February 12, 2011 Chili Cook-off

Our pantry is a Harry-Potteresque, under-the-stairs closet that is not made to be a pantry.  To get more efficient use from the space we have, I ordered some "Cantation Shelves" on-line. The day after they arrived, I was home early having attended my older daughter's water polo game. My wife had just that day cleaned the floor of the family room next to the closet. Clear floor, full pantry...my seven year old and I came to the only logical conclusion, pull everything out of the pantry and sort it on the family room floor. It was quite the adventure for my daughter: "Do the cut green beans go with the french style ones?" "What is canned milk?" "Look at all this corn-it's winning." (29 cans). Surveying the family room floor, we were amazed by how much stuff came out of that little closet. Just as we finished pulling the last of the cans out, my wife came home. You can imagine her surprise when my daughter said, "Mommy, come and look what Daddy and me did!" Quickly I added, "This was a Daddy/Daughter project and she helped a lot." (Sometimes it is all about the spin....)

Among the purchased 12 years ago/expired 10 years ago dried mushrooms, unlabeled home canned mystery gels, and 13 jars of peanut butter (whenever I shop at Trader Joes, I buy one because I am always afraid we will run out; as it turns out, 10 of the 13 were buried in the closet), there were some treasures like 3 boxes of Kindereggs and two, yes, two giant Tourist bars from Switzerland (one of which is not quite as giant anymore). Ever on the lookout, I also found the inspiration for Sunday's dinner. Inspiration from a can? Yes, from 14 cans of pinto beans in chili sauce. I have a favorite chili recipe from my Mom. You see, like I am now, my Mom was a very practical cook. With six kids, you had to be practical. So she had many practical and good recipes. Now she has moved on to more exotic fare-too complicated for this practical cook. My wife tends to go for fancier dishes as well like risotto, asparagus quiche, TJ's specials, etc. So Sunday is home cooking practical day and the kids generally like it.

Mom's chili recipe is the best for a practical cook. It is also good so I entered it into the Finance Chili Cook-off at work. My home-cooked, down-to-earth, Mom's recipe chili did not win. Well, I have to admit that those fancier chilis are pretty good. So, I am not too bitter about the loss. Besides, now was my chance to redeem the loss by using this hand-me-down recipe with my family.
Chili

Qty	Measure	Item
1.5	lbs	hamburger
2	8oz	cans, tomato sauce
1/4	cup	dry onion OR
1	cup	fresh onions
4	16oz	cans, Bush's Chili Hot Beans
1	Tbl	chili Powder

Brown hamburger and, if using fresh onions, add them when the meat is almost done.  Pour off grease.  Mix everything together (if using dry onion just throw them in).  Simmer 1/2 hour or 45 min. or longer.  Stir occasionally.

Like all good cooks, I modified the recipe slightly, only one pound of ground beef (I used extra lean so I figured it had more meat and I didn't want to open the other pound package to use only half of it) and, remember those 29 cans of corn, well there are only 28 now! The corn added veggies and color.

How did this Chili rate with the home crowd?:

Three thumbs up and a fist.  The fist is from my youngest who didn't want to give a thumbs down because she doesn't like any chili. Did she not get any dinner? Oh she did, one of the 12 cans of Bean with Bacon soup.

The favorite line of the recipe that I have from Mom is this: "There are a lot harder ways to make chili.  This is easy & good." Very practical.