Beef and Black Bean Chili w Toasted Cumin Crema and Avocado Relish

So, here is Mike's recipe for his Award Winning Chili!
It's kinda hot so make sure you slowly add the ancho and pasilla powder to taste.
Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/4 c olive oil
2 pounds beef, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (we use tri-tip)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon pasilla chili powder
1 tablespoon gound cumin
1 bottle dark beer (you can omit if you want...its still good)
5 cups homemade chick stock, or canned low-sodium or water
1 (16 oz) can chopped tomatoes, drained and pureed
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups cooked or canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Toasted Cumin Crema, recipe follows(we use sour cream, dont like this stuff)
Avocado Relish, recipe follows

Directions:
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Season the beef with salt and pepper, and saute until browned on all sides. Transfer the meat to a plate and remove all but 3 tablespoons of the fat from the pan.
Add the onions to the pan and cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 2 mins. Add the ancho powder, pasilla powder,and cumin and cook an additional 2 mins. Add the beer and cook until completely reduced. Return the beef to the pot, add the chicken stock, tomatoes, chipotle puree, and honey, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan, and simmer for 45 mins. Add the beans and continue cooking for 15 mins. Remove from the heat, add the lime juice, and adjust seasonings.
Serve with a dollop of Toasted Cumin Crema and Avocado Relish.

Toasted Cumin Crema:
1tablespoon cumin seed
1c Sour cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Avocado Relish:
2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno or serrano chile, finely diced
Lime juice
Chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper
combine all ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

The first of 3 new babies coming this month in our family.

Congratulations to Amanda and Casey they have a new baby girl! Claire Louise Bell 7lbs 8oz. 20 inches long. They had her on Halloween night! So beautiful! Amanda looks great!

What is Faith?

President Scruggs gave some great talks about how we can reach our goal as a mission for 252 baptisms for this year. He said "do you know what faith is?" Faith is not positive thinking. "Faith is qualifying to know and then to do God's will" That hit me like a ton of bricks and I've been trying to apply that so much this week, because this is the Lord's work and He knows what I should be doing, working in His vineyard so I'm striving to be better at being faithful, "qaualifying to know and then doing god's will."

Michaels bed. I can tell cause those are th blue sheets I bought him.

I believe these are Rugby Jersey's Michael and the other missionary on the other end are wearing. Rugby is a huge deal in Australia.

Stephen and Bryce Ward Halloween Party 2009

Last night we attended our Ward Halloween Party and Stephen and Bryce dressed up as greasers! They looked so cool! They had a carnival for all the kids and a chilli cookoff. Mike always makes his chilli and tops it with an avocado relish and sour cream mix. It was very good but I dont believe he won this year. He did a couple of years ago. Then they had a trunk-or-treat. Mike and I left at that point to go and see the new Michael Jackson movie "This is It". We did enjoy the movie. It was interesting and kinda sad too. I loved Michael Jackson's music. I was a big dancer at that time and would faithfully attend all the young adult dances and always danced to his music. Anyway, it was a fun Halloween night. Now tonight is the real thing. We will stay home and answer the door for trick-or-treaters!

Michael and Stephen Halloween 1996

Little did I know when we dressed these 2 in these Halloween costumes that year, just how telling these costumes would be about the kind of people these 2 boys would be. Michael has become our Knight in Shining Armor in our family....He is a great missionary and has come to our rescue with uplifting letters of testimony and strength since he has been on his mission. And Stephen is and always has been such a clown! ....He makes us laugh everyday and brightens our lives with his laughter and his passion for life! I love Halloween!