Chili, the real deal

Growing up I always thought chili had beans. And I thought chili was best from a can. Turns out I had a lot to learn about Chili.

Although I don't assume to really know anything about chili, this is some good chili and it's pretty easy!

Chili

~Print Recipe~

2 lbs of beef, a good marbled roast (not ground)
1 can of tomato paste
2 Tb chili powder
1 Tb cumin
1 Tb coriander
1 ts chipotle pepper
1 Tb garlic powder
1 ts mustard powder
1 Tb salt
1 ts ground black pepper
2 cups of chicken stock
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 Anaheim Chilies
5 medium tomatillos


1) Over medium high heat, toast the chili powders, cumin, and coriander in a pan until super fragrant but not burnt. Pour all spices into a bowl with the salt and mix. (Ideally the cumin, coriander and chipotle are whole before you toast them and then grind them in your spice grinder, but I made mine today from powders.)

2) Place meat in a crockpot and rub the spice mix all over. Let it sit while you complete the following steps.

3) Halve Anaheim chilies and remove seeds. Remove the skins from the tomatillos. Place all fresh items on a baking sheet and broil until the skins are dark and crispy.

4) Remove chilies from the oven and place in brown bag for a few minutes.

5) Remove tomatillos from oven and place in a blender or food processor. Blend until finely chopped. Add to the crockpot.

6) Carefully remove the skins from the chilies. Don't stress out about this too much, but get what you can. Add the skinned chilies to the blender or food processor with some of the chicken stock and blend until finely chopped. Add to the crockpot with the remaining stock.

7) Add onion and garlic. Cover and turn on high for a few hours. Then low until you're ready to serve it.

This is good with cornbread, tortillas, rice, inside a burrito or anything else you can think of.

Spicy, meaty goodness.

Easy Honey Cornbread Muffins

I LOVE cornbread, especially when it's sweetened with honey.

Over the years I've made a lot of cornbread that was just ok. There are two recipes that I like, Marie Callendar's mix and this one.

Easy Honey Cornbread

~Print Recipe~

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 cup milk*
2 eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/3 cup honey

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Beat the wet ingredients together and combine with dry. Don't over mix but make sure all everything is incorporated.

Portion into a greased muffin tin and bake for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Try not to use paper cupcake liners. The crust is one of the best parts.

*I never have milk in my house, but I almost always have half and half. So I use 1/2 cup 1/2&1/2 and 1/2 cup rice milk. Pretty much anything milk-like works. Just be aware of the fat content. This recipe is based on a whole fat milk, soy and rice milks usually have less fat.