Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Rainy Day Chili and Cornbread Dinner

It was one of those days when I couldn't decide what to make for dinner, and we seemed to be missing key ingredients for everything I wanted to make. I did find 1 pound of ground beef in the freezer and several cans of beans in the cupboard, so I decided to make chili and cornbread. We were out of onions, but I thought that I could probably substitute onion powder if I increased the amount of real garlic.

I also found a package of wheat berries from our CSA in the freezer (they've been in a freezer for several months) and decided that these would make a nice addition to the chili.

I hadn't make chili yet in my new slow cooker, so this rainy fall day seemed like a good day to give it a try. My chili recipe originated from a college friend. Beer is the key ingredient. It's fun to see how different beers change the flavor of the final product. This time I used the last beer in the house, an Inverness IPA from Deschutes Brewing. To adapt it to the slow cooker, I tried an idea from Slow Cooker Revolution to make a panade of beef, bread, and milk. We did not have any white bread (as recommended in the recipe), so I used up the last of the heel of the sprouted grain bread and the last 1/3 c of milk in the house. I also used the cookbook suggestion and added 3 T of soy sauce to make a more "meaty" flavor.

Chili
olive oil
1 onion chopped (or tonight onion powder)
cumin to taste
chili powder to taste
oregano to taste
2 cloves garlic
2 cans beans (today 1 can black and 1 can kidney)
1lb ground beef
1 slice bread
1/3 c milk
1 bottle of beer
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
frozen or fresh corn (I completely forgot to add this today!)

Heat pan on the stove and saute onion with the spices until onions are soft. Transfer to the slow cooker. Add in beans, tomatoes, beer, soy sauce, and garlic. Mix milk, bread, and beef together in bowl. Cook on skillet with more cumin, chili powder, and salt until browned. Transfer to slow cooker. Cook on high for 3 hours. Serve with cheese and cooked wheat berries.

Wheat berries
2/3 c wheat berries (from CSA)
2 c water

Rinse wheat berries in water to remove extra husks, rocks, and dirt. Bring to a boil with the water. Simmer on low for 45 minutes. Drain extra water or let it sit to soak up more water.



The corn bread recipe is known in our house as Nana's Johnny Cake. I used up the last egg and had to use soy milk since I used the very last of the cow milk in the panade. The soy milk gave the corn bread a nice nutty flavor.

Nana's Johnny Cake
1 c corn meal or flour (from CSA)
1 c wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/3 c oil
1 c soy milk.

Mix everything together. Bake 425F for 25 minutes in an oiled 8-inch pan. Serve with Willamette Valley honey or homemade strawberry jam (made from Willamette Valley strawberries).


4 comments:

  1. Oh do I have slow cooker envy! That's quite a fancy one you have there. Chili sounds so good for these winter days doesn't it. So impressed you came up with it on the fly!

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  2. I recently made chili with beer for the first time and loved the result.

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  3. Is that the recipe you used when you made chili for us after Kate was born?

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  4. Sara, It's similar; however, that day I made it on the stove top and used ground turkey rather than ground beef. To make this recipe on the stove top, saute the onions and brown the meat before adding the rest of the ingredients. Also, on the stove top I don't make the panade--just use the browned meat because there isn't the worry about it drying out with the long slow cooker time.

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