Wednesday, October 6, 2010

What Goes with Chili

The last week or so has been rainy and chilly. We've turned the heat on and our outside play was confined to small bursts between sprinkles. It's not the ideal crisp air and sunny days of fall we long for in August, but it is the perfect weather for making a pot of chili.

People have strong beliefs about their chili - with beans, without beans, what type of beans, corn or no corn, five alarm or just a little heat. For this reason, I am not going to offer up my chili recipe (plus there isn't one as I just wing it every time I make it). I, am, however going to say the best accompaniment to chili is cornbread. Corn chips are an acceptable substitute, but please hold the spaghetti and (eww) rice.

With Milo being allergic to dairy and eggs, I didn't want to use the usual Jiffy mix I have in the past. Luckily it was very easy to find a super good vegan cornbread recipe. This stuff is so good and so easy that I don't think I'll ever use the box again. The original recipe is linked to above. My changes are below.

Vegan Wholewheat Corn Bread

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bread flour
1 cup corn meal
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tbsp ground flax seed
6 tbsp warm water
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup canola oil


Measure dry ingredients into large mixing bowl. Mix with fork until combined. In separate small bowl, whisk together the flax and warm water. Add the other wet ingredients. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry. Scrape batter into greased 8 square inch baking dish. Bake in preheated oven at 355 degrees for about 25 - 30 minutes.

This cornbread goes great with chili and would be nice with other bean based soups as well. It's also tasty the next day with avocado slices. Enjoy the fall weather - even if it is rainy!

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