A Chili Day
By Marilyn Zink
It was a bone chilling kind of day, windy, rain slanting sideways - and my car wouldn’t start. Great.
After using a lifeline to call a friend ( my father-in-law actually) we got the car jump-started and I was on my way. But the rain had soaked its way into my body. By the time I got home, I needed some serious warming up. My daughter wanted to know what was for dinner. I wasn’t sure. How about chili?
Great idea - though I was a little short on ingredients, like chili beans for instance and tomato sauce. Never mind, I’ll improvise. I cut up half an onion and half of a leftover green pepper, diced a carrot and hey, there’s a parsnip I didn’t have plans for, might as well dice that up to. Dice up three garlic cloves and add those too.
Then I sauteed the vegetables in oil and shook over a teaspoon of cumin. The vegetables were cooking nicely and I rummaged around in the fridge and added a couple of cups of leftover spaghetti sauce, watered down. Next I added a cup of chicken broth.
Then my daughter opened a can of chickpeas and a can of corn and we added those to the mix. I discovered a jar of roasted red peppers in the pantry that hadn’t been opened yet. So I chopped up four of those and added them to the now bubbling pot.
Now for some more herbs. I shook over a teaspoon’s worth of red chili flakes and then added the same amount of a chipotle spice mix. A pinch of cayenne and a few shakes of dried marjoram. I turned the pot down to simmer and let it cook for another 15-20 minutes. It was starting to smell real good.
By the time my hungry teenage son made his way upstairs, the non-chili chili was ready. Along with some toast it made a nutritious, delicious and satisfying kind of meal.
Oh, it also warmed me up.
Marilyn Zink is the publisher.editor of The Herbal Collective magazine. Visit the Herbal Collective to get more herbal recipes.
