A Chili Fall Day

I'll apologize now for my attempts to be as punny as Mary in her blog titles, and for the fact that we’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. I’ve been prepping for a job interview, which means my nervous baking habit is in full force, but following cookie recipes from How to Cook Everything is hardly a work of culinary genius.

However, when we woke up yesterday morning and it was in the low 60s and pouring rain, Mary and I knew it was just the day for chili. We had a dinner date with one of our vegetarian friends, so we searched for a good veggie chili recipe, and selected a vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free one that looked good.

The recipe required a lot of prep work, as once you start adding things to the pot, you have a pretty fast paced 20ish minutes before you can let the soup simmer (or whatever you may think that means... Mary and I had a lengthy debate about the different stages of boiling). So we channeled all of our favorite Food Network stars that always seem to have everything perfectly washed, diced and measured out in cute little bowls within arm's reach and were on our way. As you can see, we decided to go for a mix of black beans and kidney beans. I was skeptical at first, but it worked out well.

Here's the recipe we used (adapted from the Curvy Carrot):

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium white onion, diced

1 large red pepper, seeded and de-ve

ined, and diced

6 large cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

3 tablespoons chili powder

1/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1/2 tablespoon curry powder

1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 15 oz. cans of beans

1 cup corn kernels

1 1/2 teapsonns salt

1/4 cup coarsley chopped fresh cilantro

juice from 1/2 a lime

cheese and sour cream to top

1. Heat the oil in a large pot, add theonion and cook until translucent and softened. Add the red peppers and cook till onions begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute.

2. Push the vegetables to the perimeter of the pot, leaving a clearing in the middle. Add the cumin and cook while stirring in the center of the pot.

3. Stir it all together and cook until you can smell the cumin, about a minute. Add the chili powder, cayenne pepper, and curry powder and stir, cooking for about another minute.

4. Add 2 cups of water and stir well. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened.

5. Stir in the tomatoes, oregano, and brown sugar, and simmer for about 25 minutes.

(Mary using her mother's tried and true cilantro chopping method)

6. Stir in the the beans and corn, remove the pot from the heat and add salt, cilantro, and lime juice.

Serves 5.

We also supplemented our meal with perhaps the best corn muffins I have ever had. We found the recipe here: http://www.beckybakes.net/2010/01/10/sweet-corn-muffins/.