Thursday, November 13, 2008

Comfort food and rain

What is it about rainy days that make you want to curl up with a hot cup of coffee and a good book. Maybe some warm soup for dinner. Or maybe just quilt the day away... ok, not happening with a toddler around. I don't understand why people grumble about the rain. Just like snow it allows you to stay inside and be mellow. You don't have to rush around. Relax, slow down.

Well, I always get my coffee in and I did read a bit this morning while Seth played with playdough and then watched a show. I am reading an interesting book right now. It's called The Girls Who Went Away and so far it's a very good read. It's hard not to cry when you read some of the stories.

As for dinner tonight I wanted to make Chili. It's a hit around here, except with Seth, so I knew it'd be worth the effort. I make chili kind of like my dad did. He made it bachelor style. You know everything from a can. Tomato sauce, chili beans, add some browned hamburger and a packet of chili seasoning. Done. Oh, don't forget the saltine crackers. I have embellished his recipe a tad and often wonder what my daddy would think of it. Would he like it? Let's see, what changes I've made.

I cooked up my own pinto beans and red beans today. Not hard, just takes longer. Of course I wasn't exactly sure how much to make so I over estimated. I had almost 8 cups of cooked beans when I was done. Oops. Guess, I'll use less beans next time. Then I sauteed onion with ground turkey. Obviously I needed tomato sauce and I added diced tomatoes and corn. I like the corn. Not everyone likes corn in their chili but since this is my chili I get to make it how I want to, don't I. I do still like to use chili mix powder because well, I like the flavor. I did throw some cumin in there since cumin is a fabulous flavor. Sometimes if I have green pepper I'll add that in too but I didn't have any today. I made way too much (because of all the beans) so I froze some for later. It was so yummy. Hannah even had seconds.

Do you think the additions make for a good sounding Chili? I think my dad would like it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Off topic. You need to call Adri, because she called you and you said you would call her back but her being her, she will not call you again until you call her.

Paula Ebert said...

I'm sure that your dad would have loved the chili, but would not have made it that way. It is interesting that he'd even try it, because when I knew him, he didn't eat "put together" food where he couldn't identify all the ingredients. No sneaking carrots into stew with him!

Momma Mohawk said...

Try sausage too with the turkey... it is so good.. It is almost exactly the recipe I use - minus the corn of course. Sometimes I use add okra it is good too.

ellen said...

Laura, are you kidding me. I had no idea we were still 12...

Momma mohawk- Sausage sounds good. My first thought though was, umm gumbo! That's funny that you wouldn't add the corn and I think okra is yucky. Ok, I've only had okra once and it was all snotty, bleck.