Texas Chili: To Bean or Not To Bean

Texas Chili is a very personal recipe for those of us who live in the Lone Star State. Everyone has "their own" version of the meaty, sometimes spicy stew. It's served up in so many different ways: with beans, on top of fritos, topped with cheese, topped with onions. 

I was in the mood to cook up a winter dish and I had my mind made up on a thick Irish Stew with cubed chuck, carrots, onions, celery and potatoes all cooked in a red wine sauce. I had even made it TO THE GROCERY store this morning when Jim says to me that he really felt like a bowl of chili for lunch. Chili?? I have never written my own recipe for chili, although that task is quickly rising to the top of my to-do list. When we go camping I like to use our leftover breakfast meat and make a pot of chili by adding a can of beans, a can of tomatoes and a packet of chili spices. I realize this isn't REAL chili, but when you are camping and it's cold out, a pot of this will warm you right up.

I went ahead and purchased the ingredients I needed for Irish Stew, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make all Jim's dreams of chili come true...and there was a buy one get one free at my HEB for Texas Two-Step Chili Mix. It's made with Hatch Chiles right here in Austin, Texas and boasts an all natural ingredient list including tomato juice and tomato puree, green chiles, fresh onion, garlic, masa, cumin, sugar, ancho pepper puree, jalapeno and spices. I thought I would give it a shot and rate this product here on my blog.

The cooking instructions are simple. Brown one pound of ground beef and add the contents of the jarred chile mix, simmer until hot.

I wanted to customize the mix a little, so I began by chopping a yellow onion and cooking over medium heat until almost translucent, then I added a teaspoon of garlic. In my ingredient picture above, notice the new garlic I found at my grocery store, Spice World came out with a squeeze bottle!

Instead of ground beef, I used one pound of ground turkey meat. I don't think anyone can really tell the difference so I almost always use turkey.

I seasoned the ground meat with my "house mix" of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and "other stuff." Then I added the sauteed onions and garlic.

The second step in the Texas Two-Step Chili Mix is to add the jar of sauce and spices.

Right off the bat, I thought it smelled heavily of tomato and not enough of spice. I will have to stir, taste, add seasoning, stir, taste, add seasoning...repeat... until it's perfect.

There is a lot of debate whether proper Texas chili has beans or not. I like the taste and texture of beans in my chili and I believe it helps to stretch the meal as well. You could add any type of bean you prefer.

 I chose the pinto because it was what I had on hand.

Here is the taste, season and repeat part. After the beans were stirred in I ended up adding a good pinch of red pepper flakes and somewhere between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder.

In our house we start with a handful of fritos, a ladle of hot chili and then a generous topping of shredded cheddar cheese.

The Texas Two-Step Chili Mix by Cookwell & Company makes a pretty good bowl of chili, but I'm confident I could do it better from scratch. I will start working on my recipe and post on HWM once it's complete.

I would love to hear from you... How do you make your chili? Does it have beans? What are your preferred toppings?

Taco Soup

When the weather gets chilly, it is THIS recipe I turn to: Taco Soup. I first had this in 2001 when my roommate made it from her mom’s recipe. You can customize it to your taste, using the veggies you like and kick up the spiciness as much as you like. I call this a “butt-burner” because we like it SPICY.

Here are the ingredients I use:
A can of rotel (I buy the HOT kind)
A can of whole kernel corn
2 cans pinto beans (the one with jalapeno)
A can of stewed tomatoes (you can find the Mexican style)
Garlic (I use jarred)
Onion
Celery
Fresh jalapeno
Jarred jalapeno
1 lb meat (I’ve always used turkey, you can’t tell)
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch salad dressing

Get your can opener ready.
First I washed and chopped the ends off the celery, then made a small dice. Back in 2001 I didn't care for celery AT ALL so I would pretty much puree this in a cuisinart until it was mush. Fast forward 2008 and I don't love the taste of fresh celery (definitely not how Jim loves to eat it raw) but I can appreciate the flavor it gives the soup and the flavor it takes one once it cooks in the soup all day.
Next, dice the onion.
Dice the jalapeno (first wash, half and clean out the innards...and WEAR GLOVES FOR HEAVENS SAKE)
Brown meat. I like to season my meat when it's browning...with whatever you have on hand. My usual is a 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Then go check and see what your dog is barking at. Isn’t Cole the cutest little toy poodle you’ve ever seen? I gave him that mohawk, makes him look like the badass he is.
To the browned meat I added the onion and celery.
Into your crock pot we are going to simply open and dump the following… packet of ranch, packet of taco seasoning
Dump pinto beans
Dump tomatoes

Dump corn
Dump meat and onion mixture. If you are wondering, I do not drain any of the canned goods. This is when I add a couple jarred jalapenos and about a tablespoon of the vinegar from the jar. On the flip side, you could add a tablespoon of sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.

Stir it all together.
Set it and forget it! I set mine to low and let it cook all day (8 hrs) but if you are in a hurry you could also cook on high for half that time. Don't have a crock pot? Go to Walmart, that is where I got this one ... back in 2001 ... specifically for this recipe in fact. I'm sure you could do this on the stove too if you have no way of getting a crock pot.

Look how sweet Madeline looks laying in the kitchen. The house is beginning to fill with the AMAZING smell of taco soup. I know she wants some, but her little butt can’t handle the heat!

If you need more liquid, I would add stock (chicken or beef).

This will warm you up on a cold night!

Jim likes to eat his with a tortilla dipped in. I like to scoop up the soup with crunchy tortilla chips.

Yum! Make this when it gets cold, it’s an order. And…I can’t forget to add that this freezes well for up to three months. I scoop two cups into freezer bags and freeze them flat, marked with the name and date. Mmm... Serve this with a dollop of daisy and some shredded cheese sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

I had never even heard of stuffed peppers until a couple weeks ago when this recipe came to me from my adopted blogger mom, Anne. She writes A Good American Wife, which is a food blog with a great sense of humor and she has an excellent palet. If she says a dish is good, it is so. This Cooking Light recipe for Stuffed Peppers that she made looked so good, I gave it a shot myself.
Start by rinsing two green bell peppers.
Slice in half.
Clean insides of membrane and seeds.
Chop one jalanapeno
I thought the top of this little pepper was so cute, like a little hat.

Chop one onion and saute with jalapeno and minced garlic over medium heat. Sauté 5 minutes or until onion is lightly browned.
1/4 cup rice. The recipe calls for Jasmine rice which I did not have, so I used whole grain brown rice.

Add rice to hot skillet and cook for two minutes, stirring frequently.

Add 1/2 cup chicken broth

Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool completely.

I had this in my fridge and thought this recipe would be a good time to use it up.
I used Parmigiano Reggiona and hand grated about 1/2 cup.
Combine cheese and tomato sauce.
Add one large beaten egg.

This is another of my additions. Chopped green onions.
Add 1/2 pound ground meat.
Add rice and onion mixture. Mix well...but don't overwork because it will make the ground meat tough.
Many of the reviews I read online said thier peppers turned into soup bowls while cooking so I made two small slits in the bottom of each of my peppers so the liquid would drain out.

1/4 cup of the meat and rice mixture goes into each pepper.
Then top with more of the tomato sauce.
Cover and bake at 400° for 45 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese; bake 3 minutes or until cheese melts. The slits in the bottom worked well here to help drain the liquid.
I served this homemade beer bread and a glass of wine.

Inside, the meat mixture is cooked through. The rice acted like filler and the onions and garlic gave a subtle flavor. Next time I make this I would add more cheese to the meat mixture, and maybe a 1/2 tablespoon of italian seasoning mix to the meat would have added the burst of flavor I wanted. This was a really easy recipe and if you use pre-made items in your fridge I bet you could have them assembled and in the oven in 15 minutes since you don't have to brown the meat, just soften the veggies.

The little pepper stem was all that I left on my plate. Delish! Thank you Anne!