Chili!

It's real hot out, so why not make chili! Recently I have been hankerin to try out our new crock pot and for some delicious chili, so today was the day... maybe not the best idea on a 94 degree August day, but I want chili, so why wait! Ok, so my mom makes some bangin vegetarian chili so I incorporated some ingredients from her recipe (carrots & peppers) and then just looked around on line to see what other ingredients looked good, and in what proportions. That's basically how I cook: what do I have? What do I want to put in it? Then check out legit websites to find out the proper proportions........ hope it works out! Here's the sumptuous ingredients used:

Christina's I-Make-It-The-Way-I-Want Chili

-1 to 1 1/2 lb ground beef (94% lean of course!)

-2 green peppers (cause that's what produce junction had)- chopped into 1 in pieces (what I like to call chunky chopped)

-3 ears of corn (If you don't already know this about me, I.love.corn.period.)- cut off the cob

-1 large onion- chunky chopped

-3 cloves garlic (small)- minced

-1 cup carrots (I used the little baby snack carrots cause that's what we had and cut them into 1/2-3/4 in pieces)

-1- 28oz can of diced tomato

-1- 15oz can black beans drained (not ambitious enough to soak dried beans)

-1/2 tbsp chili powder

-1/2 tbsp chipotle chili powder (cause we had it and I was like heck yes!)

-1tsp cinnamon (ssshhhh this is the secret ingredient!)

-1tsp cumin

-1/2 wine (I used an open bottle of shiraz)

-1 cup vegetable broth

-2 tbsp chili garlic sauce (you know the bright red stuff that comes in the plastic bottle with a green top and a rooster on the top)

-salt

For the toppings:

avocado

cheddar cheese

Greek yogurt

I cooked the ground beef on the stove until just cooked. I left the juice from the beef in the pan and cooked the onions, peppers for about 3-5 minutes, then added the garlic for the last minute. I put the beef on the bottom of the crock pot, then the cooked/uncooked veggies, and then all the liquids, then the spices on top. Gave it a kiss for luck and turned the crock pot on low and left it for 6 hours. When I came back I noticed that it was still really liquidy (I like mine thicker) so I turned it up to high for 2 more hours. Still a little liquidy, so I added 2-ish teaspoons of flour to thicken it up.

Comments:

-Use less liquid next time, probably less chicken broth as opposed to draining the diced tomatoes cause that tomatoey flavor is so good!

-No flour, I think it dulls the taste.

After the crock pot was rockin, I made some corn bread. I found this recipe on the New York Times website. Here's the link! http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/recipe-of-the-day-cornbread/ So I decided to give it a shot. I'll list the ingredients I used for reference

-4 tbsp butter (mmmmm butter)

-1 1/2 cups ground corn meal

-1/2 cup all purpose flour

-1 1/2 tsp baking powder

-1 tsp salt

-1/4 (plus another generous pinch!) sugar

-2 eggs

-1 1/4 cup milk

The recipe is real simple. Preheat oven to 375, put the butter in an 8 in square baking dish and put in oven until melted (don't burn it!). Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine eggs and milk. Combine dry ingredients with egg-milk mixture, whisk (which I just purchased for this endeavor haha) until smooth, pour into baking dish, bake for 30 minutes. Boom. Delicious corn bread!

Comments: So I think 30 minutes was a smidge too long, 20-25 is probably sufficient.

Now it is done and I have to run 8 miles before I can dig in. Wish me luck! I'll let you know how it is when I get back! ....................................

Dear 8 miles. WOOF! Dear chili, yumm:) So it's the kind of spicy that isn't killer, but it hits you after you started eating. Goes great with avocado (as does pretty much anything) and the Greek yogurt was a nice balance to the spiciness. Ok, I'm beat. Mission chili, accomplished!