Last night, my mom and I cooked up a nice big pot of chili. Perfect way to ‘chill’ out on a 95 degree day, no?

Yeah…not exactly.

Luckily, we’re fortunate enough to have central air, so we can still make hot meals during the hot summer months.

As promised, here is the chili recipe (from a Taste of Home cookbook) that I love to make any time of year!

~~~~~~~~~~

Hunter’s Chili

(Recipe from Taste of Home)

• Prep: 20 min. Cook: 1-1/2 hours
• Yield: 18 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound uncooked bratwurst links (*I use kielbasa)
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 4 cups water
• 1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 2 cans (16 ounces each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cans (4 ounces each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 bay leaves

Directions

• In a 6-qt. Dutch oven or soup kettle over medium heat, brown bratwurst; drain. Remove and thinly slice; return to pan along with beef, onion and green pepper.
• Cook over medium heat until beef is browned and onion is tender; drain. Add all remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours. Discard bay leaves before serving. 
• Yield: 14-18 servings (4-1/2 quarts).

The final product! It was a tad more liquid-y than normal because we halved the recipe and didn’t include some of the ingredients (pinto beans, mushrooms, some of the tomato sauce).

I actually liked it a bit more broth-y because it was perfect for dipping my beloved rolls into!

I finished a superb day of eats with an ice cream cone at my friend’s house. Nothing says summertime quite like a belly full of chili and ice cream! Well, maybe not the chili part…

~~~~~~~~~~

This morning was a whirlwind. From the moment I woke up, it was go, go go!

It was one of those days where there’s no time to waste making a meal, but you need the fuel more than ever, so I took 5 minutes out of the chaos to blend up a quick smoothie:

Strawberry Banana Protein Smoothie

-1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

-1/2 cup cold water (more or less depending on what thickness you like)

-1/2 frozen banana

-4 or 5 frozen strawberries

-small handful frozen spinach

~~~~~~~~~~

I also snacked on a hardboiled egg for some additional protein to power me through my morning.

I worked from 8:30-2:30 without taking a break for lunch (I ate my egg around 9 and sipped on my smoothie as slowly as possible until I finished it around 10). Going that long was rough to say the least, and by the time I got home I was famished.

I practically sprinted into my house and reached for whatever I could get my hands on fast enough and lunch ended up being quite a hodgepodge of things.

I’m usually a slow, savor-every-bite kind of eater, but today I managed to scarf down a wheat wrap with almond butter, cinnamon, and banana slices, way more than a normal serving size of BBQ pop chips, a glass of vanilla almond milk, and a white nectarine in possibly less time than it just took me to write that.

After ‘lunch’, I got right to work on some internship stuff, then did a quick workout, and then ate a few large handfuls of almonds and an apple.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finalllllly, I was able to relax, take a nice long shower, and sit down to eat dinner with the fam.

The steamed broccoli looks pretty lame, but that was only half of the side order and I went back for the second half after I wolfed down the wrap (filled with grilled chicken, avocado, hummus, veggies, and raspberry vinaigrette).

I guess I was am a hungry girl today…

Now it’s time to hang with some of my friends who I haven’t seen in quite some time since we’ve all been so darn busy. Not sure what exactly we’re going to do, but I can quite confidently predict that ice cream is on the agenda! 😉

~~~~~~~~~~

Hope your Friday is going well, and that you have an amazing weekend!! 🙂