Chili For Two?

Chili for Two?

It has been confirmed that I do not know how to cook for two people. After years of preparing food for a family of 5, making the transition since everyone has left home, has been quite an adjustment.  Plus, growing up, I observed my grandmother always cooked more food because she never knew who may stop by.  Big Mama  was one of those “pinch of ths, dash of that, taste  and serve with love” kind of cooks.  Following in the tradition, I have approximated the big and little pinches for your duplication and pleasure.
The other day, the menu consisted of Chile and cornbread.  I chopped and sliced ingredients for both dishes and asked my husband if he would like to cook with me by making the cornbread.  He said, “ok” then proceeded to sit at the kitchen table doing work on his laptop.  Twenty minutes later, I’m standing at the stove, tasting and humming and he was sitting in the same spot at the computer when I turned and asked, “You still making the cornbread?”  He said, “You want me to?” I almost said, “Never mind,” but what would have been the fun of that!
Given the time and  hearing the growl of my stomach,  instead of having him make cornbread from scratch, I reached for the Trader Joe’s cornbread mix, and advised him to follow the directions, substituting the egg replacer for the egg and adding the chile powder, onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos.  Below, I have included the “scratch” recipe.   Do whichever works for you.

Mexican Corn Bread

1 cup corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 Tablespoons baking powder
1 egg replacer (Energ-G Egg Replacer)
½ teaspoon chile powder
2 Tablespoons honey
½ cup canola oil
½ cup soy milk
¼ cup finely chopped onion
2 Tablespoon minced red bell pepper
¼ cup diced green pepper
2 Tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno peppers

Preheat oven to 425°.  Combine corn meal, flour, baking powder sea salt and chile powder.  Saute̒ veggies for 1 minute in 1 tablespoon of canola oil.  Add to cornmeal mixture.  Mix honey, oil and soy milk and add to previous mixture.  Pour in cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. 

Gimme More Veggie Chili

1 cup white kidney beans

1 cup black beans

Medium onion, sliced

Medium Green Pepper, chopped

3 stalks Celery , Chopped

1 carrot, sliced

½ cup mushrooms sliced

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 tsp basil

2 bay leaves

1-2 jalapeno peppers (depends on how much heat you like)

¼ teaspoon  ginger powder or small piece of ginger root *

2 cans no salt added tomatoes

½ cup Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage

3 Tablespoons  olive oil

1 teaspoon Spike seasoning or 1 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 Tablespoon Hasa Marina (corn flour)

Pinch of cinnamon

In large pot, saute garlic, onion, green pepper, celery, mushrooms, corn and carrots in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.  Add cumin. chili powder, basil and Spike.  Add white kidney and black beans,  tomatoes, ginger, bay leaves and jalapenos to mixture.  Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.   Break up Gimme Lean Sausage and sauté in 1 tablespoon oil.  Add sausage and corn to pot.  Cook for another 10 minutes.  Add corn flour(helps thicken), stir,  and pinch of cinnamon.  Taste and flavor to your pallete.   

*Ginger reduces gas experienced by some when they eat beans.

By the way, you can get eight servings out of this!  

So you can freeze, share with friends or have lunch for days.