It is just “ick” outside. For a yarn shop, this is handy because I imagine most of you are sitting at work looking out the window really wishing that you were knitting or crocheting right now. I am plotting dinner…for the first time in months, I will actually get to go home at a decent hour on a Thursday. I am usually here for Stitch in Space but since both Veronica and Kel are working this week, I can go home! yay! So in a totally non knitting related post, I now present to you my loose guidelines for chili – the perfect rainy day dinner:
Danielle’s Chili Recipe “guide”
– pound or so of ground beef
– large can of italian tomatoes (be sure to buy the good ones…the quality of the tomato makes all the difference. Good canned tomatoes will be in a thick red sauce instead of water.)
– couple tablespoons of tomato paste – I buy this in a tube now. It is great because I never need a full can of tomato paste and the tube allows me to grab a little and put the rest back in the fridge.
– green pepper
– onion
– mushrooms
-OMGoodness I forgot the beans! i use a can of black beans and can of kidney beans
Brown the meat. Drain off the excess fat and water and add onion and green pepper and mushrooms. Cook until onions are fully cooked. Add in tomatoes & beans, chopping them up as you add them. Add tomato paste as necessary to thicken the sauce. Season with cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne…whatever you like. I don’t eat a spicy chili so generally I use more cumin and less red pepper.
Allow to cook down for up to an hour on low heat. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and fresh bread. yum!
Now to cheer up this icky day, I present to you a hilarious google print ad sent to me by my husband, who found it on his nerd site, Gizmodo.
