hold on for one more day

When I was in college, I used to always watch Food Network and read recipes in magazines and they would always advertise "quick and easy"---for when you just don't have the time and energy to cook. I would think, "Hmm, that's odd, I always have the time and energy to cook." But that was before I moved to New York City and spent hours commuting every day. And before I'd been acquainted with winter. Last night, it started: I barely stayed awake during the commute home; People offered me seats because I looked so miserable. The lethargy of winter has set in big time.

All I wanted to do was make it home in the cold rain, put on my pajamas, and pass out until morning. But a nagging part of me also wanted to make sweet potato and pinto bean chili, because it sounded delicious. So in the spirit of conquering winter lethargy one day at a time, I decided to make the chili! I'm not sure whether or not I followed a recipe, but I did read four or five on VegWeb before making this.

The chopping involved in making the chili was kind of annoying, since I was trying to do it while watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. There was a lot that needed to be diced, and cutting sweet potatoes blows. But I persevered!

First I diced up a green pepper and a red onion and threw them in the pot with some olive oil. After that I put some chili powder, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper in. I wanted to make it really hot so that the sweet potato cubes would be like little life savers that your tongue wriggles through and swims to safety. Then I threw in the sweet potato, some College Inn brand vegetable broth, a can of pinto beans (drained/rinsed), and some canned diced tomatoes. I probably should have thought about which vegetables I should put in and when, but I didn't really do that. Because I didn't do that, the sweet potatoes took a lonnnggg time to get tender which meant that the onions were soggy. But it was okay. Because there were tender sweet potatoes. Mmmmmmmmm. To finish it off, I put in some fresh cilantro, stirred it in, and then ate a lot of chili.

All in all, I don't think I'd make it again. It's a little too time-consuming for what comes out, but maybe it would be okay if two or more people were making it. Also, next time I think I'd use the crock pot and let it go overnight so that the sweet potato flavor would escape its little cubey bodies some more.

For homemade chili, I'm going to go with an MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and a drink. Let's conquer winter y'all!