So, somehow its gotten extremely close to Christmas. Not sure how it happened, usually I have all of my shopping done by now, but to be honest I bought some gifts just after last Christmas (I love the after holiday deals.) I finally put my tree up today because I kept getting in trouble by my 3 year old niece, although there's not many ornaments on it just yet, still have to dig those out.

So usually I like to have done at least some baking by now, but I'm a little behind on all the stuff I want to do, my kitchen is still half a mess from reno's, so its hard to get some things done when I want when I have to move 5 different boxes to get to my mixer. Eventually I'll get to it, mainly because it's part of my brother's Christmas gift, I'll fill his Death Star cookie jar with Star Wars cookies! Yes, I am a total geek, and I am awesome in my geek knowledge. But back to baking/cooking.

I know I said I would try to get some recipes on as well, so I thought I would share one of my favourite cold weather meals. Chili! It's always the right amount of warmth I need on the cold damp nights. So here's my favourite recipe, which is from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que! It's a pretty big batch, but you can scale down easily enough to enjoy, or do what I do, make the large batch and freeze the leftovers for the nights you don't feel like cooking.

Texas Red Chili

3 1/2 to 4 lbs beef sirloin or stew meat
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 T oil
1/4 pound bacon, diced
3 C chopped onion
2 C chopped green pepper
2 medium jalapeno peppers, seeded & minced
2 T chopped garlic
4 C beef broth
1 Can (28oz) crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 T chili powder
2 t cumin
1 1/2 T brown sugar
1 T oregano
Juice of 1/2 lime
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

1. Trim away any fat or membrane from your meat, and dice it into 1 inch cubes, season the meat well with salt & pepper and set aside.
2. So turn your pot on medium high heat and start to heat up your oil, toss your diced bacon in and heat until brown & crispy. Scoop out the bacon and set it to drain on paper towel (it won't hurt the recipe if you choose to leave the bacon out or start eating it while still cooking.) The recipe does say to leave the bacon out but I always choose to put mine back in once it's ready to simmer, I just like the extra flavour.
3. Toss in the onions, peppers, and jalapenos, season with some salt and pepper and cook until soft. Add in your garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Then add in the meat, this will get a nice sear on your beef for the chili. 
4. You can start to add in the broth, tomatoes, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, chili powder, cumin & brown sugar. Give it all a good stir. Now it's time to cover your pot and bring it to a boil; then crack the lid, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for a couple hours. The thing with chili is the longer it sits, the better it tastes!
5. Once the chili has simmered and is at a thickness you like you can add the oregano, lime juice, and cilantro. Fish out the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, add salt and pepper if you feel like it needs a little bit more, like I said, everything is to your taste.
6. Ladle the chili out into bowls, top with some shredded cheddar cheese, and enjoy!

If you don't want to take the time or feel that comfortable with your knives just yet, you can definitely use ground beef. Personally I don't like things too spicy, so I don't use much jalapeno or chili powder but everything is relative to how YOU like it, so play with the recipes, taste it often, so you can begin to adjust it to your comfort level.