Chili Cookoff Winner Recipe & Autumn On The Homestead

Autumn on the homestead finally made an appearance and so today I’m sharing my chili cookoff winner recipe! It’s been an extended summer in our neck of the woods and so we’ve had a hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that it is actually autumn. But now that it’s turned a little colder we are getting into the whole homestead fall decor vibe.

Is it just me, or is the Christmas decor making an earlier appearance in stores than ever before, and does that bug anyone else besides me? I started seeing Christmas decor in stores where we live the first week of September!

Since we’ve had such a whirlwind year with our move back in May, and since the whole year had been a month late with the seasons I’m finding that I don’t even want to go there with even thinking about Christmas yet!

I do know it’s coming and have started my Christmas shopping, I learned a few years back that with as many kids as we have that there is no such thing as too early of a start when it comes to Christmas shopping!

Still, I want to savor fall for a little while before thinking about all the Christmas decor, after all, we haven’t even had Thanksgiving!

Homestead Fall Decor

As a homeschool mom I haven’t had time to decorate for fall for years. A couple years back I learned that I could designate those fun festivities to my kids, and I learned this actually made the holiday more fun for them. One year the kids made the cutest leaf art, and beautiful fall crowns (they did need my help with the crowns). These were super affordable ideas.

That was the year we all went to the pumpkin patch and a corn maze too. Although it was fun and definitely worth doing, and it’s something we would like to do again someday, it was expensive for our family since we are a larger family!

This year we are definitely watching our expenses with the economy like it is, and looking at ways to decorate beautifully while using what we already have. Since we have moved and live in the mountains now, we have some unique decorating materials growing on our property! I think we found some special idea’s almost anyone could do.

There’s of course the leaf art, but you can decorate with items from a simple nature walk. Just make sure there are no critters on things from nature that you bring in the house!

We had some corn from our garden that we decided to dress up the front of our home with this year (see video). I will say, however, our front porch is still unfinished and needs some work-but I do have to be 100% honest with you, I think it looks pretty good with all that firewood stocked to keep us warm! I know it’s not the most pinteresty visual but it makes me happy.

One of my favorite things to use for decor in the fall is pumpkins and foods like apples and garden produce, because once you are done using them as decor you can eat them! Us big family mama’s on budgets appreciate little things like that!

Thanksgiving Hosting

One of the reasons I’m stepping up the game on Fall decorating this year is because I’m delighted to be hosting Thanksgiving in our new home this year for some of our family members. I’ve been menu planning away! My husband is doing a brisket, the kids and I will be making pies and other thanksgiving goodies and I’ll probably make some sourdough focaccia. Since we have homegrown red potatoes I’ll probably make rosemary garlic roasted potatoes, and herby sourdough focaccia, let me know if you’d like those recipes in time for Christmas!

Chili Cookoff Winner Recipe

Speaking of recipes, last weekend we went to some of my oldest friends home. They hosted a cider party and chili cookoff. I brought my vegetarian chili and was actually not even going to enter it because I didn’t feel like it was that good. I’m not a chili fan at all. It’s one of my most favorite meals to make because my family loves it, but it’s my least favorite meal to eat!

I guess I just must be a bad chili connoisseur though because I forgot to tell my friend that I didn’t think my chili was good and didn’t want to enter it, and I actually won first place! I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do or how to behave I was so confused and in disbelief!

After I came home and the initial shock wore off I asked you all if you would like the recipe and 95% of 41 voters on my community tab said YES. So here goes.

Oh wait! I have to do the whole recipe history chronicle-geesh, what would you have done had I forgot that? Silly me. Here’s the backstory (if you’re like 99% of people just JUMP TO THE RECIPE HERE).

Okay so I found this recipe initially in the Sunday’s at Moosewood Cookbook GET THE COOKBOOK HERE, I highly recommend it-especially if you are a homeschooling family that enjoys “getting your culture by “eating around the world” so to speak. I stopped following the recipe around 10 years ago though and started going off memory, and then I started adding this and that, and have now strayed what I know is almost unrecognizably far from the original recipe. So still, I recommend getting the cookbook so you can make the original.

Prize Winning Vegetarian Chili

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Ingredients

  

• 2 quarts black beans plus water for soaking & cooking
• 4 large bay leaves
• 3 quarts water a gallon if you like thinner chili
• 1 whole clove garlic
• 3 onions chopped and sauteed
• 2 to 3 cups peppers I like a variety of green, Anaheim, poblano, and jalapeno
• 1/2 c. chili pepper powder
• 1/2 cup chili powder
• 1/4 cup cumin
• 3 6 oz. cans tomato paste
• 3 cups diced tomatillos
• 1 32 oz jar green chili’s I like 505 Brand
• 1 bunch of fresh minced cilantro (it get’s cooked so cilantro haters never know it’s there)
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• juice from 3 limes
• Salt to taste

Instructions

 

• Be sure not to add vinegar or more than a very small pinch of salt to the beans as they are cooking. Both can stop the bean softening process and make the beans and skins tougher.

Video