A Chili kind of day

I know it might seem odd, but in the 40 odd years that I've been cooking, I've never made chili. Truth be told, even after working in a Mexican restaurant for 21 years, I'm still not a fan of spicy foods and when I think of chili, I generally equate it with that horrible canned stuff that is only good if you mix it with Rotel Mexican tomatoes and Velveta cheese and leave it in a slow cooker for a couple of hours - but that's a whole 'nother thing.

But when we had dinner with our friends Curtis & Felicity last month, she made chili for dinner, and it was so good, The Shepherd asked me if I'd get the recipe from her - she gracefully gave me the ingredient list that she uses - it is kind of a "chop and dump" kind of soup - but I was able to find another similar one on the internet so I'd have an idea of how much spice I should use.


I was pleasantly surprised - it turned out pretty good. The Shepherd got to have his chili and watch the end of a disappointing football game - and he got some cornbread too - which he really liked - even tho the game was a disappointment, the dinner was a hit.




I'm not really a big cornbread fan either - it is always too dry or too "something" (fussy, aren't I?) - but this is the cornbread recipe that I put together for the above mentioned dinner with our friends - to me, meals are always more fun if you make them potluck - after all, we all work all day, why should one person have to do all the work for our dinner. I came up with this recipe - it's not too sweet, not to cakey, and not too dry. It uses a can of "Mexi-corn" as well as a can of creamed corn and has a very good texture.



Cheesy/Corny Cornbread

1 15 oz. pkg. Krusteaz Honey Cornbread Mix
1 16 oz pkg. Marie Callender's Cornbread Mix
1 can of creamed corn
1 can of Green Giant Niblets Mexi-Corn, with liquid
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a deep 9x13 cake pan (or 10 x 15 lasagna pan) Mix all ingredients and pour into pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until light golden brown. Store what you don't eat in the fridge (because of the corn).