Chili, Cornbread, and Pie

I'm going to Houston this afternoon. I will be leaving Art and Jacob to fend for themselves for the weekend. Since I don't want Jacob to eat Taco Bell for every meal, I have made some chili, cornbread, and pie.

Crock pot Chili
Ingredients
1/2 lb dried pinto beans, cooked according to package directions and drained (I cooked them with the bone from the pork butt I made last week.)
1lb lean ground beef, browned with a chopped onion, salt, pepper, and 3 garlic cloves, then drained
1 lb chicken sausage, fully cooked and diced
28oz diced tomatoes
2 15oz cans tomato sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
dash cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook until bubbling and warm.

Cornbread- This is a variation of my Great-Grandmother's recipe. My mom has made it for years and has recently created this healthier variation by omitting bacon grease and using mayo with olive oil.
Ingredients
olive oil for greasing skillet
1 1/2 cups cornmeal (stone-ground is preferable)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 heaping teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 quart buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 9" cast iron skillet with olive oil. (If you do not own a cast iron skillet, you could use a cake pan.)
Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
In another bowl, combine egg and mayo. Stir into dry ingredients. Gradually stir in buttermilk just until mixture is combined. Pour into prepared skillet. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

I also made a pear butterscotch pie from a recipe I found in Gourmet magazine. Art's coworker gave us some home-grown pears that were perfect for this use. The butterscotch is created by brown sugar melting with pear juices. A warm slice with some vanilla ice cream is delicious! This pie is almost as hard to leave as my boys. I'm sure they will take good care of it for me.