CanYouFind.Us

and it was a great way to get back into the kitchen. Since we parked the RV nearly a full year ago, I haven’t been cooking all that much. On my short trips back home, I have typically reverted to our favorite recipes. I did try a great Armenian Pizza a few weeks ago (I really need to get that posted..) but a classic hearty chili will be my ‘welcome back’ post.

When you start trying to find a recipe for chili you face a lot of variables. Do you want it to be sweet, or spicy? Do you want it with or without beans? How about cubed meat versus ground meat?  This recipe was found on recipezaar.com and was filed as Kelly’s Chili. Her chili has won her 3 awards, and it is an amazing recipe that has plenty of wiggle room for personalization.

To make this Our Chili, I cut back on the brown sugar by 1 tablespoon, and added one more can of beans. We also prefered the heat of leaving the seeds and ribs in the jalapenos; you can deseed those to pull out some of the spice, or add additional peppers for more heat. The recipe I have posted reflects the alterations that I had made, so feel free to customize it for yourself!

Chili is such a wonderful dish to kick off the fall. Our giant stockpot filled with this comfort food is going to be reused for many meals. Serve it over Fritos for a crunchy meal, or wrap it up in a tortilla with cheese and onions for a handheld-sit on couch type of meal. We paired ours with a light salad and a firm Ozark Style cornbread. That was my first attempt at a cast iron cornbread, and it went perfectly with the chili.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
2 cups yellow cornmeal, stone-ground
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil

Procedure

1.    Preheat the oven to 400.
2.    Spray a cast iron skillet with oil, add the butter and put in the oven to heat. Meanwhile, stir together the cornmeal, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
3.    In a smaller bowl, beat the buttermilk with the eggs and oil.
4.    Combine the two mixtures. As always, be careful not to overbeat, stirring until wet and dry are just combined. ( note: the batter will be thin. Don’t worry!)
5.    Scrape the batter into the skillet and bake the cornbread until it is golden brown and crust at the edges, 23 to 27 minutes. Serve hot, in wedges.

Nutritional Information
Calories 197
Fat 5g (sat 2g,mono 2g)
Cholesterol 59mg
Sodium 521mg
Carbohydrates 30g
Fiber 3g
Protein 7g
Calcium 82mg
Iron 2mg

Notes

• Pouring the batter into the preheated cast iron pan makes for a beautiful crust.
• Nutritional information is based on 8 hearty servings.
• Recipe from The Cornbread Gospels; Crescent Dragonwagon