Chili Time

 One of my favorite meals ever is a big bowl of homemade chili with some fresh cornbread. Chili is great because you can put whatever you want into it, and it will always taste delicious.

Yesterday, I had some extra bell peppers and jalapenos lying around, so I decided to put them to good use.

Chili Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

(I tried out dry aged ground beef for the first time)

1 cup yellow onion diced

garlic, minced (up to you how much, I do about 4 cloves)

1 cup bell pepper chopped (I used a mixture of green and red)

1 jalapeno, seeded (very spicy, but awesome)

1/2 cup corn (I used frozen)

2 tbs tomato paste

2 cups tomato sauce

Spices to Taste

cumin (I did about 4 tbs)

regular chili powder (2 tbs)

chipotle powder (1 tsp)

mesquite flour (1 tsp)

black pepper 

sea salt

 Whatever you have lying around

I had black beans, frozen pumpkin puree and fresh roma tomatoes that I added to the mix. Pumpkin puree sounds weird, but makes for a light sweet note to the final batch as well as making it creamier. I ended up finding half a sweet potato in the fridge after I had already made the chili, but shredded sweet potato is great in chili as well.

First step is to brown the meat in oil. I like to use olive oil, but anything will do (bacon grease is good to use if you have it). I gotta say, the dry aged ground beef smelled incredible when it was frying up. 

While the beef was browning, I chopped up the garlic, onion and peppers. I always hear you're supposed to wear gloves when cutting jalapeno peppers...but that's too much effort for me. I end up just searing my skin later when I end up touching my mouth nose or eyes...but that's manly... right?

Add in the onions first until they become soft and translucent, and then add the garlic.

This is where I added in the first round of tomato. I freeze tomato paste flattened between sheets of plastic wrap so I can break off chunks while I cook instead of always opening a new can or buying super expensive squeeze bottles of paste. I let this cook into the meat before adding more items.

After the tomato paste, I threw in everything else. The peppers, pumpkin puree and corn in this case. I threw the black beans in later because I had just cooked the beans today and was letting them drain during this time.

After I added the beans, I cut up the roma tomatoes and threw those in as well.

 At this point, all the ingredients are in and the mix just needs some nice dollops

of tomato sauce to wrap up.

 

 Woo! Everything is in the pan. This is where I walked away and rented a movie and did some food shopping while my roommate agreed to stir the chili once or twice while she was watching tv. Good team work!

First round of chili was good. Just good. That's not surprising to anybody that makes chili. Chili is one of those dishes where leftovers far surpass the first meal. Having said that, the first bowl had some pretty good flavors starting in it, so I was excited.

Today's chili was damn good. All the flavors had melded overnight to create one hell of a flavorful bowl of deliciousness. I like to add avocado slices and cilantro on top for added flavor. Sour cream and cheese are all good toppings, but avocado holds a special place in my heart. All of this on top of a toasted hunk of cornbread makes for a rib sticking meal that tastes better than any chili you can get at a restaurant. 

Only issue I have with this meal? I didn't make nearly enough. Ian ate a third of it yesterday, and we did our second round today. All that is left is one cup...so much for lunches at work.