chili and cornbread in a jar

Here is the direct link for: Chili and Cornbread in a Jar.

So many uses for the old Mason jar, so little time. This pin comes from the blog, GiversLog. The blog's author, AmberLee, makes Chili and Cornbread in a Jar look easy and very doable. Her readers all rave about her photos and the cleverness of her idea!

Many of GiversLog's readers liked the idea of chili in a jar for a back yard party or celebration. One reader even wanted to send it overseas to her husband in the army. Wow!

I started it all off making AmberLee's favorite turkey chili recipe. She lists it later in her comments section. Then I topped it off with my favorite cornbread recipe: Ina Gerton's Raspberry Cornbread Muffins (minus the raspberry jam, of course). AmberLee does give her favorite cornbread recipe as part of her post.

AmberLee says to use quart-size Mason jars for this. I didn't happen to notice whether the jar was a regular or wide-mouth opening. I only had regular-mouth quart-size jars on hand. It is filled a third to half full with chili then topped off with a hearty scoop of cornbread dough. It bakes in the jar for about 25 minutes. Caution: in the end the jars are mighty hot and really should be eaten with a hot pad.

Overall, what did I think? I laugh thinking of the reader's comments wanting to make this for a crowd: good luck with that one! In the end, this pin had three strikes against it:

#1. A quart-size jar is WAY TOO BIG! I hope I made that clear: WAY TOO BIG! A pint-size jar is plenty big enough.

#2. AmberLee really should of emphasized the importance of using a wide-mouth jar in bold and capital letters for all far and wide to see. Eating it out of a regular-mouth was hard to eat. Too bad I couldn't find my long handled ice cream sundae spoons.

#3. Because I used a regular-mouth jar (the smaller opening), all we tasted for the first 15 minutes, literally, was cornbread. By the time we reached the chili we were full.

Once we did reach the chili we really liked it and I would definitely make that again. And if you're going to eat all that cornbread it might as well be Ina's recipe.

If I ever try this stunt again, I would definitely use a half-pint wide-mouth jar and call it a 'chili & cornbread sampler'.

The red pin award, yes, the red pin award for the new chili recipe. Points taken away though for presentation and practicality.

I realize now that if I used a canning funnel it would of been easier to scoop in the chili and cornbread. Plus the jar would of been cleaner-looking.



Happy pinning!