Black Bean Chili w/Home made Cornbread

Home made Cornbread

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh ground corn chips (use a food processor, and use your favorite chip; I used regular yellow corn tortilla  chips)

1 1/2 cup of white flour

1 Tblsp sugar

2 1/2 tsps baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

10 oz cream corn

Method:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees; spay 10" pie dish with Pam cooking spray; in a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix until blended well; Add milk and egg, mix on low speed with hand mixer until blended well; Add cream corn and canola oil, continue to mix with hand mixer on low until well blended. pour mixture into greased pie dish; place into pre heated oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until top of corn bread is turning light brown.( you can also check the inside with a long toothpick, if nothing sticks then it is done.)

Tip:

Using the ground corn chips adds a texture to the corn bread that you will not get if you use regular corn meal. Slightly crunchy, but not overly so. It make a perfect pair with the Black Bean Chili.

Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb. bag of black beans

1/3 cup of standard chili powder

4 Tblsp Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Blend

1 whole medium white onion, sliced into 1/4" wedges

4 roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/2" wedges

3 Jalepeno peppers, chopped and seeded

1 Habanero pepper, chopped and seeded

1 tsp Cumin powder

4 Tbsp of fresh Garlic, minced

1 cube(tbsp) chicken bouillon

1 tsp sea salt

1 Tblsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup fresh Feta cheese

Tip:

The most important part is to get the beans ready. Black beans need to be soaked. Place beans in a large deep bowl and cover with warm water(after cleaning out non-bean material). let soak for 1 hour, then drain. cover with warm water again, let soak for one hour. continue this process until color of water is almost clear, should be about 4 hours. cover with warm water one last time and place in 'fridge over night.

Method:

In a 5qt. Crock Pot, place beans and water from last soaking. Place all of seasoning ingredients next, then cover with all of vegetable ingredients.  Add water to cover all ingredients. Turn on Crock Pot to low for 7-8 hours.

Serving suggestion:

On a deep salad plate, crumble about 1 cup of Homemade Cornbread; Ladle out 1 cup of Black Bean Chili with juice included, then sprinkle about 2 Tblsp of Feta cheese on top.

This dish has some heat due to the Jalapeno's and the Habanero, but not too much . Very enjoyable in any type of weather.