Recipe(tried): Chili Bread Bowls, Gina's Famous Chili, Gina's Awesome Cornbread Muffins

Hi Jess -

A day in the mountains and then homemade chili. Yummm.

I would suggest you serve your chili in individual bread bowls. There are a number of recipes on the Recipe Link for making our own, but since you will be skiing all day, I would recommend you make your bowls from small sour-dough loafs or peasant bread that you buy from a bakery or grocery store.

Slice off the top of each loaf, hollow out the inside and you have individual serving bowls for your chili. (Be careful not to make the "walls" too thin.) Your guests not only eat your chili, but also their chili bowl.

Garnish the filled chili bowls with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese and sprigs of fresh parsley. You could also embellish them with slices of avacado.

You could also serve cornbread or cornbread muffins. Chili is also good served with rice. Yummmm again.

Here are a couple of recipes you might like.

Gina's Famous Chili [By Gina,FLA]
serves 8

2 lbs. ground sirloin
1 T. olive oil
1 large onion chopped
2 bell peppers, green and red, seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz. can peeled tomatoes
2 T. chili powder1 t. oregano
1 t. salt
1 t. sugar
1/8 t. cayenne pepper (more if you want heat)
1 t. cumin
1 t. paprika
2 15 oz. cans kidney beans, 1 light and 1 dark with juices

garnishes: grated cheddar cheese

Brown beef, discard any fat. Set aside. In a skillet with olive oil, saute all veggies, add to beef in a pot with all other ingredients and cook on low for two hours.
__________________________________________

Gina's Awesome Homemade Corn Muffins [From Gina, FLA]

1 c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. half-n-half
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Grease nine 3'x1 1/2 inch muffin tins.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and mix till crumbly.

In a separate bowl, mix milk and egg. Fold liquid mixture into flour mixture. Spoon evenly into muffin tins, fill to top.

Bake 25 minutes or until cake tester comes up clean.

Yields 9 muffins

________________________________________