This morning I walked out of my apartment and into some bits of hail spitting down on my purple leaf patterned umbrella. From the response on Facebook I learned that there had been snow in Manhattan and snow on and off all day in Albany. With this harbinger in mind and a post from Bethenny about tailgating tips I got hungry for some warm, seasoned comfort food: chili! I had a busy day at work which didn't leave much time for poking around to find a quick recipe that wouldn't yield too much food for one. After some pondering and chatting with my friend Ann about her chili cooking tips I headed to the store with an idea of what I would do to satisfy my craving.
Salsa is one of the ingredients I think has great unrealized potential. Walking about the very poorly laid out Food Emporium with a can of crushed tomatoes in my hand I meandered back to the Mexican food section to switch it out for a jar of Frontera (read: Chef Rick Bayless) Jalepeño Cilantro salsa. Some Stew Leonard's sliders were in my freezer, tomato paste in the pantry, onions I always have on hand, and the spices were all set too; just needed some cheese, black beans, the salsa, and some flour tortillas. The chili came together quickly and with ease- the pay off was hot, spicy, thick, cheesy and just what I was thinking.
