Chili

Fall is officially here. (yay!)

That means it's time for good ol' comfort food! 

I was raised eating chili made from those seasoning packets you get from the grocery store.  Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to figure out how to make it from scratch.  Last year I tried Pioneer Woman's recipe for chili from her cookbook.  It was good, but not what I was looking for.  I decide this year to just wing it, throw in whatever I felt like, and ya know what? It turned out pretty darn good! What's great about soups and chilis, is that you can change and adapt the recipes to fit your taste!

Here is the recipe I came up with:

2 lb ground hamburger, or ground turkey

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion-diced

2 cloves garlic-minced

1 1/2 (15 oz) cans tomato sauce

4 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cayenne

2 tbsp cumin

*optional but tasty*1/4 c masa flower (Mexican corn flower) dissolved in 1/2 c water

1 can Rotel

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced

In large pot, heat oil. Add in onion and garlic and cook a few minutes until softened.  Add hamburger meat, salt, and pepper.  When meat is browned, drain fat from meat, return to pan.  Stir in tomato sauce and all spices.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Stir masa into water and add to chili mixutre. (This is optional, but it really is good.  This was my favorite part of PW's recipe, so I stole her idea!)  Add rotel-juice and all, and jalapeno. Simmer another 30 minues to 1 hour.  Salt and pepper to taste.  If it looks too thick, you can add more tomato sauce or water as it cooks (just check your seasonings if you do).  You can also add a can of drained and rinsed kidney beans if you're into that sort of thing.

Our favorite wat to eat chili is on a bed of fritos, topped with our favorite things.  Cheese, sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, onion...whatever we feel like!

Today I am thankful for the changing of seasons.