Winter's coming, and the quest for warm is on! You want some good chili to help you with that? Forget about that store bought nonsense. Make you up your own spice mix. It's easy, and you can make as little or as much as you want!
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons Chili Powder
2 Teaspoons Cumin
1 Teaspoon Coriander
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Teaspoon Oregano
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (optional, and add more for your desired spice level)
Simply mix all the ingredients together, and babow, you have chili seasoning. I make a ton of this stuff in advance, and give some out to people around me, who seem to enjoy it quite a bit.
Today, I used it to make a pot of chili spatz. I call it that because I basically made chili, threw in three cups of cheese, and added a bag of spatzle.
Turned out delicious!
While I wish I could give you the precise measurements for my bowl of goodness, chili is one of those things where I never bother to measure out anything. Particularly, the spices. I just add it until I feel like there is enough.
For standard purposes, I.E. one pound of beef, one can of diced tomatoes and one can of kidney beans, you would typically use about three tablespoons of spice. I think I ended up using about a cup and a half. But I also added four cans of beans, tomato sauce, and two cups of water to cook the spatzle towards the end (yes, I put the "noodles" in the pot with the chili).
The other beauty of chili is that there's really no specified cooking time. It can take as little as thirty minutes, but also simmer on low (or in a crock pot) all day. Mine typically takes between four and twelve hours, depending on how long I feel like simmering it. The longer it cooks, the more the flavor enhances.
Because it was good and spicy, I needed a little something to cool down my tongue. That came in the form of Serendeipity's The Goonies: Sloth & Chunk Rocky Rooooaad ice cream.
This is one of four new flavors from the brand, the other three being based on Friends, Caddyshack and A Christmas Story, and will unfortunately see a limited release. In other words, if you're interested in trying it, find it sooner than later. This was just at my local grocery store.
Popping the lid off, I was a bit disappointed in the flat chocolate top. However, much like the search for One-Eyed Willy's treasure, a simple exploration below the surface revealed a whole lot of booty.
The mix-ins were plentiful throughout the entire pint, with each bite containing several mini marshmallows and nuts.
I don't know how they pulled it off, but each marshmallow was fluffy and soft in texture. The chocolate flavor of the ice cream was also nice and rich. Overall, it was pretty delicious.
Serendipity brand is definitely my go to for ice cream, with their Birthday Cake being my all time favorite flavor. If you see them in your store, I highly recommend giving them a try. They're reasonably priced, and far superior, in my opinion, to the other more commonly known brands available.
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I'm digging the addition of spätzle into the chili. Nice touch.
ReplyDeleteWhich grocery store did you get the ice cream from? Will have to get the Friends version for the family. We're all big fans of the show in my household.
The spatzle added a really good texture to it. Far better than regular noodles.
DeleteAs for the ice cream, I found it at the Giant in Cascades.