Culinary Adventures with Camilla

While I was making my shopping list for the chili I'm going to cook for our friends' 4th of July Chili Cook-off (I won 'Grand Champion' two years ago with my Chili al Diavolo ), I was thinking of some flavors to make mine unique; I thought I'd go with a mix of beef and buffalo again. But, my 10-year-old came over, read my list, took the pen out of my hand, and crossed out one of the ingredients: buffalo. "Mom, I know they aren't endangered anymore, but they haven't fully recovered either. Please don't cook with buffalo." Fine. I like that they are aware of these things. My 8-year-old piped up, "Okay, so, we're not supposed to eat them. But what's the difference between a bison and a buffalo?" I had to look that one up. The only true buffalos are native to Africa and Asia. What we have here is an American Buffalo, which is not a true buffalo. It's actually a bison. I wonder if I write 'bison' on my grocery l...

I was going to make the chili that won me the title of  'Grand Champion' at the Erickson's 4th of July party last year: my Chili al Diavolo , but I didn't have three hours to braise the meat or overnight to let the flavors develop.  So, I adjusted the recipe to have more flavor upfront versus needing to steep.  Still, this will be tasty tomorrow if I have any leftovers.  I'm calling it Double-Double-Double Chili because it has - two kinds of meat, two kinds of chilis, and two kinds of beans. INGREDIENTS 1 pound of beef 1 pound of ground buffalo onions garlic 1 bottle of beer 2 shots of espresso 2 T unsweetened cocoa powder 1 large can of diced tomatoes 1 large can of crushed tomatoes paprika cumin sea salt 2 fresh poblano chilis 2 fresh goldspike chilis 1 can of black beans 1 can of white cannellini beans molasses PROCEDURE Thinly slice the onions and crush the garlic. Sauté in olive oil till they start to soften. Brown the ground buffalo meat and gro...