What's for Dinner

Chili and corn bread for a rainy desert night. I have been thinking about chili during this raining "chilly" week.
I found a chili powder at Bashas called Santa Cruz Mild Chili Powder. Now this is powdered chile peppers, not the spice mixture labeled Chili Powder found in the spice section. I am sure many of you already know that is a mixture of dried spices and herbs which can include powdered chilies, oregano, onion, garlic, cumin, mild paprika, black pepper, and salt.
Anyway, here's what we did with it:
I heated about 1/4 cup in a dry hot skillet until it was very aromatic and turned slightly darker at which time I added 3 or 4 teaspoons of cumin and continued to heat and stir for an other minute or so. Then I added a pound of 95% fat free beef. I pushed the block of meat into the dry spice with a wooden spoon, and kept chopping, turning and pushing the spice into the beef. I continued this until the spice and the crumbly beef were combined. The beef should still be in small chunks, not tiny mealy bits. Cook the beef until it is medium well, browned but not cooked through. dump this into a large dutch oven and set aside.
Chop one large yellow onion and saute in a bit of olive oil, add a couple of yellow jalepenos cut into strips. This makes it easier for those who are pepper adverse to remove them from their bowl. When they are soft add 1/2 a bottle of beer and cook down until the liquid is thickened and the vegies are quite tender. Add to the beef in the big pot, add a large can of whole tomatoes. I had a jar of tomatoes that my mom brought from her garden is Missouri. I added a small can of Mexican Style Stewed tomatoes because I had it. Salt to taste, add a teaspoon or so of sugar, and a splash of soy sauce. Stir and simmer for an hour of so. When you are 10 minutes or so from serving mix corn flour with water enough to make about 1/4 cup of very thick liquid. Note use corn flour not cornmeal. Stir it into the chili and continue cooking until it is thickened.
We serve this with crunchy cornbread using the southern cast iron skillet recipe in the Joy of Cooking. For dessert we have one last piece of cornbread with butter and dark molasses.