It’s Chili In Here
After we had that killer storm (literally speaking) here on Saturday night, it got cold. I mean autumn cold, not winter cold. For those of you in the south, that means 50-ish as opposed to 20-ish. This makes several things happen at our house. First, we turn off the air conditioning and open the windows. Then we put on our sweatshirts and change out of our shorts. And finally, we put on a pot of chili. This got me to thinking about other people’s experiences with chili.
Now wait a minute, don’t go away. Just listen for a minute. What is your experience with chili? For instance, does the weather have to be cloudy or rainy and cool? Or can you eat chili in the middle of the summer when it is hot and the sun is shining outside? Would you say that it is a comfort food for you and/or your family?
Do you have a family recipe or do you make it using a product like Chili Magic?
When you make chili, do you cook it all day in the crock pot or do you just make it up quick on the stove? Do you like it really spicy so that you have to have ice water sitting next to you to put out the fire?
Jason does most of the cooking in our house and when it comes to making the chili it is up to him as well. I could make the chili (shut up, Fab). My Mom had an awesome recipe that she would gladly sell me for my first born. Oh wait, she has my first born! (Just teasin’ Mom.) But, she does have an awesome chili recipe and she used to cook it all day, either on the stove or in a crock pot. Jason makes ours on the stove using Chili Magic. It’s really good. I highly recommend it. They have a Texan version as well, but since I don’t like really spicy food, we just get the original recipe.
When we get it to the table, that’s when the fun begins. We have many different ways of eating chili. We put sour cream and shredded cheese on ours. Some of us put crackers in it or sometimes tortilla chips. We use the tortilla chips as scoops or the chili as a dip for the tortilla chips, however you want to look at it. Sometimes we will leave out the chips and crackers and get a really good French bread. With butter on it and dipped in the chili, mmmmm…So good.
Do you put anything on top of your chili? Cheese or sour cream? Crackers, oyster crackers, tortilla chips or bread? How do you like your chili?
It’s getting to be that time of year. Autumn is coming. Bring out the chili!
(I would have said “fall”, but someone, who is a smartass, would harass me endlessly.)
September 19th, 2006 at 3:50 am
I buy the can of Hormel, I open it up, I dump it in a bowl, I heat it up in the microwave, I maybe melt a couple of slices of processed cheese over it, and I eat it.
No fuss no muss.
It’s chili. It’s not soylent green.
September 19th, 2006 at 4:05 am
I don’t eat chili. And I almost wrote I don’t eat people, cause, you know, soylent green…is PEOPLE.
(I LOVE THAT MOVIE)
September 19th, 2006 at 4:08 am
It’s autumn here too, hich is fantastic as a) we don’t have any air con to turn off, b) I cleared out all the summer clothes when school started at the beginning of the month & have been forcing all the kids into jumpers & jeans for the past few weeks and c) I’ve got a raging tempreture & the hot weather really doesn’t help!
Chilli in this house is a strictly daddy affair. Usually i make up a big vat of mince & veg, then give him half to make into a chilli with loads of different beans, chilli’s & exotic sauces, while I keep the other half for spag bol/shepherds pie etc. He cooks his chilli for at least 4 hours, then freezes it. Apparently it’s hotter the second time around! As I don’t eat any legumes, and the kids aren’t big on very hot food, only he would know!
September 19th, 2006 at 8:02 am
it’s always chili weather here shug — gotta get rid of those tomatoes somehow — cooked in a crock with ground beef and beans — all kinds — pintos, kidney, navy, — and chile powder — not chili powder — at least 9 hours — then serve it up with cheese and crackers on a cool Fall day — :P
huggin’ you
September 19th, 2006 at 8:44 am
You completely lost me at chili. Don’t eat it, don’t want to. I won’t mention what it reminds me of. Plus it smells like feet to me. But you go ahead and enjoy it.
I’ve heard of the Autumn thing, but the closest we come here is winter, when we have temps that are like yours are now. I think that front is actually headed this way. After it passes, it’ll be 88 instead of 95. Woo hoo!
September 19th, 2006 at 9:08 am
I have never in my life heard of Chili Magic. I’ll have to look for it here. I make mine from scratch a few times each winter…..you know, when it’s 40 below. Nice. Here’s how we eat ours:
Pile shredded lettuce on a plate
Top with Fritos
Top with Chili
Top with sharp cheddar……..mmmm. Now I’m hungry!
Oh, and I’m a crockpot cooker when it comes to chili. About 10 hours is just right.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:46 am
I’ve never had chili. I never had a bike either. Waaaaaaa!
September 19th, 2006 at 10:06 am
I can’t eat it in the summer. I did buy fixin’s for it a few weeks ago but haven’t made it yet. I thought I’d make it yesterday when it rained and was gloomy and cool all day- but then the sun came out. So I had leftovers.
We make our own. My Mom always made it on the stove. Halfway through my life she changed recipes and started making my grandma’s version, so that’s what I do now.
I was raised putting ketchup on mine- it was the grown-up’s trick to making it cool enough for me to eat and now it just doesn’t taste the same without it. Same thing goes for enchilladas. I also like shredded cheddar on mine, and Fritos in the bottom of the bowl.
The sun is shining today so I guess we’re not having any for dinner this time, either.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Can’t eat it when it’s warm out – just doesn’t work. I make mine from scratch, & have to have New Mexican green chilis in there, and do it for hours in the crock pot. Top it with sharp cheddar, maybe some crackers or fritos crushed, bread & butter on the side…nummers. Now I want some.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:23 am
I would say Chili can be eaten any day of the year… I guess… As anything really…
September 19th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Chili’s not bad stuff anytime of the year, but it’s especially nice once it gets cold out. Gotta cook it on top of the stove–I love the three-alarm but it hates me, so it’s the milder version around here.
And even this year, with just me and Mom home, it won’t be a small production. Oh, we’ll try just making a little for the two of us, but it never works. We might start it in a 2 qt. saucepan but that’ll only last until we add the meat and vegetables from the frying pan, then it’ll be “Oh to hell with it–get the dutch oven.” From there we’re just screwed, making far more than we’d eat in a week.
That’s when we get out the freezer bags, right about day 3’s morning when we realize that enough’s enough of any good thing.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:27 pm
Ahoy! with it bein’ talk like a pirate day, here i be postin’ like a pirate! i have come from t’ foo logs. hail t’ T’ Foo as he be here! your ship be great and i won’t mind spendin’ time reading me books here. T’ pirate Foo loves chilli and would eat them everyday.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
I’ve never heard of chili magic. No I have my friend John. He makes the best chili in TN. I don’t know what he puts in it, or how he makes it, he just comes over and take over the kitchen. He only makes it in fall and winter.
On another note, had to take my 15, yes I said 15 year old daughter to the pediatrician today as she has a strange rash, and almost passed out at school yesterday during softball. They had to prick her finger. I’ve never been so embrassed my whole life. She acted like a two year old. I had to hold her down, and the poor medical assistant had to wretch her finger just to prick it for a cbc and blood sugar. I was so embrassed! I have so spoiled her rotten!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
Chili here is done in the crockpot over a few hours – it is a gift for *him*
as I cant eat/stand the stuff.
Mince, onions, peppers, tinned chopped tomatoes, pasata ( tomato gloop) smidgen of garlic, tinned beans and chilies from a jar …….
Brown onions and mince the throw in crock pot with rest for 4/6 hours.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
I love chili! I do it in the crock pot, and it’s ready when we come home. I have 2 recipes I love- one semi quick, 1 is envolved. LOL! One is always in a bread bowl (sour cream, & cheese topped) and the other is solo. Though Nathan likes his over rice…
We have it at least once a week during the cold times– so a great reason to live in the cold I suppose, cause I love chili!
September 19th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
Ahhh… Autumn! My favorite time of the year! Open windows letting in ocld air. Sweatshirts and fuzzy slippers. Snuggling under a warm blanket on the couch watching romantic movies… and football.
Chili… it can only be eaten in cool/cold weather. No summer chili nights! HAS TO BE homemade! And my Mom’s is the best. Slow cookin’ all day long. And I HAVE to add saltines… and velveeta! My grandma was disgusted one day when she saw my chili… the chili she spent cooking all day (my Mom’s Mom… the original recipe). She looked at me in disgust… “Are you gonna eat it like that?” I think of her everytime I even think about chili. That story took place just weeks before I moved in with her to take care of her during her battle with cancer. She died five months later. I love you, Grandma! And YES! I’m gonna eat it like that!
September 22nd, 2006 at 11:26 am
No particular chilli season here. Although, I rarely make it myself anymore; too much leftover that usually gets tossed. There’s a diner not to far that makes good chilli, so I get it there.