Chocolate Chili

This week marks the halfway point of the paleo challenge at CrossFit 406. In honor of making it 30 days, (and let's face it, I'm not getting enough chocolate from Coconut Chocolate Larabars), I made Chocolate Chili. This ingenious recipe comes from Well Fed, written by Melissa Joulwan. I'd say it's an amazing cookbook, but it really could be a textbook for a paleo-ized eating transformation. And for anyone else who, as a general rule, likes food. (Her blog, The Clothes Make The Girl, is also pretty great.) Lucky for me, I like food. A lot.

My brother and I grew up with a mom who cooks. I don't just mean turns on the oven and opens the cookbook. I mean she actually creates. Food is the medium for her art, and through it, she poured her love out to our family. Because of this, I am not afraid of spices. Sometimes I even go a little overboard, which is why I loved this recipe. 

 
My favorite thing to do in a recipe like this is if you don't have access to fresh herbs (a rarity in Montana) the next best thing is to invest in a little mortar and pestle. Grinding up some of the bigger leaved herbs releases a lot of flavor right away into your chili. 

Why tomato paste is always smaller than the rest of the tomato family is one of the mysteries of life.

Here we are! Delicious Chocolate Chili. Check out Well Fed, and go eat some food.

An Organizing Story

I love RealSimple. I really do. The feeling I get from waiting to find this publication in the mail every month is comparable to the anticipation of Christmas. However, I also love organizing and decluttering. (And, as it turns out, procrastinating on other more important things on the to-do list...studying, moving the paint can out from behind my door so that I don't whack the door into it every single time I get up in the morning, and folding laundry. I would pay good money for a magic laundry elf that would fold clothes while I sleep.) I recently started going through the painful process of getting rid of years worth of magazines. When I first started receiving RealSimple, I bought magazine holders and neatly lined them up next to one of my two bookshelves. Over the years, that row of magazines has become a dumping ground for every issue. I would add one to the pile each month, telling myself, "Okay, this is it. I have to organize this corner. I can't take it anymore!" But sadly, that month would fly by and nothing ever got done. That is, until three days ago. It has actually been enjoyable: instead of turning on the TV or flipping though Jane Austen's Emma (which I have been trying to read, unsuccessfully, longer than I've been reading RealSimple), I retreat to the pile on the floor, carefully thumbing through each page and tearing out recipes, pictures and ideas that I might use someday. I've placed them in sheet protectors in a binder, which I already love. It's like a favorite band made a greatest hits CD that just happened to contain all of my most loved songs.