Food Storage Recipes: Homemade Chili and Cornbread

My mom (known as Grandma Lori around here) used to make homemade chili that had lentils in it. I remember always hating chili growing up because of those darn lentils. In fact, I am still working at overcoming my loathing of lentils (see my lentil sprouting post for proof). When I first got married my husband requested that I learn to make a good chili. Well, I definitely didn’t want to ask my mom for HER recipe (sorry Grandma Lori) so I called up my husband’s mom and she gave me her famous “Real Chili Beans” recipe. Needless to say it has become a family favorite.

So what side dish is a necessity with chili? Cornbread of course! I have always purchased boxes of Jiffy cornbread mixes in the past. But when I got my WonderMill Grain Mill I decided to take a crack at grinding up some popcorn to make fresh ground cornmeal for homemade cornbread. Oh boy, I will NEVER go back to boxed cornbread again. Now that I have you salivating over my family dinner tonight … I have to go ahead and share the recipes with you 🙂

Marilyn’s Real Chili Bean Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean hamburger (use canned)	2 tsp. salt
2 c. dried pinto beans	¼ tsp. paprika
8 oz. can tomato sauce	1 ½ tsp. ground cumin
1 lb stewed tomatoes	1 T. oregano
2 T. oil	1 pinch chili pepper flakes
1 onion, chopped (use dehydrated)	3 T. chili powder
1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)	1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Directions: Soak beans overnight. Drain and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 hours. Drain and add to crock-pot. Sauté the chopped onion and garlic in oil until limp. Stir in all seasonings. Add tomatoes and sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. Brown beef in small fry pan. Drain and add to crock-pot. Add the tomato/seasoning mixture that was simmering plus 5 cups of hot water to crock-pot. Simmer in crock-pot at least 7 hours.

Better Than Jiffy Cornbread Recipe:

Grind: ½ cup of popcorn kernels to make ¾ cup cornmeal
Combine: ¾ c. cornmeal, 1 ¼ c. flour (I used whole wheat), ¼ c. sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp. salt
Add: 1 c. milk, ¼ c. veg. oil, 1 large egg, beaten; stir until dry ingredients are moist
Bake: At 400 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean