What have I been cooking lately you ask?

Cincinnati Chili - yum. I was in college before I realized you could have a bowl of chili plain - without spaghetti!

1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 large onion chopped
3 ribs celery chopping
2 cloves garlic
1-2 T chili powder
½ t cumin
½ t cinnamon (yup, cinnamon)
1 square unsweetened Bakers Chocolate (you heard me - chocolate!)
Olive oil - just a little
Sauté the vegetables and add the spices and chocolate. Add in meat and brown completely.

Add - 1 large can tomato puree, 1 large can diced tomatoes, 1 or 2 little (drinkable) cans of tomato juice or V-8, 1 beer, 2 cans red kidney beans, undrained

Stir and cook for several hours - at least 2. Taste and adjust chili powder as needed - I always need to add more at this point. Add hot sauce at this point if desired and more liquid if it seems thick.

Cook a while longer - one hour at least.

Serve "five ways"
chili (the beans make it a "way")
spaghetti (long and thick spaghetti!)
grated cheddar
oyster crackers
shredded onion


Bread - quite a success. Made one recipe of whole wheat bread. Added home-roasted sunflower seeds, mashed flax and separated into two loaves. One loaf - savory - green olive and sun-dried tomato. The other loaf - sweet - dried cranberries & cinnamon. This was a total experiment and worked out really really well!

Meatballs. Pretty standard for me. Good to have in freezer.

Burritos. Made my own filling: chicken, corn, refried beans, enchilada sauce, rice, onion, garlic. This was kind of a clean out the cupboard & fridge dish. Made one meal and probably have enough filling left for 1 ½ more meals! Kids loved them as did Scott. I like them well enough. I was initially thinking Mexican lasagna but I might do that with the leftovers.

The kids love all this stuff. Chili, tacos or burritos, and meatballs are standard fare for us! I always have canned tomatoes, all sorts of beans, enchilada sauce and pasta sauce in the pantry.