I was rummaging through the food pictures on my phone, and came across this colorful dish. It was during the month of August that this bowl of comfort was produced, when my aunts came over for dinner. I was off from school for a short summer break, bored, feeling the need to get creative at the stove. I decided to invite my aunts and their families over for dinner as a thank you to them for all that they do. I had recently graduated from high school and they helped my mother throw my graduation party. I felt the best gift of thanks to them was in the form of food. SO... I set out to the grocery store to gather my ingredients.

The dinner that night was chili. I wanted to get creative, and decided to toss my recipe books aside, to come up with my own version of chili. This chili was made with stew beef, creating a "pulled beef" consistency. I made fresh tomato sauce and instead of basil I used cilantro which gave it a vibrant Latin flavor. I added it to the chili with red wine, roasted green peppers, cannelloni beans and caramelized red onions. And yes, I added chili powder because no chili is complete without those essential spices (chili, red pepper, cumin, garlic, and onion). The method to making chili is known as the stewing method; this means that anything being stewed must be completely covered with liquid... Just like a classic beef stew! Usually chili made with ground meat is made in minutes because it only takes a short while to cook ground meat. My chili cooked for hours until the meat was fork tender. YUMMO