Happy Halloween and a Recipe for Chili, sort of

I almost forgot that today was Halloween! You would have thought the older gentleman throwing Reese's candy at me at the grocery store would have given it away. I didn't realize until I got home and Jeffery said "Oh yeah, Happy Halloween!" And then I threw the candy at him. I don't care for Reese's all that much and I know he loves them. Darn it too, I could make some peanut butter chocolate balls at home but noooo...

Keeks and Gretch and Gretch's boyfriend Paul stopped over today. To use my shower. How lovely, I thought they actually wanted to see me. ;) I'm somehow not surprised that I didn't get to see much of them this weekend. It is a big "kyds" weekend after all. (For those of you unfamiliar with that term, "kyds" refers to the high school and older singles in our church. They get together on the weekends and have several "big" weekends throughout the year in different locations. There are always festivities in the Marquette area for Halloween.) They had a Halloween party tonight, and as of 3 o'clock this afternoon, they still didn't know what their costume would be. I'm pretty sure they figured something out so I'm curious to see what they did.

I happened to have chili on the stove when they arrived. I made pork tacos the other day and had leftover meat to use. I had made it in the slow cooker and it was flavored with, get this, cocoa powder! Among other things of course. For some reason it reminded me of chili. I'm realizing lately that I am actually learning to cook and not just how to follow a recipe. I've made up quite a few recipes, or meals I should say. Mostly soups, but it's a start.

Anyways, back to the chili. I started off by sauteing onions and garlic in oil. I added one chopped green pepper. To this I add a few things from the fridge that otherwise might not have been eaten; some chopped green chilies (leftovers from enchiladas), a few chipotle peppers (from those paninis), a couple caramelized onions (also from paninis, I really don't think they made a difference, I just hate to throw food away), and of course, the leftover pork. To this, I added two cans of diced tomatoes and one can of sauce; we like our chili chunky and not too thick. I let it all simmer for a couple of minutes to check on the flavor before adding two cans of (rinsed and drained) kidney beans. The only thing I added after that was a little bit of oregano. It was already so flavorful from the pork! It was definitely a different flavor than I am used to in chili but it sure was tasty! I served it with cornbread, which I love. I'm wondering why I don't make it more often.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight!