Kevin's All Day Chili

Recipe Review: This traditional chili is great for a cold day or watching football.

Last week was a perfect fall Sunday. Kevin and I just finished a morning run and it started to rain. I have come to love rainy days in California. It gives you the perfect excuse to stay inside, wear comfy clothes, and be a little lazy. One of the great things about being home all day is slow cooked food. Kevin decided to make his dads chili, (which he refers to as his "famous" chili) which takes a good 6 hours to cook. Its a simple recipe with only a few basic ingredients, its the long cook time that really makes it special.

Kevin's Famous 6 hour chili
yield: 5-6 servings

2 white onions, diced

2 green peppers, diced

1 tbsp olive oil
2 lbs ground beef

2 28oz cans whole peeled tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce

3 Tbsp chili powder

3 Bay Leaves

2 8oz cans kidney beans

Saute peppers and onions in olive oil until onions become translucent and peppers are soft. Brown meat and drain fat. Combine with peppers and onions in a large pot. Crush tomatoes by pressing over a strainer. Add tomatoes, 12oz of liquid and sauce. Reserve any additional liquid. Cooked covered on medium low for 1 hour.

Add chili powder and bay leaves, continue to cook uncovered an additional 2 hours.

Rinse beans and add to chili, cook 1 hour. If at this point chili is too thick add some of the reserved tomato juice to thin. Chili is best reheated on day two.


Whole Wheat Cornbread
makes one 9x9 pan
adapted from allrecipies.com

1 1/2 cups corn meal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
5 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2-3 diced jalapeno peppers
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9"x9" baking pan.

In a medium sized bowl combine dry ingredients and jalapenos (this keeps the jalapenos evenly distributed through the bread rather than having them fall to the bottom or rise to the top).

In a small bowl whisk together eggs, milk, and oil. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Pour into pan.

Bake for 20-22 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean, an the top lightly browned. Cut into squares and serve warm.


I couldn't really taste the jalapenos in the corn bread (which was both confusing and disappointing) but with that aside, the bread had great flavor and tasted delish crumbled over the chili.

Pulled Pork Carnitas & Cowboy Beans

Recipe Review: Pulled Pork Mexican style with a sweet tangy sauce. Plus Bacon makes everything better- including Pinto Beans.

This Sunday I made a late Cinco de Mayo dinner, (Ocho de Mayo?) Pork Carnitas Tacos, Cowboy Beans, and Mexican Red Rice. I've made the pork once before- from a Rick Bayless recipe that called for achiote seasoning, that version has a slightly smoky flavor, while this one has a more true pork flavor with citrus notes. "Real" carnitas involves a dutch oven and cooking for two hours but I cheat and use a crock pot, and then finish by broiling the meat to add a little crisp.

Three Bean Pasta Fagioli Soup

Recipe Review: Hearty Italian Soup that's filling but not heavy

I'm feeling crappy and sick. So that means that I make soup. I usually don't have much of an appetite when I'm not feeling well, and like to stick to soups and hot tea. I had planned on making this before I started feeling bad, so only needed to grab a few things. I took a slew of cold medicine, washed it down with some green tea, waited 20 minutes for it all to kick in and got to chopping (side note: Kevin got me an amazing set of knives for Christmas I got to use it for the first time to chop up the veggies in this soup).  I adapted the soup from this crock pot recipe, but changed up the beans and the ingredient ratio a bit.