Happy New Year!

Well, today being New Year's Day, I decided to make what could have been a Sunday dinner today.

I've had a hankering for chili. Because of that, I recently did some scouting around looking for a new chili recipe. I found four chilis and one soup that sound intriguing to me. They are:

Jane's Vegetarian Chili

Pierce Street Vegetarian Chili

Granny's Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili

BHG Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

The winner for today was the Pierce Street Vegetarian Chili.

I think it was in Cook's Illustrated magazine where I read that the key to keeping food from burning and/or sticking to stainless steel pots is to warm the pot before adding any ingredients. Well, wherever I read that hint it is one to remember! I have also found that if you allow whatever is cooking to cool completely and then to rewarm your pot you must be very careful because it can (and will) stick and burn at that point. So, the trick seems to be to keep the pot warming.

When preparing today's chili, I started out by putting my large stainless steel pot with the copper bottom on the stovetop and turning the element on medium heat to warm the pot before I added the olive oil. I then followed the recipe; however, because I started the chili long before we were to eat I kept the pot warming throughout the day and just periodically added more broth. No sticking, no burning! Just a wonderfully yummy pot of chili!

And, instead of taking the chili to mom and dad, I brought mom and dad to the chili at our house for dinner. That worked too.