Chili

One of the coolest things about this whole process is hearing about how God is using it to help other people.  I keep hearing how this has been encouraging my friends and family members to look at food in a different way.  I find it absolutely mind-boggling to me that I could ever be an inspiration when it comes to food.  Talk about God using our weaknesses!  I have consistently been one of the worst people when it comes to food and health. For much of my life, I didn't even care.  Unintentionally, I have led so many of my friends into a life of poor food choices.  One time, I went through a list of my friends and how many of them gained weight after they started hanging out with me.  It was ridiculous.  I never made them eat poorly.  But I sure wasn't going to help them do better.  I made more people gain weight than soda.  That makes me feel good.

Anyway.  It is a different day.  As I work through this, I have been coming up with foods that will work and be more healthy.  If it is something especially awesome, I take pictures of it and send it to a few people - just to rub it in their face.  (Nice guy, I know.)  Usually it is accompanied by a name or description and some snarky comment.  Like "Man, this is a rough life" or "This diet is soooo rough."  Basically, I'm a punk.  Sometimes, when I mention something I made, someone will ask me for the recipe or whatever.  So, I decided that I would start posting some of the stuff from time to time.  I hope that is okay with you.

The other day, I made a big ole pot of chili.  (You have to use words like "ole" when you are talking about chili.)  'Twas stinking good, if you ask me - or any of the other people who ate it.  Very much tasty.  I had never made red chili.  I've made white chicken chili a whole bunch of times.  Shoot, I've made several kinds of white chili.  But I was always scared of red chili.  Don't ask me why.  It is just one of those foods that made me nervous.  I have always wanted to make it.  It's like homemade spaghetti sauce.  I want to make it, but it scares me.  So I usually cop out and just dump a jar of Classico in with some meat.  So, after having some chili this past weekend, I decided to give it a whirl.

So, here is the chili recipe - just in case you care.  Remember, this makes a bunch of chili.  That is a seven quart dutch oven there.  We got six HUGE bowls out of it - with each bowl carrying two heaping ladles full of chili.

• Two pounds lean ground beef
• Large spanish onion
• 2 cups Chicken Stock
• 4 tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Chili Base
• 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 6 oz can of tomato paste
• 15 oz can of light kidney beans
• 15 oz can of dark kidney beans
• 15 oz can of red beans
• garlic powder
• red pepper
• tabasco sauce
• Emeril's Southwestern Essence
• 1 Bam Pack of Emeril's Essence
• Olive Oil
• Plain Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream (optional)
• Shredded cheese (optional)

Now, for those of you who need precise measurements, I am sorry that this will frustrate you.  I don't know exactly how much of those spices I used.  All I can say is that I used 4x as much garlic as SW Essence.  I used less red pepper than SW Essence.  And tabasco is something that kind of is determined by taste.  Of course, you can sub in for any of the seasoning.  If you would rather skip the Chili Base, just get a bag of chili spices and tweak it.  Or throw in some taco seasoning.  If you don't like Emeril, find him annoying, get someone else.  This is just what I have.

1. Put some olive oil in the pot.  I had to use more due to the cast iron pot.  If you use a nonstick, you can use less oil.  Heat up the oil on higher heat and then sauté the onion.  I used a BIG spanish onion with a rough chop.  I like the bigger pieces.
2. Once the onions are translucent, break up the ground beef in and cook it in the oil and onion.  I had the heat at med-high for this.  I keep moving the meat and onions around, which helped break up the beef.
3. As the meat is cooking, put in the chili base.  Mix it in really well with the beef.  That will give the meat a good flavor.  (This is the first time I ever used it and really liked it.)
4. Once the meat/onion/base mixture is good, turn the heat down to medium and dump in the crushed tomatoes.  Mix it all up and let it cook for about 15 minutes.
5. Dump in the Bam Pack, garlic, red pepper, and SW Essence.  Here's something I figured out.  Go ahead and make it more spicy than you want the finished product.  You still have some liquid to dump in, so the temperature will even out as you add stuff.
6. Let that all cook for a few minutes and then pour in the chicken stock.  Let it all simmer for another ten minutes or so.  You can snarf some now and see how it is.
7. Put in any tabasco you may desire to punch it back up after the stock enters the picture.  I didn't use much - but you may like hotter chili.
8. Dump in the tomato paste and mix it in well.  It will be stubborn, so just keep stirring.  I let the whole thing cook for another few minutes, stirring it every so often.
9. Drain and rinse the beans and dump them on in there.  I turned the chili down to low and let this cook for about twenty minutes, to give everything a chance to blend.  Be sure to keep stirring every couple of minutes so it doesn't stick, especially in a iron pot.  Taste it and see if you need to add anything.
10. Serve it up.  I topped mine with a spoonful of Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream.  It served the same purpose - made it creamier.  It had a little of that yogurt tangy taste, but it was good.  I know Heather and Greg both used some cheese on top too.  I didn't.

Of course, as we all know, one of the best things about chili is that it reheats so well.  So, go ahead and make more than you need.  It will actually be a little better the next day when you microwave it (about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per bowl).  Or you can freeze it and then have awesome chili next week.

I hope you enjoy it.  Let me know if you make it and think it is good.  If you don't like it - keep your mouth shut.  :)