Leftover Cornbread

So, what do you do when Superbowl Sunday comes along and you just so happen to have some leftover cornbread from the day before?

Why, you make chili, of course!

Yes, I succumbed to a timeless tradition of making chili on Superbowl Sunday, even though I didn't watch the game and could have cared less how it turned out.

A few years ago someone - I think it may have been my roommate - gave me some chili mix that I stashed away for the right time. Well, that time was yesterday.

The recipe was really easy: 2 lbs of lean ground beef, one 28 oz. can of tomato sauce, 1 can each of black beans, kidney beans and pinto beans, and that's it; brown the beef, add the sauce and the powder from the packet (it's made up of chili pepper, salt, garlic, onion, paprika, cumin, oregano and "spices") and let it simmer for a half an hour, stirring occasionally; then add the beans and let it simmer for another half hour, stirring from time to time. That's it.

I couldn't believe it - the chili was delicious. It was both thick and surprisingly spicy. The paprika was the key ingredient in the mix.

I contemplated adding onions, but I decided against it, mostly because I didn't have any and I didn't want to walk down to Bi-Rite to buy some. It would have been great with some chopped green onion and some cheese on top, but the chili tasted fine by itself, especially when combined with the leftover cornbread.

So, faithful Foodphiles readers, you might be wondering why I'm not posting a picture of this surprisingly good chili. Well, the honest truth is that even though the chili tasted great, it looked horrible, and I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about what I cook.