I have a couple more favorite chili recipes, believe it or not. Here is one that I created by combining several of my favorite recipes and adding some of my own flair, too.
Ingredients:
1.5 ground beef (85% lean)
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic (run through garlic press or use the kind in a jar)
3 T. Penzeys Chili 3000
1 T. Penzeys Medium Hot Chili Powder
1/2 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
25 grinds black pepper
1 large can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drain and chop
1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
2 cans (14 oz) dark red kidney beans, drain and rinse
2 c. water
4 c. tomato juice
Brown the ground beef; drain. You can add the garlic and onion while you brown the beef or add it after you brown it; if after, cook a few minutes more. Add the rest of the ingredients bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook, covered, at a simmer for an hour if you can. Less will be okay, but it will taste better if you cook it longer.
This makes a pretty large batch and is soupier than some of the other chili recipes I make.
In the last few years I have grown to enjoy three-bean salad. You know, the kind my Mom likes — with kidney beans, green beans and wax beans, etc. in a sweet vinegary dressing?
I definitely did NOT like this type of salad when I was younger, but I must have acquired the taste for it somewhere along the line because I often make it now.
Recently, we were getting ready to grill brats (which is practically a required summer activity in Wisconsin), and I suddenly realized I didn’t have anything for a side dish. I thought of making three bean salad, and went to my pantry cupboard to see if I had all the ingredients. Well, I had most everything but not all the “usual” ingredients — so I’ll share what I came up with because I think it turned out to be very tasty.
Ingredients:
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas 1 (15 oz.) can green beans 1 (15 oz.) can wax beans (yellowish, light green beans) 12 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts (quartered or chopped is fine) 1 cucumber (peeled, seeded, diced) 1 small onion (diced) Red onion is pretty if you have it. (if I had had celery or green pepper I would have diced them and added that, too)
Drain all the canned ingredients. Rinse the beans. You could decide not to drain the artichokes (and just add the marinade to the dressing) but I didn’t do that this time. Combine all the above ingredients in a large bowl and mix gently.
In a small to medium-sized bowl combine these ingredients for the dressing:
1/4 c olive oil 1/4 c red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon yellow mustard (any kind is fine) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
That is it.
If you have time to make this ahead and chill it, the flavor would be even better. I sometimes use fresh green beans or a bag of frozen green beans (cooked and chilled); they taste better than canned.
Suggested tweaks: Next time I might add some kalamata or green pimento stuffed olives. Maybe dill or a little garlic? A squirt of lemon juice?
The original recipe calls for 1 can (15 oz.) dark red kidney beans in place of the artichokes and doesn’t have the cucumber. But now that I’ve had three bean salad with cucumber and artichokes, I really like them in there. I would add them AND the kidney beans next time. In the past, I’ve also added other kind of beans I’ve had on had such as butter beans (which my Mom loves), baby limas, black beans, pinto beans, etc. If you add several more kinds of beans, you will need to double the dressing recipe and scale up the other ingredients as well (onion, celery, etc.)
I hope you enjoy this Tromp Queen tweak to traditional Three Bean Salad.
Please let me know if you try it and how you like it!
Yet another simple addition: Pasta! (and maybe shredded carrots, too?)
This is my mom’s chili recipe. The original recipe was called “Chili Concoction” and it came from a children’s cookbook.
I threw this together in less than 15 minutes tonight. Then it just needs to simmer for a bit.
Ingredients:
1.5 pounds ground beef (85 percent lean)
1 medium onion, diced
1 t. chopped garlic (or 2 cloves finely chopped)
1 can ( 1 lb. 12 oz. petite diced tomatoes)
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 can (15 oz.) dark red kidney beans
1 t. sugar
1 T. chili powder (I use Penzey’s)
1 t. salt and black pepper to taste
In a dutch oven or 5 quart or larger pan, brown the ground beef until no longer pink. Drain. Put the beef back in the pan with the chopped onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Open the can of tomatoes and the tomato paste. Drain and rinse kidney beans. Add all of this to the beef pan along with the sugar and chili powder. Simmer for 15 to 30 minutes or longer if you have time. If it gets too thick you can add water.
You can add more spice by adding some cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes. You could add more chili powder if you wish. You could add cumin and/or oregano. You could add another can of kidney beans. This chili is fairly thick and very tomatoe-y.
Enjoy! Please let me know if you try this recipe. I’d love to hear your feedback.
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