Not Your New Year’s Day Chili

We didn’t make chili for New Year’s Day this year. Or cornbread, or black eyed peas as we like to do in the South. Instead I thought it would be nice to go out to breakfast. Since nothing happens quickly these days (any attempt to leave the house requires dressing all three of us, packing the stroller and making sure little C has been changed and fed) it took us a good 45 minutes just to get to the restaurant which was literally 5 minutes from our house. We waited in line for a table, tried to keep the stroller out of the way and finally sat down to look at the menu. I was starving and just about to order the super deluxe breakfast for 2 when Claire looked up at me with a pained expression on her face.

Well I won’t tell the whole story in all it’s glory but let’s just say our attempt to have breakfast out was trumped by other, more important needs relating to a faulty diaper and no extra clothes. We had to leave. Immediately.

So that’s how the New Year started at this house. As new parents, it was quite fitting and probably just a drop in the bucket of a whole slew of surprises that will so humbly remind us that our lives are no longer about just ourselves, or our stomachs. Parenthood is absolutely amazing, in all it’s dirty, messy, sleep-deprived glory. I could go on and on about that since babies are my favorite subject these days, but I’m really writing to share my chili recipe. That I finally made last weekend. Along with the cornbread. I even snuck some collards in there for good measure. Black eyed peas will have to wait til next year.

It was enough for many meals, and spicy enough that I took a whole Tupperware container to a good friend in hopes of inducing labor (which it didn’t, to my dismay.)

Not Your New Year’s Day Chili

4 cans assorted beans (I used cannelini, navy, black and kidney)

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 small can tomato puree

4 onions, diced

8 garlic cloves, chopped

salt

6 tsp paprika

5 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp pureed chipotle pepper

6 tsp cumin

dash of worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp honey

2 cups collard greens, chopped

1 cup frozen corn

2-3 tbsp grapeseeed oil

Saute onions in large pot with oil over medium heat for 7-8 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, salt and chile powder. Lower heat and cook another 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and juice, pureed chipotles, worcestershire and honey and simmer for 15 minutes. Add corn, beans and collards and simmer for an additional 30-60 minutes. Serve with sour cream, or on top of whole wheat penne (pictured above). Makes a batch big enough to freeze half for later. Serves 12.