Chilly Night Chili

Gonna start breaking out my crockpot recipes, even though it's mid-Nov and was 75 degrees out today.  Maybe by doing this I'll help bring out the lower fall temps.  I'm so ready for lower temps, 75 is great for the summer, but I want my chili and hot chocolate, dammit!

I've been making this chili for years now.  I think it was originally based on a SBD recipe somewhere, but I've tweaked and modified it so much over the years that I don't remember anymore. This recipe is also easy to modify based on what you have on hand.  I've posted my "basic" recipe below, but tonight (in the photo) I made a variation based on what I had in my pantry.  Black beans instead of great northern beans, ground sirloin instead of ground turkey, and I added a chopped carrot.

I don't eat spicy food, but if you want a spicier chili, you can use cans of diced tomatoes with jalapenos or chiles (like Ro*Tel) instead of the plain ones.

Chilly Night Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tray (1.25 lbs.) ground turkey (I used ground sirloin tonight)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced (I added a dice carrot tonight)
• 1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, drained
• 1 can (15 oz.) great northern bean, drained (I had black beans but no GN beans tonight)
• 1 can (15 oz.) red kidney beans, drained
• 3 cans (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a skillet, heat the olive oil and brown the meat.  Drain and then place the browned meat into your crockpot.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally.

This chili keeps really well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.  It actually is delicious the day after, once the flavors have fused together overnight.  It freezes well too and makes good "frozen meals" to take to work on mornings when you realize you've forgotten to prep lunch the night before.

Roasted Tofu and Okra

I came across these on the KERF blog.  Two different food items, but I thought I'd put them in the same entry since the method is exactly the same, and I served them both together today.  They came out DELISH!

I never would have thought to roast tofu or okra.  I usually just use tofu in soups or stir-frys.  It really is very good roasted.  I kept it in a little too long, next time I'll reduce the baking time to 25 mins as opposed to 30 mins, which I reflected in the directions below.

In the past, I've only ever had boiled okra (per my mom), fried okra (I grew up in TN and AL), and the occasional okra in gumbo.  I'm a fan of okra in general, but when you roast it in the oven, the flavors are concentrated and are so delicious.  The seasoning keeps the outside nice and savory, while the yummy slimy insides and seeds are sweet.  MMMMM!

Roasted Tofu and Okra
Tofu recipe from here and okra recipe from here.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (12 oz.) extra firm organic tofu, drained
• 1 lb. fresh whole okra (even better if it's from the Farmers Market!), washed and drained
• extra virgin olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut the block of tofu into bite-size pieces.  (I did approx 1" x 1" x 1/2").  Put tofu in a bowl, drizzle on some olive oil and sprinkle with TSSS.  Toss to coat.  Place i n a single-layer onto a baking sheet.
• Put the okra in a separate bowl, drizzle on some olive oil and sprinkle with TSSS.  Toss to coat.  Place in a single-layer onto a baking sheet.
• Bake tofu for 25 minutes and okra for 20 minutes.
• Serve immediately.