Paula Deen's Chocolate Chili

Good morning!

It is a fine start to the day down in South Florida.  A couple days ago, we had a "cold spell", and that term is in quotes because it dropped into the 40's.  Living in KS & MO my whole life prior to moving to S. Florida, I had to laugh because, at this time of year, 40's is pretty warm for the Midwest.  Today, the high temperature is supposed to be in the upper 70's, if not hit the lower 80's.

Moving on, as mentioned in my most previous post, I would prefer to make meals that last at least two dinners and would then, hopefully, have some carryover into a lunch or two.  That would cut down on grocery bills, as well as having to make dinner each night.  Sometimes, you are just too exhausted from the day's activities to make a meal.

I was watching the Food Network, and Paula Deen's show was airing.  She was making a recipe called Chocolate Chili.  The link to the recipe is below.

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/chocolate_chili/

As she was making it, I was becoming more and more intrigued by it.  Not only do I love chili, but it would be a meal that would have plenty of leftovers.  Plus, it included cocoa - SOLD!

As you may know, I don't much care for onions, so I left that out of the recipe.  I pretty much kept everything else the same, except I only included one seeded & minced jalapeno and half of the cayenne.  The other person that would be enjoying this meal doesn't like a lot of heat, so I accommodated that fact.  If it was just me, I would have included both jalapenos and not seeded them, as well as increased the amount of cayenne.  I do love meals with a lot of heat.

The other thing I changed was that I used two cans of red kidney beans, instead of the ranch-style beans.  This was mainly because I couldn't locate any ranch-style beans at the store where I was grocery shopping.  I did rinse and drain the kidney beans, just like the black beans, to get rid of the excess sodium.

To go along with the chili, I made a batch of Jiffy Cornbread.  You cannot go wrong with Jiffy Cornbread.

I will totally make this chili again.  Paula Deen's recipes are amazing.

Until next time!