High Altitude 3-Bean Chili and Lentil with Flowering Kale Soup

So it turns out that feeding 17 people can be quite a challenge and for an additional test of skill, do it at altitude (10,000 ft) in a rental house kitchen with dull knives. Well we pulled it off. With my two friends, Megan and Jenn (Jenn doubles as my sister), we cooked up quite the feast. On a few scraped knuckles later, we had a triumphant meal for 17 with Grilled cheese with Fontina, White Cheddar and spinach, 3-Bean Citrus Chili and Green Lentils with Flowering Kale Soup.

It became quite hard to predict the amount of ingredients needed to pull of this feet. But sticking to the basics of creating a good foundation with the Onions, Celery, Peppers (the trinity) for the chili and a mirepoix (carrots, celery, and onion) for the lentils, we pulled it off. I added jalapeño to both as well as garlic and diced tomatoes.

The hightlights were definitely the flowering purple kale in the lentils, the zest and juice of 2 oranges in the chili, and the perfect grilled cheese with spinach. And of course my two cooking companions, Jenn and Megan.

Megan and Jenn

Another highlight was mushing this team of dogs!