What's for dinner?

Tonight dinner was Smoky Slow Cooker Chili from this month's issue of Cooking Light. (Have I mentioned how much I love that magazine??? I cook from their recipes all the time.)


This recipe is not for anyone who wants instant gratification or simplicity. It was kind of involved... cooking the ground pork, cooking the pork shoulder, sauteing the onion and bell pepper, and then putting it all (along with the 10-12 other ingredients) into the slow cooker. And there it sat for more than 5 hours. But the end result? Serious comfort food that was very, very tasty! This is a good thing, since we'll likely be eating it all week! This recipe made a goodly amount.

To go with it, I made some cornbread from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. It is definitely a "northern-style" cornbread-- moist, fluffy, and kind of sweet. Usually, I'm not so much into sweet cornbread, but it worked well with the spiciness of the chili. Yum!

After dinner (and bedtime for the boy), I finally got my challenge quilt basted.


I decided on a flannel-backed satin for the backing. It's super soft but it's also super slippery. That (combined with the not-quite-flat top) is making me a little nervous, but I'm crossing my fingers that the quilting will go smoothly.