I'm Chillaxin with some Chili

Winter is wily woman that is for sure. One day I am freezing my ass off under grey, cloudy skies; and the next day it is sunny and beautiful and I not even wearing a jacket. I bet you can guess what happens next in the scenario...yep she decides to play with my emotions and drop the temp just for a good laugh. Oh Winter....I am beginning to understand your ways.

So what does a young lass do to kill some time and keep her warm through the winter nights? Bet you said make soup! HAHAHAHA! While a very good guess I decided to turn toward soup's brotha from another motha chili. Venison chili to be exact.

Back at the beginning of December I participated in a Venison cooking class at Zola Wine & Kitchen. It was a great class where we learned how to make pot pie, chili, and steak and eggs with venison. Being someone who loves game meat I was so excited to learn some simple recipes that can be used with venison. And as far as game meats go, venison is the most mild in terms of that "gami-ness" taste that you ever love or hate. As I am a lover of all games meats (buffalo, yes, elk, yes, kangaroo, yes, camel, yes) I am game, hahaha, to try it all!

Not only did I make the actual chili I also cooked the beans and roasted my peppers for the recipe. I will toot my own horn and say that I am the bomb and was pretty impressed with my skills!

The other cast of characters included onions, chili, chicken stock, chicken broth, garlic, diced tomatoes, and venison.

Honestly this was such a simple recipe to do:

1.Brown meat, remove and set aside

2. saute onions and once softened add chili powder and cook for a minute

3. then add broth, stock, peppers, garlic, tomato, and beans and heat through

4. Once everything has come to temp add the meat and continue to simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

For realz people....that is it. And chili is one of those things that just gets better the next day as it is allowed to marinate in it's deliciousness. I actually cooked this late in the eve for the next day when my parents would be over for lunch so that the chili could do just that. And my effort was rewarded. Simple and hearty without being so heavy that you are put into a chili coma. I served with some garlic bread and would have put together a salad if I would have thought of it earlier. Oh well....guess I can't be perfect all the time! :)