Chili!

So yesterday I made an industrial-size vat of chili.  I designed this chili recipe when I was trying to cope with chronic gastritis- so the original version has no tomatoes or spice. (Hardly chili at all, amirite?!)  I've become very fond of this recipe over the years, though, and I thought I'd share the recipe today.  It's a great way to disguise organ meats(mmm nutrients!) and also veggie heavy, so it packs a nutritional punch.

2 lb ground beef
1 lb turkey
2 cans pinto beans(rinsed)
2 cans kidney beans(rinsed)
2 onions
2 sweet peppers
8 oz mushrooms
3 celery stalks
2 carrots
1 tsp bacon grease
Marrow from two beef bones

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Roast marrow bones for 20 minutes.

Sautee mushrooms in bacon grease.
Chop veggies and mushrooms and puree.
Brown meat.
Mix meat, bone marrow, beans and pureed veggies in crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours.


If you want to spice your chili, 1 Tbsp cumin and 1 Tbsp cayenne should be a good start.  I also ended up adding a can of tomato paste yesterday, for the heck of it, but this chili doesn't really need it.  I love chili because it is an awesome place to play with different proportions of meat, beans and veggies, as well as try new things- like liver, heart, or tongue.

How do you like your chili?

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A most unusual combination

I have weird taste sometimes.  My roommate was having cream cheese on toast and I wanted it so badly that I decided to try cream cheese on ham.  I'm not eating sugar or grains these days, so no toast for me!

When planning out my queer recipe, I had to account for two things: 

First, that cream cheese will not spread well on ham.

Second, cream cheese and ham is a LOT of pretty bland and smooth.  It needed some oomph!

I solved these issues by making a cream cheese dip.  Most of my liquid dairy is fermented in the form of kefir, which I thought would add a nice tang to the creaminess, and I chopped fresh herbs to cut the fattiness and brighten it up.  (Oooh, I'm talking just like they do on the Food Network!  Wheee!)

So here's the recipe I ended up with:

A large forkful of cream cheese(about 3 Tbsp)

Enough kefir to liquify the cream cheese(about 3 Tbsp, again)

A handful of fresh basil leaves(or oregano, or sage, or rosemary... or whatever you want!)(1/2 cup, packed.)

I chopped the herbs very fine, because otherwise the texture is untenable.  I mixed the cream cheese and kefir until it reached a nice smooth sauciness, then dumped in my choppedyness.  I like the proportions such that the cream cheese mixture basically serves to bind the herbs together, but YMMV.  

I cubed my ham into bite-sized pieces and dipped it into the sauce, and it's become a staple in my diet.  Today I added cucumber to the list of things that are good to dip into this!  Om nom nom!

I call it Herbed Cream Cheese-Kefir Dip.  I may have to make a big supply!