I Want You Inside Me Chili and Cheesy Muffins

Cheese Muffin recipe: http://http//thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/figs-cheese-muffins.pdf

I Want You Inside Me Chili: http://noteatingoutinny.com/2008/08/12/777/#more-777

I have been reading this blog from a girl in NYC who has given up eating out (for various reasons). Anyway, she had posted a fabulous looking chili recipe that had NO BEANS (yes!!!) that had won a Brooklyn chili contest. I was in love with the fact that the chili sounded spicy and it had no beans! (Did I tell you that I don't like beans?) I was also happy that it called for stew meat instead of ground beef. If you decide to make this recipe, please don't freak out about the MSG that is in there. It's not going to kill you unless you decided to consume massive quanities at a time. The Asians have been using it for years now and they usually live longer than most Americans...something to think about. Plus MSG is found in a lot of processed foods, so you might have been eating it all along without knowing it! If you do live in Lawrence, I had to buy a pretty big bag of MSG for the recipe and would be more than willing to share!

I had sour cream, blue cheese (Chris' favorite, but I say yuck), cheddar cheese and green onions as toppings like the recipe suggested. Chris loved the blue cheese in it. I don't go near that stuff, so I couldn't tell you how it was. I used the rest of the toppings and loved them. The sour cream really cuts the heat out of the chili. The chili had a good kick to it, but your tongue wasn't on fire. Yet, I am pretty immune to hot stuff, so maybe I am not the right one to be commenting on the heat of the chili.

I figured with chili, I needed some muffins to go along with them. Cheese muffins from Pioneer Woman's blog were the perfect addition to our meal of chili and a salad. A couple of beers and it was a wonderfully tasty dinner. Nathaniel ended up eating three of the muffins with his chili (I love the fact that my kid is eating spicy foods now). I do have a suggestion though. I baked the muffins in muffin papers and they ended up getting stuck on the muffins! Use her method of spraying or buttering the pan! These muffins really need to be served fresh out of the oven--they are good when they have cooled down, but they are amazing warm!

Happy Cooking! Have a great holiday weekend everyone!!!