Embelly White Chili

We had stopped by our favorite locally focused grocery store, Urban Acres, and bought some sweet potatoes. What we did not expect was what kind of sweet potato. Apparently the Japanese Sweet Potato is a white, creamy potato that is very sweet. It has a smooth texture and tasted amazing in a vegetarian curry dish I made.

While looking for more recipes to use sweet potatoes in, my wife follows a good vegetarian blog. Emily Levenson's blog has a post with the most amazing scones that just happen to be vegan. We wanted to try another recipe, this time a vegan soup.

For the Embelly White Chili recipe and other great cooking adventures checkout Emily Levenson's food blog.

Virtual Chili Cook Off

Chili has become the food challenge of most places of business. Both of my last two jobs have hosted Chili Cook Offs. I have always been too busy to make any of these challenges, but if, and when I finally do, here is the recipe I plan to use. It has a couple of nice surprises including the cocoa powder and cinnamon sticks (make sure you remove the sticks before serving.)

So here is my take on Chili. Hope you enjoy it.

If you like your Chili really spicy, make sure you increase the cayenne pepper and switch the sweet and mild peppers to hot pepper choices. The recipe below is spicy, it's what I would consider "medium" spicy or "mild" for those who enjoy eating the hottest hot sauce around.

Chili con Carne
Makes 4 servings
Prep: 25 min. Cook: 1 1/2 hrs.

3/4 lb ground beef
1/4 lb ground pork
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cans (15 or 16 oz can) red kidney beans, undrained
1/2 cup mild or sweet pepper, thinly sliced and diced
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 cinnamon sticks

1. Cook beef, onion and garlic in 3 quart sauce pan, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown, drain.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients except beans, breaking up tomatoes. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 1 hour stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in beans. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until desried thickness
4. Remove cinnamon sticks. Serve.