Snow Day Chili

Ok, the three essential tools for surviving a snow day trapped inside are (in no particular order) World War 2 documentaries, a large bottle of Makers Mark, a hot chick in a bikini and chili. (Yes, that’s 4 things but you’re supposed to be reading, not doing math. Besides, you got a problem with a hottie in a bikini?) You can go to Best Buy for the documentaries, the corner liquor store for the Makers Mark, Craigslist for the bikini girl, the chili, well, that isn’t as easy. I’ve learned that the best chili or chili recipe isn’t just found somewhere, it’s passed along.

We did the logical thing and turned to our Facebook friends to find a great chili recipe. I wish I had the time and wider arteries to make all of the recipes sent our way. At the end it came down to which recipe sounded like something I would actually make. Our friend, Jennifer Whelen, had a line in her recipe that I couldn’t resist, “also exceptional cold on white bread, while still drunk & sitting on the floor eating by refrigerator light.” We had ourselves a winner.

The next step was making it. Luckily, my great old friend, Mark Slonina, had just bought a fancy new camera and was dying to use it, so, I handed over the difficult task of making a delicious recipe and taking a picture of it over to him. Mark took a great picture and gave us some Manbque-worthy feedback: “I made the chili per the recipe you sent me. It turned out very good and I would make it again for sure. It was stupid easy to make. The only prep work is cutting up the onion and bacon. How easy is that? My old lady bought two cans of chili beans. No soaking or any messing around. The bacon I used was the stuff left over from my brown sugar ham experiment. So the chili was sweet and tangy. Not spicy at all. If the old lady wasn’t eating some I would add siracha to the whole pot. Instead I added it to my bowl. Shredded cheddar and jack cheese with a lil’ sour cream never hurt no one.”

Enjoy!

It's not a hottie in a bikini, but it's just as good.

Ingredients:
4 slices of bacon
1 large onion
1lbs meat of your choice (we made ours with ground beef)
1qt of canned tomatoes
2 cans of dark red kidney beans
1tsp salt
1tsp curry powder
ground pepper
1tbs white vinegar
1tbs brown sugar

Directions:
-Brown bacon, cut in 1\2″ strips
-Saute 1 cup of coarsely chopped onion until golden
-Brown 1 lb. chopped meat
In a large pot, add cooked ingredients plus the canned tomatoes, dark red kidney beans, salt, curry powder, pepper, white vinegar, brown sugar. Simmer until liquid boils down, about 1 hour. Serve over white or brown rice. Even better when reheated. Also exceptional cold on white bread, while still drunk & sitting on the floor eating by refrigerator light.

Tags: bacon, Beef, chili, jennifer whelen, makers mark, manbque, mark slonina, recipe, snow day
Posted in Beef, Other, Recipes | 1 Comment »