Valentine's Special! Green Chili!

Green Chili is truly its own separate love language in our household.  I have so many wonderful memories of trying different green chilis from different places with Mark as we started dating.  It was the beginning of a wonderful future!  Over the last few years we've played with the recipes from our Moms.

Let's Get Crafty!
2 lbs diced pork tossed in flour and browned in a medium high skillet with some EVOO.  This generally takes a few batches so the pan doesn't get over crowded.  (The bummer of over-crowding is that your meat won't brown as well.  This is a choice we all must make... perfectly brown meat or done faster.  Hence - my husband now browns the meat while I work on the other parts.) We like to put the meat on paper towels to drain as much oil off as we can.  ("We" here is mostly me.  Mark would rather skip this step.)

You can do the rest of this on the stove on the stove or in a crockpot.  Either method works great.  I like the stove top method because I like to see the reduction of the liquid as it simmers for an hour or so and intensifies the flavors.  We like the crockpot method too because generally we are throwing it together before church on a Sunday morning and then dinner is essentially ready for us when we are ready for it.

2lbs browned pork

1 tablespoon oregano

1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cans diced tomatoes, drained

1 large onion, diced

2 cans low sodium chick broth

1 1/2 - 2 cups green chili

Awww... the green chili.  Growing up we always used canned green chili and they were good.  For this dish my Mom would buy the whole ones and cut them up so you get chunkier green chili verses the canned diced green chili.  Meeting Mark opened up my world to a whole new green chili.  In the fall there is a weekend dedicated to chili roasting!  Then you bag them and have green chili on hand all year long!  It is the most amazing thing!

The ways to eat green chili are endless... here lately I've liked adding some shredded cheese and chips for crunch.  (I forgot the sour cream in this picture... I added it promptly after taking my first bite.  I'm a huge fan of hot and cold contrasts when eating.)  On this particular night - we also made beef and bean burritos (for the kiddos) and Mark put his on that.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Valentine's Day!