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.

Yosemite

Last weekend Kevin and I drove up to Yosemite for 3 days and nights of camping and hiking. It was an amazing trip. I had worked 20 straight days in a row, and Kevin and I had survived the first month of living together, we both desperately needed (and deserved!) a long weekend away.

When we got to Yosemite we went to the store to load up on food for the weekend, we kept things simple, sandwiches for lunches while hiking, kabobs on the grill for dinner, and egg sandwiches for breakfasts. We had planned on cooking the eggs on a camp stove, but our friend who lent us the camp stove forgot the regulator that connects the stove to the propane. (Thanks though Liz we still love you!) So we ended up cooking everything in a frying pan over charcoal, a little more time consuming but it turned out great. We also wound up inventing a completely euphoric egg sandwich that was way too good not to share.  So here you have it- rapture- in the form of a breakfast sandwich:

Turkey Chili with White Beans

Last weekend my friend had a party at her house for the Chargers game and held a "Chili Cook off". There were 8 different varieties of chili to try and it was a lot of fun! Unfortunately due to a impromptu trip to Vegas and a wedding the night before I didn't have time to cook chili myself and felt a little left out so I decided to do it this week. I mashed up recipes from Epicurious and Cooking Light and this is what happened...