chili & cornbread

When I think of chili, I dream of Zippy's (the diner on every corner in Hawaii) meat chili over sticky rice. I was introduced to Zippy's chili after my mom would buy buckets of them for school fundraisers. I thought it was fine time, since my hubby had been asking me to, to make my own kind of chili. After searching long and wide, reading plenty of reviews, I decided on this recipe. Initially, I questioned the use of 1/4 cup chili powder and tomato juice, but, was very pleased, with the addition of a can of zesty diced tomatoes. The spices make this recipe. I decided to pair the chili with some cornbread and I found this recipe for La Beth's Vanilla Cornbread via the foodnetwork.com. My husband has some snotty feelings towards cornbread. To quote him, "just make enough for yourself, because I won't be eating any of that dry stuff." This stuff uses a whole tablespoon of vanilla so, once I got it in the oven and it started smelling all vanilla-ey, he asked if he could have a bite. And, just after one bite, he became a snotty cornbread convert, "I only like this kind of cornbread." Now, I don't know if it's because I used a dark pan (note to self: invest in an 8x8, light pan) but, the cornbread tested done about 20 minutes in, half the time, suggested in the recipe.

I used the whole chili recipe, but it makes a ton, and I mean a ton of chili. This would be great for tailgating. I was afraid my six quart cast iron pot would over flow (thank goodness it didn't). I'm excited for fall and football season, we will definitely be having people over for this one.