2010: A Year for Living Local

Happy New Year!  

As I look forward to 2010, I can only hope that it holds as many pleasant surprises and opportunities as 2009 provided.  For me, the last year has been about becoming part of a community.  Thanks to Addie Broyles, the patron saint of Austin Food Bloggers, and Lyssa Myska Allen, editor of the Austin Post, I moved off my little food blogging island and into a bustling neighborhood of food aficionados.  And, I love it.

I have learned so much from the other bloggers and they have pushed me to be better.  I started with a group of "virtual" friends who I saw on occassion at a food blogger event and instead now have a strong network of blogging colleagues and, what will hopefully become, lifelong friendships.  2009 was a truly blessed year indeed.

So what is in store for 2010?  I have taken the last few weeks off during the holidays to think about it and have hatched a plan.  One of blessings from last year was a series of realizations.  Shortly after meeting Addie, she told me that there were not many people writing about sustainable food.  I hadn't ever thought about it before.  I chose to write about farmers markets because I like them and I like fresh food; I wasn't on a mission, I was having fun.  

As the year progressed, the importance of having fresh food from local farms became more and more clear to me.  I read more books, saw the movie Fresh and began making changes in my own life so that I was eating as much local food as possible.  

As I told my friends about the changes I was making, I heard many reasons why eating local wasn't practical for them - there wasn't a farmers market near them, they couldn't go to the market on Saturday, it was too expensive or they don't cook.   Being me, I decided to chip away at the excuses and I'm going to do it on the blog.  

My friend Darrell recently told me that in this next year he wants to move to a "Know it or Grow it" diet.  I'm not sure if he coined this term or not, but he wants everything he eats to be either grown by him or by someone he knows.  I love it. Shortly after that Jenna Noel from Edible Austin created shirts for Eat Local Week with the slogan Live Local on them and I love that slogan too.  

So, I'm declaring 2010 the year of Living Locally.  I'm going to do my best to adopt Darrell's Know It or Grow It philosophy and I hope you'll join me on the journey.  I think you'll find that it's easier than you think and pretty tasty, as well.  Please feel free to offer up ideas, requests or suggestions.  I consider this blog a community partnership.  

To get the year started off right, I offer up this spicy chili recipe for your bowl game watching pleasure.  

Melt Your Mouth Bison Chili 

I love chili and at the risk of starting a fight, I believe that REAL chili is made with meat and does NOT have beans in it. And, on this fact, I am completely inflexible. 

I am, however, flexible on the meat used. I have made great chili with beef and venison and, most recently, bison. Thanks to Thunderheart Bison, I have switched to bison as my “default” meat. I like that it is lower in fat and cholesterol and that it is so easy to cook. I usually buy some cut of meat from them each week at the market so that I have something in the freezer that I can throw together for dinner. 

This fall, I wanted a very spicy chili and chose bison as the protein. If you don’t like your mouth to melt while you are eating, I highly recommend cutting back on the spice level. You can easily substitute beef or venison if you aren’t as fond of bison as I am. 

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 onion, chopped 

2 shallots, chopped 

2 cloves garlic, chopped 

1 bell pepper, chopped 

2 lbs bison, ground or chili meat 

2 cans diced tomatoes 

4 tbsps chili powder – I used a red New Mexican chili powder and a Green Chili powder because I had both, but you can just use red if that is what you have 

1 tbsp red pepper flakes 

2 tbsps cumin 

2 tsps cayenne water, to cover 

Salt, to taste 

Over medium heat, heat the olive oil in a large pot and sauté the onion, shallots, garlic and bell pepper until the onions and pepper are tender. Add the bison and brown the meat. Add the tomatoes and spices, stirring well. The chili gets hotter as you cook it, so if you don’t like your chili very spicy, then start with half the spices and adjust later after it has cooked for a while. 

Add enough water to just cover the meat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Lover the heat, cover the chili and allow it to simmer for 1 hour. Taste the chili, adjust the seasoning as necessary, and cook for another 30 minutes. If the chili is too thick, add a little more water. 

If your chili is too runny, then place about 1 tbsp of corn starch in a small bowl, add a little water and stir to make a paste. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the chili and cook for another 10 minutes.