Monday, April 7, 2008

'HEY, DEX - WHO USED TO BE YOUR DADDY!"....OKAY, MOM - YOU WIN, I'M SHARING...


Everyone cooks in our family - darned good too!

Back in 1981 I wanted to make some chili for mom; didn't have much in the house, but what I fixed mom just loved! She's been trying to get 2 things out of me for years - a neat picture of Ziggy (we both love him), and my recipe.

A few years ago I popped her a Ziggy drawing - even had Tom Wilson sign it - and put my name on it too - she sure loved it for Mother's Day!

Guess it's time for me to share that 2nd thing - I think she's pretty well remembered it, and might be able to make it by now - but, just in case.....

Get your 'burger meat' - I had only about 1# back in 1991 - but it did the job for me!

I found a big can of diced tomatoes - I put all of that in.

I found 2 cans of tomato soup - I put that in too.

Lucky me - I had 2 cans of kidney beans - I threw those in.

I found these white beans - 1 can of those, so I tossed those into the pot.

I didn't have any fresh onion, but I had onion soup mix because we love to make that 'dip' with sour cream, so I put a package of that in.

I didn't have the normal chili peppers, but I had 2 jars of banana peppers - tossed those into the pot hoping mom wouldn't notice they weren't all that 'red hot'.

I seasoned it with black pepper; some salt, and plenty of garlic powder (we love garlic bread with our chili).

I didn't really brown the meat all that much - I was in a hurry; figured I'd just simmer it all afternoon while we were out at the pool, and it worked great!

I came back from the pool; realized I hadn't put in any chili powder.

I added some chili powder - tasted it; didn't seem that hot. I added some more - got nervous, and asked mom to come and taste. We tasted - needed more, and put another dose in the pot. I'm guessing I put in about 2 tablespoons before we agreed it was hot enough.

Back to the patio - another hour or so on simmer - we tasted, and it was darned good!

Mom claims she loves this chili more than any other she's had - don't know if she's trying to make me feel good, but - darn, it sure tasted good to me.

Personally, I think before you start putting all those chili pepper in; all that cayenne pepper or chili powder, you should taste it and make sure you like it; sometimes recipes can be good for a few people, but not all.

That's it - gotta get back to selling cars - but, try this one; I still like it just about the best.