Food on Friday – A Simple Chili for a Chilly Day

Let me start by saying that this is not a recipe for my vegetarian friends.  This is definitely a meat based Chili that my Mom made and that I use when I need something quick, filling and warm.  A bowl of this Chili and some sourdough bread and my family is happy on a chilly fall or winter day.  Perfect for after a day of sledding.

Here is the recipe from the family cookbook . . .

and here are the ingredients.

On the ingredients, consider the recipe just a list of ingredients and adjust amounts as you see fit.  I use 2-3 pounds of ground beef – the leanest I can find.  You are going to either burn off or pour off any grease you get while browning the meat so why make more than you have to.  Likewise I use alot of vegys – because we all like vegys.  I always use red and green peppers – it just makes the meal look better.  For tomatoes I use crushed or ground tomatoes or a combination of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.  The idea here is that if you don’t have alot of time, you can cook this up quick.  If you are starting with larger tomato pieces you will have to cook it longer so again, adjust according to the amount of time you can devote to cooking this meal.

This recipe is super simple.  Mom sautes the onions in the same pot as the hamburger but I usually saute the vegetables separately – I’m not too big on cooking my vegys with the raw meat.  So while Markus was browning the beef, breaking it up with a fork so that the meat was more crumbly than clumps . . .

I was chopping peppers . . .

which Vash then sauteed.

After the meat was browned . . .

and Markus stopped playing with the camera to see if he could take pictures of himself . . .

he got to work getting the tomatoes open.

Next step is to add your vegys and spices to your meat . . .

and let the flavors blend.

I usually go pretty heavy on the chili powder – about the equivalent of an entire small size container of chili powder – and then I might add more if I am not getting the flavor I want after I add the tomatoes.

Next Markus added the tomatoes and the beans . . .

and we let it all cook for about 30 -45 minutes – while the Chilean Squash was baking in the oven (see last week’s recipe). . .

and it was done!!

I hope you enjoy Mom’s Chili.