poor man's chili.

ok, first of all, in the foreground of this photograph is another dose of that cauliflower. it's just that good.

also, no photographs of casey in a while, i know. that guy lives in DC now.

but, really, you are here for chili. we're both vegetarians, which works out pretty awesomely because we can do fun things like share dishes in restaurants and no one is upset that the chili has no beef. (no, i didn't date any vegetarians before him. not for real, at least. on that note, i don't even know very many vegetarians anymore, especially not men; they all (male + female) jumped ship around age 30 or so.)

casey kept calling it poor man's chili because we made it so fast. we didn't use dried beans or let it cook all day or anything. we'd been hiking in umstead park all afternoon and practically got locked in there and it was dark by the time we returned. but he had some canned beans from his two weeks of camping and cross-country travel and i had a can of tomatoes with green chilis. we cooked onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil and threw in the cans of black and kidney beans, as well as the tomatoes. i tossed in a TON of chili powder, as well as salt and pepper. we threw it on top of some brown rice and topped it all with mild cheddar, because it's what was in the fridge. done. easiest dinner ever. filling and delightful.

oh, frito.

i introduced casey to frito pie. i mean, he had been missing this incredible texan delicacy. for those of you who don't know, it's a bowl of fritos with chili poured over it, and often cheese.  actually, traditionally, it's a bag of fritos opened, with the chili (beef, no beans) poured into the bag. but there were only big bags at the store. while casey and i can eat a lot, it seemed absolutely ridiculous to pour a whole pot of a chili into a huge bag. so we did not. we just ate tons of it.

huck, on the other hand, was less than interested.

last week.

last monday, to be exact, i came home to a meal. cooked by shira. when was the last time i came to my house and someone had made me a meal? i have no idea. but it's been a while. a long while.
vegetarian chili with black beans and butternut squash: recipe from the february 2011 bon appetit. she used dried chili peppers and fresh jalapenos. and i got to eat it all week long. awesome awesome.
and this, my friends, is our new kitchen. it's always the 197os here.