Made Some Chili….
Winter is here and I really enjoy making stuff in the crock pot. Usually I end up making a stew or chili out of whatever we have in the pantry, but my wife always says I should use a recipe or atleast write what I did make down so I can remake it later... So here is the chili I made this weekend.
- 2 Yellow onions, chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
- 1 can (30oz) chili beans
- 2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes
- 1 can (4oz) green chilis
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbs chili powder
- 2 tbs cumin
- 1 tbs paprika
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Heat up the oil in a saucepan, drop in the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and peppers and cook em up til they are soft, say 5-10min. Add in the chili powder, cumin, and paprika and cook another min or so. Drop that into the crockpot along with the beans, tomatoes, and chilis. Add salt and pepper, stir it up. Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8.
This makes about 5-6 good size bowls of chili. I made a batch sans the jalapenos and my wife ate it, so it wasn't too hot. I think there is some room for tweaks to make it a bit hotter, but then I end up with a whole batch for myself, which is fine, but it is better if I can share it.
Obviously I could use other beans, I could prep the beans in the pressure cooker, etc, but I was being lazy, and canned beans were on sale, so it was just easier.
Our thai restaurant is open!
Our preferred thai delivery place, Pot Pan used to be located on north avenue, but the building was getting torn down for condos, so they moved over to Milwaukee ave. They are actually CLOSER than they used to be to us, which is great (and surprising, since they were only 3 blocks away before, now they are barely 2 blocks. Even from the old location, most of the time they would deliver it on foot.)
They actually have been closed 5 months due in part to the move and in part to the cities 3 month delay in finishing their paperwork. In the meantime, we ordered thai from a few other places, and while they were good, we both have this whole "omg pot pan ruled" thing in our head... so I called tonight (as I have been doing every week) and I was happy to find them open again... They were very happy to be open and the woman referred to us as 'our old customer'... so that was nice. Hopefully our memory is accurate and Pot Pan really is as good as we recall.
mmmmmm fake sandwiches…
fake turkey, crusty marble rye, fake mayo, mustard, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes.... so good.
PPPPPPPPPPProductive…
I am feeling good.... yesterday... mason had a doctor's appt, the work, then came home, got mason to bed, had dinner, went to the gym, then went to the grocery store and got normal stuff as well as stuff for smoothies, veggies, and stuff for work lunches. Made some veggies stir fried for a post gym snack, cleaned up the main floor, and went to bed.
This AM I got up, made smoothies, fed mason, and was at work at 9.
I like eating lunch in, since I don't really care about the food options around me, and damn is it hard to eat a decent meal out that is remotely healthy. I mean, au ba pon (sp?) has low calories, but like 50% of the daily sodium. ok. Subway 6inch veggie patty is ok. The tofu teriyaki is good, but I can only eat that so much. Not to mention all of those cost $4-$6. So I have been making pb&j sandwiches and eating some fruit. I figure that is better, and infinitely cheaper, even when I am using whole wheat bread, real peanut butter (list of ingredients: peanuts. thats it.), and fruit spread (it is hard to find a jelly/jam/preserve that doesn't have corn syrup in it).
So yeah, I figure that is better than what I was eating.
Work, tonight is garage. Maybe I'll work on the car? who knows.