bison chili and mini cheesecakes

Alex and I had some friends over for dinner the other night, and I made falafel again. It was a hit, the friends were vegetarians and come on, who doesn't love falafel? For a quick and easy dessert I made cheesecake, but I did two things different this time: I made them into bite-sized cakes by using muffin tins, and I used some Mi-Del gingersnaps that I smashed up and mixed with a bit of melted butter for the crust, instead of making the crust myself. They were delicious, but one of the dinner guests was not eating sugar so they didn't get served (so, boo-hoo; Alex, Sarah and I had to eat them ourselves). The recipe I posted before makes one large cheesecake or 24 mini cakes.

At Wholefoods they have demos sometimes, to try to convince you to buy whatever product they're pushing that day. Usually I'm not that impressed, but last weekend there was a demo of bison chili, which I was skeptical about, but wow. It's pretty awesome. It's simple and easy to make and has only a few ingredients, but it's really good. Especially served with lots of cheese.

Bison Chili
Recipe from Wholefoods

2 T olive oil
1 lb bison meat (can sub beef/turkey/veg meat)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can beans (red, black, your choice) drained and rinsed
2 T chili powder
1 t cumin
salt and pepper

Brown meat with peppers and garlic in olive oil in a soup pot. Add tomatoes, sauce, beans, chili powder and cumin. Boil, reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Serve with lots of cheese.