Terry's Incredible Chili

Happy Tuesday! And an extra special shout out to my friend Amanda, because today is her birthday! Hope you had a great one, Amanda!


Today flew by. Where does the time go? I swear, if I had 12 extra hours in a day, I would fill those up, too. I'm exhausted from today's events, yet I've been home since 4:00. How is that possible?

Here's a rundown of how I spent my evening:

• 3:00 - Leave work
• 3:30 - (No traffic!) Go to Ralph's to grab a few things
• 4:00 - Home, put away groceries
• 4:05 - Put away last night's dishes, empty dishwasher, tidy up kitchen, play with the cat
• 5:20 - Start work out with Terry
• 5:35 - Stop working out because knee is hurting, decide to take a rest day
• 6:00 - Start baking cupcakes for various birthdays this week while Terry makes dinner (see below)
• 7:20 - Cupcakes are cooling, start cornbread for dinner
• 8:15 - Sit down to enjoy dinner and one episode of Mad Men
• 9:00 - Make frosting and frost cupcakes, clean up from dinner, do a few dishes, soak the rest
• 10:15 - Blog

Yikes. Aside from the 45-minute block of eating and watching TV, I'm not doing myself any favors in the rest and relaxation department. Summer will be very good for me this year!

Meanwhile, you'll notice that I skipped the workout once I realized my knee couldn't handle it. Thankfully, my physical therapist friend Heidi provided me some great knee-strengthening exercises that I can do at home, and I'm becoming very close friends with my foam roller again. As you can tell, I don't always make time for stretching and foam rolling, but I'm trying hard to be better about including those as part of my workout rather than as an addition. They're just as important!

Since I was on cupcake duty tonight, Terry generously whipped up a batch of his famous chili (well, it's famous between the two of us, and that's what matters around here). Let me tell you: Tonight was his best batch yet! I asked him to type up the recipe, which has evolved over the last five years into some seriously phenomenal comfort food. And it's healthy, too, so it's BLWB approved!

Terry's Soon-to-Be Famous Chili

Simmering and begging to be eaten

• 16 ounces grass fed ground beef
• 1.5 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp Cayenne pepper 
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2  tsp red pepper flakes 
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt (pinch)
• Pepper (to taste)
• 2 yellow squash, sliced and then quartered 
• 2 zucchini, sliced and then quartered 
• turn of olive oil
• More salt
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 15-ounce can of red kidney beans
• 8 ounces of your beer of choice

Brown beef with seasonings (chili powder through pepper) in a Dutch oven. Add olive oil, oregano, sprinkle of salt, squash, zucchini, and diced peppers when beef is almost completely browned. Add 1/4 cup of beer. Let simmer for a few minutes.

Try not to let your weird spouse eat it out of the pot.

Meanwhile, drain beans and tomatoes. Add both to the meat mixture and add the rest of the beer (3/4 cup). Bring the mixture  to boil for 3 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, as long as you can stand it, ideally around 30 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, sharp cheddar, and whole-grain corn bread.

Perfect

Oh yes, those are real kernels you see in there!

My goodness, this chili was incredible! Terry really is a fantastic cook when he manages to get into the kitchen, and I'm lucky to get to reap the benefits! The cornbread that I contributed was also my best batch yet; I followed Lisa's recipe exactly, except I used milk instead of heavy cream. It came out moist, buttery, and perfect for the chili.

I also mentioned cupcakes up there, but those will have to make their debut on the blog tomorrow. I'm exhausted! Terry has to get in to work early tomorrow, so I'm aiming to wake up with him for some early morning yoga. Might be just what my poor old knee needs.

Hope you had a great day, and I'll see ya tomorrow!