comfort food on a snowy saturday night

tonight for dinner i made some texas chili from scratch (which isn't very difficult at all btw) for a couple reasons.

• it's really cold and snowing like crazy outside
• there's texas chili cook off in a few weeks and we need to practice

while it's not super attractive at this point, it was already quite tasty. the ingredient list is pretty short and simple.

• ground chuck
  
• chili powder, cumin, olive oil, salt and pepper
• garlic, onions, green peppers, crushed tomatoes, lime juice and cilantro
• cheese

it took about 45 minutes if you include time to chop the vegs and all that. but half the time was simmering, which gave me enough time to make a very simple pear and arugula salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. normally i would add some shallots and nuts (roasted walnuts or pecans), but the shallots were disgusting at whole foods and my roommate is allergic to nuts. while very simple it's a nice balance to the heavy chili. sweet and tart with a little bitterness from the arugula.


the chili was served with cheese fresh cilantro and a couple pieces of ciabatta bread