Chili, Salsa, and Cornbread

First, I'm terribly sorry for the long, long time since my last post. There have been lots of tests going on the last couple weeks. I have been doing lots of cooking, though, and I've taken pictures of all of it, so as  soon as I have time to write them all up, I have lots to share! This week, I even baked and decorated an AWESOME chocolate cake.

A few weekends ago, Drew and I had some friends over, and I was craving salsa, so we decided to have chili, cornbread, and chips and salsa. Drew kinda cheats when there are chips and salsa available. This salsa is totally addicting, though. So, you can't blame him.

 

Let's start with the salsa:

You'll need these items:

 

That Hunt's diced tomato can is fire roasted. Get that kind. It is perfect for this salsa. My Rotel was mild, but it was made extra spicy from the jalapenos.  If you want extra-extra spice, you could use regular or hot Rotel. The pretty, leafy stuff is cilantro (you won't need that much of it, though). You'll also need some chili powder, paprika, cumin, and salt.

Put your cans of tomato stuff in a pot as well as slice jalapenos and chopped cilantro. I used two jalapenos with seeds and one jalapeno without seeds and about 1/4 C of cilantro. I threw in about 1 T each of chili powder and cumin and 1 t each of paprika and salt.

This salsa is delicious cold, but it is absolute perfection when it's warm. I had it on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Drew likes his salsa chunky, and there is definitely nothing wrong with leaving the salsa exactly like this. I like mine to not be chunky though, so I put part of it in the blender after this point. 

Now for the cornbread! Yay! I <3 cornbread very, very much.

I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe but with a couple alterations. I added some sugar to make it sweet, and I cut the bake time down. I made mini muffins instead of putting it in the skillet. I think they baked about 12 to 15 minutes. If I could do it over again, I think I would use regular milk instead of buttermilk. I felt like they had a little more of a "bite" to them than I would like.

Chili time!!!

Get lots and lots of ground sirloin. Like 2 lbs. Because beef is awesome. Obviously, cows were created for the sole purpose of being absolutely delicious. 

You'll want an 8 oz can of tomato sauce. If you are super cool, you'll used El Pato brand. El Pato means "the duck," but there are no ducks in the tomato sauce. I think. It's just extra spicy. I don't know what ducks have to do with being spicy. But there IS a cute duck picture on the can! See?

 

Drew just googled el pato for me to make sure I wasn't lying to you about the meaning. It turns out the duck image on the can is not misleading. El pato really does mean "the duck." It also turns out, according to the Urban Dictionary, that el pato also is slang for being gay. Does that mean my tomato sauce is gay?

Regardless, this tomato sauce makes awesome chili.

I got waaaaay off topic. So, here's how you make awesome chili:

Brown your tasty beef. Add a small diced onion to your beef when you're browning it. It makes it yummier.

Add the ducky sauce after your beef is browned.

Then add three cans-full of water.

And yummy spices

The spices include cumin, oregano, thyme, garlic salt, chili powder, basil, and black pepper.

Bring it to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer one to two hours.

I like to put my chili on white rice. It's delicious. I just use Uncle Ben's Boil-in-a-Bag for it.

And voila! You have a super delicious meal and hopefully a pretty table!

Salsa

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 can mild rotel

1-3 jalapenos

1/4ish C cilantro

1 T chili powder

1 T cumin

1 t paprika

1 t salt

1. Put tomatoes, rotel, and spices in pot over medium heat.

2. While your tomatoes are heating, slice your jalapenos and chop your cilantro. 

3. Add the jalapenos and cilantro to the tomatoes. Heat to desired temperature.

4. If you want a less chunky salsa, you can put it in the blender.

Chili

2 lbs ground sirloin
1 8 oz can tomato sauce*
1 small onion, diced
3 T cumin
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1 T garlic salt
2 T chili powder
1 t basil
1 t black pepper

1. Brown meat with onion.
2. Add tomato sauce plus three cans full of water.
3. Add spices.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for one to two hours.

*El Pato adds delicious spiciness. You can find it in the Hispanic section of your grocery store. It probably won't be with the rest of the tomato sauces.