Rainy days, meat puzzles, aebleskivers and quinoa chili

The past two days have been rainy and dark. As desert rats, we hardly know what to do with ourselves. Seriously, what do you do with your kids on the second rainy day? We never have to think about things like that!

Jeff made a blanket fort for the kids in their new bunk bed which kept them busy for hours.  Leila also worked on her meat puzzle no less than 10 times.
I kept myself occupied making scarves out of some jersey knit material that I have had in my closet for a couple years and never knew what to do with.  They came out nice and thick!  I might have to make some more to put up in my Etsy shop.  What do you think?

I also made up a big batch of quinoa chili.  My parents shared the recipe with me a few nights ago when my dad whipped up some gluten-free aebleskivers dusted in cinnamon sugar (better than any gluten-filled donut I have ever had!!).

I thought the chili recipe sounded perfect for a rainy day so I made it the next night, with a few adjustments of course.  Although the recipe calls for ground beef, this would be hearty enough to make as a vegetarian chili because of the black beans and quinoa.  We had some grass-fed organic ground beef in the freezer, so I went ahead and used it. The recipe also calls for hot peppers.  What I like to do with a dish like this is to portion out the kids’ bowls and then add the peppers at the end so that it’s mild for them and spicy for us.

Heart Quinoa Chili

A hearty and healthy chili that happens to be gluten-free too!

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Ingredients

  

• 3 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 pound grass-fed ground beef
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 yellow onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 1 28 oz. can Muir Glen crushed tomatoes
• 4 cups cooked black beans
• 2 green bell peppers chopped
• 1 cup mushrooms chopped
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• tsp. each salt & pepper can use more to taste at the end
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 green chiles chopped (optional) or other hot pepper
• Optional toppings: cilantro avocado, cheese

Instructions

 

• Heat large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in ground beef. Cook until no longer pink. Drain any excess oil, and set beef aside.
• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and stir until onion is soft and translucent.
• Add chili powder and cumin, stir and let cook 1 minute.
• Stir in tomatoes, beans, bell pepper, mushrooms, oregano, thyme and salt & pepper.
• Simmer until peppers are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in quinoa, beef and corn then return to a simmer.
• Cook until corn is heated through.
• Portion out kids’ servings then add hot peppers. Simmer 10 minutes more.
• Serve with optional toppings.

So tell me…what do you do on rainy days?  I need some inspiration for next time!