Awesomebella Cooks-CHILI AND CORNBREAD

Yup. This week I cooked some chili (a meat version and a veggie version) and I cooked come cornbread. My sister Tia and I think chili is super delicious and it's not something we eat often so it was fun to make (and eat) it. But I did not make just any old cornbread. I took some advice from food network's cooking queen, Paula Deen, and made cornbread WAFFLES.

best.
idea.
ever.

I used Paula's recipe, sans green pepper (we don't like 'em) for the meaty chili. The veggie one I sort of made up. Kidney and black beans instead of kidney and ground hamburger meat.

Here is how this CHILI WITH CORNBREAD WAFFLES went down:

Lots and lots of cans to be opened (remember, I made 2 batches, one with me and one without, so this is what double looks like).

There aren't a lot of things that make me cry. Onions are one of them. (2 red onions, chopped)

Along with all the canned good and onions, in went 1 jalapeno, 4 cloves are garlic, cumin, coriander and chili powder.
Into the meaty one went something like a pound of ground hamburger. That cooked for a little bit with the onions and garlic before I added all the beans and whatnot.
Simmered for 2 hours.

Corn muffin mix to make the cornbread waffles. I followed the recipe from Paula, but you could also used a box corn bread mix. Essentially the same thing (corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, eggs, milk).

While the chili simmered I started cranking out waffles on our vintage waffle irons.

Kept them warm in the oven (on like 175) as I went.
(random: I like the lighting in this oven shot. one waffle looks heavenly with a light beam coming down on it. the other is on the dark side, lurking in the shadows.)

By the time I was done I had 2 plates stacked with waffles. (I used Paula's recipe but tripled it)

 Then I brought it all together on plates.
Waffle on the bottom, scoop of chili of choice, sour cream and cheddar cheese. YUM.

Overall this is a really easy meal. Waffles are so simple and for the chili I basically opened cans, dumped them in a pot, and added a few seasonings. Even with minimum effort it was SO DELICIOUS. I recommend this dinner (and Paula's recipe) as a simple and relatively cheap dinner.

What will I cook next week? I actually don't know. I'll letcha know when I get that one figured out. Suggestions? Always looking for ideas!