THE A LIST: The Eat Well Guide

This is a great tool - The Eat Well Guide, the easiest and most comprehensive way for you to find wholesome, fresh, sustainable food in the US and Canada. Find food in your neighborhood and when you travel that is healthful, humane, better for the environment, and that supports family farmers. All you need to do is enter your zip code on the main page of the link below and it will bring up a list of places to find fresh sustainable foods!

The Link: http://www.eatwellguide.org/index.cfm

THE A LIST: Stuff I Like to Share: From the NYT today re The Food Chain

This was in the New York Times today and has been on my mind all day after reading it. Please take a read of the highlights below:

January 19, 2008
An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories
By KEITH BRADSHER

KUANTAN, Malaysia — Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing residents of Asia’s largest slum, in Mumbai, India, to ration every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable to afford the raw material.

This is the other oil shock. From India to Indiana, shortages and soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a developing global problem: costly food.

The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated this winter.

In some poor countries, desperation is taking hold. Just in the last week, protests have erupted in Pakistan over wheat shortages, and in Indonesia over soybean shortages. Egypt has banned rice exports to keep food at home, and China has put price controls on cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs.

According to the F.A.O., food riots have erupted in recent months in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

“The urban poor, the rural landless and small and marginal farmers stand to lose,” said He Changchui, the agency’s chief representative for Asia and the Pacific.

A startling change is unfolding in the world’s food markets. Soaring fuel prices have altered the equation for growing food and transporting it across the globe. Huge demand for biofuels has created tension between using land to produce fuel and using it for food.

A growing middle class in the developing world is demanding more protein, from pork and hamburgers to chicken and ice cream. And all this is happening even as global climate change may be starting to make it harder to grow food in some of the places best equipped to do so, like Australia.

In the last few years, world demand for crops and meat has been rising sharply. It remains an open question how and when the supply will catch up. For the foreseeable future, that probably means higher prices at the grocery store and fatter paychecks for farmers of major crops like corn, wheat and soybeans.

There may be worse inflation to come. Food experts say steep increases in commodity prices have not fully made their way to street stalls in the developing world or supermarkets in the West.

Governments in many poor countries have tried to respond by stepping up food subsidies, imposing or tightening price controls, restricting exports and cutting food import duties.

These temporary measures are already breaking down. Across Southeast Asia, for example, families have been hoarding palm oil. Smugglers have been bidding up prices as they move the oil from more subsidized markets, like Malaysia’s, to less subsidized markets, like Singapore’s.

No category of food prices has risen as quickly this winter as so-called edible oils — with sometimes tragic results. When a Carrefour store in Chongqing, China, announced a limited-time cooking oil promotion in November, a stampede of would-be buyers left 3 people dead and 31 injured.

Cooking oil may seem a trifling expense in the West. But in the developing world, cooking oil is an important source of calories and represents one of the biggest cash outlays for poor families, which grow much of their own food but have to buy oil in which to cook it.

**** for the full article see www.nytimes.com ****

Eat Smart
Aaron

THE A LIST: Stuff I Like to Share: Montgomery Inn BBQ Sauce

Those who know me, know I love good BBQ. I prefer a red sauce to a mustard based sauce. It has come to the point now where i simply will not eat sauce that is not Montgomery Inn. I order mine via friends that live in the area and or via the website. The ribs, sauce and handmade ice cream sent via FedEx is like a box from Santa! Here is the story of the Inn and the famous sauce. If you are in the area - YOU HAVE TO EAT at one of the joints.

***Here is the link so you can buy online:

http://www.montgomeryinn.com/

IN THE VILLAGE OF MONTGOMERY, OHIO, on the first day of November 1951, the early dawn heralded the arrival of Ted Gregory, the new proprietor of "McCabe's Inn," subsequently rechristened "The Montgomery Inn."

Montgomery, Ohio at the time was in the midst of a building boom, and the neighboring farmlands would soon be covered with new houses. Until that historic day, this peaceful village had seen but one newsworthy great, Charles Dickens.

Dickens had passed through Montgomery during the 19th century and had rested at the stagecoach stop, Sage's Tavern, which was next-door to the newly expanded Montgomery Inn. He had been quoted as saying that this was a lovely area and a great spot for an inn. Ted Gregory, had the same idea, and established The Montgomery Inn.

Ted and his wife, Matula, agreed that this would be an ideal area in which to settle and raise a family. There soon followed four children: Tom, Dean, Vickie, and Terry. With the advent of all the new construction in the area, the "Inn" became well known as a drinking emporium, but not for its food because the kitchen was leased out to some amateur restaurateurs. For that reason, Matula, who had blossomed into a great cook (with the help of Ted's parents, both former hotel chefs), would cook Ted's meals at home and then deliver them to the Inn. One day, she prepared barbecued ribs and created her barbecue sauce.

Matula always cooked a surplus of food because there was constantly a crony or two of Ted's hanging around the bar that would gladly join him for dinner. The ribs and sauce were so great they drew rave notices from all who tried them. Eventually a local journalist dubbed Ted "The Ribs King" and rightly so. Over the years, and with the coming of age of Ted and Matula's children, Montgomery Inn was expanded to include new opportunities.

In 1989, a sparkling new diamond was built for the Queen City's crown, the "Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse." This magnificent facility, which sits on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, is a totally modern and complete restaurant rivaling the finest in the United States. It offers a natural, breathtaking view of the Ohio River and its boats, the Cincinnati skyline, the Mt. Adams district, the Kentucky Shoreline, Sawyer Point and the Bicentennial Commons.

As the business of the two restaurants grew, new businesses began to sprout. Requests for catering at private homes and corporate events began to flourish, and now Montgomery Inn is catering events from coast to coast.

As more and more customers enjoyed the flavor of the secret-recipe barbecue sauce, demand for Montgomery Inn's products was increasing at a frantic pace. In 1990, Montgomery Inn began selling its secret-recipe barbecue sauce and mouth-watering ribs to local grocers, and current demand has pushed distribution to a 300-mile radius of Cincinnati!

With so many guests visiting the restaurant from numerous cities around the United States, Montgomery Inn started shipping its ribs and sauce coast to coast. Its mail order division now ships more than 20,000 packages annually to rib lovers around the country.

According to Restaurants & Institutions Magazine, the restaurant industry's leading trade publication, Montgomery Inn is the #1 independent rib restaurant and the #1 independent restaurant featuring barbecue in the entire United States.

According to R&I's findings, the two Montgomery Inn restaurants in Cincinnati are the top two independent restaurants in the U.S. and are listed as the only two independents from the same area in America's top 100!

The rest, as they say, is history. The ribs and sauce made the inn world-famous. The Children have grown and are now supervising all the different businesses that have emerged from that one tiny tavern on the corner.

A BIG thank you to Erin and Elaine

Wishing you and yours all the best for the New Year!

Happy New Year 2008

By Danny Livingston

Well.
It’s the end of the year again
Time to review
All the good and the bad that has happened to you

Ok, no need to look too close
I’m guessing most of its good
For the most part we’re doing the best that we could

But, if things haven’t worked
out
and someone just cannot cope
then let’s lean on some understanding -forgiveness
and hope

Pencils- even pens- have erasers for reasons
why not?
Remember the loneliness
Perfect ones got

So may your new year be healthy and happy
And that you meet all your future goals
And for the long road of 2008
May you wear rubber soles

Holiday Ham

Holiday Ham

1 12-pound bone-in smoked ham
30 cloves
½ cup beer
10 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
15 pearl onions, peeled
9 miniature pears
9 miniature apples
1 bunch fresh sage
1 bunch fresh thyme
Fruity extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon
Salt.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Pierce the bottom of the ham with the cloves. Place the ham in a deep pan with the beer, garlic, onions, pears, apples, sage, thyme and 1 1/2 cups water. Drizzle the meat and fruit generously with olive oil, cover with foil and roast for 2 3/4 hours, brushing the ham with cooking juices every hour.

2. Remove the ham from the oven and raise the oven temperature to 425. Score the ham’s fat with a knife, season with black pepper and spread the brown sugar over the top. Pour 1 tablespoon of bourbon over the fruit and the remaining 2 tablespoons over the ham. Brown in the oven, uncovered, until caramelized, about 15 minutes. To thicken sauce, strain the cooking juices into a small saucepan. Simmer until it coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Serves 12 to 16

Roast Chicken with Bread Salad from Zuni San Francisco

ZUNI Roast Chicken with Bread Salad

Servings: 2 to 4

INGREDIENTS

For the chicken
One small chicken, 2-3/4 to 3-1/2-pounds
4 tender sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary or sage, about 1/2 inch long
Salt
About 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
A little water

For the salad
Generous 12 ounces slightly stale open-crumbed, chewy, peasant-style bread (not sourdough)
6 to 8 tablespoons mild-tasting olive oil
1-1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon dried currants
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, or as needed
1 tablespoon warm water
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 to 3 garlic cloves, slivered
1/4 cup slivered scallions (about 4 scallions), including a little of the green part
2 tablespoons lightly salted Chicken Stock or lightly salted water
A few handfuls of arugula, frisée, or red mustard greens, carefully washed and dried

DIRECTIONS
Seasoning the chicken (Can be done 1 to 3 days before serving; for 3-1/4- to 3-1/2-pound chickens, at least 2 days) - Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough-a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.

Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove and herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.

Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper {we use ¾ teaspoon of sea salt per pound of chicken}. Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don’t otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.

Starting the bread salad (Can be done up to several hours in advance)
Preheat the broiler.
Cut the bread into a couple of large chunks. Carve off all of the bottom crust and most of the top and side crust. Reserve the top and side crusts to use as croutons in salads or soups. Brush the bread all over with olive oil. Broil very briefly, to crisp and lightly color the surface. Turn the bread chunks over and crisp the other side. Trim off any badly charred tips, then tear the chunks into a combination of irregular 2- to 3-inch wads, bite-sized bits, and fat crumbs. You should get about 4 cups.

Combine about 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the Champagne or white wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Toss about 1/4 cup of this tart vinaigrette with the torn bread in a wide salad bowl; the bread will be unevenly dressed. Taste one of the more saturated pieces. If it is bland, add a little salt and pepper and toss again.

Place the currants in a small bowl and moisten with the red wine vinegar and warm water. Set aside.

Roasting the chicken and assembling the salad

Preheat the oven to 475. Depending on the size, efficiency and accuracy of your oven, and the size of your bird, you may need to adjust the heat to as high as 500 or as low as 450 during the course of roasting the chicken to get it to brown properly. If that proves to be the case, begin at that temperature the next time you roast a chicken. If you have a convection function on your oven, use it for the first 30 minutes; it will enhance browning, and may reduce overall cooking by 5 to 10 minutes.

Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle. Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.

Place the center of the oven and listen and watch for it to start browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn’t, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking, reduce temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over — drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking. Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to recrisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. Total oven time will be 45 minutes to an hour.
While the chicken is roasting, place the pine nuts in a small baking dish and set in the hot oven for a minute or two, just to warm though. Add them to the bowl of bread.

Place a spoonful of the olive oil in a small skillet, add the garlic and scallions, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until softened. Don’t let them color. Scrape into the bread and fold to combine. Drain the plumped currants and fold in. Dribble the chicken stock or lightly salted water over the salad and fold again. Taste a few pieces of bread-a fairly saturated one and a dryish one. If it is bland, add salt, pepper, and/or a few drops of vinegar, then toss well. Since the basic character of the bread salad depends on the bread you use, these adjustments can be essential.

Pile the bread salad in a 1-quart baking dish and tent with foil; set the salad bowl aside. Place the salad in the oven after you flip the chicken the final time.

Finishing and serving the chicken and bread salad

Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat. Leave the bread salad to continue warming for another 5 minutes of so.

Lift the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Carefully pour the clear fat from the roasting oven, leaving the lean drippings behind. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it.

Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings.

Set the chicken in a warm spot and leave to rest while you finish the bread salad. The meat will become more tender and uniformly succulent as it cools.

Set a platter in the oven to warm for a minute or two.

Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard golden drippings. Taste-the juices will be extremely flavorful.

Tip the bread salad into the salad bowl. It will be steamy-hot, a mixture of soft, moist wads, crispy-on-the-outside-but-moist-in-the-middle-wads, and a few downright crispy ones. Drizzle and toss with a spoonful of the pan juices. Add the greens, a drizzle of vinaigrette, and fold well.

Taste again.

Cut the chicken into pieces, spread the bread salad on the warm platter, and nestle the chicken in the salad.

Campari Cranberries With Rosewater

Campari Cranberries With Rosewater

¾ cup sugar
Salt
3 ½ cups cranberries
2 strips orange rind
Pinch of allspice
3 tablespoons Campari
2 teaspoons rosewater

In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar, 1 cup of water, a pinch of salt and 1 cranberry and bring to a boil. Add the remaining berries and orange rind and simmer, covered, over low heat for 5 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes more. Stir in the allspice, Campari and rosewater. Remove from heat and cool at room temperature. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Serves 6

From Chop Shop

THE A LIST: Stuff I Like to Share: Truffle Salt

Truffle Salt

While I was living in Italy truffle season was greeted with festivals and dinner all over northern Italy. The white truffle (not so common) and the black truffle served fresh are really amazing. I went to one memorable dinner were every item served, even desert, was "truffled". I have also been several village festivals held in October and or November, the peak of the season, where the whole village turns out for the celebration. There are contests for the largest found, the best dish, etc. You can eat until you can eat no more. I have even had truffle ice cream! This truffle salt made from ground sea salts and black truffles is fantastic. The combination of truffle and sea salt is irresistible in the kitchen. Try over cooked egg dishes, tossed in pasta, on pâté or foie gras, or sprinkled on buttered popcorn and served with a glass of spumante!

If you cant find it at your local gourmet shop, here are two on-line sources:

http://www.salttraders.com/Detail.bok?no=76

http://www.amazon.com/Casina-Rossa-Truffle-Nicola-Laurentiis/dp/B000E5SGI4


Suggested Uses

Eggs
Sprinkle truffle salt in your egg-based dishes—scrambled eggs, baked eggs, omelettes. I love to take grilled asparagus, soft scrambled eggs on toasted bread with a little olive oil and truffle salt.

Risotto
Truffle salt adds a subtle richness to creamy risottos-try mushroom and truffle salt. I don't like it on fish based risotto, but on a more winter combo - its dreamy. comfort food!

Pizza

Sprinkle truffle salt on a white pie - no red sauce. Cheese and some garlic and pepper on the crust. Sprinkle when it comes out of the oven and is resting before slicing.

Potatoes
Use truffle salt in place of regular salt on mashed potatoes, baked potatoes or French fries

Bruschetta
Make bruschetta with extra virgin olive oil or butter, sprinkle with truffle salt - I like to add cooked white beans and only use a dash of tomato for this one

Salad Dressings
Mix with olive oil before making vinaigrette to make a “truffled salad dressing”

Baked Pasta
Stir a teaspoon into a cup of ricotta cheese and use the truffled cheese for baked pasta dishes-trust me- this will be the best mac and cheese you have had.

Accent Foie Gras
Sprinkle over foie gras or pate - need I saw more. Oink

Cream Sauce
Truffle your cream sauces with this easy condiment. Double oink

Truffle Salt on Pasta
Toss pasta with Truffle & Salt and truffle oil for a dish with simple elegance

Truffled Marinades
Use in marinades to add deep truffle flavor to cooked meats

Popcorn with Truffle Salt
Open a bottle of chilled champagne and pour into glasses, pop some popcorn, add butter and truffle salt and toast to this fun idea!

About Truffles

Gourmets have treasured "black pearls" for their aroma and taste for 3500 years. Truffles grow 3-12 inches deep around the roots of chestnut, oak, hazel, and beech trees. Truffles are just like their cousin the mushroom only growing under ground instead of above ground.

Humans use specially trained pigs or dogs to sniff out and dig up these aromatic and priceless delicacies. Though pigs are better at ferreting out the truffles, dogs are easier to control once they have retrieved the brown, black or white fungus.

Truffles are literally worth more than their weight in gold.

EAT WELL

Aaron

THE A LIST: Stuff I Like to Share:: New favorite food + cooking website: GOURTMET SLEUTH

My new favorite website for all things foodie; love it. LOVE it

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/index.asp


I am using it all the time – open it and bookmark it – and you will use it as well

Cheers
Aaron

Latkes

Latkes have gained popularity as a Hanukkah dish because they are fried in oil, commemorating the oil that miraculously provided light for eight days. Luckily, Jewish restaurants and delis frequently serve latkes year round, so the dish can be enjoyed at any season. Latkes are also celebrated as the means by which Judith of Holofernes was able to put the Assyrian leader into a deep sleep, and thus was able to behead him. The Assyrians ended their siege because of the death of their leader.

Naturally, latkes could not have been composed of potatoes in ancient times, as potatoes are a New World food. Instead, it is thought that latkes were made of grated cheese bound with a bit of egg, and then fried. A salty cake such as this, along with an ample supply of wine, would certainly have caused any man, Assyrian or otherwise, to feel sleepy.

The introduction of the potato to Europe forever changed the latke. Most often, ancient latke recipes containing cheese are now forsaken in preference to those established in the 18th century.

The word latke is of Yiddish origin, and may have come from either Germany or Russia. As Jews immigrated to the US, so did the tradition of preparing latkes. Many families now prepare these pancakes from recipes over 100 years old. Therefore, even though they are not prepared as in ancient times, potato latkes have a rich history as well.

Though bound in tradition, there are newer recipes that suggest a number of additions to the latkes. Chefs have prepared latkes by adding grated carrots, green chili, ginger, corn, or a mixture of sweet and savory spices or herbs. Sweet latkes with vanilla and cinnamon make an appealing dessert or try a batch with apple grated in. However prepared, these crunchy pancakes are a delicious connection to the past for lots of us.

David Kraemer, a professor at New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, is the author of “Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages,” published in June. An avid cook, he wrote the book because he could not find a comprehensive history of Jewish eating practices. Kraemer said Hanukkah foods are expressions of local customs, and are not as religiously important as eating matzoh (the unleavened bread that's a staple during Passover), which is a mitzvah, or commandment. Still, Hanukkah eating habits are not to be trifled with.

“People are very attached to these practices. And even if they might simply be local custom and Jews from other areas don't have the same custom, people care about them deeply, so on that level they're very important,” he said.

I like that in the end he makes this point very clear: “What they learned in their mother's kitchen matters more than anything else.” This is very true to me.

Make latkes a fun project. Include your family and kids and share some history as you pass along traditions. Enjoy.



Latkes

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 pounds (5 medium) peeled medium-starch potatoes, such as Yukon gold
1 medium white onion
1/4 cup all-purpose flour or ¼ cup fine matzo meal
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
applesauce and sour cream, for serving

Heat oven to 450º F. Brush 2 baking sheets with 1 tablespoon of the oil and set aside.

Using a box grater or a food processor fitted with a shredding blade, coarsely grate the potatoes and the onion. Place the grated potatoes in a large bowl with the onion, flour, salt, pepper, eggs, and the remaining tablespoon of oil. Toss to mix well.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets and press lightly to make patties.

Bake until golden brown on the bottom. Turn the latkes with a metal spatula and rotate the baking sheets. Bake another 5 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a platter and serve with the applesauce and sour cream.

OPTION: You can also pan fry them in peanut oil until crisp on the edges and the cakes are browned. I also like to add a minced green onion when I pan fry mine.

SHORTCUT – use frozen grated potatoes – AKA hash browns – they are easy to use- simply defrost and mix as noted above.

ENJOY

Peggy's Ginger Cookies

Ginger Cookies

These Ginger Cookies were adapted from a Peggy Ward recipe dated 1955. They are easy to make and you will find some good old-fashioned flavor in these super-easy cookies. Enjoy

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup robust (dark) molasses
3/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup boiling water
Additional sugar

Preparation

Combine first 8 ingredients in large bowl. Add molasses, butter, and egg. Using electric mixer, or standing mixer with dough blade, beat until well blended. Beat in 1/2 cup boiling water. Mix well. Chill dough 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Roll chilled dough by generous tablespoonfuls into balls, (or use mini ice cream scooper). Roll in additional sugar to coat. Place dough balls 2 inches apart on un-greased baking sheets (or use the new nonstick foil). Press the top of each ball slightly with your thumb.

Bake until cookies are puffed and cracked on top, about 10-12 minutes. These cookies are meant to be soft in the centers; do not over-bake. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

Vegetarian Chili

Vegetarian Chili

Serve with grated cheese, diced onions, chopped cilantro, sour cream, cooked brown rice and tortilla chips for dipping.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
1 pound Portobello mushrooms (about 3 large), stemmed, wiped clean and cubed
6 large garlic cloves, chopped
2 cans red kidney beans
1 cans pinto beans
1 cans large white beans
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large can chopped tomatoes
3 cups vegetable broth
1 6oz can tomato paste

Directions
Heat oil in heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers, and garlic. Sauté about 8 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add corn, mushroom, beans, seasonings, mix well and bring to a simmer. Mix in tomato sauce, broth and tomato paste. Simmer until thickened to desired consistency, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, about 1 to 1½ hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Also taste for chili powder and spice level adding more if needed. Let stand two to three hours before serving reheated. Or refrigerate until cold then reheat over low when ready to serve.