Black Bean Chili & Bundt Cake

I always have a Netflix show that I'm working through while I cook - right now it's a re-watch of one of my all-time favorites, Alias.  I noticed on Saturday that I had not watched any in eighteen days!!  That means I've barely been cooking anything of significance at all, which is also apparent in the lack of blog posts.  I've been missing it (both the cooking and Alias), and put a bunch of new stuff on the menu this week to get myself back in the habit.

So the first thing I made was this ridiculous black bean vegetarian chili from Bean by Bean.  I cooked the beans Friday night and then did the rest of it on Saturday.  It probably should have occurred to me that there are only two people in my household when I was boiling up an entire bag of black beans - the chili ended up filling my stock pot almost all the way to the top.  Chili freezes well, though, so it will be okay.

This recipe is really good, too.  It has potatoes in it (always a plus) and five tablespoons (!) each of cumin and coriander.  I also made my own chili paste from dried chiles!  It was all very exciting.  I served it per her instructions with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, and scallions, and somehow this stuff was way more than the sum of its parts.  Really delicious.

I also made a chocolate bundt cake recently posted on the PPK blog.  I forgot to take a picture while it was still pretty!

It turned out great, though.  I've made bundt cakes before that I've basically had to scrape out of the pan, but this one fell right out and held its shape perfectly.