chili weather

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

  Well, after two days in a row below 80 degrees (is this really August in OK???) seems like good chili weather...got the cornbread in the oven a bit ago and it is smelling good!

[peternap]

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes??

[muldoon]

It's still too warm for me to make chili, but I'll put up a good recipe for others to enjoy.

start with 2 pounds meat, chuck beef cubed or even chili grind will do. once it greys up, drain it off. 
add 1 can of beef broth. 
add 1 can hunts tomatoe sauce. 
add 1 serrano pepper- whole pepper not chopped. 
bring meat back up to a boil - then let it simmer for 30 minutes.


The above is the base.  you start with a good base and the rest is seasoning. 
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp garlic
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

now cook on medium it for about 1 hour, when done take your tongs and squeeze that serrano from step 1 so all the juice goes in the chilli. throw the pepper away.  if it needs it, add water or beer to thin it out. 

3/4 tsp pepper
1/4th tsp salt
5 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper

let it simmer along on medium boil for another hour, add half a beer or water again if needed. (for the chili, not you)
last spice driveby

1 tbsp onion powder or flakes
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4th tsp brown sugar
--
15 more minutes of cooking and its ready.

I think HG has the right idea, chili and cornbread make a fine match. 

[peternap]

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes??

Thank you, Thank You, Thank You !

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

The best cornbread to go with it:

3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. corn meal, homegrown Indian corn makes the best
3/4 tsp. salt
1-3 T. sugar (depending on your taste.... DH likes sweet cornbread, I prefer it less sweet.)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups buttermilk
1/4 stick of butter, melted

Cook it in a pre-heated cast-iron skillet in a 425 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes until golden-brown on top and you can resist the smell of warm cornbread no longer.  Take two and butter 'em while they're hot.     By the way, this recipe will take your larger skillet... the little 7-8" ones are too small. 

If you're in a hurry, a less rich but very quick hot water cornbread is as follows:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Mix 1c. cornmeal, 1 tsp. salt, 3 tsp baking powder, 3/4 c. boiling water, 2 eggs.  Coat cornbread pan with oil and heat it in the oven as the oven warms up.  Spoon batter into hot oil in to the slots in the pan and bake 10-15 minutes.  Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.


Or, for the days you don't want to heat up the oven you can make cornmeal cakes:

2 c. stone ground cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. boiling water
6 T. milk

Heat a griddle or cast iron skillet and coat with a little butter.  Drop by tablespoons onto the hot griddle and cook like a pancake.  Funny story about these:  When I was in college, I worked with my landlady at the university library.  When I first moved in, it was in the dead heat of summer, and while the gas line was hooked up in my apartment, the electric wasn't yet, so I had no refrigeration and no way to keep the house halfway cool until the power company could get it done... they told me it would be a week.  I'd mentioned to my landlady that day at work that two of the burners on the stove were so stopped up with grease that I couldn't get them to work.  That night, I was cooking my supper-- a can of black eyed peas and corn cakes, one of my favorite meals-- when my landlady's husband came by to try to fix the stove.  I hurried and scooted  my stuff off the two good burners so that he could check it out.  He hardly said a word and looked kind of depressed, so I figured he was a little aggravated at having to come over and delay his own dinner to fix my stove.  The next day when I walked into work, one by one, my coworkers kept offering to buy me food or send me home with groceries, and I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Finally the story came out that when my landlady's husband had come home, she had a big roast and stuff sitting on the table and he sat down and said, "How can I eat a meal like this when that poor kid is over there starving with nothing to eat but corncakes and peas!??"  He hated blackeyed peas and corn cakes, and figured the only reason ANYONE would eat them was that they didn't have anything else (when in fact it was because I didn't have any refrigeration and I actually LIKE them.)  So, everyone at work was taking up a collection for me and worrying that I didn't have anything to eat!  It was pretty hilarious when I told them that I was well fed and could afford to buy some groceries if/when the power company ever came to get my electric on!

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds good.

[ScottA]

You're making me hungry. Coolest August weather I can remember ever. Must be global warming. 

[peternap]

Had some Chili for dinner. Thanks muldoon!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

You're making me hungry. Coolest August weather I can remember ever. Must be global warming. 

It's unreal, Scott.  The heat came on in my truck the other day when I took the girls to Hobby Lobby for quilting thread!

[ScottA]

We don't go to hobby lobby any more. Too hard on the budget.  Then again Lowes is worse.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

I went for quilting thread and I left with quilting thread and a pattern.  Not too bad, considering that patterns were on sale for 99 cents... I think the total was under $4, so not too bad for us.