Growing up, both of our parents worked outside of the house.
My dad’s work schedule started at 5:30 in the morning, which brought him home
at 3 just as my sister and I were coming home from school. Since my dad is a
traditional family man, he believes dinner should be on the table and everyone
eating together at 5:30, which meant he took over the daily cooking chores.
This of course also meant that dad would have to learn to
cook more than just things on the barbecue. We grew up before FoodNetwork came
on the air, so dad would count on PBS with Julia Childs, Graham Kerr,
Jacques Pepin, and Jeff Smith to help him learn new skills and recipes.
One of the things that dad was able to master very quickly
was his chili. Never a crockpot kind of guy, he would make his chili over the
stove in a huge soup pot. It was started the day before and cooked on low heat
for several hours before being refrigerated. The following day, he would take
the pot out of the refrigerator and cook it on low for a few more hours before
serving it to us for dinner.
Once his girls were grown and out of the house, he passed
the recipe onto my sister and me along with the responsibilty to pass along a
few containers to him and mom whenever we made a batch. I don’t have the time
like he did to watch the food cooking on the stove, so I took his recipe and
revised it into a crockpot version. Even dad agrees that my revised recipe
tasted just like his stove top version.
Ingredients:
1 to 1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
2 (14.5 oz) or 1 (28 oz) can stewed tomatoes
1 (15.5 oz) can chili beans
1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, drained
2 (15.5 oz) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (15.5 oz) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained
1 package McCormick chili seasoning mix
1 (4 oz) can green mild green chilies
Directions:
Cook ground beef in saucepan over medium heat on stove;
drain off excess grease. Add to
crockpot.
Dice up stewed tomatoes and add tomatoes along with all its
liquids to crockpot.
Add chili seasoning mix to crockpot and stir.
Add chili beans, kidney beans, black beans, cannellini
beans, and green chilies to crockpot.
Stir crockpot contents and set to low.
Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.
Serve:
Serve chili in bowls with diced onions, 3 blend Mexican
cheese, hot sauce, and oyster crackers on the side.
** Our family loves to eat the chili the next day instead of
the first day it is cooked when all the flavors have a chance to blend
together.
After the 6-8 hours of cooking, the chili is divided into
freezer/microwave safe individual serving containers. A few containers are put
in the refrigerator, reheated, and eaten within 2 days and the rest are put in
the freezer. While chili can last at least 6 months in the freezer and then
microwaved for quick meals, it usually doesn’t last past a month in our
individual households because everyone loves chili.
Enjoy!
Creativity
Bug ~ Sue
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