Chili - Cold weather pick me up... :)

[Cheyanne]

(Not related to the "pull my finger'' thread)

I am making chili for supper.

I like a variety of beans in my chili, not just the normal chili beans or kindney beans. I have put butter beans, navy beans, black beans along with the standard dark red and light red kidney beans. I also like to put a little spice in mine so I add a can of rotelle with chilis to it along with the chili powder.

Some people put different meat in their chili - we just like hamburger.

Cobalt likes grated cheese on his chili, lots of crackers or even cornbread if I bake it.

I like to eat mine with flour tortillias and a dab of sour cream on mine.

How do you all like your chili? I am just curious.. :D

[Lilith]

Lots of chili powder, spicy spicy, I like mine with ground beef or turkey. I'm a kidney bean purist. If I make it too spicy then I put it over rice. ALWAYS must make sweet cornbread with it :D

I make a dish, taco soup that is ground meat, a variety of beans, white hominy, v8 or similar juice, beef boullion, taco seasoning mix and dry ranch dressing. To die for. I use sour cream and cheese as toppings for it and lost of green onions.

[Cheyanne]

YUM.. that taco soup sounds good! How much of those ingredients do you use?

I sometimes like my chili in a 3-way ;) Make spaghetti noodles and use the chili as the sauce and then sprinkle grated cheese of the top...

I haven't tried rice with it before - that sounds good too!

My little 'domme' likes to put fritos on hers.. lol : ) She only likes the kindney beans, but will eat the others.

[Lilith]

I think she's mine :D

I don't measure things so it's just a guesstimate.

1/2- 1 lb ground meat browned and drained(depends on how hearty you like it)

4 cans of beans (you pick but I always include pinto, black and butter beans)

1 can white hominy (will be a texture like pasta in the soup)

1 can diced tomatoes (I leave these out as my family is finicky)

1 large can vegetable juice (you add it until the soup is the consistency your peeps like)

2 beef boullion cubes

2 packages taco seasoning (the spice level you choose)

1 pack dry ranch mix

You can do this is crock pots or big soup pots/dutch ovens. When I do turkey I just crumble it all raw with the other ingredients and set the crock pot on high. A regular crock pot only fits 3 cans of beans. I have the large one or I use two small ones and then send some down to an elderly neighbor. Or else I freeze it in lunch sizes.

[Irezumi Kiss]

For home use, I try to get this canned high-protein organic kind from Nature's Valley. I can get it at the organic store down the block from me but for some reason they stopped stocking the ones with ground turkey meat. I don't mind vegetarian at all, but I prefer turkey meat if I can get it. I'll throw it over some rice or even pasta.

I have puh-lenty of spices at home to pep it up manually if it's not hot enuff for my taste. I recycle my unused Chinese takeout chili oil by pouring it into empty ketchup squeeze bottles. I have two bottles almost full now.

When I go out, I'll get beef chili and heap the sour cream and black pepper on it. My heart is probably screaming murder for me doing that, but it's a pleasant, momentary vice I'm entitled to, I think.

[IowaMan]

I'm sort of back asswards with how I eat my chili. I put the crackers in the bowl first. Either smashed up saltines or big handful of oyster crackers. Then the chili goes on top followed by lots of grated cheddar or co-jack. Sometimes I'll put sour cream on it as well or onions but I usually have enough onion in the chili itself. About half the time I'll make cornbread to go along with it and maybe 10% of the time some corn chips will go on top too.

As for how I make it, I usually stick with just chili beans. Ground beef probably 90% of the time but sometimes I'll cube up some sirloin or on the very rare occasion ribeye. It seems as if I make it a bit hotter each time out lately so usually I'll make two separate batches: one for the folks who want the heat and then a milder version without cayenne. I don't have any particular recipe though. Pretty much just the beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies, meat, onion, sometimes celery, maybe a bay leaf or two and then the chili powder, cumin and cayenne until it tastes right to me.

[Lilith]

I put a pinch of cinnamon in mine.

[jay-t]

I like my chili Spicy hamburger mixed with ground deer meat,can of rotelle tomatoes,sliced red and green bell peppers,chili powder,some ground cumin,cook it then put in fridge for a day to flavor.Then simmer till its ready to eat add sliced jalapenos and shreded pepper jack cheese with crackers.

[Oldfart]

There is a dish here in the Northern Territory which doesn't contain chilli, just no-one's found it yet.

We buy chilli paste which is so hot, a couple of drops is enough, a teaspoon is waaaaay too much.

[Scarecrow]

We start with Brooks Chili Hot Beans and spice it up from there. I make it with ground beef. I add grated chedder cheese and Oyster crackers in the bowl and a large glass of milk to help with the burning mouth.

[dicksbro]

I love my wife's chili, but I'll have to get her recipe. We've found some new Ritz crackers and we've been breaking them up on top of the cheese (tastes good in all soups). Delicious. The recipes here sound good, too. I may have to print all these off and share them with her. Yummy. Never get tired of chili.

[sodaklostsoul]

I'm an odd one.....I don't like super hot chili.....I tend to make mine a bit on the tame side. I have'nt made chili in many years. Not even sure if I can remember what I used to put in it. I might have it written somewhere.

[Cheyanne]

DB - are those ritz are the garden veggie ones? I like them too - I crunch them up and put them on top of salads.. :D

I think chili is something that you can put anything into.... my mom used to cut up carrots and other veggies and 'hide' them in it.. lol

[Lilith]

I make a black bean veg head chili and it has carrots and corn in it.

[1nutworld]

Stop it you guys, you're making me HUNGRY!!!

[wyndhy]

bigbad's the chili maker in this house but i've gleaned the basics over the years. it's got 6 or 7 diffferent peppers (some sweet, some hot), lots of different ground up beasts and birds plus bacon, a dozen different spices and herbs and aromatics, chunks of tomatoes and five or six different kinds of beans.

let him serve you up a bowl with a dolllop of daisy and a sprinkle of sharp cheese and i promise you'll have a little orgy of tastes and textures goin' on in your mouth.

[Lion]

I use cubed tri-tip, lots of beef stock thickened with gritts or cornmeal, no beans and lots of chili spice,cumin and red pepper.

[Cheyanne]

Cobalt's co-worker makes white chicken chili. He says it is really good and is going to get the recipe for me.

[Booger]

Chili is great there is so many difernt way people make it. You can make it with beans or with out beans (no to menmention all the diferent beans people use), with ground Meat, cubes of meat or even with out meat. One of the nice things is if you have a basic recipe you can make it with what ever you want or have on hand at the time. All this chili talk has got me making a batch for tonight. I'm making black bean chili (due to the fact I had black beans on hand). I started off cooking one and a half pounds of ground beef draining and taking it out of the pot setting it a side. Then melting a couple table spoons of butter in the pot add one onion roughly chopped and cooked them till they were soft. Added 2 cloves of garlic and cooked till soft. Added about one tablespoon of chilie powder (note best to add the chilie powder before the liquid chilie Powder is fat soluble so you get a better flaovr) and one teaspoon of cumin. Then added 3 pounds of black beans (soaked over night in water) 3 cups of beef broth(if you need to add more liquid just add water ass needed), 1 chipotle pepper (a smoke jalapeno adds a nice smokey flavor) and a can of diced tomatoes drained. Bring it to a boil then turn it down to a simmer let simmer covered till the beans are soft take out about 3 cup of the chili and put in the blender and blend untill smooth and put back into the pot. Add the groud beef that you browned off .
Let cook till you are ready to eat (another nice thing about chili the longer you cook it the better it gets).

[Lilith]

Cobalt's co-worker makes white chicken chili. He says it is really good and is going to get the recipe for me.

I make it too. I use chicken breasts, cannelini beans and I cheat and buy a dry mix.

[wyndhy]

i use that blender trick a lot too, boog. i love it.
or, depending on the kind of soup, stew, stoup or whatever, i'll toss in mashed taters if i've got 'em on hand.