Happy Chili con Carne

Happy Friday! I hope your week was as action packed as mine was. It's a cold rainy day here today, so I plugged in the crock pot and have a pot of Chili cooking. This is a meal you can start together in the morning after breakfast and allow the crock pot to cook on low for 6 to 8 hours covered. Turn off  and unplug it about 15 minutes before dinner time, stir and serve!

 Don't worry if you don't have a crock pot yet. You can cook this on low temperature on your stove top in a 5 quart pot. It slow cooks for 2 hours. You just have to uncover it and stir it every 15 minutes in a figure eight from the bottom of the pot upwards to reduce burning. I hope you and your family have a super weekend!

HAPPY CHILI CON CARNE
Serves 4-6 portions
Leftover Chili can remain in your refrigerator 3 days

Ingredients
1 pound ground meat (chicken, turkey, beef, bison, soy ground meat substitute, your family's choice)
1 medium onion small dice
1 stalk celery, small dice (save the rest of the celery stalk for snacks. Smear peanut butter or cheese spread on them)
1 green bell pepper, seeded, julienne stripped, then diced small
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and small diced (OPTIONAL, if you and your family like it spicy)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can black beans(frijole negroes), rinsed
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed
1 can pinto beans, rinsed
3 TBSP chili powder
2 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP ground cumin
1 TBSP Kosher or Sea Salt
1 tsp. ground red chili pepper
1 tsp canola oil

Preparation

Child: Measure, then place your canola oil in a 12 inch skillet/fry pan
Parent: Place pan over high heat for 2 minutes
Parent or child over 12: Move the skillet around slowly to allow the oil to run and cover most of the inside of your pan.
Child: open ground meat package, and with a butter knife, cut the product into 4 squares. Then wash hands with warm soapy water.
Parent or child over 12: Place one at a time, each of the four squares into the hot pan. Be careful not to get splattered from hot oil.
Parent: With a wooden or heat resistant plastic cooking spoon, press and break up the squares. You are now trying to brown the outside of each square, while breaking the meat into the smallest of pieces. You want NO PINK color to show. All meat is to be browned, yet not burnt. About 6 minutes.
Parent: Over a sink with warm water running to the side, not on the meat, pour the cooked meat into your colander, (Spaghetti strainer) to strain out the fat. If you used soy protein, turkey, chicken or 90-10 or 92-8 lean beef, this step can be omitted.
Child: With measuring spoons, seated at a table, measure each dry spice ingredient and dump each spice into one bowl.
Parent of child over 12: Empty the bowl of spices in with your cooking meat and stir gently to mix the spices evenly around the meat.
Parent: Plug in your crock pot and turn it to its lowest setting. If you do not have a crock pot, place a 5 quart stock pot on your stove top on the lowest setting (warm) or #2.
Parent or child over 12: Place your seasoned cooked meat into the crock pot or 5 qt. pot
Child: Carefully place a long handled heat resistant spoon inside the pot and rest the handle against one side of the inside of the pot.
Child: One at a time, open each can and pour each can of ingredients, tomatoes, beans, etc. slowly against the spoon head that is inside the pot. This reduces splatter.
Parent or child over 12, or children with adult supervision: Cut your vegetables and place in the big empty bowl you used for the seasonings.
If handling a jalapeno, I advise that you wear disposable latex or plastic gloves and NEVER touch yourself while working with a jalapeno. Discard gloves in the trash and wash hands with warm soapy water after cutting the jalapeno.
Child: Slowly dump your bowl of  diced vegetables into the pot, again trying to have your vegetables hit the spoon, to reduce splatter.
Parent or child with supervision: Pick up the spoon handle and stir your pot in a figure 8 from the bottom of the pot upwards, four times. Do this as if the number 8 is positioned on a clock face at 12 O'clock. Then imagine the number 8 is now at 3 O'clock and stir another 4 times. Remove spoon.
Parent or child: Place the lid on the crock pot and wash all your cooking utensils and work area. The crock pot does all the work Be ready to eat in 6 to 8 hours.
If you are cooking on a stove top, save the spoon to the side and set your timer for 15 minutes. Stir in a figure 8 as above, every 15 minutes. Cook on low for 2 hours.

Serving Suggestions:
1. Buy a bag or two of 90 second microwave long grain wild rice, or a rice you all like. I samll bag yeilds about 2 adult servings of rice. Microwave the rice, place evenly in a bowl and spoon chili over the rice.
2. Buy a 2 cup bag of shredded cheddar cheese and serve chili in a bowl and sprinkle cheese on top of your chili. (cheese, cuts the spicy heat)
3. Buy low fat sour cream. Place a TBSP of sour cream on top of your chili. (This too, cuts the spicy heat)
4. Save some of your fresh diced onion and consider topping your chili with fresh onion.
5. Does your local supermarket or bakery make 8 inch round small individual crust breads? You can cut the round about a half inch from the top, then scoop out some of the soft interior bread, leaving the crust wall with about an inch of bread against the wall. Fill the "bread bowl" with chili! The bread interior you scooped out is fun to snack on while you are making the chili. An edible bowl is fun to eat.
6. You can always place a hot scoop of chili on top of a tossed salad for a healthier alternative.Use taco sauce or salsa as your salad dressing.

Leftover Suggestions:
1. Remember the frozen pie shell from your chicken pot pie? Remove the pie shell from the freezer and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Fork the pie shell around the sides and bottom, just as you did last week. Pour the refrigerated chili into a large mixing bowl. Add your leftover shredded cheddar cheese, about 1 cup, any leftover rice?, mix that in also. Any diced onion left over?, Yep, add it all in and stir. Then place the chili mixture inside of your pie shell. Leave about 1/4 inch from top. Bake at 350*F for 25 minutes. Do you have any Doritos or nacho style chips in the house? Place 20 of them in a plastic zip type bag and have your child crush them, by whacking them with the palm of their hand. Open the bag and sprinkle the chips on top of the chili pie and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve!
2. Do you have soft flour tortilla shells? Place a cup of chili in the center of the tortilla and spread it down the middle like 12 O'clock to 6 O'clock. Add shredded cheese and roll up like a burrito. Place on a  non-stick sprayed cookie tray, seamed side down and bake each burrito for 15 minutes at 350*F.

What you learned:
A Crock pot can be a great helper in the kitchen and save you all the stirring required when cooking on a stove.
You can cook many types of ground meat now, and make various types of chili. Including vegetarian chili!
To stir in a figure 8 from the bottom up to reduce the chance of burning your food
To practice small dice and julienne cutting
The ratio of fat to meat, such as 90% meat to 10% fat is lean red meat and can become dry. A higher fat content means a lower price, yet the fat and water gets strained out.
To have your children measure seasonings
Placing a long handled spoon inside a pot and pouring liquid against that spoon will reduce splatter
Chili can be served many ways the first and second time around and will never get boring!

Thanks again for taking the time to learn another new recipe! I wish you a terrific weekend with your children. Do me a favor. If you are the praying kind, when you sit down to eat your Happy Chili Con Carne, take the time to mention one positive thing you are thankful for. Say it out loud in front of your family. Then ask your child/children to each, one at a time, say one positive thing they are thankful for. No matter what they say, praise them for mentioning it. Close the prayer by saying you are thankful for your great child/children.This builds self esteem during a time when children might think they were the cause for your divorce. Praise and positive words are like fertilizer. You fertilize your lawn right? Why not your kids?
Enjoy your meal together. See you next week!