Our fitness trainer Sloane has made it a habit lately to talk about all of her favorite food cravings while she is kicking our butts. Given that she is a triathlete, I will tell you that her carb cravings are wide ranging, chocolate croissants, key lime pie, tamale pie ( my favorite).... Last week it was her favorite chili recipes. She did a lot of research and experimenting and came up with her favorite. We asked her to post it here for you since Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner.
A few years ago a client
of mine introduced me to the art of cooking Chili. She was a new resident to
Santa Barbara and was previously living in Austin, Texas. Throughout the
football season she kept talking about her families tradition of “chili
cookouts” for the big games. At the time I was new to cooking and came from a
family that ate baked chicken, steamed vegetables and white minute rice for
dinner most nights. I had a new boyfriend at the time that was from Montana and
I wanted to impress him with my cooking… I finally asked my client for some
advice on cooking chili. She introduced me to Carroll Shelby’s Chili kit. It
can be found in most grocery stores. She suggests that you add all the “extra”
ingredients and any other ingredient you enjoy.
The Chili kit comes with
Chili seasoning, salt, cayenne pepper, and mesa flower. First I brown two
pounds of ground beef and sauté one large onion and one green pepper. After
both are cooked I add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water and kidney beans. The
chili kit tells you at this point the chili will be ready in fifteen minutes
but I prefer to let mine simmer for three to four hours. In the last hour I add
the mesa flower to thicken the chili up and just a bit of the cayenne pepper (I
do not like it too spicy).
I like to serve the chili
with my favorite corn bread muffins (plopped right in the middle of the chili
bowl) and a fresh crispy salad. Enjoy!
By the way, you can also try
Chili-Recipe.com for more ideas if your not partial to mine.
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