Thursday was a wonderfully unnaturally warm day where I live. It was the kind of warmth that made me miss home.

We were having friends over for dinner that evening and I suppose that I should have made something a little less winter-y, but I already had the fixins’ for chili so chili it was gonna be. Fortunately, with cool white wine and a crisp green salad, it wasn’t too gauche.

I am used to having the Matts over for dinners but entertaining fellow heterosexual couples is something new to me. I think I pulled it off very well. Of course, practice makes perfect, yes?

Black Bean Chicken Chili

1 tbl. canola oil

3/4 chopped onion

2 cloves minced garlic

2 to 3 tbl. chili powder

1 tbl. dried oregano

2 tsp. cumin

1/4 salt

3 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken

1 28 oz. can undrained fire-roasted tomatoes

2 cups fat-free chicken broth

1 1o oz. package frozen corn, thawed

2 15 oz. cans rinsed black beans (I used dried black beans prepared in a slow cooker the night before)

shredded sharp cheddar cheese

fat-free sour cream (I used plain low-fat yogurt instead)

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet or Dutch oven on medium. Add onion, garlic, chili powder, oregano, cumin and salt. Cook 4 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Stir in chicken, tomatoes and broth. Simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes. Stir in corn and beans; cook 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Garnish with cheese and sour cream as desired.

Note: if chili becomes too thick, add extra broth or water to desired consistency.

Before I get to the glorious fatty concoction that was this morning’s breakfast, I’d like to state for the record that I hate doing Yoga on Saturday mornings.

Admittedly, Saturday morning’s yoga is an intermediate workout about thirty minutes in length—as compared to the hour-long workout I do during the week—so it’s not like it takes up a lot of my time in the morning. I think I routinely bitch about it because I am usually sore from the rest of the five days of exercise fun. (Sunday is the only day where I don’t work out.)  Of course, the keeping fit means I can make things like decadent French toast or go out for equally decadent breakfasts on weekends. Most times the LSC makes us our weekend brekkies but I asked if I could, considering I found a recipe I wanted to test-drive. And considering most of his time this morning was taken up by the new emergency of our freezer, I think he’s glad he let me.

I found this to be a very fragrant version of French toast. It is cooked in the oven not a skillet but I can’t see what harm it would do if you tried that. I didn’t have time to toast the almonds and therefore, I didn’t think it would matter much either way. But I was wrong! The LSC noted that toasting the nuts would have added a really nice flavor to the party. I think the only thing I would have changed is omitting the chocolate chips. It felt like gilding the lily to me and frankly, I’ve never really gone in for such frippery on my French toast anyway. Regardless, I love the crisp-custardy of a good French toast and this recipe did the trick.

Almond-Chocolate  Baked French Toast

1 16 oz. unsliced loaf bread (sourdough, Italian, or brioche if you can find it)

1 1/2 cups 1 percent milk

3 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. orange zest (orange part only)

1/3 cup chocolate chips, roughly chopped

1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with nonstick foil. With a serrated knife, cut bread into 1-inch-thick slices. Remove crusts (I didn’t do this as I don’t mind them on French toast).  Cut each slice in half on a slight diagonal. Cut each piece into a triangle shape. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and zest. Dip both sides of bread into milk mixture; place on prepared baking sheet. Spoon some of the remaining milk mixture over bread and sprinkle with chocolate pieces. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Top with almonds and serve warm.