What's for Dinner Tonight?: Southwestern Chili
One of the things that I love best about the weekend, other than being able to sleep in and that whole not working thing, is being in the kitchen cooking.
It's only been within the last year that I've developed such a passion for cooking. There's something so soothing about chopping vegetables, and satisfying in eating something that turned out really, really good - it's like a Zen moment for me. In the kitchen, everything makes sense and all is right with the world. Ok, enough schmaltz.
Today I'm experimenting with a new chili recipe that I'm throwing together. Hoping for the best, but really, chili is one of those things that's kind of hard to screw up.
I have a couple of good chili recipes that I use, so I'm taking the best of those and adding in some twists of my own. The biggest change is that I'm using stew meat as the base of my chili instead of ground beef. I think that the chunks of seasoned beef will hold up better after cooking in my slow cooker all day and give us something to bite into. For heat, because I do like spicy chili, I'm adding in a small can of chipotles in adobo sauce - my husband can't get enough of these - and some jalapeno. And for sweet, just a hint of cinnamon. Yum!
Hopefully it's not too hot for the boy, but he's always got pizza rolls in the freezer if he wants something else.
This is going to be a big batch of chili, but I will freeze half of it right away to pull out some night when I don't feel like cooking.
I paired these with Ham and Cheeses Sliders and it was delicious!
Southwestern Chili, courtesy of me:
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 pounds of stew meat, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of frozen corn, roasted
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup of onion, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced (you can use red, orange or green, I just like the color)
1 jalapeno, diced (remove seeds and stem for milder flavor)
10 chipotles in adobo sauce, drained and chopped from a (12 ounce) can - leave these out or reduce the amount you use if you don't want it too spicy
2 cups of V-8 or vegetable juice
1 (15 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can of Rotel with green chilies
1 (5 ounce) can of tomato paste
1 can of beans (your choice, I used cannellini for something different)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
Directions:
I cut my stew meat into smaller bite-sized pieces, not something that you have to do if you don't want. Add stew meat and flour to a large bowl and mix well. The flour will help give the meat a bit of a crust when you sear it.
In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the pan is hot, add in stew meat, garlic, cumin and chili powder. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, just enough to brown the outside of the meat, but not cook all the way through.
Heat a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, add frozen corn and roast for about 5 minutes or until corn is bright yellow and starting to char.
Add rest of ingredients into slow cooker.
Add in stew meat and corn mixing well.
If it starts to get dry or too thick, add in more V-8 or you can add in 1 cup of water.
Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
Top with sour cream, tortilla strips, cheese and cilantro.
