When I looked up a recipe for black bean chili yesterday (spurred on by the odd can in our pantry), I only needed to glance at the ingredients to visualize how to cook it. Not because I’ve cooked this particular recipe before, or because I make chili frequently (I don’t—it’s not something Stephanie has ever really appreciated, until now), but I suppose just because I cook a lot in general. No humblebrag here, chili is obviously not rocket science. Most recipes consist of a simple 2-step algorithm: 1) brown protein in a skillet, and then 2) dump everything into a large pot and simmer for 2-3 hours. And I’m sure that would have rendered a perfectly serviceable chili using the ingredients below. Of course that’s not what I did, but what I did is based on my own personal relationship with each of the ingredients at this particular moment in time, and you might feel differently. So rather than try to codify what I did in prose, I’m just going to list the ingredients I used and leave the rest up to your interpretation and imagination. That said, the order in which I listed the ingredients is not by accident.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 can (4 oz) of fire roasted diced green chiles
• 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 can (14.5 oz) of diced and fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 jar (12 oz) of salsa verde (made with tomatillos and jalapenos)
• 2 cups of stock and/or water
• 1 can (15.25 oz) of whole kernel corn
• 1 can (15.5 oz) of black beans
• salt and pepper to taste

Note: As we get most of our groceries at Trader Joe’s, the ingredients I had on hand (and listed above) skewed towards their staples. The quantities I used resulted in what we’d consider 6 servings, but may be more like 4 hearty servings for someone else.