Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Chili and Cornbread



Chili

1/2 lb. ground beef
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1-2 cans diced tomatoes (I like using petite-diced)
1 tsp chili powder
chopped onion
cumin
brown sugar

Brown the beef. Throw in some chopped onions. Add beans and tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup or so of water till you get the consistency you like. Add chili powder, some cumin (1/2 - 1 tsp) and some brown sugar (1 Tbsp or so) and adjust to taste. Let simmer while you get the rest of the dinner ready.

**This is a pretty basic chili recipe without anything fancy.  What kind of chili do YOU make?


Cornbread

The recipe I used for above photo was from Smitten Kitchen and I did NOT care for it. I chose it because it was different from my usual recipe and used buttermilk (something I've been experimenting with a lot and love to use in pancakes). The following is my good ol' standby:

2 cups flour
8 Tbsp cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Mix dry ingred. together. Add eggs and milk. Gently stir in melted butter. Pour in greased pan (I vary the pan size 9*9, 7*11, pie pan, etc.) and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. 

**I halve this recipe for our little family.  I've also been using powdered milk to rotate it through our food storage. It tastes fine with powdered milk but is a bit more crumbly. I keep tweaking it to compensate for that.


2 comments:

Jennie @ Porch Swing Quilts said...

Wow! Pictures and all. Okay, you've justed upped the ante - I'll have to take photos of my next experiment.
Looks yummy. I don't know if my kids like chili or not - I guess we'll find out!

Rebecca said...

Yes my kids laugh at me now "look! mom's taking pictures of food again!" I blame it all on the influence of this blogging world...but it sure makes a fun addition to recipes.

My kids don't always eat the meat and tomatoes in chili but will eat all the beans. I try to use the petite diced tomatoes so they aren't big chunks.