy!

Chili is quite easy to make and it's easy to make large batches that you can refriderate or freeze. Great for people who need quick tupperware meals to grab and go and for college students because it's pretty cheap too. The picture is of my vegetarian chili, but I also made a batch of non-vegetarian for everyone else. This recipe is for a large batch, so feel free to cut it in half.

2 cans tomato sauce
2 cups water
Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit *or* 2 T chili powder, 2 T cumin, 1 1/2 T garlic powder (1/2 T fresh garlic), 1/2 T cayanne powder, 1/2 T papricka
3 stalks chopped celery
1 chopped zuchinni
1 c chopped carrots
1 can stewed, diced tomatos
2 diced tomatos
1/2lb-1lb of your choice of meat or fake meat (I use either boca or plain ground beef)
1/2 c diced green pepper
1/2-1 diced onion
1/2 T oregano
2 t black pepper
2 T oil
2-3 cans of your choice of beans (I prefer kidney and black)
shredded cheddar cheese

First mix all the seasonings, water, and tomato sauce in a large pot over meduim heat on the stove. Then add the vegetables, oil, and beans. Mix and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste and feel free to add more spices if you want it spicier (chili powder or cayanne pepper). I'm never quite accurate on my measurements, so it's different each time. I'm never one for measuring, more in how it tastes.
Cover the pot and let it continue to simmer while you brown/heat up the meat/fake meat in a frying pan. If you're making a vegetarian AND non-vegetarian chili, simply cut the portions of the chili right now into two different pots. Add the meat to their separate pots (or one meat to the single pot) and continue to simmer. Let it simmer for 30-50 minutes or until it's as thick as you want it. Feel free to add more water to make it less thick or even some masa flour (corn flour) to make it more thick.
Spoon into a bowl and sprinkle with the cheddar cheese then enjoy!