Halloween Night Chili

Yesterday at gymnastics, of of my best girlfriends said she was making a huge pot of chili for Halloween night supper. Boo thought this was the best idea he'd heard in his whole 5 years, and announced to Daddy last night that we were having chili for supper tonight. This, of course, put a sparkle in both of my men's eyes. It's a good thing I had all the needed supplies, or Miss Jen would have found another 4 on her front porch tonight with bowls and spoons.

Here's how I started it. 

2 pounds of lean ground beef went into my dutch oven over high heat. I added salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and garlic to the meat as it was browning. I then diced 2 medium white onions and added them to the browned/spiced meat. I didn't drain what little fat was there. That's FLAVOR!  I then poured in about a cup of burgundy wine to both deglaze and add richness.

Over night, I soaked about 2 cups of dried pinto beans in water and 3 small dried bay leaves. If you suddenly want to have chili, and haven't done this step, you can cook the beans in the mixture dry, but you'll need more time, more water, and the texture won't be the same. Or, you can use canned beans. 

Now, remember... When I'm cooking, I almost NEVER use a recipe. Yet, somehow, I'm able to do things like this, where the volume of what I've done is slam damn perfect.

So, after adding a small can of tomato paste, and giving it a good stir...

It goes on the back burner on low...

Gets her lid put on, and she will sit right here and slowly and gently simmer all day until the beans are tender and all the favors are mingled, yummy, and perfect. I'll taste throughout the afternoon and adjust flavor says need-be. 

Throughout the afternoon, I stirred, tasted, and looked at consistency. There looked to be too much water early afternoon, but the beans were still a little too firm, I knew they would need that water, so I didn't add a thickener. To thicken your chili, you can keep some of your soaked beans out of the mix, put them in a separate cooking pot, then blend them into a purée once they are cooked tender, and add that purée to your chili. Natural thickener that's still gluten free.

Late afternoon, it needed both salt and more spices. I added more kosher salt and chili powder. I used all my cumin in the meat mixture first thing, so I started hunting through the spice cabinet for something chili-like to add that wasn't spicy. The kids and I are hot-wimps. Low and behold, I found some taco seasoning. I gave it a smell, it smelled like a good blend to add to what I already had, so I put a good bit in. I gave it a stir, and a new taste, and dubbed it AWESOME!

Both kids tasted, and the girl said, "It's delicious!", and the boy closed his eyes, chewed, thought about it, smiled, and said, "That's it. Yes, that'll do."

Here's the final product. Me Saucy dubbed it just about perfect. For his bowl I added about a tablespoon of dried chipotle chili flakes. I brought it to him while he was outside doling out the candy to the trick-or-treaters. Upon careful consideration, he said the only thing that would have made it better, would have been cheese and diced raw red onion.

So there we have it. Oh, ps, the girl child didn't eat it for supper. I made her scrambled eggs instead. She's in her 3-year-old, "I only want to eat things that are white, light brown, yellow, or orange" phase. You know, grilled cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, chicken nuggets, Mac-N-Cheese, Cheerioes, milk, bananas, oranges, scrambled eggs. Instead of fight with her, I just make sure she has a balanced day based on what she will eat. OH, and I forgot... She'll eat her weight in broccoli. That's the only thing not white, orange, yellow, or light brown that she'll eat.

Ok, enough about what my mini-me's diet. This is about chili! Wonderful, warm, thick, hearty chili. And it was awesome. 

Stay hungry and play with your food.