It's Cold Outside. Make Some Chili.

It's official.  Winter has set in.  At least, in Calgary it has.  On Friday we had wind chills of around -40!

So this time of year, who doesn't like a nice hot bowl of chili?  Seriously, if I could make and eat chili every day all winter, I would probably do it.  There's really nothing better than being able to throw a bunch of stuff into a slow cooker and leave it all day while you go about your life, and come home to something warm and delicious!

And so, I've decided to share my chili recipe with all of you.

I don't have pictures, since I haven't made chili in a little while, but I'm sure you can use your imaginations.  After all, it's basically just mush - warm, hot delicious mush.


INGREDIENTS

The best thing about chili is you can basically throw a whole mess of stuff in there, and it's probably going to turn out pretty good.  But there are a few basics that you need, more or less.

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (it doesn't matter if they're spiced or flavoured or whatever - it's a matter of your opinion here)
• 2 small cans of tomato paste (1 can would be okay too, but 2 will help thicken up the chili)
• 1 can of brown beans (try not to get baked beans or ones in maple - they won't make it taste bad, but the simpler the better)
• 1 can of kidney beans
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic (powder or diced, whichever you prefer)
• Chili powder - as much as you like
• Hot sauce to taste
• Sugar - yes, sugar

Beyond that, you can pretty much include whatever you like.  Some examples are:

• Onions - I'm not a big onion fan, so I won't buy one just for chili, but if I have one already I might chop some up to add to it.
• Peppers - I like to use non-pickled ones from a jar.
• Other kinds of beans - I personally like a lot of beans in my chili, but I typically just add more than one can of brown beans and kidney beans
• Other vegetables, like corn or diced up carrots, add a bit of a Mexican flair to it
• I like to use a bunch of different hot sauces - Frank's, sriracha, etc. Anything goes well in chili, especially if you like it hot
• Cheese!
• And the list goes on - be creative!

STEPS

1. Brown the beef.  If you're in a rush in the morning, you can easily do this step the night before and leave it in the fridge until you're ready to throw everything in the slow cooker in the morning.  If you're adding onions, cook them with the beef.  You can also add spices to your beef.  Drain it as well as you can.
2. Add the beef to the slow cooker.  Throw everything else in at the same time.  Try to train the juices from the beans as much as you can.  More juices will make the chili a bit more runny.  Add as much or a little spices/hot sauces as you like.  You can always add more before you eat it too.  If you're home while your chili is cooking, taste it throughout the day and add things too, if you like!
3. I leave my chili to cook in the slow cooker all day (about 9 hours) on low.  I'd leave it for at least 4 hours, but the longer it cooks, the more flavorful every bite will be!

And ta-da!  That's it!  Easy, right?

I like to serve mine with a bit (or um... a lot) of shredded cheese on top, and it's fantastic with either corn bread or dinner buns to scoop up the last little bits from the bottom of your bowl.

In my opinion, chili is basically the easiest thing you can make - and it's even pretty basic for those who aren't so kitchen-savvy!  And there really is nothing better than getting home from a long, cold day and having a hot dinner already waiting for you when you get home!

Enjoy!

Oh, I should add that you can also use a big pot to make your chili.  I've never done it this way (I'm a huge fan of my slow cooker), but if you leave it on a fairly low heat all day you will get the same result.

On Knitting

You guys, I'm so sorry that I haven't posted much about actually knitting lately!  The majority of what I'm working on right now is for Christmas, so I can't exactly go posting pictures anywhere just in case the recipients see what I'm doing!  All I've been able to post for the last little while is extreme close-ups, but sadly, that's pretty much it.  I promise I'll have some more to show you after the holidays!  (Including, hopefully, pictures of my loved ones with their new goodies!)

I can, however, share a picture of my most recent shop project!

Hopefully I'll get these sweet lacy pink socks listed soon!  I'm pretty excited about being able to make socks now, and I know my son really loves his thick slipper socks that I made for him (which I posted about awhile back).  Thick socks like these are fantastic for the cold days we're having in Alberta right now!

Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

Yes, it's sounds weird.  But this is what I made for dinner last night, and it was seriously delicious.  Definitely something worth trying!

Here is the original recipe, which I got in a regular email from Allrecipes.  I was immediately intrigued, and I was so pleased with the results that I figured I'd share with you guys!

I did make a few changes though.

My ingredients list would look more like this:

• 1 tbsp margarine (lactose-free household!)
• About a quarter of a small white onion, chopped (I tend to eyeball things like that)
• A sprinkle of garlic powder
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (A typical can of this stuff is more than a cup, but definitely measure it. I eyeballed it and it was a little too pumpkin-y!)
• About a cup of chopped canned peppers (Turns out I have no idea what chipotle peppers in adobo sauce even is - I could not find it anywhere! We eventually found peppers in a jar - just make sure they're not pickled!)
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• I also added about a tbsp of Frank's (to accomodate for the fact that I didn't get hot peppers) and a pinch of chili powder, along with a bit of pepper.  I omitted the sage and coriander.

I added in the substitute spices and the Frank's with the rest of the spices - and of course I tasted it as much as I could!  I did use too much pumpkin in mine - that's what I get for eyeballing it and not measuring - and my cinnamon poured out too fast, but otherwise this turned out pretty good!

Onions, garlic, and butter. Yum!

These are the peppers we finally found. They were with the pickles at Sobey's - but don't buy pickled ones!

Onion blend in chicken broth

Pumpkin goodness

The final result!

I found it was good with a bigger amount of pasta than I would normally have as compared to the sauce - I usually like a lot of sauce, but with this a small amount goes a long way.

Tyler wasn't a huge fan of this meal - I think it was because I did have too much pumpkin and cinnamon. It would've also been better with a tad more spice, I think, but everyone's taste is a little different there.

We just had it on top of regular white rotini, but I bet it'd be killer with rice or spaghetti squash too!