Hominy Chili

Hominy Chili

After making Posole (a Mexican pork/hominy soup that is DELICIOUS) a handful of times, I started looking around to see what else I could do with hominy. Hominy is dried corn kernels from which the hulls and kernels have been removed. It has a distinctive flavor and texture that Chris and I both really like.

I came across a few recipes for various soups and chili’s that all looked pretty good, but didn’t seem to have enough pep in them for me. So, I used them as inspiration and tonight created my own version of hominy chili!

For your enjoyment:

Hominy Chili

1 small can fire roasted chilies, undrained
2 teaspoons minced garlic (jarred is fine)
¼ - ½ cup chopped red onion
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15.5 oz can white hominy, drained
1 15.5 oz can red beans (kidney), rinsed and drained
1 15.5 oz can diced tomatoes (low/no salt), undrained
1 15.5 oz can fire roasted stewed tomatoes, undrained
shredded mozzarella cheese (garnish)
sliced radishes (garnish)
chopped cilantro (garnish)

Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the chilies, garlic and onions to pan. Sauté in the chile juices until the onions are soft. Add the chili powder and next 5 ingredients (through stewed tomatoes) to the pan. Mix well. Heat to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes (longer for thicker chili) or until well heated.

Spoon 1.5 cups chili into bowl, top with raw sliced radish, chopped cilantro and a tablespoon of cheese.

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Of course, you can make this your own by choosing cheddar cheese, or using sour cream as a topping instead of the mozzarella, etc. This chili is tasty and filling. Next time I will likely add a bit more heat to it with either some fresh jalapeño or poblano, or perhaps add a little chipotle powder in addition to the chili and cumin. I served this with a side salad and was quite satisfied.

If you are a beer drinker a nice Mexican beer like Corona would be tasty!

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What else did we do today you ask?

Well, a looong time ago I started telling you about Mead, which we have continued to ferment. In fact, we have actually started several other batches since our first foray into mead-making. The first mead was “traditional” mead that we flavored with lemon and ginger. The next mead was prickly pear cactus mead. The third, and most recent, is blackberry mead that we are making with some of the fresh blackberries we picked last summer. It SMELLS so GOOD!

In the fall we also made a batch of hard apple cider.




Today, after about 9 months, we bottled the traditional mead into wine bottles and are going to let it continue to ferment and age in the bottles for another several months or year even.



In January we bottled the prickly pear mead into wine and beer bottles. We bottled that first, even though we made it second, because we used a different process for the fermentation, so it processed faster than the traditional mead. We are hoping to be able to start drinking the prickly pear mead this summer at some point.




With mead, the longer it sits the more the flavors mellow and blend, so sometimes one batch can have several different outcomes, depending on how long it sits in the bottle.

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Chris and I also went for a hike yesterday. I have told you before about Roxy Ann, the mountain behind our house. Well we have hiked up there several times. Our hikes have been varying lengths. One time we hiked up to the summit, but that only took us around about half of the mountain. Yesterday we went to go for a “short” hike and ended up doing the entire loop around the top of the mountain!

We hiked for about an hour and a half. The loop road around the summit is about 2.9 miles and the access road up to the start of the loop is between 0.5 and 0.8 miles (depending on which resource I look at). Either way, we ended up going for about a 4 mile hike! It was totally gorgeous here. Sunshine, blue skies as far as the eye could see. The temperature was in the mid 60’s. Chris was plenty warm in a t-shirt and shorts. It was really wonderful. It felt very much like spring!!

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One more little recipe before I leave you for today.

This doesn’t really have a name. You can call it shredded crock-pot beef.



Shredded Crock-Pot Beef

1 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1-2 lb London broil (top round) steak
1 15.5 oz can diced tomatoes
½ can light beer (coors light)

Turn on 3-4 qt crock-pot to high. Chop onions, garlic and chipotle chili. Add to heated crock-pot. Add basil, oregano and thyme. Put lid on to let onion mixture steam lightly. Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add olive oil to heated pan. Cook London broil 3-4 minutes, or until browned, on each side. Add seared steak to crock-pot. Add tomatoes and beer. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, then turn to low for 3-6 more hours. Shred the beef with two forks. Serve over brown rice or couscous.

* I would not suggest serving over mashed potatoes. The potatoes suck all of the flavor out of the meat. Instead, serve it over rice or couscous or some other grain that will add to the dish.

I added a nice side salad. This is a hearty and flavorful crock-pot meal. It is great to use with the cheaper, tougher cut of meat like the top round or other inexpensive cut.

Have a happy week!