Chili By Renee'

Chili

There are many ways of making chili. This is just one of them. I adapted it from other recipes. With key ingredients like the chili powder, cumin and stock (like beef broth), you can put whatever you want in there. It's why no two person's chili is ever alike. I make this for people and they go nuts. I hope you like it as much as everyone else.

You'll need

1 stick of butter (optional). You can use olive oil if you want to go healthy.
3 Lbs Meat (any kind of meat, we use lean ground beef or ground chuck, morans brand @ altbertsons)
1 small bag of onions or one whole onion chopped (more or less according to your taste).
1 fine diced bell pepper (optional). Feel free to add any kind of peppers you want. Just remember.. Hot peppers make hot chili.
2 or 3 minced cloves of garlic (I use the stuff thats already minced, in the deli section) more or less according to taste.

(dry ingredients) Mix these together and set them aside.

6-7 TABLESPOONS of chili powder (don't get the expensive stuff in the spice aisle, get the cheap stuff in the mexican food section, it's exactly the same)
7- 8 TABLESPOONS of Flour (for thickening). You can substitute starch but only use about 3/4 tablespoons.
1 TABLESPOON oregano (again available cheap in the mexican food aisle)Don't overdo it, oregeno is a STRONG herb and very little is needed.
4 or 5 Bay Leaves (optional, get these there also)
1 TEASPOON of ground cumin. (you can get this really cheap at the dollar store). This and the chili powder are the two most important ingredients. More so than oregano, cumin is deadly strong and only a hint is needed/required. It's essential to get the chili to actually taste like chili.
Fresh Ground Pepper (to taste)

Note: do not be tempted to add salt to the dry ingredients, you'll screw it up good. So many broths have different salt levels, so figure out how salty it is and proceed salt it to taste when its almost finished.

2-3 cans of 14 oz broth (any kind of broth, but match the broth to the meat, fish=fish, chicken=chicken, beef=beef.
1 or 2 29oz cans of heat and serve pinto beans. (once again, the trusty Mexican food aisle has these already ready for ya). I'm not talking raw beans either. Also you can drop the beans but you'll need to kick down how much broth you use.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. >> Chili Powder, Flour, Oregano, bay leaves, pepper, and cumin. Set it aside.

In a (BIG) pot, melt the butter and sauté' the onions with the peppers for about five minutes or so. Add the meat. Don't over cook it. It's going to be cooking for a few hours. Drain some of the grease, but leave a little in for good measure.

Add the garlic after the meat is browned. Cook it another five minutes or so. Then add the dry ingredients to form a thick meat paste, stir for about a minute.

TURN THE HEAT DOWN to low

Slowly start to add the first can of broth, always stirring. Then slowly add the other. This is where you'll need to make a judgment call.
As it cooks it will start to thicken, keep adding the broth 'till it gets about the proper consistency of chili. Let it cook for about 45 minutes with a lid half way covering it, then add the beans. You might have to go to the third can of broth now, but just a little. Keep it on the side to add in as its cooking. Let it simmer with the lid halfway covering it for about 2-3 hours. Don't forget to sample it as it's cooking and salt it accordingly when it's finished.

When its done, I let it cool a bit (but not completely) serve it with cheese, sour cream and corn bread. The rest can be frozen in gladware and heated back up.

Enjoy :)

Adam's Quilt

This quilt is comprised of the pinwheel pattern. It has over 2000 individual pieces of fabric in it. It's the only one I've ever made and will probably ever make that has some semblance of a pattern.



I've made this quilt
just for you.
If you don't love it
pretend like you do.
It's imperfect and flawed,
more function than form.
But strait lines don't matter,
when you're trying to stay warm.
-R.L.



Here it is in it's early stages. Each one of these squares was a 19 step sewing process.



The lattice (dark blue borders) were used as fillers when I realized I didn't have enough fabric to make it an actual usable size. And I was growing weary of sewing so many squares. I should have started with a larger foundation square. These were 4 inches. What was I thinking? I didn't frame them all because I like the scrappy, jumbled together look and wanted to incorporate it somehow.

Note the iron on patch. I put it there, 1: to mask a flaw and 2: to personalize it for the person getting it, sort of like a where's waldo thing. I read somewhere they used to do that in the "old days".



And it only took about nine months to finish.