what's cooking wednesday - full of beans chili

Still no end in sight to this winter. The snow is still falling, after falling pretty steadily all day. Thankfully it's not major accumulation this time around. Just a nice white coating over everything. A little something to perk up the drab late winter, it's been around a while, grayish looking snow. I have to say when it comes to food and seasonal eating there is nothing more comforting on a day like today than a nice bowl of chili. I will admit to you all now, I am far from a chili expert. There are lots of things I can make well, but thus far chili has not been one of them. I even got step by step instruction from the chili master and it still didn't help. Now I did have huge success with this chili, but as good as that recipe is it's just not traditional chili. Which probably explains why Michael loves it so much. Beans are not his thing.

Do you remember the Crazy Plates and Looneyspoons books? Better for you recipe books written by a couple of Polish/Canadian sisters. Their latest book out is Eat Shrink and Be Merry. They also host a television show by the same name. In it they go head to head with a cook, each making a favourite recipe which well eventually be part of a taste test. For example, on the last show I watched they had a chili cook off with one of our local fire stations. The firefighters made the "traditional" chili and the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry ladies made a better for you version. The ladies won the taste test hands down.



Full of Beans Chili

1 lb extra lean ground beef
8 oz light Italian sausage, casing removed
2 tsp minced garlic
1 cup diced red onions
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced green pepper
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 can (19 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
1 can (19 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14 oz) beans in tomato sauce
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tsp liquid honey
Grated cheddar for garnish

Cook sausage, beef, garlic and onions in a large pot over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. Add celery and green pepper. Cook and stir for 3 minutes or until veggies begin to soften.

Stir in chili powder, cumin, oregano, coriander and black pepper. Cook for one more minute. Add undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth and celery leaves. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add beans and simmer, covered for 10 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro, lime juice and honey. Serve topped with cheddar.

Recipe Notes: Well I really enjoyed this chili. Mike did less so, but that's not surprising really. I knew there would be a chance of that. I did make a couple of very small changes. Like I used turkey Italian sausage. And with the beans I used two cans of baked beans because Mike hates kidney beans. Even still he was not impressed. As for me I loved it, so much so, in fact that I may have eaten it all week for lunch. It makes a decent size pot, so there was plenty of leftovers. Which all works to Papa's benefit because he and Grandma Linda are usually the recipient of my soup leftovers. Then they say wonderful things about my cooking. Then I make another giant pot of soup and they get the leftovers and then they.... you see where this is going?

What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret. Much to Kaffy's chagrin, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday.