Southwestern Chili

What do you really want this Valentine's Day? A sexy, beautiful homemade treat or a hot and spicy, comforting bowl of chili? I choose comfy any day, in fact, I'm happily wearing sweatpants with fuzzy slippers and sporting a messy hair bun right now. Then, there's the delicious chili I made waiting for me to devour. I've tested this recipe twice so far, so I know it's a winner!

Southwestern Chili
Recipe adapted from Curtis Stone's What's For Dinner?
(Makes about 8 hearty bowls)

A handful of dried chili
8 garlic cloves, peeled
900 milliliters of reduced-sodium beef broth
Salt
2 pounds of lean ground beef
2 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 medium white onions, finely chopped
28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
2 19-ounce cans of red kidney beans, drained
Grated cheddar cheese
Chopped Scallions
Fries or tortilla chips

Boil hot water in a small saucepan.

I never actually measured how many dried chili I dump in this. It's roughly a handful or enough to fill a small bowl as seen in the photo above. I cut them in half and remove the seeds as well. There's still a very good spicy kick! If you love putting hot sauce and sriracha on your food, this is a good heat level. You can of course add more or less depending on your comfort zone. After the chili is prepped, put it in the saucepan with the hot water. Leave for 20 minutes so that chili softens. You can use a bowl or plate to place on top to keep the chili's submerged. During this time, peel your garlic cloves and chop your onions.

When the 20 minutes are up, place the beef broth, garlic cloves, chili, salt, and pepper in a blender, chop until everything is well blended. Set aside.

Place your pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Pour in the canola oil, once you see it shimmering, add the ground beef. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally to scrape the bottom and break up the meat. Add in the cumin, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in the chili-garlic-beef-broth sauce, the tomatoes, and the vinegar. Bring to a gentle simmer, uncovered. Reduce the heat to low or medium-low depending on how strong your stove is. Cook for an hour and fifteen minutes, stir occasionally. After half an hour, add in the kidney beans. Chili will thicken, best served hot!

Don't forget to garnish!!! Grate some cheese and chop up some scallions.

Make chili cheese fries by topping the fries with cheese and pour on some chili to melt it. Garnish with scallions.

Gooey goodness. I love melted cheese.

Or, serve with tortilla chips for dipping. Go Tex-Mex by garnishing with cilantro and avocado instead! I don't know what the weather's like where you are, but Toronto is going through a deep freeze, it's currently -17°C and it's supposed to feel like -40°C tonight. So warm up with a hot bowl of chili. This only takes 3 hours - tops - to make!

Guacamole

How is every one's weekend? It feels nice to have a long weekend to relax and eat. Boy, did we eat. To name a few, we went to Toronto Ribfest, Smoke's Poutinerie, Montana's, and many more. Lots of meaty goodness there, but I'm looking forward to something lighter and greener now.

Like guacamole! Mole...

Isn't that the cutest juicer? My mom found it and helped me with this photo shoot. =)
I know guacamole isn't something baked, but at least the tortilla chips were - not by us though. ;)

Guacamole
Recipe adapted from Food Network Kitchens Favourite Recipes
(Makes about 4-6 servings)

2 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 medium red onion, minced
3 ripe avocados
1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno
2 tablespoons of lime juice

1. Smash the garlic cloves and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Put in a bowl with the onion.
2. Cut the avocados in half lengthwise, twist and lift the pits out. Use a spoon to scoop the avocado out of the peel. Place in the onion mixture.
3. Mix the tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and the remaining salt with the avocados.
4. Serve immediately with tortilla chips! We bought the Tostitos Scoops tortilla chips, the little bowls are a great bite size!
   

This guacamole was a great summer snack (yes, we finished it already). Next time, Howard said he would add more lime and jalapeno but cut back on the cilantro. But note, he doesn't like cilantro. I love cilantro, but agree with his addition of lime and jalapeno.

We hope everyone had a great long weekend (Canada Day and Independence Day)! Time to start up the barbecue for dinner now... then continue to episode 9 of A Pasta in Love. Look, I'm watching dramas featuring food now!