Skip to main content

Cooking Intensive Chili

Typically, when I make chili, it is easy. My ingredients are simple, ground beef, tomatoes, yellow onion, cayenne pepper, chili powder, cumin and pinto beans. This past week, however, I was looking for more of a smoky taste, not necessarily hot or spicy, from scratch, and knowing "kind-of" what I was going for. I got all my select ingredients together and made a recipe plan. This chili was going to be something different - more like I might expect to order in a more traditional Mexican restaurant.

This was my project for my wife was off doing her own thing. My recipe was going to require a lot more of everything! I was going to need more than my usual skillet, stewpot and a wooden spoon. For sure! For this recipe, I was going to need my blender, two black-iron skillets, a cookie pan, some foil, a sharp butcher knife and a variety of tasty spices typically used in cooking Mexican. I wanted the taste of two different roasted peppers (Poblanos and Anjou) and my choice of beef would be a cubed, chuck roast. No beans in this chili recipe!

Everything came together just great! I took my time and put a lot of love in my creation. With everything in the large pot, now cooking slow on low to medium heat and covered, my "intensive chili" was going to need to simmer for at least 2.5 hours. Our kitchen was a disaster! I like to clean up my kitchen while my cooking is going on. I can't stand to have dirty pans and dishes everywhere when I serve up whatever I am cooking. A clean kitchen before eating is a must with me!

We enjoyed this Intensive Chili that same night, and then for lunch the next day! It was to die for!

"Viva Mi Intensi-vio Chil-io!" (Pun)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Run Maggie Run

"Dixie" Over the years, I have had some great friends who were dogs! Ringo, Lobo, Chix, and now Dixie. Dixie is my Australian shepherd, border collie mix. She’s old, like me. We have our aches, and pains, and we can’t get around like we use to when we were pups. That’s life, what can I say? Dixie has a hard time with her hips and back legs. I do what I can to help her every day. I pick her up, and help her in her chair, and in bed at night, next to me. I love this little girl. She and I have been buddies for thirteen years now. We’ve taken our early morning walks around our pond, chased the crows and barked at the deer. I have comforted her when the lightning and thunder caused her fear, fed her when she wasn’t feeling good. She in turn, has given me peace when I didn’t feel any! They say a dog is a man’s best friend! So true! Chris Stapleton, a gifted country-blues singer, recorded a song about “his” best friend, Maggie a while back. He sings a poignant song that shares on

Some like it hot!

I'm talking about Salsa. Everyone loves salsa! Salsa is a traditional, Mexican side dish typically served at room temperature. I enjoy salsa at any temperature, just make sure it's spicy! My neighbor, Marylou, makes the best darn salsa in the world! She is Mexican and was born knowing how to cook all things Mexican I believe. Her husband was born in Honduras, so she cooks South American too. Marylou gave me a very simple, traditional salsa recipe I'll share with you here. I've made it and... oh wow! Delicious! You can make this salsa with jalapenos or Tabasco-style peppers. She uses the latter, so do I. 3 Roma tomatoes 3 tomatillos chopped small 6 small hot peppers 3 garlic cloves chopped fine 1/2 yellow onion chopped fine salt to taste a little water It's best if tomatoes and peppers seeded are grilled (blackened) - adds smokey flavor I like. Combine all ingredients in a blender on "chop" setting. Leave chunky is what I prefer. Cover and put your salsa i

Just plain folks

We live in the cities, the suburbs, on the farm, and out in the country. We live at home, and some of us live away from home. Some of us are wealthy, and most of us aren’t so much – some of us are just needing the basics of survival. We are still, in my mind, “just plain folks!” Wherever we live, we are “just plain folks.” We go to school, to work wherever we find it, in our homes, our industries, and in all manner of social services. I see people everywhere wanting to have a good life. We all deserve to have a good life – to be happy, healthy, and prosperous. Thank God we live in America where we have the opportunity to achieve that good life if we choose! I believe we are seeing hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of potential leaders who are called to see our great country return to her greatness – to help us achieve that good life we all want. Even now, in 2022, those leaders are stepping out and showing us the great American way. For a time, I was worried our future was i