Subscribe to Our Feed!It’s finally cold outside. In fact, it’s really cold today. Cold weather brings about the need for warm, filling, comforting recipes. One of my favorite meals to warm up with on a cold evening is a nice bowl of chili. If you are familiar with fire life at all, you’ve probably heard of “fire house chili” or been to a chili cookoff fundraiser at your local fire department.
Recently, while trying to find a recipe for a simple chili and becoming rather frustrated with the wide array of options, I began slow-cooking an idea in my head. I’ve been wanting to share recipes here on the blog as I’ve sort of come into my own as a cook in the past three years. But, at the same time, this isn’t a food blog and, even if I can make a good meal here or there, I definitely don’t qualify as a foodie. I was trying to figure out how to work recipes into our theme.
And then it hit me. The FireHouse Chili Series.
We’re going to be trying a new chili recipe each week/every other week, picturing it and reviewing it and posting it here on Saturday or Sunday. We’ll be trying all kinds of chili recipes. Hot. Not-so-hot. Turkey. Beef. Venison. Chicken. Bean. No bean. Vegetarian. Ones with random ingredients like baking chocolate (?). We’re going to keep this up for as long as the weather remains cool/cold enough for us to need a reason to warm up at supper time. Once the temperatures are consistently warm in late Spring, we’ll go on a chili hiatus.
This week we have nothing to offer you. But that’s okay. Why? I want your recipes. In fact, that’s my hope as this series continues: my readers, new and old, will share their favorite chili recipes with us. Anyone who shares a recipe that we end up creating will be linked in the result post and given full credit. (As such, if you got the recipe from another blogger or a cookbook, please credit appropriately.) If no one submits (boo), I’ll go about finding my own recipes (which I will, of course, credit appropriately). But I am hoping that your family has something to share with our family when it comes to chili recipes.
And so, please get to submitting! Either leave a comment on this initial post or use our contact form to submit your recipe. (Please submit by Wednesday, October 21st to be considered for the post to be published the weekend of October 23-24th.)
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Simple and Delicious:
http://cavykeen.blogspot.com/2008/09/chili-chili-chili.html
Chrystal´s last blog ..Cooking
SPICY BLACK BEAN Chili WITH CUMIN AND JALAPENO
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1?2 onion, diced
1?2 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cumin
1?4 jalepeño pepper, minced
1 15-oz. can black beans
2 tomatoes, diced
3?4 c. reduced-sodium chicken stock
1 scallion, chopped
1 sprig cilantro, chopped
1 oz. feta, crumbled
* I use Bebere (an Ethiopian spice) instead of jalapeno. The feta really sets it off and even my kids ate it!
5:29 In a large soup pot, heat the oil. Cook the onion, carrot and garlic until soft. Mix in the cumin and half the jalapeno. Add the beans, tomatoes with juice and broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. (24 min)
5:53 Puree half of bean mixture in a blender until smooth and return to the pot. Simmer a little more until slightly thickened. Season to taste by adding a little salt, pepper and jalapeno at a time, tasting frequently so you aren’t surprised. Ladle into bowls and garnish with cilantro, scallions and feta. (7 min)
Total Time: 31 minutes
15 oz canned dark kidney beans, drained & rinsed
15 oz canned light kidney beans, drained & rinsed
15 oz canned black beans, drained & rinsed
8 oz canned tomato sauce
29 oz canned diced tomatoes
¼ teaspoon lime juice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (optional)
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (optional) *I don’t always include the cocoa or cinnamon, but they seem to tame it some for the kids*
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
½ tablespoon ground cumin
1 cube beef bouillon, crumbled
½ cup onions, diced, cooked
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
1 pound extra lean ground beef
Brown ground beef, add to slow cooker.
Sauté onions and garlic and then add to slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cook on low as long as possible.
Sometimes, I will add 2 bell peppers & 1 zucchini as well to give us some veggies with it. You can sauté them with the onions & garlic or add them to cook in the crock. If you just add them to the crock, they will retain some of their crisp, so it depends on how you like them. Other times, we’ll be chili purists and not add the veggies.
2 lbs. ground beef (or ground turkey..I’ve never used it though)
2 lbs. stew beef
2 red bell peppers
2 green bell peppers
3 brown and red onions (we aren’t big onion fans so I only used one of each and minced them)
Fresh Garlic, to your liking, minced…I used 3-4 cloves
2 large cans kidney beans (I use 3-4 15oz. cans), drained
2 large can pinto beans (I use 3-4 15 oz. cans), drained
2 large cans chili beans with no meat, (I use 4 15 oz. cans) DO NOT drain
2 large cans stewed tomatoes
Carroll Shelby’s Chili seasoning kit (found at my grocery store in the canned aisle on the top shelf, in a brown bag)
Lawreys Seasoning Salt
Salt and Pepper
Flour
Oil
Brown ground beef and season. Lightly coat stew meat with flour and brown in a different pan in oil. Add onions, bell peppers and garlic to ground beef and cook in another pan. Drain the grease and combine meat in a very large stock pot. Drain all the juice from beans and tomatoes, expect chili beans. Add kidney, pinto, and chili beans to chili. Also add the stewed tomatoes as well. Add everything expect the chili powder from Carroll Shelbys chili kit. Add chili powder according to taste. Put on a simmer and stir well for 2-3 hours (until chili comes to a boil, and everything is hot).
The masa flour thickens it up, so add a little at a time until you get your desired thickness. Also….the chili powder, add depending on how hot you want it. I got a baby over here who thinks ketchup is too hot (cough cough, dre), so I go easy on this for him.
Top with cheese or sour cream, or dig in with some fritos (our fav way), or enjoy with some corn bread!!!