The many holidays over the next several months are fast approaching and that means kids are out of school, family is coming for a visit and we are cooking more than usual. It is always nice to receive visitors from friends and family and the holidays afford us the opportunities to gather together, enjoy each others company, remember the old times and just be together. We hope you and yours have a safe holiday season this year and encourage everyone to please be careful if you are traveling anywhere.
The crops are mostly done for the season, football is wrapping up and we are currently enjoying soccer and soon basketball games at the high school. Halloween is fast approaching and everyone is enjoying a spot of cooler weather. Whenever that comes along I always want to cook more hearty meals like beef stew, chili or even chicken and yellow rice. You know, “stick to your ribs” hot meals. The only problem with that for me is that now there is just two and sometimes three people that we cook for and my mom and I are programmed to cook these types of meals for a larger group. It’s a good thing that chili and beef stew freezes well. As for the chicken and rice you can always stir fry some the next day with some fried or scrambled eggs and enjoy a hearty breakfast.
What are your favorite recipes for stew, chili and chicken and rice? Are they a family tradition passed down for generations or are they ones that you found online or in a book? Possibly even some that you have made up yourself. Why don’t you share your “non-secret” ones with us? I will start out with the simplest one for me and that is for our mild chili recipe that my mom has used for years. The great thing is that it goes a long way, freezes well, and can be used to put on baked potatoes and hot dogs the next day. And yes, it does taste better the next day too.
1 pound of lean ground chuck
4 – 16 oz cans of dark Kidney beans
1 – 16 oz can of refried beans
1 – 29 oz can of tomato sauce (Brand really doesn’t matter)
1 – package of McCormick’s Mild Chili Seasoning Mix
1 – onion chopped (I prefer sweet onions for all of my cooking)
Sprinkle salt, pepper and season-all on the ground chuck while browning with 1/2 chopped up onion in a regular frying pain. (Lately we have added some chopped up bell pepper to tone down on the acid in the recipe.) Drain the meat and dump into a big pot. Sprinkle chili seasoning mix on the meat then add all the ingredients in all of the cans and finally the rest of the chopped up onion and stir together. Turn on high heat until bubbling up , occasionally stirring to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom and then turn down to a low setting for about 15 minutes. Ready to serve with your favorite chili sides or just by itself. Of course, some saltine crackers are always nice to go with it.
Till next time enjoy your upcoming holidays and share some of your favorite recipes.
Regular Trick-or-Treating in Mayo Florida on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 from 6-8pm
