Italian Cassoulet (Chili) and Cornbread

As you all know the past few days I've prepped and cooked a chili.  We have finally had time to sit down and eat it!  As the recipe states you have to soak the beans overnight, then cook the chili the next day, refridgerate for a day then eat.  So it's a couple days process and a lot of work.  Not necessarily a hard recipe to follow just a lot of chopping and waiting for things to cook.  After cooking for a few days on this I was a little disappointed.  My first try was for lunch the first day after letting it chill in the fridge and it was just 'ok'.  It was edible but not the flavor I was expecting.  I let it sit in the fridge until today and decided to cook some cornbread with it and give it another try.  It was better than the first day and definitely good enough to eat.  Husband liked it and actually requested more tofurkey in it (which is the part that I wasnt' a huge fan of).  So all in all it was okay but not worth all the work.  This is a non-vegetarian recipe that I subbed tofurkey for italian sausage. I think I'll try my hand on a vegetarian recipe next time (one that someone has already tested and tweaked to their liking).  Also be forwarned that this makes A LOT of chili.  So be prepared to feed an army or freeze it and reheat if you plan on making.  The recipe is Here from Food.com.  

Subs/tips for recipe:  I used one package of italian tofurkey instead of sausage (It calls for 10 sausages and the package comes with 4 which I thought was plenty, of course Husband disagreed).  I used regular veggie broth.  Everything else I followed to the T.  I cooked down the veggies first then added the tofurkey.  Let it cook for a little bit longer then added the remaining ingredients.  I didn't want the tofurkey to overcook since it takes a lot less time to cook tofurkey compared to the real thing, and I knew it would be cooking for a few hours. 

Sorry about the picture, for some reason the lighting was off.  I should ask my sister to give me some tips on food photography if I'm going to be keeping up this blog!  Although I have to say my iPhone4 camera is pretty good.  All previous photos have been taken with it! =) 

Now for the cornbread, recipe Here.  It also came out good.  Isa commented on the recipe that you shouldn't use a glass dish, well...that was all I had so I chanced it.  I do think it dried out a little bit like she said would happen.  I also have a really OLD oven that doesn't distribute heat very well so the bottom was a little over done and the top just barely done, all my fault not the recipe.  Nonetheless it still was tasty especially with the chili.  It was good to crumble in the chili.  I also had a piece on the side drenched in agave nectar YUM!  Husband spread his with some vegan butter which was also good. 



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