Carrie's Colorado-style Buffalo Chili

Okay, so I've not posted in a while. It's been really crazy the last few weeks, with visiting relatives and a crushing workload at the office, so I've been remiss, I know. I can't come up with any brilliant meditative thoughts tonight, but I did come up with a great recipe for chili.

• 3 cans of beans (kidney, pinto, red or black), drained and rinsed in a collander
• 24 oz of crushed strained tomatoes (Pomi makes a great product)
• 1-2 cans of Rotel diced tomato with chiles, drained
• 1 lb of ground grass-fed/hormone-free buffalo (or lean ground beef), browned
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• Fresh cilantro (to taste)
• 1 packet of Goya Sazón with Coriander and Annatto
• 1 tsp chili powder

Mix all ingredients in a pot and simmer on medium-low heat for 30-40 minutes. Do not allow the chili to boil. The slow simmer will allow the chili to develop its own rich gravy.

Health notes: Rinsing the beans and draining the Rotel eliminates most of the salt from these canned products. I highly recommend using buffalo: buffalo meat has more flavor and less fat than beef, and grass-fed buffalo is higher in Omega-3 fatty acids and iron than beef (and without the risk of BSE that exists with industrially-raised beef).

Namaste, and bon appetit!

Impermanence on a global scale

From space.com:

The Five Worst Extinctions in Earth's History

Here are details of the five worst mass extinctions in Earth's history and their possible causes, according to paleobiologist Doug Erwin of the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of Natural History. Erwin said estimates of extinction rates are from the late John J. Sepkoski at the University of Chicago:

Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, about 65 million years ago, probably caused or aggravated by impact of several-mile-wide asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater now hidden on the Yucatan Peninsula and beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Some argue for other causes, including gradual climate change or flood-like volcanic eruptions of basalt lava from Indias Deccan Traps. The extinction killed 16 percent of marine families, 47 percent of marine genera (the classification above species) and 18 percent of land vertebrate families, including the dinosaurs.

End Triassic extinction, roughly 199 million to 214 million years ago, most likely caused by massive floods of lava erupting from the central Atlantic magmatic province -- an event that triggered the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The volcanism may have led to deadly global warming. Rocks from the eruptions now are found in the eastern United States, eastern Brazil, North Africa and Spain. The death toll: 22 percent of marine families, 52 percent of marine genera. Vertebrate deaths are unclear.

Permian-Triassic extinction, about 251 million years ago. Many scientists suspect a comet or asteroid impact, although direct evidence has not been found. Others believe the cause was flood volcanism from the Siberian Traps and related loss of oxygen in the seas. Still others believe the impact triggered the volcanism and also may have done so during the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. The Permian-Triassic catastrophe was Earths worst mass extinction, killing 95 percent of all species, 53 percent of marine families, 84 percent of marine genera and an estimated 70 percent of land species such as plants, insects and vertebrate animals.

Late Devonian extinction, about 364 million years ago, cause unknown. It killed 22 percent of marine families and 57 percent of marine genera. Erwin said little is known about land organisms at the time.

Ordovician-Silurian extinction, about 439 million years ago, caused by a drop in sea levels as glaciers formed, then by rising sea levels as glaciers melted. The toll: 25 percent of marine families and 60 percent of marine genera.