Fall Eats- Chili Time

Guess what? Fall has finally arrived in Charleston. By this, I don't mean extremely cool weather and tons of fall leaves, but I was able to sleep with the windows open and I can now wear jeans and boots most of the day without having a heatstroke. There was even a little rain yesterday, so I was able to wear a cozy cardigan. I'll take what I can get. Soon it will be cold and miserable and I'll be wanting these fabulous "fall" days back again. 

Now that we have fall weather, I've been in the mood to make some cold weather meals and it just so happens that I looking through my Southern Living magazine when I came across a chili recipe that looked delicious. Nothing screams fall food quite like a hearty bowl of spicy chili. I have a standard chili recipe that's my go to but I wanted to give this one a try since my standard could use a little something-something. (I also want to work on my chili recipe so that I can be more competitive at this year's neighborhood chili cookoff.) I added just a few ingredients to give it a little more depth and heat, but all in all, this was a delicious chili. 

Beef and Bean Chili Recipe

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 pound beef stew meat
1/2 cups chopped white onion
1 cup chopped poblano chile
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon tabasco (optional)2 cups beef broth
2 (14.5-oz.) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 (16-oz.) can light red kidney beans

Toppings:Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Saltines
1 small jalapeño chile, thinly sliced

Step 1
Heat oil in a large sauté pan, add beef and cook, stirring once, until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the beef from pan. Add onion and poblano chile to pot, and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes.

Step 2
While beef browns, in your slow cooker add tomato paste, cocoa, chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, tabasco, sugar, broth, tomatoes, and beans. Add browned beef and sautéed onion and poblano. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low for 8 hours. 

Step 3
Serve chili with cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and jalapeño slices for topping.

Recipe was modified from Southern Living's recipe which can be found here.

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If you watch my Instastories you might have seen my progress on making Emmett's lily pad costume. Tonight was his pond performance and he was the cutest lily pad ever! I made his costume as a cape, using felt, which I cut and drew in the shape of lily pad. I added water lilies which I made from paper plates and tissue paper. I also added a couple of frogs I found at the dollar store. 

Emmett is a born performer. He did such a good job.

I also painted his face

Yes... I know... I'm one of those moms. I enjoy making costumes and going a little overboard on these sorts of things. I don't have the luxury of being a room mom or doing much during the day in the classroom so I want to make sure he knows I care on the things I can be there for.